Category: Outdoor Activities
A look back at 2008 Part 2: Until Midsummer
16th January 2009 While 2009 has yet to see its first proper hill outing of the year for me, I have to say that anyone who doesn't make the most of the first half of any year is missing out on something special. It is nice to think that everything is on the up and your next outing could be more wonderful than the last. You are less likely to be overrun by hoards too, and there's much to admire, from the skeletal forms of the trees to the way that fine landscape is enlivened by the gentler light. I can see some being put out by such things as the shortness of the days or the lingering feel of winter, but I see wonder in these too, and it allows one to be ready for the annual crescendo that is April, May and even June. After that, I feel that the year passes its peak and regard the traditional summer holiday months of July and August as being ill-timed, but that means that we are more likely to have things to ourselves, never a bad thing. Here's how the first half of 2008 fared.
January
Casting my mind back to January, I remember expressing an inclination to stay home when the weather wasn't so inviting. Something that had been a tactical device for ensuring that necessary life chores got done had developed a less than desirable side effect: being too choosy about when to go walking among those wonderful hills. A sunny Sunday at the start of the month drew me out on a cycle between Macclesfield and Leek, with a diversion round by the Roaches on the way back. It was a good start to the year and I followed it up by strengthening my resolve to head to Leek for a circular walk through Staffordshire's muddy moorlands (encountering clay was rather apt given the county's fame for pottery production) that took me over Hen Cloud. The need for inner strength was prompted by the greyness of skies earlier in the day, but that soon evaporated to uncloak blue skies and unleash the sun to do its magic, a sort of reward for my endeavours.
February
That "get out there regardless of everything but personal safety and other much more important things" mentality was to serve me well in February. When a dusting of snow presented itself, I was off to Northumberland to explore more of the hills near Wooler. There was an ample coating of powder dry snow about, and that both enlivened the views and brought out a little of the inner child in mind as I bobbed downhill on my return to Wooler. The middle of the month saw that replaced by a settle spell of glorious if nippy weather that allowed me to narrow the gap between Haworth and Gargrave in my Pennine Way hiking project. In line with the "bag-of-nails" approach that I have been adapting, a southbound walk from Gargrave to Lothersdale came first, followed by a northbound hike from Haworth to Ickornshaw. The narrow gap between Ickornshaw and Lothersdale remains a possible irritation, but it's also another excuse to revisit those parts, even if public footpath signposting isn't what it might be. The end of the month saw me undertake my visit outing of the year in Scotland, with a ramble through the countryside by Tarbet and Arrochar. I needed my new-found resolve as the showers started to gang up on me with the ageing of the day; it was certainly good weather for any frogs that I saw.
March
In contrast to February, March was a much quieter month when it came to exploring the outdoors. A heavy flu was partly to blame for that, yet I felt a need to clear out some physical and mental clutter too, an activity that kept me busy over the early and white Easter. The latter fact should have drawn me out because a good walk is often good for garbage clearance, but I ended up looking out at the Maxonian (that's to Macclesfield what Mancunian is to Manchester) hills instead.
April
April's two excursions mean that I was among hills instead of looking at them from afar. The first of these saw me traipse along part of the Offa's Dyke Path near Knighton on a day that had me frequenting both Powys in Wales and Shropshire in England. I even dropped in on Church Stretton on the way home for a short sortie that preceded a heavy shower. Another weekend trip to Scotland followed with my exploring around the villages of Glencoe and Kinlochleven. The weather couldn't have been better and snow still lay on the mountain tops though I remained at lower levels. On the way home, I began to feel that I had seen enough of the pervading browns of the hills for one sitting.
May
May made another good month for wandering through open hill country, and its being topped and tailed by bank holidays surely helped. The first of these saw me exploring Teesdale on a grey if dry day, with the sun struggling to make any headway through the cloud cover. Even so, I got taken along another part of the Pennine Way, and it made for a good day out. The next day was a damp affair, so my next trip took advantage of the fact that normal weekday train services run on a bank holiday to get to Bethesda in North Wales for what turned out to be a linear hike to Bangor by way of the foothills of the Carneddau and the North Wales Path. Cloud broke to release the sun, even if sea fog somewhat curtailed the sunshine later on in my walk. Another Welsh outing followed, with my planned walk near Dolwyddelan being displaced by an out and back hike from Dolgarrog to Llyn Eigiau due to transport misinformation. It didn't matter because a good day of walking followed anyway. Scotland surprised me with perfect weather for the second bank holiday weekend of the month, so much so that I was barely ready to take full advantage of what was on offer, and I left for home with a certain amount of regret. That's not to say that a good tramp from Inverarnan to Dalmally or a few hours spent on Kerrera wasted the time that I had, but I would have preferred more extensive planning than was done. If I had known what was ahead of me, I might have booked some time off from work and made a longer weekend of it. Having Monday would have avoided the bank holiday traffic and allowed for some very enjoyable walking too. Maybe the weather forecasters were so taken up by what was coming to England that they forgot Scotland...
June
June started well with a walk along the Cumbria Way through Langstrath on my way from Borrowdale into Great Langdale. Though I had glimpsed the Langdale Pikes from afar, this was to be my first visit to Great Langdale and, though clouds got to obscure the sun as the day wore on, a return to these wondrous parts remains in order. A primarily social visit to Ireland followed, with my only snatching short strolls on a visit to Killarney on a damp day. Nevertheless, the sight of Torc waterfall retained its appeal, and I was sorely tempted by the idea of going further along the Kerry Way.
A time for adding photos
11th January 2009 The greyness of the weekend did nothing to shift my inclination to stay put at home. To be honest, I was in that mood anyway and I could have made something of yesterday and today if I was so determined. January hasn't had a bad start and I did get in some lunchtime walking this past week and my surroundings looked ever so enticing with that dusting of snow that was gifted to us earlier in the week. The weather over the Christmas wasn't so unkind to us either, even if it did require us to wrap up warm when going out of doors. I was in Ireland for that and got some short walks too, even if that meant tarmac bashing for most of the time. Some sunshine was visited upon us when the grey gloom wasn't about and we ended up on the Dingle Peninsula for a few hours. That meant that a number of photos were made in the late afternoon sunshine and some of these have found their way into the Kerry section of the photo gallery. There are some photos taken on a brief visit to Dublin's Phoenix Park before Christmas that are candidates for addition too once I decide which ones make the cut. Thinking back over 2008, I think that it has one of the better years when it comes to my taking good photos in the land of my birth. For now, I can only hope that 2009 brings more of the same.
A look back at 2008 Part I: a year of many journeys
10th January 2009 The turning of a year is often time to take stock and look back upon what has just gone by. For whatever reason, the beginning of 2008 feels like an eternity ago. Over its course, there have been many journeys for me, be they explorations of wonderful countryside or meanderings of the mind; I didn't rename this space "Collected Musings of a Hill Wanderer" a year ago for nothing. World events have taken on their own dramatic itineraries too but that's not what I do here. If anything, getting out for a walk in open hill country allows for an escape from the rough and tumble that surrounds us.
With all the revolution in the air, I have taken an evolutionary path with this blog. Its content has been honed over the past twelve months with a greater emphasis placed on outdoors matters than ever before. Entries devoted to public transport matters presented opportunities presented opportunities for tangential diversions so these have been diverted to another blog unless the subjects directly affect the reaching of walking destinations without needing to be self sufficient on the transport front.
Another subject that crops up here from time to time is the gear that I use for my hiking. Of course, being more interested in appreciating the wonder of the outdoors, it is far from being my main interest. In any case, gear purchases weren't that many in number anyway but the introduction of my Scarpa boots to more regular use generated some comment on my part. Trail shoes reached retirement without comment and were replaced satisfactorily by Strives and Hedgehogs from TNF (I have a soft spot for trail shoes that needs to be controlled). A soft shell jacket from The North Face was added to my collection in June and became well used over the summer, earning its place as a valued piece of kit. Looking towards a future with greater independence on the accommodation front, I bought a sleeping bag from Alpkit. That's a subject that I broached last year but remains an avenue of which I have yet only tantalising glimpses. As I said earlier, it's not about the gear but the journeys that it allows me to undertake that matters.
Speaking of journeys, it has been the overview of trips undertaken that have formed the framework for previous annual reviews in 2007 and 2006. This year, I am going to split things up so that they don't become too large to digest and I want to include wider musings anyway. The next part in this review will take in journeys for the first part of 2008 followed by another one for the second half of the year. Every one of these trips has been brought about by by my ever present wonder of the natural world, even that influenced heavily by human activity like what we find in the U.K. With all of the ominous portents that surrounds it is probably worth remembering William Henry Davies' Leisure:
WHAT is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?—
No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep and cows:
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance:
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
I only hope that some of the above sentiment can be conveyed in what appears on here in 2009, the blog's fourth calender year, and that it will be a year filled with hikes and cycles like its immediate predecessor. That wish applies as much for you as it does for me.
Revisiting the subject of Irish digital mapping
9th January 2009 If you were to ask me about digital mapping for the Irish Republic this time last year, you would have been told about OSi's Trail Master DVD's. They may not have covered the whole country but what they did was nothing to be derided. Perhaps unsurprisingly, things have changed a lot since then. For one thing, it is now possible to find all of OSi's 1:50000 Discovery mapping available for free on the web. I must admit that I came across it by accident and after I had used the "City" zoom level (yes, that's what they call it). The quality of the rendition may feel imperfect but it is hard to argue with there being no cost involved.
What brought this re-visitation about was the announcement before Christmas that Trail Master mapping was coming to GeoLives. Then, I didn't have the time to explore what this meant because of the pre-Christmas necessities but I have been able to set that to rights now that we are in 2009. For many, the mention of GeoLives might demand some explanation. Put at its simplest, it provides digital mapping much in the same way that Anquet and Mapyx do it: while you used to have to buy Trail Master DVD's from OSi previously, you can now download the same data and more from GeoLives.
There is more to GeoLives than Irish digital mapping and it features Belgian, Dutch, French and Swiss data too. In fact, the organisation is based in Luxembourg and was established last year as a collaboration between a provider of geographic data (STAR-APIC) and a specialist in internet applications (Géomatic Ingénierie). Of the countries whose data are included, it is for France, Switzerland and Éire that there is mapping most relevant to walkers.
Like Anquet and Mapyx, Windows-only software can be downloaded for working with any downloaded maps. For users of alternative operating systems like OS X and Linux (that's the one I mainly use at home), there is a web-based application for performing the same functions as the Windows application and there's nothing to stop your using it on Windows either. GeoLives calls the former the PC Editor and the latter its Web Editor. The reason for the use of the word "Editor" here is the inclusion of route planning capability in both and I can vouch for inclusion of place searching functionality too. I cannot say that I have been testing out the route planning pieces so far but they look similar to what you find with offerings from the main purveyors of British digital mapping. With the Web Editor, there is the possibility of sharing your routes with other GeoLives users.
A €15 tariff needs to be paid before you can get going with the service. Since I already owned Trail Master mapping, I could use my OSi login credentials and even had pre-acquired Trail Master data made available to me online without need for payment above and beyond the subscription.
Buying mapping works on the principle of using up credit that you have purchased beforehand; it's available in €10, €20 and €50 denominations. Then, you can buy maps by the tile or bundled in Supermaps. Even if you don't make any purchase, certain large scale maps come as part of the subscription but these are little use to the walker. Once tiles are bought, they become available through the web application and can also be downloaded too within 48 hours of an email containing the requisite link being sent to you. Downloading the data for offline use is something that I have found troublesome with time outages blighting the experience; the fact that we are talking large files here doesn't help matters, even if they are wonderfully crisp in their appearance. GeoLives would appear to have some way to go before the process becomes as painless and that with either Anquet or Mapyx. For now, it's just as well that there is the web application.
In summary, this is an interesting service that I hopefully will continue to explore. As I intimated earlier, I have yet to try out the route planning side of things and I would like to see data downloads become far more reliable than they currently are. Despite this, it could be that GeoLives becomes a purveyor of digital mapping for all of Europe and it seems to have made a good start. Let's hope that it continues to grow and to improve.
A winter wander from home to hills and back again
21st December 2008 After my sampling of the Howgills the day before, the continuing run of fine if very frosty weather had me out again. This time around, I stayed local and ventured into Macclesfield's hilly hinterland. In fact, my walk started and ended on my own doorstep, and that happens from time to time. Even though my memory of them was far from photographic, the trails followed were ones that I have often trodden, but that was never to dull the satisfaction from being in the outdoors, even if non-completion of pre-Christmas chores did nag a little at the back of my mind.
My first task was to make my way into the country, and I left the streets behind to follow the towpath beside part of a frozen Macclesfield Canal for a little while. As it happened, I met up with a collection of characters trying to do some fishing. One spotted my walking poles and commented, jokingly I think (well, one of those with him was laughing anyway), that he could do with a loan of them for ice breaking duties. I carried on, noticing the difficulty that ducks were having on the ice, until the point where the canal towpath is shut following the collapse of a wall; there was a man out walking his dog when it happened, and he attributes his not being under the rubble to his mutt's slowing him down!
Following a now familiar itinerary, I then returned to tarmac again as I continued up towards the Macclesfield Golf Club's clubhouse to pick up a footpath that rounded both the golf course and the hill that played host to it before dropping down to Langley; that secured my escape from the urban confines of Macc. Shutlingsloe could be seen in the distance, with Sutton Common and Croker Hill bringing up the rear behind the village of Sutton. The ground was its customary winter softness at this point, and an eagle eye was kept out for any wayward greasy spot that would sweep the legs from under me. The descent took me through more sheltered parts where the overnight frost remained.
A hike right through the village of Langley was needed before I found another escape from civilisation. This led me towards the Gritstone Trail but, rather than following it up to the summit of Tegg's Nose, I opted for a different way. Picking up a bridleway that led me between Teggsnose Reservoir and Bottoms Reservoir, I continued to round yet another hill before starting on the ascent again after crossing a stream that feeds Teggsnose Reservoir, one of those that I had passed earlier. Another road crossing later, and I was on to a concessionary path named Saddler's Way for some reason. The gradient steepened and the views continued to open out until I made my way to a viewpoint at Tegg's Nose Country Park. A host of humpy stuff with Shutlingsloe among them lay there as a feast for the eyes.
It was at this point that I started on the Gritstone Trail proper for my journey to Kerridge. As I started crossing fields again, winter started to make its presence a little more obvious, with snow remaining along by stone walls. Someone had even fashioned an igloo of sorts, and the structure was still very much there to see. A crossing of the A537 saw me go down a rough slope that might have offered plenty of greasy mud had it not been for the fact that it was frozen solid. After the steep descent came an equally testing ascent; appropriately, a brook lay in the gash that I needed to negotiate.
That set me on my way towards Rainow and, soon enough, the said village started to come into view. Imperfect memories of the route were refreshed as I went, and the B5470 was reached without any navigational madness. The path on the other side of the road took a little finding with the signpost being a little away from the road and nestled between two houses, a combination that makes it easy to miss and goes to prove that you cannot remember everything.
Following that modicum of route finding, the last stretch of steep ascent for the day awaited, and it was on frozen east-facing slopes too. If the sun had ever got over Kerridge Hill, it wasn't managing it while I was scaling it. The reward for these exertions was a level stroll along a ridge replete with generous panoramic views. As if that is insufficient, the folly that is the White Nancy stands atop the Bollington end of the ridge. The landmark is a simple affair that has attracted its share of vandalism over the years; it is a hollow construction, but can no longer be entered thanks to the attentions of some. In recent years, there was a prank that involved painting the thing pink, an act not without its amusement value, even if it did wind up the locals.
More frozen slopes were crossed on the way down to Kerridge, and at a time when it could be seen that the day was coming closer to its end. One more road crossing took me onto public footpaths that led me back on to the banks beside a different part of a partially frozen Macclesfield Canal. Light was really fading by now, and I changed over to the Middlewood Way for the short distance to the well-lit streets along which I would complete my walk, with a call to a shop for provisions along the way.
Revisiting those familiar trails turned out to be a very good use of one of the cold, crisp, dry sunny days that can visit us at this time of year. Other folk were out and about too, but they weren't so numerous as to make the countryside feel anything like overcrowded; many good stretches of solitude were there too to soothe the spirit. It just goes to show that you should never overlook what can be reached from your doorstep.
