Outdoor Discoveries

Wintry weather

The last few days have seen dramatic weather conditions across parts of Britain and strong winds again are forecast for western parts of the U.K. on Monday night. Scotland got the worst of the battering and only now are some places up there returning to normal. It only was today that Blair Atholl got back its electricity supply and that the Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh train service was restored to its normal timetable. Hopefully, no one got seriously hurt in all of this.

In spite of what came on Thursday, I ventured out to the Shropshire hills around Church Stretton yesterday. There was sleet and rain about but I braved both of these to escape the hurly burly of the everyday. In doing so, I was surprised to see others out doing the same around there. Sunny spells came the way too and felt all the more special when they did so. All in all, it was an enjoyable outing and I hope to savour more like it. Well, there is more of Shropshire’s hill country for me to sample. It’s good always to leave somewhere with a reason for returning.

This morning, I arose to find the hills near Macclesfield having gained a snowy covering. Various webcams such as the one at the Cat & Fiddle Inn and another at Flash Bar Stores told the story for other parts of the hill country lining the Cheshire-Derbyshire boundary. After a milder than usual autumn, a wintry reality has descended on us.

Armchair Ambling

While the prospect of a day of sunshine should have been enough to get me wandering through the countryside, that hasn’t come to pass. As it happens, the skies over Macclesfield are laden with cloud with the sun only getting out from time to time. That means the landscape gets spotlit instead of the full lighting that really enlivens it though there are some who’d enjoy the photographic possibilities that come with it.

What has resulted is a spot of time for pondering walking options and sorting out gear for when an opportunity really offers. Local options such as Nab Head near Bollington, Alderley Edge to and from Hare Hill and following the Gritstone Trail from Bollington to Disley are recalled but others have come to mind too. Around this time last year, I took myself down to Shropshire for a day of walking and I wouldn’t mind following up on that. Another possibility for these shorter hours of daylight is Ysgyryd Fawr (also known as the Skirrid) near Abergavenny.

Yesterday’s map surveying revealed other possibilities, this time in the Derbyshire Dales. A circular walk centred on Hartington that takes in Wolfscote Dale and Biggin Dale sounds promising, possibly more so than the sections of the High Peak Trail and Tissington Trail that I followed last October. Continuing from Wolfscote Dale into Dove Dale is a longer alternative that would get me near Thorpe. Following these deep narrow dales through the High Peak could be interesting.

In the same locality, there is another walking option and this is the Manifold Way that takes in the Manifold Valley as it goes from Waterhouses near Leek to Hulme End, a few miles from Hartington. It’s one that I have had in mind in while and considering what lies around Hartington has reminded me of it. Though it can be done in a day, this is longer distance option that needs some pouring over bus timetables to make it work. Now that there is no bus service between Macclesfield and Leek of a Sunday, it probably is one for a Saturday or another day of the week.

Of course, this just is a bundle of ideas with more coming to mind from Wales and Scotland. This hasn’t been much of a year for trips to the latter so there’s plenty of choice. For one, Peebles looks a handy base for a weekend wandering through the hills that surround it. Then, there’s Glenfinnan and Morar for those longer days of Spring when using later trains would be an option. Other parts that I only ever have passed include Sleat on Skye and Lochalsh on the way to that alluring isle.

A weekend reconnaissance trip to Gower in July revealed that it is somewhere worthy of a return but there are places lining the Heart of Wales railway line that merit more attention too. Looking a little further away from that railway line has brought my eyes to the Elan Valley and all that has to offer. Apart from my more customary haunts of Snowdonia and the Brecon Beacons, there is a lot of Wales that I have yet to see.

A busy work life seems to have lulled me into a torpor from which I feel the need to escape and collecting ideas like I have done here could be a big help. Even writing up that trip report for the weekend that I spent in Cowal has set me to thinking. Extending that further, could fleshing out those ideas lead to more entries on here, thus becoming something of a series? Anything that forces a certain readiness should help though there remains nothing like actually getting out in hill country and retelling those experiences for adding to the encouragement.

A year in two halves

There was one event in my life over the last year that very firmly punctuated the year in outdoors terms: a change of job. Whether it was the cause of putting my hill-going off track or not, there clearly were less outings in the second half of the year and those that were enjoyed weren't so extensive. The strange thing though is that a Christmas spent with the folks in Ireland seems to have recharged things for me. After all, there already has been a proper day out among the waterlogged hill country around Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) in Wales very early in this year with a mad dash up to Fort William and Glenfinnan together with a crossing to Ireland to savour the delights of Howth near Dublin following it. In previous years, it often has fallen to the last weekend of January before I managed to get out at all. There are other schemes in mind but more armchair exploring could be needed before anything comes of them.

The first few months of last year had me standing on hilltops more often than is usual for me and January and February fitted into this pattern with walks over Place Fell in Cumbria and Diffwys near Dyffryn Ardudwy, respectively. The weather was very amenable in both cases with a touch of spring being felt on the second excursion to contrast with the sights reminding onlookers of winter during the previous one. The other major outing in February was a cycle that took in Gawsworth, Astbury, Little Moreton Hall, Holmes Chapel, Goostrey, Over Peover and Chelford. Though I was tired after that jaunt, it sowed the seeds for a cycle to Chester later in the year.

March saw me move things up a gear again by heading to Scotland to see some Scottish snow-covered hillsides around Glen More among the Cairngorms. Braving some showers was the price that I had to pay for this but the rewards from the short sampling session more than compensated. In fact, it may have set the scene for a busy April that featured an Easter Sunday trot from Baslow to Bamford while shadowing the River Derwent. That wasn't as low level as it might sound but I headed to greater heights in the form of Carnedd Moel Siabod and Y Llethr in Wales too. Revisiting the trip reports for these makes me realise that I was more active than I now remember myself to be.

My recollections of May are stronger and it started with a Mayday bank holiday weekend visit to the Isle of Man where I savoured some of the ups and downs of the coastal path, Raad ny Foillan. That was a good introduction to Manx walking and I hope to follow up the outing some time. A trot from Selkirk to Melrose had it share of ascent and descent too as it brought back to a part of the world where I hadn't been for a few years. Later, I discovered that the Kerry mountains around Killarney can get some hot sunny weather. In fact, it could have been the most sun that I have had on a visit to the alluring area.

As it happened, May ended with the commencement of the distraction that was to occupy my mind for much of the next few months: a change of job. It was amazing to see how this really punctuated my outdoors year. The weather remained balmy as I pondered what I was doing with visits to the National Trust managed woods around Alderley Edge for some unwinding on lengthening evenings. That spell of good weather came to an end later in June but not before I snatched the chance to head north to the Isle of Arran and Kintyre for what became my only real longer summer break in Scotland. That didn't prove to be the end of my feeling hot sunshine for the year because a business trip took me to Sweden where long hot evenings allowed me to savour the delights both of Sodertalje and Stockholm.

From July on, the rest of the year gained a much quieter feel when it came to enjoying the outdoors. Nevertheless, I did manage to base myself in Aberdeen for the English August Bank Holiday weekend. Having not been there after a first visit more than a decade before, it was time to revisit places encountered before and exploring those that were new to me. The latter point brings to a first visit to Braemar that took me up to the top Morrone/Morvern with heavy showers making rainbows in the sunshine before things dried up later on an otherwise chilly day. The outing had a real end of year feel with that coolness though Edinburgh felt warm in the sun when I sneaked in a trot about its heart between trains. Maybe I should have based myself there instead, like I did for the same weekend in 2009.

For some reason, the rest of the year felt as if the stuffing had been knocked out of it for me and my outings appeared to reflect that. Nevertheless, I did get to cycling all of the way from Macclesfield to Chester, a brainwave that came to me earlier in the year. It also proved that Cheshire is far from flat though I knew that anyway. Ironically, my end of British Summer Time hike along the High Peak Trail and the Tissington Trail from Pomeroy to Ashbourne on a day when cloud overcame sun as I went further south. Following old railway alignments meant that ups and downs were kept to a minimum on that October afternoon but the distance covered was felt for a while afterwards, ironically for longer than the effects of my exertions in crossing Cheshire if my memory is not failing me again.

Breaking away for a hill country outing seemed to have become difficult for me but November saw me on top of Caer Caradoc in Shropshire due the perceived accessibility of the hill. Shrewsbury remains another idea for urban pottering as does Oswestry so it wasn't about standing atop a hill. In fact, the very next issue of Country Walking featured low hills with good views and put into my head the idea of collating a list of a few of these for times when inspiration was hard to locate.

December's snows may have been disruptive and I was to feel the effects of that when I popped over to Ireland for the Christmas but they were restorative when it came to getting me out of doors again. For one thing, there was a quick visit to the hills near Glossop that was more about broadening my experience of winter condition than covering much in the way of distance. Then, there was wandering around local haunts in Wilmslow (Lindow Common became a 2010 discovery for me), Macclesfield, Prestbury and West Limerick. Surroundings may have looked totally different and very pretty on these short strolls but they very much helped me in the restoration of my hill wandering mojo. Now, I need to ensure that it doesn't leave me again. After all, 2011 has started well and I really do need to set down some more trip reports as well as ensuring that my working life doesn't overwhelm everything else on me again.

Matters of terminology

Yesterday evening and overnight, a white blanket arrived in and around Macclesfield. A company Christmas night out meant that I was out in Manchester to see the white stuff blanketing there and Stockport too. Again the south of England seems to have been affected too with Twitter awash with transport companies telling what services are running and where. However, it seems that hardly anywhere has escaped with Wales and Scotland seeing some too.

There was a time when this sort of weather was enough to have me out doors pottering over the white coverings but it doesn't seem to hold the same appeal for me these days. Was it last winter's snows that broke the spell? Prior to that, snow was a short-lived visitor that never satisfied my curiosity and was enough to lure me out of doors, even to pace over local paths. Now, it seems that there is a feeling of extra effort required to get about instead, not that I don't have the ability of the kit to be able to get where I want to go.

All of this has me wondering if the same sort of becalming has affected my hillgoing. It's easy to point out causes such as changing job, having busy working weeks, not getting alluring weather or being tired at weekends but there may be another cause: have I more than sated my hill country appetite? With that in mind, it might be an idea to see if there are ways around this if it indeed is the cause.

Popping up accessible little hills might be one of them and my visit to Caer Caradoc last month was very much of this ilk; the fact that it wasn't crowded either helped for enjoyment of the walk. Ironically, this months issue of Country Walking has a feature on walking little hills and Hope Bowdler, not at all far from Caer Caradoc or Church Stretton, gains a mention in there as does Ysgyryd Fawr near Abergavenny. Maybe, creating a collection of little hills on my proverbial ideas shelf for easy planning could help to overcome any present torpor. This is far from list ticking because I like to go for walks to enjoy the surrounding countryside and not to say that I have "done" all the tops on a certain list or other.

The word "little" cropped again in my reading, this time in an issue of TGO that I was perusing on the way down to Oxford for a business trip. What I spied on those pages was a review of Cicerone's Scotland's Best Small Mountains. Since then, I have acquired a copy of the said guide as an eBook and discovered that smallness is in the eye of the beholder. With Country Walking, the sorts of heights are in the 300-500 metre category but many of the "small mountains" are in the 700-900 metre range. There are other contrasts too with some of the hills featured in the Cicerone book being out in pretty wild countryside, a counterpoint to the more genteel surroundings of those in the magazine. The guide starts in the north-west highlands of Scotland and works its way south and throws up a number of options worthy of exploring, some of which I have actually walked. Here, Ben Vrackie and Morrone come to mind but there are one or two others if my memory serves me correctly.

It might that both the magazine and the book are highlighting something of which I have grown short: ideas. There also is the need for time to ponder and plan such things, particularly for those longer excursions. Then, I might be able get things going again in 2011 but my ambitions are sure to be modest. After all, I have been developing a certain dislike for lofty terms like summits and peaks and now find referring to such things as tops to be much more amenable. Whatever I call them, there will be no obsession with these because it will be the walking, exploring and savouring that will matter above all else.

A trot around and over Caer Caradoc

Since I first glimpsed the hills around Church Stretton while en route to Abergavenny for a day of walking around there, Shropshire’s hill country hasn’t seen that much of me. Whether it’s because I have failed to find ways of extending my explorations from those visits that I have made or there is another explanation, it’s a part of the world that I reckon needs more of my attention.

After there is a copy of Cicerone’s guide to the area sitting on my bookshelf and it was from this that the idea of a walk around and over Caer Caradoc was put my way for something to made of it the Sunday before last. That it’s a short hop within a proverbial stone’s throw of Church Stretton at a time of year when days are short added to the appeal of the idea. It also meant that a later start than might be ideal did nothing to spoil the afternoon that it occupied for me.

Though the forecast was more hopeful, the day was to stay cloudy until the sun found a western gap in the cover late in the day. As it happened, it seemed that the North Wales were doing rather better with catching the sun than where I was spending my time. Nevertheless, I am putting any such galling thoughts out of my mind to enjoy what I had.

Travel arrangements meant a stopover in Shrewsbury and I took to take another little poke around the town. From a previous quick taster, I wasn’t ignorant of its attraction with quite a few pretty old buildings around the heart of the place. This time around, I stayed near to the train station to gawp at Charles Darwin’s old school, now a public library, and to sample a little of the town’s castle. A bit more sun and blues skies would have made the place that little bit harder to leave while convincing me that popping down there for a few hours would be no waste of time.

Though skies were brightening, I stuck to my plan and I was soon to find how useful near to Church Stretton Caer Caradoc was to be. After crossing the A49, I picked my way through streets to make for what once was the road to Cardington and there even are Cardington Way markers on the route too. Part of what seems to have been the course of that old thoroughfare is now a sunken passageway hosting a stream. The right of way doesn’t use this but leaves the tarmac roadway leading to New House Farm to follow the hedge that is by its side. Not unsurprisingly given the often wet autumn, the going was soft and muddy underfoot, something that wasn’t unexpected anyway.

It didn’t take long for me to pick up the old track where it enters the field and follow it into the dip between the wooded Helmeth Hill and the bare Caer Caradoc. Staying with the track, I went around underneath the slopes of Three Fingers Rock, having some easy height gains as I did so. Here, immersed in rolling hill country, it was hard to believe that civilisation, a railway and a busy modern road weren’t at all far away.

Seeing a path rising up the hillside before me, I left the track to pick my way to the top of Caer Caradoc. What the hills of South Shropshire lack in height, they compensate in having steep sides and Caer Caradoc is no different. It was a matter of letting the summit come when it did and stopping whenever more level ground allowed. The sun was struggling to get through the cloudy layer without much in the way of success; if it had done so, copious amounts of photographic activity would have ensued with hummocks like Hope Bowdler Hill, Robin’s Tump and The Wilderness (not as wild as the name suggests, incidentally) featuring in resulting photos.

The 459-metre-high top of Caer Caradoc was once a fort and you might see why it would be secure if you ever walked up there. To my eyes, the old ramparts weren’t so obvious though I was later to see the signs of an old ditch. The name comes from a Celtic chief who fought the Romans only to lose and fall into their hands to get carried to Rome; apparently, he possessed enough guile to ensure that he and his family didn’t meet a sticky end at the hand of his captors with his living out his days in that foreign land to die a natural death. Today, the hill is seemingly well frequented though, as I found, not so much as to deprive anyone of peaceful relaxing moments to survey the surrounding panoramic views. It was from here that I spied sunlit Welsh hills beyond the Cheshire Plain while making such neighbouring hillocks as The Lawley.

On the way down, I went around the smaller Little Caradoc though that involved a little diversion from what might have been my intended route back to civilisation. That deviation was well worth it with only passing dog walkers to disturb my reverie while I took a breather after the steep descent from Caer Caradoc. Then, I needed to regain some height before picking up the path that was to take me along the lower slopes of Caer Caradoc while losing height all the while. It was while I was trotting along here that I spied the prospect of some late evening sun before it did come my way. When it did come, hillsides were pleasingly lit though its time of arrival meant that it was short-lived. That wasn’t to be a cause for complaint since it was the icing on the cake for me.

More steep descent lay ahead of me before I was to drop down to the dip between Caer Caradoc and Helmeth Hill. Some of these were to be well eroded too so I took a slight deviation from the direct route to be on more trustworthy ground. Before that was to pass, I was tramping along a path that reminded me of a similar approach that I took to walking Place Fell near Ullswater earlier in the year.

Once down in the dip between the two hills, it was a matter of retracing my steps to return to Church Stretton’s train station in fading light. When I set foot on tarmac again, street lights had come on, but there still was some light in the sky. A tempting public footpath diversion was discounted in favour of being sure of my route and I was at the train station with enough time to spare for a spot of grocery shopping before staring my journey home.

One thing that I suspect after this trip is that I shouldn’t be devoid of ideas for further walks in the area. After all, repeating the walk when there is more sun is one option and more hills are there to be walked too. For instance, I quite fancy reaching the top of The Lawley and seeing how things look from there. After that, there’s another route that has come to my attention since the walk: The Ancient Portway, a hike from Church Stretton to Pulverbatch and Pontesbury. This would be a day-long affair for the full route but it could be cut short at Pulverbatch if needed. It’s a refrain that I may repeat too often but it’s best to leave anywhere with more things to be doing on any return but it’s true of my wandering around Caer Caradoc. All in all, it was a satisfactory afternoon out of doors and in an area that wasn’t overrun with folk either. With that, there can be no complaints and there is always that Cicerone guide should these possibilities be exhausted.

Travel Arrangements:

Bus service 130 from Macclesfield to Wilmslow; train from there to Church Stretton with a change in Shrewsbury; train from Church Stretton to Crewe with a change in Shrewsbury, bus service 38 from Crewe to Macclesfield.