Category: Europe
A spot of long distance trail completion
15th August 2007 The last few weeks have seen me quiet on the blogging front. Having to restore a PC to working condition after its having gone belly up on me was certainly a contributor to this state of affairs. A trip up to Scotland also took me away from the world of computing and refreshing it was too. While a full report for the trip will remain for a further post, the fact that I finally finished the West Highland Way during the visit up north brings me nicely to the subject of this one. In the same spirit, I have also walked nearly all of the Gritstone Trail with only a tiny section about Bollington to do of an evening.
My progress along both trails typifies my previous approach to walking: decide a location for a walk and use part of a long distance trail for all or part of its length. That is probably more true of the Gritstone Trail than the WHW. The latest instalments along the former, for which trip reports are planned, had me heading south over the sections between Sutton Common and The Cloud and then from the latter all the way to Kidsgrove, the southern terminus of the GT. Its northern end, Disley saw my boots very early on in the story of my attentions when I hiked from Bollington in murk with the remains of January snows on the ground. Walks between Rainow and Sutton Common and from Tegg's Nose to Kerridge have taken me over the rest of the length while I have followed its course on many other rambles too. Its being local to me has meant that I have been on it a lot but, rather perversely, it has also dissuaded me from completing the thing thanks to the walking attractions (or distractions?) offered by other locations.
My progress along the WHW has been a little more deliberate than the GT though the direction of travel has been something of a movable feast: having to go a good way away does concentrate the mind a bit more. My final section took me between Inverarnan and Crianlarich while the previous day saw me head south from Bridge of Orchy and overnight in Crianlarich. A through-hike at the end of May took me along the shores of Loch Lomond on my way from Inverarnan to Drymen. A February outing took me from Milngavie to Drymen after a three year hiatus which followed a pleasant hike between Glen Coe and Bridge Orchy. The previous summer saw me head over the Lairig Mor between Kinlochleven and Fort William twice: my holiday plans were blighted by the weather the first time and a return set the world to rights. On neither occasion along this part of the WHW was the weather truly nasty but glorious late August weather was a wonderful accompaniment to the second outing and a world away from the cloudy but dry July day of my previous encounter. Largely cloudy skies were in attendance on the trek between Kinlochleven and Glen Coe the previous summer and sun was not particularly successful in its attempts to come and show off the landscape at its best.
While on the subject of long distance trails, my progress along the Pennine Way has stalled but this year's multi-day treks along the West Highland Way are good practice for its northern reaches. It won't get completed this year but opportunities may well proffer themselves before 2007 comes to an end; I still have to walk between Gargrave and Haworth. Other long distance trails await as well: the tamer Great Glen Way, the wilder Southern Upland Way... The list goes on.
A return to Kentmere
26th July 2007 Even after all the weather-induced goings-on further south, I still braved the prospect of showers and headed to Cumbria for a day out among the fells. My getting a new Pentax DSLR was partly to blame for this; I needed to see how it got on in the "wild". My transport arrangements were the same as for my previous excursion up to these parts and the course of my walk followed a lot of that route as well.
There were variations from before, of course. I skirted Orrest Head so that I wouldn't get captivated atop it again; the day was more cloudy at this stage anyway. In fact, it was around here that I got the only rain on my hike and it was only a light shower. By the time that heavy showers were to arrive, I was safely ensconced in Oxenholme station awaiting a train back to Crewe. In between, the day was to improve greatly, and the cloud was becoming more broken as I headed for the Garburn Pass and the sun was well out on my arrival in Kentmere. Not surprising given the summer that we have been having, some large puddles the width of the whole track had to be crossed as I plied my way up Dubbs Road. I kept thinking that a spot of maintenance would counter their appearance but it doesn't look as if that's getting done.
I took a break for food in Kentmere, and spotted where there was a bus stop served by the Kentmere Rambler, otherwise known as service 519. This is a regular summer shuttle that plies its way between Staveley and Kentmere on Sundays and bank holidays with support from Friends of the Lake District. It looks useful and I wonder why it doesn't run on Saturdays as well; after all, this is an area well worth visiting.
After this, my course changed very much from before as I was heading for Staveley this time, rather than back to Windermere again. So, I ventured along the bridleway rounding the slopes of Green Quarter Fell, looking back a lot as I made my way. I turned for Staveley in the vicinity of Skeggles Water and it was here that I took my leave of a gentleman out walking with his dogs, whose path kept crossing with mine; we did end up passing some words of conversation at each occasion of our meeting. There were no navigational hazards on the way down to Staveley from here and the route highlighted a possible entry point for any future visits. There may well be a few...
From Windermere to Kentmere and back
12th July 2007 A sunny Saturday escapade was out of the question because my driving lessons continue so I took my chances on Sunday. Despite the threat of thundery showers, a trek to the Lake District appealed and it didn't disappoint either. In fact, the weather in the area can do its own thing and I have been clag-bound on days when the forecast was for fabulous sunshine. This time, it was the other way around: the clouds were in plentiful supply at times but they never threatened with rain and the day turned out to be one that I will remember and treasure.
The travel arrangements involved bus journeys to and from Crewe with trains taking me from there to Windermere and back, with a change in Oxenholme. It was all fairly straightforward and I was in Windermere before 12:40. I have no idea how I managed to get this into my head but I have never thought of Windermere as a place from which to start hill walks; I had always voyaged further by bus. It took Jim Reid's Tour of the Lake District (Cicerone) to put me straight. Sunday's trek proved that there's nothing at all shabby about the hill country north of Windermere.
My walk took me up and over Orrest Head and the views from this modest little hill were sublime; I can see why Wainwright rated it. Its location more than makes up for any lack of height and proves that height is no prerequisite for enchanting vistas. Views up and down Windermere and the hills surrounding it are in ample supply with northern vistas also being packed fully of craggy and not so craggy delights. With sunshine in abundance, getting myself off it to continue on my way was a lengthy process.
From there, I made my way to Moor Howe by a mixture of roads and public footpaths and made my way onto a track called the Dubbs Road. Deep pools almost occupying the whole width of the track in places were abundant as I walked onward to join another track, called Garburn Road. By then, I was on the slopes of Applethwaite Common above Troutbeck and road noise was percolating up from the valley below. Views of Ill Bell and other fells abounded to the north and I was soon to leave behind the bustle of road traffic to cross over Garburn Pass. A tempting track to Yoke and Ill Bell headed off to my left but I was content to leave such an excursion for another day.
I lost height as I dropped into Kentmere valley but by then the scene was being set for a wonderful evening. I didn't go into Kentmere village itself but cut off towards Kentmere Hall and started gaining height again as I began my return to Windermere. The surrounding views were enchanting and stopping and staring slowed progress as did photographic exploits. Distractions and climbing soon became less of an issue and steady progress was made along mainly good tracks (some waterlogged patches were encountered, but that was to be expected given the weather that we have been having) until I reached High Borrans farm. From there, it was road walking all the way to Near Orrest farm and my feet weren't thanking me for it. A tramp along public footpaths offered some respite as I skirted Orrest Head took me back to Windermere where, having missed a train by ten minutes, I had a spot of time to stroll into Windermere to buy a few bits and bobs before I headed home satisfied after a good day out.
New scanner, new photos
9th July 2007 I don't normally mention computer technology on this blog, but I encountered some trouble with my scanner while trying to add new photos to the online photo gallery. As someone who continues to use film in these digital times, a scanner remains a very useful asset. I also have a digital camera, which is how most of the photos you'll find accompanying the trip reports on this blog have been captured, so I am keeping a foot in both camps.
With the inclement weather being visited upon us recently, my mind turned to some photo uploading, and I was staring with a few from trips to Wales. It was then that my usually reliable four-year-old Canon CanoScan 5000F played up. When I turned it on, the output returned was solid black. Re-running the thing a few times by hitting the preview button in Scangear saw the black turn to red and eventually the image came through but with a strong red or magenta cast that never quite went away. I fired off a query to Canon, but only got the usual stuff about drivers and cable connections. From that, I foresaw a few weeks of tick-tacking and was unconvinced that the conclusion was worth awaiting.
So, I picked up an Epson Perfection 4490 Photo from Dabs.com and gave it a workout with some photos from a trip to the Brecon Beacons last November. The setting up was the usual shuffle, but the software installation took an age to complete. It all works well, better than the Canon ever did, and that was a big improvement on the UMAX Astra 1220U that preceded it. A quick spot of image processing, which I always do to clean things up, was all that was required to get more than acceptable results. I was scanning prints, but negative/slide scanning is another option that I have yet to explore. Having an on/off button on the side of the scanner is a nice touch that I haven't seen before, and may even prolong the life of the machine and save a spot of energy to boot.
More recce in Rhinog country
1st July 2007 Not having ventured out on a day long hillwalking trip for most of a month (I have been venturing out locally on lovely evenings after work, but that's for another post), I took my chance on Friday and headed out to explore Rhinog country. The weather has been very unsettled recently but the promise of a mainly dry day with some sunshine lured me out and about, even if wet conditions could be expected underfoot.
The start of the day wasn't too promising: it was raining well as I made my way to Macclesfield train station. However, rain at 07:00 usually means that it dries up by 11:00 and by the time that I reached Wolverhampton, conditions were drier. Even so, showers were very much in evidence as my train passed through Shropshire and the hills of mid-Wales towards my destination. Things started to look better from Machynlleth on.
I had planned to make my Dyffryn Ardudwy but, due to some fumbling on my part (very unusual for me, but the idea of these being request stops probably made me overly cautious and I did miss the extra station because it was near a fold in the map), I unintentionally disembarked at Tal-y-bont, the preceding stop on the line. It was a fortuitous error and Tay-y-bont and Dyffryn Ardudwy are very close together anyway.
So, my walk started from Tal-y-bont and followed the delightful Afon Ysgethin with the sun making its appearance from behind the clouds every now and again. Unsurprisingly, given all the rain that we have been having, the said river was a foaming cataract (torrent would have been a tad too strong a description) and thoughts of falling into it wouldn't have been good ones to be having; as it happens, the visual delights ensured that they stayed away. If there was any doubt as to the origin of all that water, it was to be found later on the walk.
When the path among the trees ended, a right turn got me onto a track that was to expose me to views of some of the Rhinogs (Rhinogydd in Welsh). As if to draw me back again, the sun continued to be irregular in its appearances but sights of Moelfre, Diffwys, Y Llethr and others still beguiled. In time, I was to find that conditions underfoot were sodden but my Salomon boots continued to keep my feet dry and warm as I continued to find my way around to another crossing of Afon Ysgethin: Pont-Scethin. From there, I made my way to a good track that was headed from Llyn Bodlyn to Dyffryn; I left the wetness behind for a while.
There are some wonderfully untended footpaths in Wales and, having a spot of time, I unwittingly made my way from the Llyn Bodlyn track onto one of them. Previous adventures in the Conwy valley took me through some incredibly overgrown examples of the breed but they weren't soaking underfoot like this one. Patches of Gorse provided navigational "interest" (I was beginning to wonder if undertaking this was a sign of madness) and slightly uncontrolled progress on bumpy tussocky terrain in long meadow was another "delight". By the time that I did make my way onto tarmac again, my Salomons had let some water in to wet my feet; Sealskinz socks might be a good idea for another similarly damp outing.
The diversion hadn't impacted on my making my way home and I had some time to do a quick spot of shopping in Dyffryn before I headed for the train station and home. To me, the wildness of the Rhinogs remains more than appealing and I hope to return, maybe on a longer visit; there is certainly plenty to explore here. My boots are packed with newspaper and are still drying out, so waterproof socks may well have made it onto my shopping list.
