Category: Places Explored
Green, Blue & White
31st May 2020 This was an entry that I meant to write last year but other intrusions got in the way. The need to face some fears surrounding a stay around Vancouver were among these. The latterly unrealised possibility of meeting a bear on a hike was uppermost but the length of the transatlantic air journey was another one as was my reproving myself for spending so much on a holiday. It turned out to be a year for major discretionary expenditure but all was paid off in good time.
The way of the world was another matter with an unwanted political change in the offing and business rules threatened my contracting enterprise. In the end, neither turned out to be as existential as feared and have been trumped by the ongoing pandemic in any event. That has added unnatural tension with which I have been learning to deal. It remains a work in progress and has encouraged me to get out and about in any sunshine.
The Spring Bank Holiday weekend was so good to me that I am left wondering if I can wait too long before having another longer break from work. Given current restrictions, travel will not be all that extensive and my dependence on public transport makes it more so even if I dream of short bus trips away from home. Even without this, I still see the benefits of taking a week or more away from work.
It helps that it is a time of year when colours that I find appealing are in such abundance. Many of my favourite photos are based around blues, greens and whites so I have started to wonder why. It may be that my tastes are simpler but these are calming colours as well. Other outdoor photographers may decry the summertime with early starts and late finishes being needed if you want to make images in the golden hours of sunrise and sunset. Others again look to autumn, a season that I find more challenging for photography with its directional light and added colour complexity. Then, winter can have tricky lighting conditions of its own but it does have its fans.
For me, springtime is my favourable and it has been glorious this year. Ironically, the pandemic restrictions and added sense of tension have been more enough encouragement to get out and experience what is there. Once I find a quieter spot and that is challenging when people cannot travel far, it is relished all the more. The feeling of added relaxation is as much a bonus as seeing the countryside at its best.
The main drawback of all the sunshine is that places are looking a bit parched and utility companies are asking us to conserve water. It is as if the transition from green to brown starts in summer with winter being its zenith before spring eventually greens things up again. That of course is the cycle of life as much as the lengthening and shortening of days.
June is ahead of us tomorrow so the solstice looms, a time of a little sadness for me since it marks the zenith of daylight hours before we start on an inexorable journey to their nadir. The winter solstice oddly marks a time of hope for me because days start to stretch after that. With all this, it is best to take each day at a time and marvel at how we adjust and adapt. That has been an ever present feature of the last few months for me and the bittersweet time beyond the summer solstice may be counterbalanced by any hope given by things opening up more and more as the year progresses.
Then, we might be able to contemplate a wider range of possibilities. July this year might have seen me go to Denver and Boulder in Colorado but that kind of escapade will need to wait. We never really know the times for making use of opportunities, something that is being driven home to us in this year. It is one where remaining in every moment and taking things day by day looks more sensible. It also causes us to make the most of every one of these and stops us merely passing by it all. That could drive how 2020 gets remembered: happy satisfying moments in the midst of a challenging time.
A November day spent around Ladybower Reservoir
26th May 2020 If it not for other intrusions, there could have been many an account from previous years making their appearances on here in an effort to clear a backlog. Some even might have thought it to be a retrospective like what Cairngorm Wanderer is doing, but that would be the wrong impression. Other missives might have share sunny moments from those previously limited opportunities for outdoor exercise like what Tarmachan Mountaineering has been doing. Alas, the worries of the moment overwhelmed me so it only is now that I am getting to flesh out this post for your perusal.
Thankfully, things are looking up a little now and the Spring Bank Holiday weekend saw me finding emptier corners for solitary relaxation. As you would expect, they turned up in some lesser frequented spots like around Pott Shrigley, Rainow, Higher Sutton, Bosley and North Rode. Each did me the world of good and there was no need to deal with human encounters given the added alertness required of the time in which we find ourselves.
Back in November 2017, none of this could be foreseen, and my task then was to recuperate and recharge after a stressful few years that life had sent me. When opportunities arose, I got out then and found quieter spots, but encounters with humanity had none of the edge that they do nowadays. The stroll described here had an immediate forebear and shared with it echoes of my early efforts at hill wandering. That came from my first-ever encounter with Ladybower Reservoir being on Holy Saturday in 2002 and this hike allowed plenty of time to admire that attractively placed body of water.
Returning to Easter 2002, the whole weekend had me spending a lot of time in the Peak District. It started on Holy Thursday when I tried out the Doctor's Gate Footpath and a little part of the Pennine Way before returning to Glossop. Good Friday then was spent around Glossop and nearby Hadfield with a first visit to Longdendale, a place which appealed to me in spite of the electricity pylons. Though the collection of reservoirs hardly were so intrusive, I was left wondering how it might have appeared before they were built, and any appearances have done nothing to forestall return visits.
Though it similarly is a piece of human landscape engineering, that thought about wildness in Longdendale never really enters my mind when it comes to Ladybower Reservoir. The more natural appearance of the setting might have something to do with it and the absence of electricity pylons has to help as much as sights of steep-sided valleys with fingers of water reaching into them. At least, that is how it always seems to me whenever I think of this area and the photos accompanying this piece of writing may confirm that.
In many ways, the hike from November 2017 that is described here also reprised parts of a journey taken on a damp autumn day in another of the early years of this century. Then, the day improved as I continued all the way to Edale, but the 2017 counterpart had no such need as it remained sunny all the way until sunset.
Both walks, though separated by more than a decade, took a similar course: on arriving at Hope train station, I started to make my way towards Win Hill. It may have been a place that I have visited on numerous but every time has been different. Such is the spread of seasons and variability of weather that it is difficult if not impossible to see it and its surroundings in the same kind of light more than once.
This time, my chosen route took me past Ryecroft and Thornhill Carrs on a variety of footpaths chosen to reach the top of Win Hill from the east. As I went over the top, the views all around and below me looked resplendent in the autumn sunshine. That I was not stopped in my track by the sights would be a surprise except that I had a circuit in mind before nightfall so that kept me moving, but the scenery was much enjoyed too, and the portfolio included views over Bamford and Yorkshire Bridge towards Stanage Edge as well as what you see above.
Once over the summit, I dropped down to Hope Cross, after which I started my descent to reach the River Ashop in the Woodlands Valley. From there, I continued to Ladybower Dam while enjoying the fading light of day and with my legs feeling less energetic than might have been desired. There was nothing for the task but keep going up and down as the track shadowed the shoreline. Along the way, a farmer was out to see his livestock while my journey continued.
At the dam, curiosity overcame any physical fatigue to see where the northern end of the Derwent Valley Heritage Way was to be found before retracing my steps and following it as far as the A6187. All the while, daylight faded to darkness and my head torch was used not only for navigating the gloaming but also in the dark of night, with a field being negotiated without rancour or error.
That added challenge may have cost me time on the way to Bamford train station though and I missed a train departure by a mere minute. The next day came sunny too, as if niggles come in pairs. However, the fact that I had enjoyed a superb day out was more than enough recompense for any forgettable irritations.
Travel Commentary
A day when the railways faced major disruptions hardly was one to travel from Macclesfield to Hope for a walk in the Dark Peak but no one was to know ahead of time and it did not delay my arrival in any event. As it happened, the journey home was slightly blighted by my missing a train at Bamford by less than a minute. That forced a wait of an hour for me, and getting back to Macclesfield from Manchester also was complicated by disruption elsewhere in the rail network. Even so, rail travel travails on that day have done nothing to deter me from trying again; these things ebb and flow.
Confinement
24th May 2020 Looking back on last year now, it strikes me just how I never went walking the countryside as much as I might have done. However, there were preoccupations weighing on my mind. Ongoing political events were among them but a then forthcoming upheaval in my working life was a more pronounced concern. The latter continued into this year but was sorted in March though it had limited excursions in January as much as the weather did likewise in February.
Whatever tricky challenges I had imagined for 2020, they became nothing compared to a new viral disease that had sent us all into lockdown. In my case, it also brought added tension that got the better of me in April. Chats with clinicians have helped and I am moving beyond the episode now thanks to clarification of thinking as much as daily relaxation exercises.
Throughout all of this, I ventured out of doors every day for physical exercise in the locality. Some days, I have contented myself with local parks (Riverside, Victoria, South and West) but my horizons have expanded on other ones. As well as walking, I have returned to cycling too in an effort to make the current time feel less confining. While fairer weather and the time of year add encouragement, it also is amazing how a level of restriction causes you to make more use of what you have and that applies to me too.
All the while, I have been seeking our quieter places for an added sense of relaxation. Generally, I would have sought solitude anyway but social distancing is another motivation. Living in Macclesfield, I am fortunate to have nearby hill country into which I can escape. Of course, others can have similar ideas and that is why I limit travel along both the Macclesfield Canal and the Middlewood Way.
Tegg's Nose and Croker Hill have seen encounters along with a variety of local places like Henbury, Gawsworth, Bollington, Prestbury, Rainow, Siddington, Marton, Alderley Edge, Chelford, North Rode and Bosley. The latter list sounds fairly extensive in its disorderly arrangement but it is good to have such surrounding countryside when so many are staying close to home.
Some places like Henbury can be busier that might be expected so it is taking some time to learn how to ensure social distancing is ever improving. Cutting down on touching of surfaces and bringing hand sanitiser on an outing is part of the way of things at the moment though there have been little moral boosters as well.
It might any some but the pervasive of sunny days is a blessing too and I have been making photos as I go. It is amazing what new sights you can find on a local patch. For instance, Macclesfield's South Park offers views of Shutlingsloe and Croker Hill that add to a sunny evening stroll. There are new rights of way to find and travel as well as amenities like Bosley Reservoir. It all helps to lift a mood and can grant you a quiet relaxing cycling or stroll if you get things right with timing. Going out when others are not inspired to do the same remains a possibility as much as finding where they have not been inspired to go.
An autumnal return to Derbyshire’s Great Ridge
3rd March 2020 Late last year, I got to read Tim Flannery's Europe: The First 100 Million Years. While this mainly is a palaeontological tale, it also features geological facets too, and it fascinates me that Europe is in essence built from an island archipelago. Putting all that together probably gave us the hills and mountains that we enjoy today, and I am left wondering if there are echoes of those former islands in the diversity of nations that exist throughout history and into our own time. The latter story leads to the politics of preceding and current ages, of which I was reminded while reading Simon Jenkins' A Short History of Europe: From Pericles to Putin. That was another of my recent reads, though I do limit my exposure to news of current developments since they tend to hurt just a bit.
It is not the latter that causes me to recount my recent reading, but the book that I mentioned at the beginning. After all, I am recalling a hike from October 2017 that took in an area with limestone formations laid down by undersea creatures when it was in the tropics, such is the rearranging work of plate tectonics. Yorkshire may be better known for such things, but Derbyshire has its share too.
The autumn of 2017 was for me a time for recuperation and recovery, and there were sunnier slots that lured me out and about. In contrast, its counterpart in 2019 was filled with near-continual wet weather, uncertainty and some big career decisions. 2020 has seen much of the same kind of weather already, but the work conundrum is on its way to getting resolved, so I can look ahead a little more.
All of that lay in the future on the sunny Sunday in 2017 when I travelled to Hope after having whetted my appetite for hill wandering around Calderdale. Naturally, the weather lured others out and about too, with some being less prepared with knowledge than was ideal. Hearing the questions of some, it was if they were destined for a self-contained spot like Lyme Park rather than the more open country around the Hope Valley. Still, they made their own way after some guidance from others, and our paths crossed later in the day.
My destination was somewhere that I reckon I had not trodden since a wet weather outing in December 2009: Derbyshire's Great Ridge. This time, I walked it in the opposite direction from the two other occasions that I recall walking it; in addition to the 2009 encounter, there was a sunnier Sunday traverse earlier that decade (perhaps in 2002) and that took me over Win Hill too if I remember correctly.
In some ways, it was that first-ever trip that lured me back again. Then, film photography was my means of recording any sights that I witnessed along the way, and I fancied seeing what I could do with digital image capture. That was more than enough encouragement for the initial ascent of Lose Hill. Getting there from Hope train station took me around by Aston, Farfield Farm, Kirkhill Bridge and Losehill Farm. Sunny skies were my lot all the while, though greater cloudiness was to intrude later in the hike.
Once up on Lose Hill, I could see a lot more of what surrounded me, with Hope village and Win Hill being among these. The Great Ridge is a popular place to hike too, so I needed to share the way with others as far as Win Hill when I took a quieter route on the way to Castleton. There still were plenty of moments of solitude, though, so the trail did feel too crowded.
An easy-to-follow trail carried me along the undulating ridge, and the pleasing sights in the autumn sunshine continued despite all the clouds in the sky. Views were there to take my eyes back along where I had come, as well as peering where I had not been. Hope Valley and Edale were there to be surveyed as much as the hills that surrounded them. While there was much that was familiar, there also were a multitude of new sights to savour just as well.
Mam Tor was a busy place as it so often is, and it was not solely foot travellers who had found their way there, but paragliders also were about in numbers. As is often the case with honeypots, it takes going a little distance away to regain added solitude. Unusually, this act took me downhill instead of gaining some height, as is so often the case.
By now, I was en route towards Castleton as the sun declined ever more in the sky. The day was nearing its end, but the scenery was not to be plunged into darkness so quickly. My route was to take me over Windy Knoll and past Rowter Farm as I traipsed towards a rendezvous with the Limestone Trail for the last stretch of my outdoor strolling for the day.
It was to address a missing section of a hike from Buxton to Castleton on a summer's day that lost the route of the Limestone Trail somewhere near Peak Forest. Getting the rest of the way took a spot of muddled navigation, with general positioning being evident, but greater precision was lost to me at the time. Still, I got to where I wanted to be, albeit with a sense of dissatisfaction at its execution.
Even with declining light, there was none of that imprecision this time around, and I dropped into Cave Dale as intended. What slowed things was the need for careful progress along a track over limestone paving. That took its toll on my already fatigued limbs, but I got to Castleton without any sense of mishap. From there, a mix of bus and rail travel was to get me home again after a more than decent day out.
Travel Arrangements
Return train journey between Macclesfield and Hope, with a change in Manchester Piccadilly. Bus journey from Castleton to Hope.
Weather better suited to indoor investigations
28th February 2020 Unlike this time last year when I was in the middle of string of outdoor excursions, this month has little very little action at all. The weather has brought storm after storm and the rain is flooding down from the sky as I write this words. January may have been more appealing but other concerns like gaining a new contract took precedence. That has been sorted now so next week should see a start on revenue earning work again.
That is not to say that I have not been exploring ideas for overseas trips or one nearer home even if COVID-19 could limit such excursions for a while. Finding possible destinations in Washington State, Oregon, Montana and Wyoming has drive me to perusing various guidebooks and others for Colorado, California and Ontario have found their way onto my reading list. It is the prospect of extending North American explorations after last year's stint in British Columbia that is the underlying motivation for all of this.
There is no shortage of wilderness areas but there is a need to find a base from which to explore them. Denver looks promising for a stay in Colorado but I need to uncover more about that state and, in a sense, the same applies to Lake Tahoe on the boundary between California and Nevada or Ontario where being based in Toronto could have a use.
Reading guidebooks may not sound exciting but they do advance all these pipe dreams. Consulting local magazines like Distinctly Montana, Wyoming Magazine, Big Sky Journal, Montana Outdoors and Montana Quarterly would augment these in a more bite-sized manner and some have email newsletters too so it is not a case of reading everything at once only then to forget it all afterwards. My European explorations have been more gradual affairs, after all, and it always helps to find ideas one at a time.
The next steps would be to make use of these but that will depend on how the year goes. COVID-19 is a reminder that events can derail such designs so it is best to see what can be facilitated. One thing is sure though: another visit to North America could happen yet.
