Category: Scotland
2006, a walking year
5th January 2007 Now that we have reached the beginning of 2007, it seems an appropriate place to take stock of 2006. So far, this year has begun as cloudily as 2006, but the latter did brighten up as January moved on and opportunities for walking trips soon presented themselves and continued to do so over the course of the rest of the year.
January began with a trot to Edinburgh for the post-Christmas sales. After that, the idea of catching a Caledonian Sleeper - a first for me and an expensive one at that - from Crewe to Fort William proved too tempting for me. After travelling overnight, I woke up to a memorable morning in the Scottish Highlands. Once I had sorted out somewhere to stay, an easy task in Fort William in January, I started walking in the sun on what turned out to be a very memorable day. It started with a trot along the Great Glen Way to Caol before I headed into Glen Nevis. Once there, I climbed to Dun Deardail via the West Highland Way, taking in memorable views along the way. A tired but happy walker made his way back to his base for the night, snoozed a little before getting something to eat and walking under the street lights along the coast road pondering the quiet of Fort William, hardly believing that it was the same tourist magnet frequented many a time during high season. Pathetic fallacy prevailed, with rain accompanying my departure by coach after the short but memorable visit. The next weekend saw me head to Northumberland for a hike along the coast between Alnmouth and Craster, a day trek that showed opportunities for the future. The following weekend saw me sampling the Pony Track up the slopes of Cadair Idris, near Dolgellau. A little snow was encountered high up, but the sun was well out, though the north-facing slope remained frozen underfoot: a pleasurable experience (then new to me) that could not be spoiled by a little slip on frozen grassland as I neared the end of my descent. I also snaffled a Sunday stroll around Lyme Park among this lot.
February was largely unfavourable, unless you enjoy walking in the rain. However, I took my chances at the end of the month and completed Yorkshire's Three Peaks; I summited Pen y Ghent a few years ago. Snow and ice were negotiated carefully on the higher east-facing slopes of Ingleborough and its summit; a descent of its western slopes avoided descending with such conditions underfoot. The walk started at Ribblehead railway station on the Settle-Carlisle railway line and finished in Ingleton, which used to have a railway station of its own time, a different line that hasn't survived the passage of time. Buses got me back to Skipton, from where my train journey home commenced. The following Saturday saw me ascend Whernside, completing Yorkshire's trio. The weather remained pleasant until the final approach to Whernside's summit, when clag, snow and rain came down from the north. I also had to watch my step due to the paved path up Whernside's eastern slopes having become iced up; I can cope with snow, but ice has me considering the purchase of crampons; I have yet to acquire such items. While the clag made me pay attention to my map reading, a useful stone wall and clear track guided me up and over. However, what was snow on the top became rain at lower altitudes, and the return to Ribblehead station became a bit of a slog. After a chilly wait, I was delighted to see my train home. The experience of a wet jacket in cold conditions sowed the seeds that bore fruit in my acquisition of a Rab Latok jacket later on.
Early March greeted us with snow, and an intended Sunday trip to the Derbyshire dales got interrupted by arresting views around the Cat and Fiddle Inn between Macclesfield and Buxton. My new plan took me from the aforementioned pub around the slopes of Shining Tor into the Goyt Valley, with wonderful grippy powder dry snow underfoot, before I picked up the Midshires Way that took me into Buxton for my return home.
April provided its chances too, staring with a Wednesday afternoon stroll from my house, around Tegg's Nose, through Macclesfield Forest to Forest Chapel and Shutlingsloe before returning home via Langley; a good day's walking from my doorstep. Easter weather was a mixed bag, yet it transpired that I stayed overnight on Ayrshire's Isle of Arran on Easter Sunday, taking in Goat Fell and taking a bus trip around the island during my short visit. While the weather had its moments, my sojourn could inspire a future return. At the end of April, I took an overnight journey to Fort William for the start of a Mayday bank holiday weekend trip to Scotland's Highlands. Even though bikers had descended on the town for the weekend, as is they are wont to do every year, I did manage to get somewhere to stay on Saturday night. Following hill tracks got me from Corrour Station to Spean Bridge, yet another memorable day spent among snow-capped mountains. The next day saw me travelling to Inverness before heading to Pitlochry for a flying visit before I made my way home again. That Scottish trek takes us into May, an otherwise quiet month on the hillwalking front but one in which my blogging began, and I got to know the pungent aroma created by a field of flowering oil seed rape on my journeys too and from work.
With the coming of June, my walking again stepped up a gear. Its first weekend saw me sampling coastal walking in Pembrokeshire. This was followed by a weekend trip to Galashiels and Peebles in the Scottish Borders. The main event was a trek from Peebles to Innerleithen starting on used to be a droving road followed by some cross-country travel, made legal thanks to the Scottish Rights of Way Act, before road travel got me to Traquair and Innerleithen. Berwick-upon-Tweed was my jumping off point after a Friday night stay and Galashiels was my Borders base until I returned home on Sunday. Lockerbie was my base for the following weekend from where I went for a recce around Moffat: the Southern Upland Way and views of the Devil's Beef Tub featured.
With the coming of July, I ventured into Yorkshire again, this time for an amble from Ribblehead to Sedbergh. From Ribblehead, I followed the slopes around Whernside to reach the Craven Way before I joined the Dales Way for the final part of my walk. The track to Whernside felt like the M6 with loads of folk abroad, a big contrast to my owning summiting of Whernside when only a few souls were out and about, but that made things more pleasurable, and I was glad to leave it for the Craven Way. The rest of the walk was a largely quiet affair. A taxi journey from there to Kirkby Stephen train station set me up for my journey home. Later on in July, I took my chance for what has become my now annual summer stay in Scotland. Pitlochry was the base this year, and I have to admit that I did get away from the heat of England. From Pitlochry, I radiated out to Kinloch Rannoch, Kingussie, Kenmore, Aberfeldy and Killiecrankie. I also took in Pitlochry's local summit of Ben Vrackie. It wasn't all sunshine, yet cloudy dry days are good for making time while walking, although sunshine is often better for camera-wielders like me.
Apparently, August was forecast as being a continuation of the July heatwave but, if it was, it was to be a no-show. August's wet weather turned my mind to waterproofs, but it also meant that sunny September weekends did not get wasted. I took myself off to Moffat, with a walk along the Southern Upland Way from St. Mary's Loch back to base forming the centrepiece of the weekend. Sunday was also offering in weather terms but, sadly, other things like recovering and returning home had to take priority. I was also tired after the excursions of the previous day. For me, the other walking high point of September was a trip to Northumberland on another glorious autumn (for me, anyway) day. Views of the coast were taken in on a longer than usual journey (thanks to railway engineering works) to Berwick-upon-Tweed. While there, I took a risk and headed to Wooler for a sample of St. Cuthbert's Way and while I did get home that night, I was concerned more than once along the way.
October and November were quieter affairs. In October, my sole outing was a trot from Hadfield to Glossop by way of the Longdendale Trail, the Pennine Way and the Doctor's Gate footpath. The sun was well out and the temperatures higher than you would expect for an October Sunday. This preceded a cold snap that returned us to reality. The walk was uneventful apart from a slight misnavigation that was easily corrected. In November, I got one fine interlude that allowed me to explore the central Brecon Beacons before a long spell of wet and unsettled weather set in. On that day though, Corn Du, Pen y Fan and the other summits that I encountered were resplendent in the sunshine and their memory tempts me back.
While December may be winter's pivot, the walking continued once it stopped raining. I got to Bellingham in the heart of Northumberland by way of Carlisle and Hexham. A tramp along the Pennine Way was as muddy as could be expected after all the rain that we were getting. In fact, the day of my ramble was what we in Ireland would call a "pet day" and it was all the better for it. Later, the weather settled down a little and I got to savour the delightful views around Harlech: castle, coastline and crags. There is more to see here, so I would not rule out a return.
In summary, 2006 could be said to be the year when I started to go beyond my usual haunts a lot. England's Peak District did see me sporadically, as did Yorkshire and North Wales. Cumbria's Lake District has attracted my attention a lot over the years, yet only saw me flying by on the railway line during last year. Scotland has seen a lot more of me than in previous years, so 2006 could be labelled the Year of Scotland for me, in walking terms at least. Southern Scotland and Northumberland have seen me more than before, Northumberland hosting my boots for the first time. Continuing the southern theme, new areas of the south of Wales experienced my attentions for the first time. It has been an interesting year.
What will 2007 bring? We have to await the answer to that one. Meanwhile, all the best for the coming year and happy walking.
Ideas for cycling trips
10th December 2006 Whenever a fine day offers, I'm off on my bike to work and often take a longer route home than I took to get there. Over the years, I have managed to get in the odd recreational cycle as well. When still in Ireland, I was wont to go for regular cycles around my native West Limerick during summer holidays, and in all weathers! These days, I am far more choosy about cycling conditions. In Scotland, my biking has taken me all around Loch Tay, up along Glen Lochay and across the Isle of Skye from Portree to Dunvegan and back, all on hired/borrowed bicycles. Since I moved south to England, I have taken a bike around Yorkshire, Cheshire and even Derbyshire. I must admit that I have never ventured into Wales with a bike, though.
When based in Skipton, my cycling forays took me up into Wharfedale. One took me on to Bolton Abbey, Burnsall and Grassington before I made my back to Skipton via Threshfield. Later on, I continued past Threshfield to Cray at the head of Wharfedale, taking in Kilnsey Crag, Kettlewell, Starbotton and Buckden. As if to prove how fast weather can change, a dull day turned into a fabulous evening in the space of an hour or so. As luck would have it, I forgot my camera; I have more than made up for that since then.
These days my cycling forays seem to be limited to Cheshire, though I did cycle back to Macclesfield from Stoke-on-Trent one Friday evening during this past summer. Tatton Park, Little Moreton, Astbury, Gawsworth Hall, Lower Peover: they've all been ports of call on cycling trips. One evening, I headed over the top to Buxton, a cycle ride involved steep hills that caused me to think that hillwalking might be a worthwhile activity when exploring wild places. I cycled there but a train took me back to Hazel Grove, from where I returned to Macclesfield. The thought of re-encountering steep slopes caused me to rethink my return.
Following the Buxton trip, I restricted my cycles to the flatter parts of Cheshire but the thought of extending my range beyond has come more to the fore this year. There are two sides to this: getting around the limitations of patchy public transport networks and reducing the amount of tedious walking (yes, it does exist).
As regards the first of these, one possibility that comes to mind is the area around Sedbergh and Kirkby Stephen in Cumbria. The paucity of public transport provision is patchy makes a bike look a very liberating device, especially when it comes to exploring the Howgills. Highland Perthshire is very like this part of Cumbria in this regard and having a bike would make exploring the mountains around Loch Tay a reality without the need for a car. Other parts of Highland Scotland are like this too. For instance, a bike would really make light work of the trek from Fort William to Gairlochy (a soul-destroying walk, if ever there was one) and open up the delights of Loch Arkaig. In the spirit of this, speeding along an estate road would shorten many a walk-in, a fact that has not lost on writers in TGO and Trail. One example that comes to mind is the prospect of exploring the landscape around Loch Ericht, a great example in my view.
When I was staying in Pitlochry, I had a passing cyclist joking that I, then in full hillwalking gear awaiting a bus to take me to the start of another walk, was doing things the slow way. Highland Perthshire, like many parts of the U.K., has its share of the National Cycle Network and that puts further ideas into my head. Coming south of the English border, Northumberland has a share and this raises the possibility of exploring Northumberland's coastline by bike, an enticing prospect.
As you can see from this, I got quite a few ideas in mind. Now, all I have got to do it get around to turning them into reality and get over my fear of getting a puncture and missing a train home...
Exploring the Pennine Way
3rd November 2006 Last Sunday was not the first occasion that I walked along part of the Pennine Way; I already been along different sections at different times and in no particular order. Given that its southern terminus is at Edale in Derbyshire, not that far from where I live in Cheshire, my acquaintance with the long distance trail should come as little surprise. Last Sunday took me from Torside reservoir towards the Snake Pass but a sunny Saturday in September 2005 saw me journey along the Way as part of a walk from Edale to Glossop. Before that, I journeyed from Marsden in Yorkshire to Hadfield in Derbyshire, taking in another part of the way on a day that started out glum and ended up glorious.
While all that means that I trotted along most of the way between Marsden and Edale, there are other short sections on which I have been as well. For instance, in July 2002, I walked from Hebden (near Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales) to Malham via the Dales Way, Mastiles Lane, other paths and, of course, the Pennine Way. That meant that section between Malham Tarn and Malham has been visited by my boots. Another short Yorkshire section that has received attention from my boots is that around Pen-y-Ghent in Ribblesdale: the Way goes right over this member of Yorkshire's three peaks (not ideal for tired legs at the end of the day, then).
Reviewing this uncoordinated series of visits has got me thinking: what about a concerted effort? I am not talking about doing it all (or the parts that I have yet to encounter) in one hit but planning to complete it in sections rather than the hotchpotch approach that I have taken to date. For instance, I have been looking a hill day staring in Marsden and heading to Littleborough, Todmorden or Hebden Bridge, depending on how fit I feel and the length of the day. Another thought is to have a look at the northernmost sections around Bellingham and Kirk Yetholm, its northern terminus. Both are reasonably accessible with regular bus services. Then there is everything in between; Terry Marsh's Pennine Way (published by Dalesman) and a good deal of travel planning will help to make inroads on that front. This venture would take me into areas where I have to encounter and some that where my encounters have been so fleeting that they may as well not have happened at all. Alfred Wainwright (of Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells fame) may not have liked this long distance trail but the idea of completing it all or just seeing more of it seems an appealing prospect to me.
Catching up on my outdoor reading
28th September 2006 A brief sojourn in Ireland sparked a thought that refused to dissipate amidst the hustle of family and other obligations. As I caught up with my favourite outdoor magazines (TGO, Walking World Ireland, Outdoor Photography) a question lingered: why do we seldom discuss the public transport options for accessing our natural wonders?
Trail and Country Walking, fortunately, have grasped this concept already. Yet, even TGO, which strives valiantly to cover all aspects of the outdoors, could do more. The assumption, perhaps, is that public transport is wanting in many places. For photographers, the timings often run counter to the whims of landscape photography, best captured during the extremes of daylight. However, I suspect there's another reason behind this omission: car-using writers might simply neglect to mention alternative options when they do not use them themselves.
The Traveline phone number or website address, possibly a beacon for many a British traveller, has become synonymous with a certain lack of application in our outdoor community. Could we, as advocates and practitioners of the great outdoors, nudge them towards more providing comprehensive information? It could start with our showing where to find this; even a bus route number would be an improvement on what we see much of the time, and telling the whereabouts of the nearest bus or train stop would help, even if there is more distance to go on foot to reach a trailhead.
To embrace this new frontier, one must first acknowledge the sustainability that public transport offers, and there are times when it works better for linear hikes too. So let us seize this opportunity to redefine our outdoor pursuits, embracing the journey as much as the destination. Why don't we champion public transport, advocate for comprehensive information, and encourage fellow explorers to leave their cars at home?
Getting to Moffat
12th September 2006 While getting to Moffat by public transport takes some care, it really is worth the planning and the effort. Moffat lost its railway branch line some years ago and is now dependent on bus connections. Nevertheless, the West Coast Mainline still runs near it, even if the nearest station is Lockerbie. And there is the A74(M) for those endowed with a motor car.
Speaking of Lockerbie, the obvious thing to do is to get the train there when travelling to Moffat. However, the connecting bus (Stagecoach 382) to Moffat is not as regular as it might be. Another option is to get to Dumfries and catch a bus from there: these are more frequent.
However, getting to Dumfries is then the trick to accomplish. There are train services there from Carlisle, but there is an air of irregularity about them. There is, however, a regular bus service (Stagecoach Cumbria 79) between Carlisle and Dumfries with a journey time of up to 90 minutes. From the north, there are somewhat infrequent services from Glasgow (Stagecoach Western X74) and Edinburgh (coach services 101 and 102).
For information, Dumfries and Galloway Council is a good port of call for public transport information, particularly timetables. Stagecoach Western Scotland is the major bus operator in the area, while smaller operators like McEwan's Coach Services abound as well. Stagecoach Cumbria operates services from Carlisle into the region. And DGC operates social services itself as well. ScotRail and Virgin Trains are the rail operators in the region.
