Category: Long Distance Trails
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.
Can it get too hot for walking?
14th August 2008 We humans are a fickle bunch when it comes to weather, and I am no different. My ideal walking conditions involve a dry sunny day with a bit of a breeze and temperatures between 10 and 20 degrees Celsius (I have to say that the Fahrenheit temperature scale is next to meaningless for me). Over the course of this year, I have been battling that easy inclination to stay at home on grey days or any time when rain threatens. While it can be a good way of keeping you at home to get things done, you can overdo it too and never get out there at all.
I think that you could ask any walker, and they'd suggest that soggy days are a turn-off, but I have thought of another one: hot boiling sweltering sunny days like what we had at the end of July. Some adore these, yet I doubt that they've ever really suited me; I suppose that we all differ from one other. To me, it could be seen as being just as unpleasant for hiking as getting constantly soaked. In fact, if you don't watch it, the health consequences of being out in boiling heat could be worse than wet weather. Hydration is very much part of this, and Outdoors Magic recently posted a very useful article on the subject that provides some food for thought. Otherwise, head coverage, keeping well watered, using good sunscreen and finding the occasional shady rest spot to keep yourself together is all very much in order.
What put this idea into my head was my going for a circular hike around Welshpool that took in a part of the Offa's Dyke Path a few weeks back. I experienced the sort of weather whose absence is the source of many a moan. Last year was a case in point, but those who were on the receiving end of the deluges last July really did have cause for complaint. Its timing was unfortunate in the sense that it happened during the summer school holidays, and it might be all that some remember of 2007, a travesty given the wonderful start that the year had. Even though I too have fallen victim to this notion of a summer climax, I am beginning to come around to the delights of a cooler if damper summer, particularly when it comes to wandering through hill country. Another downside to this idea of there being a climax to the year is that your outdoor outings plummet in frequency once August has passed. It's all too easy to do, and I know because it tends to happen to me. It's almost as if I hibernate until December, when I manage to get going in earnest again. That's a pity because autumn can have many special moments to offer.
Speaking of autumn, it has a lot to offer those who wander through hill country. The days might be shorter, but they are cooler as well and without being too chilly. Destinations that are thronged in July and August are quieter, just like they were in April and May. After all of that, there's the glorious autumnal colour that can come upon us, depending on the year (drier summers are better for this, apparently). The ambiance might be like the calm after a storm or, if you prefer, after the climax, but there's much to savour in the mellowness.
I have often talked of my liking of spring on here and I now want to make better use of the delights of autumn, but there's another matter taking up occupancy in my head: is it worthwhile scaling back summer walking a little and devoting a bit more attention to the rest of the year? For one thing. The ever present threat of global warming might well make this approach something of a necessity.
A wander around Welshpool in hot weather
30th July 2008 After a mini-heatwave, we seem to have returned to more run-of-the-mill British weather again. Not being a fan of hot weather, I am not sorry, even if it means that things are a little damper. That heat made the past weekend none too ideal for a spot of hill wandering, but July seemed to slip by without such an outing and, on Sunday, I headed off to Welshpool for a circular hike regardless. It was to be a day for protecting oneself from the effects of strong sun and intense heat. There was a threat of showers, but I was long ensconced at home by the time that one happened in Macclesfield, and none was to cool me down on my way around Montgomeryshire.
The travel arrangements were easy: take a train to Wolverhampton and change there for the last leg of the journey, both on the way out and the way back. Public transport arrangements aren't that easy sometimes, so this was one of the simpler days. The journey wasn't too long either, with a departure not long before 09:00 landing me in Welshpool at around 11:25. Even with departing at about 18:50, I was back home well before 22:00.
Being allotted a good amount of time, I decided not to force myself and to watch how much walking I was doing, understandable given the weather on the day. I started with a quick amble around Welshpool before heading for the hills, and it actually looks a reasonably pleasant town. My escape into the countryside took me north along the Montgomery canal, part of the Severn Way, until I approached the Offa's Dyke Path. Crossing from one trail to the other did mean some crossing of busy roads and a building site for a new livestock market. Once past those obstacles, I joined the aforementioned national trail at Buttington to proceed through fields where cereals are growing before I hit the slopes. The hinterland of the Severn clearly has its fertile spots.
As with other parts of the Offa's Dyke Path, the hills to the east of Welshpool are not that high, but they are steep-sided. I found the same sort of topography around Knighton and the hill country north around Ruthin, Llangollen and Chirk also shares this characteristic. The day was getting hotter all the while, so I took my time ascending the slopes until they levelled out a bit as I neared Beacon Ring fort, the highest point of my hike at around 400 metres above sea level. From there on, the terrain stayed more friendly with its ups and downs and forest cover was on offer for a good of the journey down to Forden, where I left the Offa's Dyke Path to return to Welshpool.
That return involved a lot of road walking, never a pleasant thing and not helped by boiling heat or having to keep an eye out for combine harvesters and their ilk. A plan for using the public footpath network to cut down on the tarmac bashing came to nought when I saw what my map's suggestion crossed: a field with growing crops and no obvious way through. In any case, it was better not to attempt tricky navigation in the heat.
As I continued on, I took advantage of any shade for a rest when it offered, and it is for that reason that I took a break beside a high hedge near Welshpool's airport. After negotiating a roundabout that thankfully wasn't too busy at the time, I made my way up a quiet lane that took me again onto the Montgomery canal and the Severn Way for the last stretch of the way into Welshpool. By now, the heat was such that I was glad to be reaching my journey's end for the day and, when I did make Welshpool, I found a quiet and well appreciated shady spot for a bit of recuperation before catching the train home again.
Not a bad weekend…
15th June 2008 It's the sort of time when I might have been off somewhere, braving the threat of showers. However, a bout of flu picked up last weekend in Ireland has meant that staying at home has been the most sensible option. Still, getting grounded with sunny skies outside does wonders for the outdoors enthusiasm, never a bad thing. For one thing, it allows ideas for excursions to foment, and the same could be said for that weekend in Ireland.
Regular visitors will know that my native Ireland has never played host to a proper hillwalking outing of mine to date and that I am always wanting to change that, even if plans have never come to fruition to date. Last weekend's outing to Killarney was as strong a reminder of that as any. It was anything but my typical outing with it involving a lot of driving and I doing it. My people are not big into walking, but I still managed to get a stroll lasting up to two hours out of the day.
This part of Kerry plays host to a goodly amount of quality hill country, and there's a very tempting long-distance trail that threads its way though a lot of it: the Kerry Way. As it happened, my short walk wandered along part of the said trail as I plied my way from Muckross House to Torc Waterfall and back again. The day was a grey one, damp at times, but the scenery was nonetheless wonderful; if we had the weather of the preceding and subsequent days, then the appearance of the surrounding landscape would have been next to peerless. I had to leave the tempting track of the old Kenmare road after me, or those with me might have been wondering what happened to me on my brief escape. The amble was a good taster, and I must sort out that proper Irish hillwalking trip...
From Borrowdale into Great Langdale
5th June 2008 Last Saturday was a day when I was torn between possibilities. One dilemma that I didn't face was whether to go somewhere for a dander or not; that one was settled. It's where I was going that was the outstanding question, and the choice was between Wales and Cumbria. Even though Dolwyddelan tempted and remained a backup in the event of anything going awry on the travel front, it was Cumbria's Lake District that was to get my vote because a walk in Borrowdale was in my head for a while and I hadn't been to the area since last July anyway. If my time was more restricted, then my decision could have been very different.
My journey to Borrowdale was set to involve many changes: Stockport, Crewe, Penrith, Keswick. With this number ahead of me, it would have been better if passengers could control themselves and police didn't need to meet what was to be my train from Crewe. Luckily, I had a twenty-minute wait in Penrith in prospect, but losing ten minutes due to a delayed train soon chopped that down to size and delays can beget further delays. As it turned out, I had no cause for concern, and I easily made my bus to Keswick. However, I was reminded of my connection to Borrowdale when I saw slow traffic on the A66 and more people getting on at Threlkeld than I had ever seen before. It so happened that the Borrowdale bus was late, sufficiently so that one would start to wonder if it had departed without my seeing it. Keswick bus interchange was a busy spot that day.
Following all those opportunities for groundless anxiousness, I found myself in Rosthwaite, relaxed and enjoying wonderful sunshine. Eating an ice cream, I found my way onto the Cumbria Way that I was set to follow all the way into Langdale. Being a sunny day in the Lake District, solitude was not to be expected, but there were to be moments when I had a lot of space to myself. Still, it never seems to surprise me how easy it can be to lose them. Even so, Rosthwaite and Stonethwaite were hardly overrun anyway, but most of those perambulating about them seem to have got nary a thought of going further afield. With the sights that were on offer, I suppose that it is hard to blame them.
Having skirted past Stonethwaite, another choice presented itself: to stick with the original plan to walk to Dungeon Ghyll or tramp over Greenup Edge to Grasmere. If things got a bit too crowded on the former, the latter was to be my plan. They didn't, and I managed to drag myself onward to leave the Grasmere option for another day. A sign for Watendlath had tempted me earlier, but I managed to put that into my stash of ideas for the future too. Thus, I struck on for and through Langstrath, a wide, open and empty space in keeping with its Scottish-esque name. Also in keeping with any pseudo-Scottishness, it was here where I met next to nobody but a goodly number of Herdwick sheep.
The seemingly obvious southbound exit from Langstrath is to follow the valley's beck to Angle Tarn and drop down from there by the side of Rosset Gill. This is not the way taken by the Cumbria Way, though; instead, a more direct route over Stake Pass is its choice. On paper, this is a seemingly unimpressive 200–300 metres of ascent. In reality, as with many slopes in these parts, that apparent "walk in the park" can be a lot more testing than those numbers might suggest. For one thing, you can guarantee steepness and erosion means that route finding involves a spot of blundering about on a maze of paths, many deviating from the "correct" one. Couple all of that with the hot and often breezeless day, and you have to take it nice and slow on the ascent. A descent still offers plenty of footholds, but you still need your wits about you so as not to take a more horizontal position than you would like.
On reaching the top, I soon found a spot to rest a while after my exertions. By this stage of the day, the sky was full of cloud and the sun had become well hidden. It remained pleasantly warm, though, and I enjoyed the flatter gradients before the descent that faced me. The state of the path down couldn't be more different than the one that I used on my way up. The National Trust have been keeping an eye on things and have been doing some further work over the past few months to improve things. I might have said that it didn't need the attention and that the path from Langstrath to Stake Pass needed it more. There is a counterpoint to this of course: the way up from the floor of Langdale is a busier trail because of the proximity of such delights as the Langdale Pikes, Pike'o'Stickle and many more. The result of the attentions was that I made steady progress down a well-built and pitched path that would be obstructed in places by big bags of big stones.
That descent and obstacle dodging completed, the track really levelled out and, apart maybe from the deepness of the loose stone surface in parts, it was easy and undemanding walking all the way to the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel. If I had arrived twenty minutes earlier, I might have caught the 16:30 bus to Ambleside, but a wait of over an hour, in blissful surroundings with the sun attempting to get through the cloud, for the next one was no hardship. I did consider walking further along Great Langdale, but reconsidered it on the grounds of time and wiled away the time on a shorter stroll instead.
When the bus did turn up, we found out that it terminated in Ambleside rather than Kendal as per the timetable. There were those who were far from happy with this state of affairs, more than likely those with ongoing connections. I suppose that anyone who was going south of Oxenholme would have had the limitations of late Saturday evening services on their minds. As with my travel that morning, any connection anxiety was needless since we easily made a connecting bus from Ambleside. That got me to Windermere in plenty of time for the start of the railway journey home, with changes in Oxenholme and Manchester. The sun was out as I was leaving; was it an effort to coax me into a return trip for those walking ideas that I had to set aside earlier that day?
