Outdoor Discoveries

Narrowing a gap

The chance of a few fine February weekends has allowed me to continue my Pennine Way project after what has been a lengthy hiatus. The gap in my northbound progress to Hawes has been between Haworth and Gargrave and it is one that’s been nagging at the back of my mind for a while now. It’s a section that may be a light workout for the legs in comparison with others, but that means that you are crossing farmland. That introduces field navigation, a practice fraught with opportunities for error due to OS’ difficulty in showing the lines of footpaths to the required level of precision and accuracy on their Explorer maps. The same issue affects any attempt to exit any sort of sizeable conurbation into hill country. Waymarking does help but only if it is done properly and I have got the impression that it’s not one of North Yorkshire County Council’s finer points. In fact, the sight of homemade signs and arrows paint and on stone walls is a little amazing when the role of such interventions is to direct you along what is a major national trail.

If I had taken heed of such amateur signposting, I would probably have avoided heading in the direction of someone’s backyard at the start of my walk south from Gargrave a few weekends ago. I was set right when I heard tapping on a window and I was suitably chastened because it was my own curiosity that led me to continue in the wrong way. Getting to Gargrave in the first place was a minor travail with the railway taking the strain for me. I had planned to allow a bit of slack by catching an earlier train from Macclesfield but it got cancelled due to a staff shortage. Nevertheless, everything went as I had hoped, even if the train carrying me from Manchester to Leeds got crowded by ramblers at Dewsbury; they seemed to have headed off somewhere else because Gargrave was quiet and I starting out, which might have been just as well…

Once I had got onto the PW, it was very much a case of paying attention as I plied my way. Finding the initial sign in Gargrave itself required patience and the same quality was much required as I made my way from field to field until reaching the canal at East Marton. After following the canal for a short while, it was back to more careful field crossing until I reached Thornton-in-Craven. I may have veered slightly off route at times, but things on the navigational side were keeping up. After Thornton though, a spot of navigational bumbling struck around Brown House Farm before I got back on track again. After my thankfully unobserved fumbling, moorland began its encounter as I headed up and over Elslack Moor before more field walking until I reached Lothersdale, a pretty spot. I did have designs on continuing a bit further along the PW before returning to civilisation, but navigation looked uncertain at that hour of the day and I chose an alternative route that mixed footpaths and roads until I met up with a bus stop near Lumb Mill Bridge from where I took a bus to Keighley and it was all rail travel until I got home.

There was a gap between Lothersdale and Haworth to be closed and it wouldn’t have received attention on the following weekend were it not for the fact that I couldn’t muster up enough energy for a visit to Borrowdale in Cumbria on the Saturday. The fine weather was prodding my conscience, so a trip to Haworth was in order for the Sunday. The journey there involved: a bus to Manchester, a train to Hebden Bridge and a bus to Haworth. From Haworth, I got to Ponden Reservoir over public footpaths and roads in just over an hour, not very fast for some but I was satisfied. The day was glorious and icy conditions remained in places where the sun couldn’t work its magic. The walking around the reservoir was easy and uneventful, but an energetic climb up and over Ickornshaw was soon to great me. Steady progress saw me up onto the moor where an observant eye kept me on track. The way down to Ickornshaw can cause confusion because of its many twists and turns with some homemade signposting in evidence; the waymarking people could do with visiting these parts. The good people of Ickornshaw have resorted to painting arrows on stone walls to keep weary walkers on track but I was to potter through to Cowling for a bus to Keighley and a railway journey back home.

The remaining piece between Ickornshaw and Lothersdale still beckons, but that is another opportunity for exploring these parts rather than something maddening. The section itself is a reasonably short one, so further walking can be added to see these parts from another angle. It’s good to see more possibilities…

2007: the excursions reviewed

It’s very human to look back at the turn of a year/decade/century/millennium/etc. and, this time last year, I took the opportunity to look over my travels in 2006. In the same vein, I now cast my mind back over the same sort thing but for 2007 instead. If 2006 was to be the year of seeking out pastures new, then 2007 has been a year largely taken up with following long distance trails into country familiar to me from a different angle and, more often than not, into country that I am visiting for the first time.

2007 was to start quietly with only one walking excursion in January. The weather didn’t tempt but for day when I went to Chirk for a trek to Llangollen that saw me hop over and back along the Wales-England border before picking up a small piece of the Offa’s Dyke Path and leaving that to get to Llangollen before nightfall. It was a case of something old, something new and put an idea into my head that laid the foundations for a walk later in the year. The long distance trail ethic that was to pervade my walking in 2007 had made an early appearance.

February built up the long distance trail trend with my exploring two trails. First up was the Pennine Way with a hike from Hebden Bridge to Littleborough giving me a feel for the moors above Calderdale. Walks along the Pennine Way, still unfinished business in 2008, were to pervade my outings until the end of April. My second excursion took me up to Scotland for the southernmost part of the West Highland Way: Milngavie to Drymen. This was also a case of going into countryside new to me and, like the Calderdale trot, it was to give rise to more excursions later on.

The Pennine Way hiking continued in March and it started again early in the month with a trek that saw me return to Calderdale for a walk from Todmorden to Burnley by way of both the Pennine Way and the Pennine Bridleway. This was followed up at the end of the month when I yomped from Haworth to Burnley.

My Pennine wanderings were set to continue in April and the first one plugged a gap in the itinerary from Edale to Haworth: Marsden to Littleborough via Wessenden Reservoir. It was to prove a claggy day until lunchtime, something that very much focussed the mind when it came to navigation. My next day along the Pennine Way was in clearer if blustery conditions. It also was to take me through some of the best countryside on the Pennine Way as I voyaged from Horton-in-Ribblesdale to Hawes. Rain was to beset me on my next excursion as I left Malham Tarn to head for Gargrave but I left the rain after me in Malham and things cheered up immeasurably as I was nearing my destination for the day. Those two excursions left a gap that was filled on a tramp from Malham Tarn over Fountains Fell and Pen-y-Ghent to Horton on a day that when it felt like summer.

I started May with another trip blessed by fair weather. After years of admiring it, I finally made my way up to the top of Skiddaw. Some may view the manicured lines of the "tourist track" that I followed as dull, I’d rather not scare myself with descents that are too steep so I well appreciated its gentler approach and I still found time to take in Little Man and Lattrigg as well. Next up in May was a trip that my memory reckons happened in July; it’s just as well that I have this blog! I made my return to Chirk for another stroll along the Offa’s Dyke Path, this time to Oswestry. Cloud predominated on the day so photographic opportunities were rare. Even so, it didn’t stop my having a good walk in countryside that was new to me. If I had more time, I would have dawdled more so it might time for a return. In walking terms, the month of May went out with a bang: a two day trek on the West Highland Way along the banks of Loch Lomond with an overnight stay in Rowardennan. I very much took a chance with the weather on this one but Scotland didn’t let me down on what is for me one of the finest stretches of the WHW.

June was to be a quieter month with regard to walking and the long evenings were allowing me to get out in the part of Cheshire’s hill country that is near me. These outings were to become a feature of the "summer". June soon became a sodden affair but I still returned to Rhinog country for a creditable stroll through a landscape that was anything but dry. The weather that we were getting was a foretaste of what was to come, making 2007 a year of two halves: one fabulous and one that returned us to reality. Alan Sloman was lucky to complete his LEJOG when he did.

July was for many a washout but I managed to get two decent Lakeland excursions out of the month. Both involved my heading to Windermere with the first being an over and back hike to Kentmere and the second being a trek to Staveley via Kentmere. On both outings, I enjoyed the fine scenery in excellent weather, something that must sound ironic to those sodden by the floods of 2007. Yes, water had accumulated underfoot but the worst difficulties, if any, were avoidable.

August saw me finishing two long distance trails and starting on another one. The first to be completed was the West Highland Way and that happened on my now habitual summertime stay in Scotland. That saw me complete of perhaps the noisiest stretch of the trail: that between Bridge of Orchy and Inverarnan and with some sun to enliven the views too. The other walking that I did during that trip was a soggy reconnaissance trip among the hills near Kinlochleven. The other trail completed was one passing not far from where I live: the Gritstone Trail. Hikes from Macclesfield to Congleton and from Eaton to Kidsgrove in pleasant conditions allowed me to bring my walking of the trail towards a good end. A final evening stroll was sufficient for me to walk the final short stretch around Bollington before I then walked home to my house. The bank holiday weekend at the end of the month allowed me the opportunity to start off the Rob Roy Way by walking from Drymen to Callander with an overnight stay in Aberfoyle. This got me into nice countryside that I hadn’t visited before and it seems more than worthy of a return.

After what must sound like a bountiful August, hillwalking activities were less prevalent for the rest of the year, even if I had planned not to have things slow down. September and November stand out as months when you could have said that I had gone into hibernation. October saw me head out for a local constitutional to take in the Autumn colour, follow streams in local hill country and visit the South Pennines for a hike lacking in any real progress on completing the missing link in my Pennine Way journey so far. In December, I decided to vanquish any sense of hibernation by another wander among the hills lining the Cheshire-Derbyshire border followed up by a fleeting unintended visit to the hill country of the Long Mynd near Church Stretton.

All in all, 2007 was another good walking year for me. Unless you lost out in the flooding (and I don’t envy anyone who did: hope it all works out all right for them), it would be a travesty to remember 2007 for its sodden summer when we had so much clement weather earlier in the year. As it happens, the continual greyness that pervaded nearly all of 2004 remains with me with 2007’s bright spots easily cause me to forget any grey bits. The proverbial question of what 2008 will bring does raise its head as it is wont to do; so also is the realisation that the future is not ours to see (we’re probably better off!). I never go in for big plans anyway but that doesn’t stop me having ideas in my mind for when the opportunities to explore them arise. We’ll see what happens…

A return to Brontë country

In public transport terms, the day didn’t start too well, yet I did get to do some hillwalking last Sunday. The first bus service from Macclesfield to Manchester didn’t happen for me, either through it not running or my missing the thing by a mere minute. It doesn’t matter what actually happened because the result was the same anyway. The alternative plot of catching the 10:29 train to Manchester Piccadilly was set into action. Once in Piccadilly, the next step was to make my way to Manchester Victoria to catch the 11:08 departure to Hebden Bridge, as I had originally planned. Things were looking hopeful until Stockport, but it went downhill after that. The result was that I ended up on the 12:09 to Hebden Bridge. The final leg of the journey was a ride on Transdev Keighley and District service 500 to Oxenhope.

Those obstacles overcome, I began my walk a good hour later than I had intended, but the day continued to be as sunny as it had started. If it had done otherwise, I would have had grounds for irritation. After finding my bearings, I started to make my way out of Oxenhope and took advantage of roadside footways all the way until I made it onto a minor road that I was soon to leave for the moorland public footpath network. I climbed steadily but not too steeply with views of Leeshaw reservoir to my left. Looking down gained me views of pleasant farmland with the moors overhead. I made my way around Haworth Moor and Harbour Hill to pick up the Brontë Way before it joined the Pennine Way and headed for Top Withins. I was to join the Pennine Way myself, but I had another footpath in mind. However, there was no sign of it in the heather, so I made my own crossing with a navigationally useful wall to my left.

The idea that I had in my mind was to knock off another section of the Pennine Way, but the reality was that I took a mere nibble of the portion between Haworth and Gargrave that I have yet to do. I did get as far as Ponden Reservoir and pondered going further, but the time that I had was limited. Launching further into remote country means that you have to return afterwards, and all of that was likely cost a lot of a commodity of which I didn’t have a lot: time. Getting back to Macclesfield was actually a bigger consideration than when the sun was due to go down. So, I decided to head onto Stanbury via Ponden Mill and then onto Haworth for the last bus to Hebden Bridge so that I could retrace my way home. Otherwise, I would have had to get a bus to Keighley and then take a longer journey from there. As it turned out, I was home by a very timely 19:30; getting to the Worth Valley via Hebden Bridge is easily an hour shorter than going around by Keighley.

What had started out as an opportunity to bag another part of the Pennine Way turned into an enjoyable reconnaissance ramble in rustic moorland on a sunny October day. Naturally, my thoughts turned to how I might advance the PW cause in this area, so here goes. Getting into the Worth Valley via Hebden Bridge is a practical public transport option, and a quicker one than the obvious alternative. Trying on a Saturday would get me there earlier in the day and would also have the added advantage of there being a bus service to the pleasant village of Stanbury, assuming that the times worked out. A good supply of off-road walking would get me to Ponden Reservoir and the PW again. It’s a plan, but who knows if or when I’ll put it into action?

More Pennine Way photos

I took my chance while I was at home this weekend to add new photos to the Pennine Way gallery, filling in some of the outstanding gaps. I was planning to head out and about, but other things derailed my plans and the largely cloudy skies didn’t coax me out today though yesterday’s sights of the hills from my house were a delight until a large bank of cloud wandered in at around 4pm.

So, it was time for more vistas from the South Pennines and the Yorkshire Dales to make their online debut. Photography amid Yorkshire’s limestone country is a far easier pursuit than the moorland of the South Pennines; focal points present themselves more regularly in the former while a spot of thought is needed with the latter. That very much became apparent on my view of photographs that I had taken. Having a camera while hill walking does tempt one to pursue drive by photography; I know that it’s not the best type and it definitely doesn’t work with moorland. Maybe, a specific photographic mission with a tripod in tow is what’s needed so that there can be lots of walking around looking for decent compositions. The latter is best done out of view of busybodies lest anyone gets the wrong impression…

A spot of long distance trail completion

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.