Category: Trip Reports
Introductions and reintroductions
31st July 2011 July hasn't been too unkind to us this year though that is far from being the case always as anyone with a memory can tell. That has meant a fair few weekends away for me and this one introduced me to Swansea and the Gower (the non-usage of the word peninsula is deliberate). Though were white skies instead of blue ones, the few hours spent around Rhossili were pleasant enough to leave me pondering a return when there are blue skies and sunshine. The coastline that I saw certainly was sufficiently alluring to deserve a return and one reconnaissance outing can be the starting point for more.
Speaking of starting points, I travelled to and from Swansea this past weekend via the Heart of Wales train line to see what the countryside surrounding it is like and what the railway has its supporters. Grey skies didn't show things at their best but there were shapely steep-sided hills on which to set eyes but it looks as if a little more homework is in order before this part of Powys starts to see me exploring it. Much of the countryside looks lush with tree-lined fields so it can be difficult not to think it dramatic enough for further attention. In fact, it took the second journey through there for me to start to see the potential that exists for hill wandering and travel plans will need careful thought too. As things stand, this will remain a work in progress for now.
Last weekend also saw me head to Wales. This time, my attention centred around the Menai Strait with visits to Caernarfon and Bangor together with a little time to savour the Isle of Anglesey Coastal Path between Beaumaris and Glan-yr-afon. Following a public footpath and a spot of road walking extended the trot to Llandona and a stroll over Thomas Telford's bridge over the Menai Strait was fitted in too. It was the prospect of viewing the hills of Snowdonia from afar that drew me and could do so again. It was a weekend of hot sunshine and blue skies, which was a bonus though hydration and avoiding sunburn were items needing attention too.
With all the gallivanting in recent weeks, there is a pile of trip reports needing writing and they include those earlier escapades from the Easter and Mayday bank holiday weekends too. Nevertheless, the one for my Easter visit to the Vale of Llangollen is nearing completion with photos and final edits needed before it appears on here after what feels like quite a delay. Also, it is around this time of year that I have been known to take a longer trip away but I have no idea what's going to come of such a venture this year. There are ideas in mind but weather is looking a bit uncertain so it'll be a case of telling what happens after any event rather than following any fixed notion. If anything does happen, it'll add to that backlog but that is a non-complaint with what getaways do for the mind and spirit.
Movement
16th July 2011 Since I have been adding musings regarding the delights of exploring the countryside on hear for over five year, I an pondering a little relocation. Recently, the part of the website that used be called the miscellany has been refashioned into travel jottings and correspondingly moved to a new home on the website. It was that spot thinking that got me looking at the possibility of doing something for my outdoors musings (replacing "blog" with "outdoors" in the address is what I have in mind) albeit with a good deal in the way of redirection for regular visitors. That's because I wouldn't want you to miss anything.
What may been apparent this year is that there have been less postings on here. The main reason for that is that work has been getting in the way of life more than used to be the case and I hope that things don't keep going like that. Saying that, there have been outdoors that been needing writing up too and the last few weeks has seen me add to that number. The first of these escapades had me sampling more of St. Cuthbert's Way, this time walking all of the way from Wooler to Kirk Yetholm. Having suffered reminders from my knees regarding what I'd done, it was just as well that the next day took an easier tack with a trot from St. Boswell to Melrose with some time spent around Dryburgh Abbey too. While there was a section taking me through the Eildon Hills, it wasn't too harsh at all. In fact, the heat of the day was reduced by the arrival of some cloud cover though it did break up while I explored the Eildons, taking in each of the three tops of what once was called Trimontium. Well, the Romans certainly didn't mess around when it came to naming things. The final day of my borders escape involved a bit more in the way of dawdling and, given the heat of the day, that was just as well and I got to see more of Melrose Abbey too.
A short visit to the Isle of Man came to pass too with another hike along the island's coastal path, Raad ny Foillan. Though the weather was a little on the temperamental side, there only was a single light shower during the time that I walked from Port Erin to Castletown and that was around Port St. Mary. This section is not as strenuous as the one between Port Erin and Peel. However, that is not to say that rounding the south-west corner of the Isle of Man is not without appealing coastline because it happens to be one of those sections that gets good press and that's not without reason.
After those, what's needed is to process a few of the photos that came away with me from those trips without a full report and set to doing some writing. Given that the weather is being unsettled at the moment, I just need to set some time aside for doing just that. After all, there are visits of Llangollen and Cowal that deserve sharing.
Weekends away
5th May 2011 This evening finds Macclesfield a damper place than it has been for a good while. In fact, it could be said that 2011 has been largely dry until now. Of course, that can change and an unsettled summer could be all that many remember yet. In fact, some are asking if we are getting a taste of summer weather too early. However, it's best to try to enjoy good weather whenever it comes so long as life allows you to do just that.
In the U.K., we also gained two four day weekends back to back. That very unusual situation came our way thanks to Easter, a royal wedding and the Mayday bank holiday. With a short working week between them, many made a longer break from working life out of those public holidays. While I wasn't one of those, the long weekends did allow me get out into hill country in parts away from where I live and work.
After last year's Easter Sunday trot from Baslow to Bamford that left me wondering why I didn't book somewhere to stay on what was a pleasant evening. That wasn't something that I repeated this year with an overnight stay sorted for Llangollen. Previous trips to the hills around there have been day trips so this was a departure from that and its proximity to Cheshire meant that a later than planned departure on Sunday did nothing to jeopardise my plans. As it happened, I arrived sufficiently early that I could enjoy an evening stroll that retraced steps that took me by Castell Dinas Bran and Valle Crucis Abbey as well as along the Llangollen Canal towpath. That allowed me to leave a busy Llangollen for a little while before retiring to bed on my return. The next day saw me head in the hills to south of the Dee valley while exploring part of the North Berwyn Way and other trails. That walk took me onto the tops of Mynydd Vivod and Y Foel before returning to Llangollen to start my journey home again. The weather had been kind to me and the countryside alluring so I left for home pleased if tired.
Last weekend saw me head to Scotland after a busy few days at work. My destination was Cowal and my base Dunoon. While I am not sure what Glaswegians do when they go "doon the watter", there are plenty of hills around the town for exploration. Saturday saw me hike from Ardentinny to Carrick Castle and, following a bus ride, from Lettermay near Lochgoilhead to Clachan Strachur by way of the Cowal Way. The day was stunning though a stiff wind took the edge off the temperatures, a useful thing for walking though sunbathing is ruled out for those of that persuasion. The those hills in Wales the previous weekend, they were quiet around Cowal too and there was no sign of the wildfires that blighted other parts. A later start on Sunday had me settling on a walk from Hunter's Quay to Glenkin and back again. There were designs on using the Coffin Trail to reach Bealach na Srèine in order gain views over Loch Striven and beyond but I saw sense because of the time that I had. Still, it has left me with a brainwave of walking from Toward to Dunoon by way of Inverchaolain Glen and Glenkin and there's a forestry track alternative to this too. My first weekend in Cowal was kind to me and I have left with ideas for future trips to this overlooked part of Scotland too.
As is usual for me, I have every plan to write fuller accounts of those two trips on here. The destinations may have been lesser known but there was plenty of pleasure in my exploring them. Legs may have been left fatigued and there was soothing replenishment for the soul and spirit too. Hopefully, that thought will continue to draw me into hill country for the rest of the year, particularly with this blog having reached its fifth birthday over the past weekend.
A little tinkering and a little toddling
10th April 2011 If you have been here at this part of cyberspace before, you may have noticed a navigation bar at the top with an indication of where you are on the website. In spite of the glorious weather that has been with us over the last few days, I didn't have the opportunity of celebrating its arrival with a trip away somewhere. In fact, I more needed a rest at home after the hectic demands of work over the last few weeks. It was during my little recuperation that I made the little modification that now appears at the top of every page on the website. Hopefully, it will help to make getting around here that little bit easier.
That isn't to say that I never got out at all. As it happened, I stole out of the house for a few hours to stroll from Bollington back to my abode again. What that granted me was the chance to look over familiar hills whose sight I haven't been able to enjoy for longer than really should be the case. My course took me from the top of Bollington into Ingersley Vale and from there to the White Nancy by way of the Gritstone Trail. Surprisingly perhaps for terrain that I have trodden a good few times already, the route had plenty of new twists and turns for me to explore. Given the vantage point that it is and the glory of today, it came as no shock to me to find folk lounging around the White Nancy, but that is never to say that the place was overrun. As it turned out, there was plenty of time for undisturbed stopping and staring.
That sense of space for relaxation was very much a feature of the afternoon escape. It meant that details such as my camera batteries running out of charge before they should have done or there being quarries to my right on Kerridge Hill made no inroads into my sense of enjoyment. Again, neither the haze over the Cheshire plain nor the drifting sound of a horse show PA system from below me had no impact on how I felt either. The familiar hills to my left were what was holding my attention as I wandered along the Saddle of Kerridge. The sights may have been seen before they also were a little different in the glorious sunshine and with fresh green foliage in the process of emerging.
Being drawn along the ridge of Kerridge Hill was the cause of changing my intended route. By now, my camera batteries had completely run out of power but I stuck to recharging my own internal batteries instead of getting grumpy. It seems that having to commit scenes to the photographic plates of the mind was a help too. Any sights of freshly emerged greenery or cherry blossom against a bright blue sky were treated much in the same way as scenes savoured of a glorious late July evening on my first trip to Skye. One upshot of that was that an evening cycle from Dunvegan to Portree from quite a few years ago still remains in my memory now.
It didn't take long for me to be dropped on the side of the B5470 Macclesfield-Whaley Bridge road at a saddle between Rainow and Higher Hurdsfield. From there, I followed that road down into Macclesfield with a deviation onto the Middlewood Way and a short section of public footpath on the way home. This had been a walk that never was far from civilisation, but there was plenty of time and space during which to relax too. The peacefulness of the evening must have had something to do with it and has put me thinking that I need to get back to sampling experiences like this again. It's just no good feeling as if you are being kept away from enticing areas of hill country while watching BBC programmes on the iPlayer like Country Tracks (the recent one on south Cumbria, for instance) so a spot of re-balancing looks to be well needed.
Travel arrangements:
Bus service 10A from Macclesfield to Bollington.
Now, why didn’t I bring my head torch?
21st February 2011 The arctic conditions that came our way before the Christmas were the cause of my having a one-way ferry ticket from Holyhead to Dublin as a backup plan should a closure of Dublin Airport due to snow put paid to my crossing the Irish Sea by air. In the end, I did manage that air journey though I was to spend a frustrating few hours on the tarmac at Shannon before returning to Dublin and coming south again! Once on that side of the Irish Sea, I decided to rearrange my crossing for another time to decide whether to use it or cancel it. It did get used in the end and I ended up paying a visit to Howth and walking right around its peninsula too.
My journey did gain me a stop at Llandudno Junction that allowed me another look at Conwy's castle as well as glimpses around Holyhead's port in the sunshine and nearby Holyhead Mountain (a hill, really, but a lot of this type of naming goes on in Ireland too so I cannot complain). As I was travelling west from home, skies grew ever more hazy until it was a cloudy Dublin that I found myself approaching on the ferry. Though that led me to give up being very hopeful of seeing any part of Ireland blessed by the sun, there was to be an interlude that replaced pessimism with satisfaction.
It was as I was approaching Howth station on a DART train that I was presented with a full-on view of a well pleasingly lit Ireland's Eye that made me get off the train without delay though without knocking anyone over either. The sense that this might have been a fleeting opportunity had me setting off earnestly searching out a suitable vantage point for making something of the photographic opportunity presented to me. In hindsight, lessening the haste might have been better but I got my photos before it was too light. In fact, the lighting was fading as I retraced my steps along one of Howth's harbour walls with a good deal of satisfaction for my pains. Not only had I glimpsed Ireland's Eye but also a partially lit Lambay Island too. All had come good.
If I had missed out, I would have been kicking myself as I rounded the Howth peninsula; the cloud took over to keep the sun prisoner for much of the rest of the day. There were National Loop Walks to explore and I set off to follow one after a fashion. First, it was a matter of following a road by Balscadden Bay towards the Nose of Howth. Beyond a car park, I left the tarmac after me to follow a well-made clifftop path that had its unnerving moments.
If solitude is what you seek, Howth's harbour is not the place to go of a sunny Saturday as many other folk were enjoying their stroll about its walls. The cliff path may have attracted less attention but it wasn't unused either. Still, it was far from being overrun either and trespass grew less regular the further along it, I went. In fact, there was a marked quietening after passing The Summit where there was a car park. The fact that it was getting late in the day probably made people less likely to start a walk too.
Views of the promontory that is the Great Bailey were opening out before with the Bailey Lighthouse issuing its warning to passing ships. Evening Irish Sea ferries going to and from Dublin started to come into sight. It was looking busy with ships operating by DFDS, P&O, Stena and Irish Ferries all passing the way. In the middle of all this, I needed to lose some height to cross over the road leading to the aforementioned lighthouse, a decision whose wisdom I was later to question in fading daylight.
Views across Dublin Bay towards the Dublin and Wicklow mountains were ample too and I could identify a slender break in the cloud that was liberating some weak sunlight a little later. While the sun was finding its way to that slit, I was picking out the distinctive low-sized humps of Great Sugarloaf and Little Sugarloaf. This was a reminder of a trot to the top of the former that I enjoyed a few years back. What drew my attention back to the present was the reddening of the Great Bailey by the last act of the sun on the Howth peninsula for the day. After that, I still could see it being busy showering shafts of light on the less distinct hills on the other side of the bay as I pondered how far I needed to go before I could depend on street lights taking over the duties of the sun.
Dog walkers and photographers seeking the last light of the day remained abroad to be encountered. Isn't it amazing how many folk walk their dogs in the dusk? And it isn't just a British thing either from what I saw across the Irish Sea. With Doldrum Bay and Drumleck Point passed, I was on the lookout for a Martello tower, one of several that are to be found around Dublin. They were constructed near the close of the eighteenth century to provide a means of defence against the French. Before I was to reach that now privately owned restored building, there were muddy sections of path to cross and I even dropped onto a beach at one point before shadowing a stone wall for the final approach to the tower.
Because of rapidly failing daylight that had me asking why I had no head torch and unwelcoming signs, I didn't dawdle near the tower but made my way to tarmac again. The way to Sutton train station was lit as I gazed across the bay towards the lights of Dublin city and its surroundings. Even without constant sunshine, the appeal of Howth's cliff cannot be overstated. There's a longer National Loop walk that would have got me back to Howth but, even with my own torch, I wouldn't have wanted to blunder around the Ben of Howth anyway. Some things are best left for another time since it's best to leave anywhere with a reason for a return, not that Howth mistreated me at all, of course.
Travel Arrangements:
Train from Macclesfield to Holyhead with changes at Manchester and Llandudno Junction; then Irish Ferries sailing to Dublin, bus into city centre and train to Howth. Returned by train from Sutton to Dublin city centre. DFDS overnight ferry crossing to Birkenhead (sadly now no longer a travel option), National Express from Birkenhead to Manchester with a change in Liverpool and train back to Macclesfield again.
