A few new photo albums
16th February 2016After last year’s overseas excursions, I finally got to internationalising the photo gallery. Photos from two visits to the Isle of Man are in their own album and ones from a business trip to Sweden are in another. My trip to Iceland last July yielded a bumper crop of photos as did that to Switzerland in September.
Stories of my Manx excursions already appear on here because I was following the coastal path around the west and south-west of the island. More urban sights are there to complement the in the gallery. There is not so much of the outdoors on view in the Swedish album since it was a business trip allowing evening walks around Södertälje and Stockholm. Also, I could have done with a better camera too but went without many hopes and with a life change in front of me. The tale of those wanderings is to be found in the travel section of the website so it has not been lost to online posterity.
In contrast, the Icelandic and Swiss escapades came after an even bigger life event. There are plenty of views of Icelandic countryside to go with those of Reykjavik even though the level of outdoor wanderings was not as extensive as those that have taken me around Britain. The Swiss outdoor incursions were more so thanks to the efficient public transport system that got me from Geneva to Zermatt and to Grindelwald, albeit at a cost. The sights that I got to see easily compensated for this though and I hope what is on view shows them at their best. Their stories has yet to be told in full on here and I already have the beginnings of those entries in place.
What I also hope is that more overseas explorations follow these. Norway, Germany and Austria are in mind and, out of curiosity, my mind has taken to explore the prospects of American, Canadian and Kiwi escapades. With what I have ahead of me already this year, I need to temper any soaring ambitions. Once outstanding personal matters are settled, only then can I really begin to dream about heading outside of Britain and Ireland again. In the meantime, the home countries still have a lot to offer me and parts of Ireland as yet unvisited by me may see my footfall. Reining in dreams can be good.
Beginning a tenth year
5th May 2015It was after the Mayday bank holiday weekend in 2006 that this blog began and, though the actual tenth anniversary is around twelve months away, a lot has happened in those nine years.These have included life changes too with a change of job (and employer) nearly five years ago subsequently being eclipsed by the loss of my mother over two years ago and my father’s taking leave of this world earlier in the year. Life can fee like a roller coaster ride at times.
2013 became all about dealing with the rawness of not having my mother around any more and my father’s no longer being there has left me feeling a bit lost when it comes to my ongoing relationship with the country of my birth and upbringing, Ireland. This is something that happens a lot of people to set down roots away from their homeland though my father’s need management for a while yet and I still have family on the other side of the Irish Sea.
What perhaps feels a bit stranger is how little an effect this has had on circumstances in the country that I call home. For one thing, where I live most of the time has become more important and it may look to my work colleagues that little has changed but the need to find my feet again in a changed life continues. Events like the ones that I have encountered make you think about where you are going in life and there may be need for a work sabbatical yet if an annual leave allowance is not enough for putting my father’s affairs in order.
After my father’s funeral, my mind filled with dreams of exploring the likes of the Faroe Islands, Iceland, the Alps or the Pyrenees but they have been tamed for a while. The initial feeling of release has been tempered by things needing doing in Ireland and having to rest after two years of keeping an eye on a bereaved parent in a nursing home became more of a priority; it is amazing how something like that can take so much out of you.
Having not had any sort of longer break since January I was gagging for the Easter weekend because I really was in need of a bit of “me” time. That the weather came good around was a bonus though it did little to rouse me to travel away from home. Macclesfield has plenty of local walking opportunities anyway so I was left short of those. Holy Saturday saw me walk to the recycling centre with electronic equipment for disposal and I made a longer walk of it by taking in Danes Moss Nature Reserve and a section of the Macclesfield Canal. Easter Sunday allowed a visit to Tegg’s Nose Country Park while Easter Monday saw me walking from Walker Barn to Forest Chapel before I continued to the top of Shutlingsloe. A spot of stravaiging then followed before I settled into returning home via Langley. Tuesday of Easter was another day off from work for me so I headed to Tatton Park for the afternoon. To complete the set, another trot along the Saddle of Kerridge would be in order and that has yet to happen this year.
The end of April saw me cross over to Ireland for a spot of sorting so it was the Mayday bank holiday weekend that was left to allow for further recuperation. Unlike the Easter weekend, this has not been as much of a walking one. The weather has been mixed and I have been distracted by home computing matters. Aside from putting a computer to rights, I also got to setting up a website dedicated to my late father’s history writings. He set to trying to use a PC for the first time in his eighties and wanted me to teach him one Christmas after such a busy working year that it was a break away from such things that I really needed. Disharmony sadly was the result and my other was left wishing that no one had put the computing idea into his head, especially when his ability to learn was not what it once was and he never was that technically minded anyway. As it happened, it was my mother who operated video (and DVD) players in their house.
An interest in history is something that I share with my father so I am happy to put his essays online, albeit with a good amount of editing to prepare them for a wider audience. The whole archive is not online yet and I am treating it like any website that I have: adding a little over time and tweaking things as I go along. That is how I have done this one and is how I plan to keep things.
Belatedly, I finished off the trip reports for all my walking outings in 2013 so those for 2014 are next on my to do list. This year has yet to see me embarking on similar escapades but I am thinking of having longer summer holiday this year so that may help. Between this and that, 2009 was the last summer escape that was not an elongated weekend such as what happened in 2013 and again in 2014. There was a week off in 2011 but I stayed at home then because I more needed the rest before starting out with a new client at work. If 2015 allowed an opportunity like my exploring the Western Isles in 2008, who knows how much writing could appear on here after something like that.
A possible project milestone
18th November 2014This past summer has been one that has seen me revisit the Lake District after a gap of more than four years. In fact, there was more than one weekend visit too and the first of these could not have enjoyed better weather. The source of my attention was Buttermere, a valley that I have overlooked for far too long since my first visit there over a decade ago. Though I played with the idea of going over Seat, High Crag, High Stile and Red Pike in a single push, I saw sense and stuck with Haystacks instead. The next object of my explorations was Patterdale from where I trotted over St. Sunday Crag and continued to Grasmere via Grisedale Tarn. For at least two weekends on the trot, this part of Cumbria defied predicted weather doom with the second offering up a sultry opening that got me engaging in more rocky fell walking. The last outing was tamer following a delayed departure and took in Orrest Head and Loughrigg Fell before the evening grew greyer and damper.
All of this allowed me to capture a number of photos and that partially was the cause of me getting out and about in the first place with the YHA helping by having spaces in their hostels in the right places at the right times that I could uncover on their website. It was the quest for a better photo of Fleetwith Pike with Buttermere in front of it that drew me there in the first place and there was no disappointment, especially with a late summer evening spent in fading light with the only perturbation of a quiet valley being the tumbling waters of a gill. It was memorable bliss.
My St. Sunday Crag outing granted its share of photographic opportunities too with Ullswater and the fells about Helvellyn attracting my notice. However, my third excursions saw an envisaged photo of Grasmere denied by advancing cloud so that is one that could need repeating, and any excuse will do a hill wanderer when it comes to revisiting a pleasing location.
There are other possibilities, of course, with recent films made by Terry Abraham with Mark Richards and Chris Townsend drawing new things to my notice. An actual ascent of Helvellyn from Wythburn could become a reality yet as could a similar escapade to the top of Great Gable. The latter stunned me when I glimpsed it from Haystacks and it looks manageable from Seathwaite too. In many ways, I am beginning to wonder if it is that little bit easier to get to the Lakeland fells than it is to their counterparts in north-west Wales. A recent promise of good weather around Anglesey and Snowdonia brought home to me how low my stock of trip ideas for those places is. Replenishment is ongoing.
One thing that might help with that is a perusal of my online Snowdonia photo album because it has been doing the same for its Lakeland counterpart that partly inspired me to return to Cumbria again year. In fact, a good number of photos from the past summer have found their way into the Lake District album during an overhaul that it received. That did take a share of time to do between selecting and processing photos as well as writing some descriptive text to go with them. Not unexpectedly, the time spent doing that took away from writing stuff on here so here is a list of the photos that I now have in this album (entry links to an actual photo too):
Looking towards Langdale Pikes from Orrest Head, Windermere
Red Screes & Wansfell Pike as seen from Orrest Head, Windermere
Caudale Moor & Thornthwaite Crag as seen from Orrest Head, Windermere
Looking towards Helvellyn from Place Fell, Patterdale
Looking towards Blencathra from Place Fell, Patterdale
Ullswater from Thornhow End, Patterdale
Helvellyn & Striding Edge, Glenridding
Dollywaggon Pike & Grisedale Tarn, Grasmere
Looking along Tongue Gill towards Grisedale Hause, Grasmere
High Pike, Low Pike & Red Screes as seen from Loughrigg Fell, Ambleside
Low Pike and High Pike, Ambleside
Great Gable as seen from Haystacks, Buttermere
Looking north from Scarth Gap, Buttermere
Fleetwith Pike & Warnscale, Buttermere
Whiteless Pike & Grasmoor, Buttermere
High Stile & High Crag, Buttermere
High Stile & Red Pike, Buttermere
Scales, Mellbreak & Crummock Water, Buttermere
Clough Head from Jenkin Hill, Keswick
Skiddaw as seen from Little Man, Keswick
Some of the above dates from I used to use film cameras and I fancy bettering the efforts on another visit, but digital photos dominate the album now that I finally caught up with various efforts from as long ago as 2007. Then, film photography was my mainstay and I only pulled out the Canon EOS 10D DSLR I had for making some photos for trip reports. The arrival of a Pentax K10D changed all of that and I hardly use any film at all now. It wasn’t the 2014 photos that took the time but the backlog from previous years too, along with enlargements of older photos originally captured on film. Hopefully, I will keep the album more alive from now on to avoid a backlog like this in the future because another hope of mine would be to keep visiting this wonderful corner of England. If anything, those excursions might be opportunities to correct any misimpressions that I may have as much as seeing new sights and improving on older photographic efforts.
An eighth birthday
5th May 2014This bank holiday weekend is being a quiet affair for me. With a cold to weather, it certainly has not been one for grand designs and the weather has not been sunny all the while either. Saturday was sunny around Macclesfield though and I got out for a local evening walk around by Prestbury.
Yesterday saw me head to Alderley Edge for a walk around by Hare Hill. I may have followed the course in an anticlockwise direction instead of the intended clockwise one but I was not along in doing so and I left the best for the return section from Hare Hill. It really is very pleasant with a multitude of bluebells putting on a pretty display. A cantankerous Jack Russell terrier slightly spoilt things by giving me a nip around my left ankle but that will fade in the fullness of time. A stop at the Wizard Tea Rooms for a bacon barm and a pot of tea made amends and I chose a more off-road course back to the village to catch my bus home.
This blog is entering its ninth year and things have changed over the years. When I started it, hill wandering was something for which I had more time than I do today. Nevertheless, I still enjoy getting out and about so there are trip reports to file. My last hill outing was near Llangollen in January so it’s well after time for another. If only life events offered a clearance, who knows where my mind may roam.
Currently, I am catching up with unread issues of The Great Outdoors and Outdoor Photography so the ideas shelf could get to see more on there. There are places like the Yorkshire Dales where I have not been for a while and Cumbria’s Lake District calls too. Summoning the energy to devise a scheme ahead of some alluring weather could produce results so there are rewards for any display of courage regarding an immediate future.
Modernisation
9th March 2014If you have been here before, you should see a lot of changes. After staying relatively constant for a good few years, the design of the previous website started to look a little busy to my eyes and the appearance of newer web design trends did not help the cause either. During the week, I spotted something from the good people at Twitter called Bootstrap and set to work looking at what the website framework could do and the result is what you see now. Once I got my head around it, everything began to fall into place and I got a techie diversion from other things in life. Rough edges may be spotted yet but there is time for matters like sorting those.
Even with continual fine tuning, the main focus on here will include those trip reports that I tend to crank out every now and again along with any other musings that I wish to share. Even though we find ourselves in March now, 2014 still retains many of its surprises and my hope is that some good ones will be revealed yet. 2013 had its share and I still have trip reports from last year that await writing. Hopefully, the coming year will offer its share too. Life brings its mixed of brighter and darker moments so the former are best savoured so they can be recalled when spirits need lifting. 2013 needed those too and didn’t disappoint either with that glorious summer. After all the storms that have come our way in recent months, we could do with one of those.
