Scotland and England

Another month slides by and it's nearly December.....Ho Ho bloody Ho. I don't feel very festive minded this year as I shall probably be working both Christmas and New Year. But on the positive side my liver is celebrating a holiday. It's been a great year so far, but the weight I lost in the first few months has been creeping back up due to terminal boredom of work in Denmark. Not the place just the nature of the work - tedious in the extreme. But at least I've caught up with my walks.

My friend Stuart over on walkingplaces.co.uk will be re-jigging my webpages soon, and when this is complete my blog ramblings will be transferred over there. But fear not dear reader (are there any I often wonder) I will be leaving a link in a large font, and I'll probably keep this one going as well perhaps?

The month of November saw me back in Bonny Scotland at the start of the month to walk around and absorb the ancient monuments of Kilmartin Glen and surrounds. What a wonderful and peaceful location, and fantastic archaeology on show. Burial cairns, chambers, standing stones, cup and ring marks, a few castles, carved medieval grave slabs to name but a few - all within the same walk.

Back in England I nipped up to the Lake District for a walk around the head of Martindale - 50% up in the mist, but finished in soft sunlight. An excellent wainwright bagging walk of 10 - not that I'm counting though.

A final walk in the Peak District took me to the Dragon's Back near Longnor. Memories of childhood came flooding back as I approached Parkhouse Hill - being dragged terrified up the steep grass slopes. But this time I made it to the top!!

A week in Mallorca

I suppose most people think of Mallorca as the place where all the party goers travel to Shagaluf. I dare say not many venture out to the hills. This was my third trip there and my first trip walking, that's day walks not falling on my face. Overall it was a great week, and although the weather was mixed it was perfect for walking - Goldilocks weather in fact.

I stayed in the mountain village of Deia, a beautiful village where Robert Graves is buried in the local church. The village has some fabulous restaurants, although the present exchange rate against the euro made for some eye watering bills. But we could eat cheap enough when we wanted to. There was also a small Picasso exhibition in Soller town, free for entry and some great ceramics in there, never realised he was so prolific - well worth a visit.

Back to blighty now and after a two week stint in Denmark, it's back home and up to Scotland again to look at some more pre-history at Kilmartin Glen. Maybe not much walking soon as I appear to have gone lame, and my knee is giving me gyp - Im hoping it's not too serious!

A Glencoe weekend

Back from the rig Thursday night, and up to Glencoe on Friday. Met Jimmy Saville in the pub - now then, now then, but he didn't fix the weather for Saturday. The morning loomed grey and the Ballachullish Horseshoe walk didn't look the best as the tops were covered in a misty mess. The forecast was a bit pants as well, so I called Mountain Mike to arrange the walk on Aonoch Eagach for Sunday. We ended up walking up to the Hidden Valley in a mix of weather - wet,dry, and wet. But it was fun and a great surprise when you crest the brow of the hill and the valley lays before you. It would be great for a picnic on a dry sunny sky - assuming the midgies don't get you. But we didn't see many this weekend - too wet and a touch chilly on high.

Sunday didn't start too well, due to Mike not turning up for the ridge walk. As it is one of the best in the UK to do, I was having second thoughts as I sat in the car and looked up. But you make a choice in this life and stick with it - I choose life, so I was up and walking uphill to the start of the ridge.

Fortunately for me I met up with three great guys from Dumbarton - Neil, Garry, and John. They gave me the confidence to walk/climb the Aonoch Eagach, and not only that they were great company as well.

All I need now is some continental drift to bring Scotland a touch closer - it's just a bit too far for a day walk. So in future I shall be planning a few more weekends up in Bonny Scotland - a fantastic place to walk and celebrate afterwards. I met some lovely people this weekend - thanks to you all.

My best walk to date

Well it finally came along....I had to cancel a walk in the lake district because it was absolutely persisting it down. I was heading up to Jacks Rake in the Langdale Pikes to meet up with a couple of mates, and judging by the response I got from Paul when I asked how the weather was, I made the right decision - "as bad as it gets" read his text. As I had better things to do later in the month I didn't feel too sorry, and as it happens I nipped down to the Llyn Peninsula for a walk up the Rivals at the weekend before the nuptuals. We had a great little walk in sunshine and an amazing little hillfort called Tre'r Ceiri - well worth a visit.

The next saturday I dubbined up my boots and scrubbed up for the best walk of my life. I was priveleged to walk my precious daughter from the house and up the aisle to the altar. The day was fantastic and obviously very emotional for us all, but even the fickle British weather behaved for the day.

The next few days I felt strangely flat after all the build up of the weeks before, and to add to that work had the temerity to call me back to Denmark. But work is work, and now the wedding is done and dusted I can start to plan a little more for my coast to coast next year - Bamburgh to St. Bees. But before that I am going for a week to Mallorca for a little wandering up in the Tramuntana mountains. My mate Murray has given me several walks to consider - he even went in the office and scanned them for me on a Sunday - what a star. That's several pints I owe.

Next up for me weather permitting is the fearsome Aonoch Eagach in Glencoe......gulp....watch this space...

Two weeks in the office - not bad actually

Well my daughter gets married in about three or so weeks time, and work must have taken pity on me. They let me work a couple of weeks in the Norway office, and it has proved very relaxing and given me a glimpse of the wonderful landscape. I managed a few little walks which were mostly in good weather, but the one I wanted to see most of all saw me drowned in a deluge. But I will save that one for another day, and do the touristy thing of going to see the Pulpit Rock at Preikestolen, and then freak myself out on the boulder at Kjerag. If you type Kjerag into the internet it will instantly give you a result of someone stood on the boulder with an inane grin on their face.....mixed with a modicum of terror. I suppose it depends on the weather -the day I visited was blowing a gale towards the 1000m and needless to say I didn't even attempt to go near the edge.

So I'm nice and relaxed and back to blighty for another attempt at the Nantlle Ridge in North Wales - I hope we have better weather than last time. We got blown away and had to abandon the ridge for safety reasons...and we lived to walk another day...next week actually.

Then it's walking on the back burner until the wedding is over.....but maybe I'll sneak up to the lakes one day when nobody is watching..

Not enough walking

It's been a while hasn't it. Since The Dales Way I haven't had any walks out apart from around the golf course. I've slipped on the diet as well, but I've not put on too much weight. As a consequence of all this my golf improved slightly but not enough to trouble the leaders. But there is hope as provided by Tom Watson at the Open - 59yrs old and still knocking it around competively. I've caught up on the backlog of my blog entries, so now the next stop is the wedding in August - again not enough walking, but I will have the Nantlle Ridge next month to look forward to. I nipped down to Powis Castle and Montgomery last week and was rewarded with a spectacular thunder storm and thankfully we were inside at the time.

It's surprising how soon you can lose leg fitness, and the walk up Helvellyn this week left me knackered and feeling a bit man fluey. But we had a great walk - the weather forecast was rubbish and we expected to get a soaking - but we didn't. Just goes to show if you take too much notice of the weather forecast you'd never go anywhere.

Another one bites the dust

Another month passes by, another month with a job, another long walk completed and another month with some decent weather.

I've continued the diet and am now weighing in regularly at 20lbs less than the start of the year, and the nice thing is that the weight seems to be stabilising - good old Slimming World diet. It's relatively easy to follow, apart from the bit about not eating chocolate and drinking wine - but Red Wine and dark chocolate is a healthy combination in my eyes.

We've had some great weather over the month and I had a wonderful walk up in the lakes at the head of Haweswater, and of course completed the Dales Way in six days - 5 1/2 of them dry, and it really didn't throw it down until we sat on the finish line. How I laughed when we caught the train home and all that could be smelt in the carriage was sheep s$£t when the conductor turned the heater on.

Only a couple of months to go before the wedding, so less walking and more painting for a while.

The sun shines on St Cuddies Way

Well that's the first of my long walks done for the year, and I was lucky again to have half decent weather. I didn't get rained on severely apart from a couple of heavy showers at the end of day1 and day3. But I used my golf brolly to good effect and it saved me from a soaking if I had had to don my waterproofs quickly. The walk contained all that I could have wished for - historical interest, some geology, plenty of bird watching, deer, badgers, watership down, Neolithic rock art to name but a few. The scenery was ever changing and the walking was a mix of moorland paths, sheep grazed pasture, woodland rides, field edge paths, metalled farm tracks, minor roads, crossing the A1 and the East coast high speed railtrack, and finally a causeway across to Lindisfarne Castle and a walk on the beach. A splendid mini break of about 70 miles in 4 days (plus 2 travelling).

The difference is with these walks is that once you are committed, you have to go for it whatever the weather - so if you always expect the worse, sometimes you get the best. The time of year to go? In my opinion April is reasonably, as is late May and the temperature isn't too hot. Also September can be a good month but is down to the vagaries of the weather gods. But come rain or shine it is something that is so enjoyable, and I will keep these walks up as long as I can.

Silence on the hills

An eventful month since I last posted, and as with previous years some settled weather which was great for walking - sunshine and warm temperatures, with not much wind to speak of - mainly due to my diet by the way. I am still persevering with my slimming world diet, which gets interupted every time I go back to the rigs - I get bored and so eat a lot more biscuits etc. But my stomach must be getting used to smaller portions and I haven't rebounded up the scales yet. I put a lot of weight loss down to drinking less booze and eating less chocolate.

I had a brief journey down to Dartmoor to see my dear old aunt interred up on Sheepstor, which is a wonderful spot to finally rest. There are also a lot of stone age circles, barrows and stone avenues to look at, including the Giants Stone - a strange sight in the middle of nowhere, but still impresses now. Lucky me also had a lovely walk up to the top of England on Scafell Pike in hazy sunshine - fandabbydozy as someone once said.

....and for silence on the hills...I need a little wind to blow or some water to babble along. I suffer from Tinitus and sometimes it drives me nuts. On a very quiet day on the hills, when there isn't a breath of wind I stop and stare and then the whistling starts to intrude - a legacy of 30plus years working in a noisy environment. Alas nothing can be done, so it's grin and ignore it for the rest of my days - and if I say pardon, you know why! St Cuthbert's Way starting on the 27th April - please stay dry, please stay dry....

Spring has arrived - I think?

Well another few weeks tick by, and I have been lucky enough (again) to have had some splendid walks down in Wales. I revisited the Snowdon horseshoe and trotted around in about 7 1/2 hrs - I was absolutely bushed due to the fact I've still been keeping to my diet and as a consequence I really lacked energy for the day. Another lesson learnt and I should know better by now - the answer for me is a whacking big bowl of pasta the night before to stock up on the carbs and give some fuel to the old fool. On the other hand my weight is now down by a substantial 19lbs since the start of the year and I feel so much better for it. I also had a great day revisiting the Carneddau and was so lucky to get up above the clouds and eventually into bright sunshine, in almost perfect walking conditions. That doesn't happen very often and it is a magical feeling when it does - try keeping a smile off your face - impossible.

Spring must easily be the best time of year for a walk in good weather - the clear skies can give you magnificent views from on high and it really is worth the effort.

...and the horse I backed in the Grand National had a spring in his step - Black Apalachi - and was leading the field a merry dance, until his springiness became too much for his jockey as he got catapulted out of the saddle at the 22nd fence. It reminded me of what happened years ago to West Tip - he fell at Beachers Brook one year and then came out to win next year - so watch out for 2010! April will bring my first long distance path - although it should be called a middle distance as it is only 62.5 miles long. I am walking from Melrose along the St Cuthberts Way to Lindisfarne on the coast, and i am so looking forward to it.

Look at my rings

Blimey another month has ticked by since my last post. Hopefully spring is now on the way and we have seen the worse of the winter now. The snow was fun, but very tiring to walk through, and now it's the turn of boggy ground to sap the energy. I had a successful Cheltenham week and came away with money from Will Hills - always nice to be up. I was a bit unlucky as well, and had a series of second places, but the starting prices were high so I got decent payouts anyway. But it stopped me walking for the first week of my time off, so I 'll make up for it in the next week or two. I had a little walk up near Wooler to look for some Neolithic rock art - thought to be around 5000 yrs old. It does give you a special feeling when you first set eyes upon the rock art - real history.

I've persevered with my Slimming World diet and have now shed all the weight I put on over the festivities and some more to boot. My target is now in reach and I have to loose around 7lbs more to get to my racing weight..watch this diminishing space...

Cat-O-Matic says "No more snow thanks"

I set the cat-o-matic for getting up early before this weeks walks - if I leave her in, she comes and stays on the end of the bed. Wake up time for her is 05:30-ish, which is ideal for being up and away before the masses, but italways suprises me how much traffic is around at 6 in the morning. It was still snowy for the weekend walks - Wales on Friday the 13th! I walked with a couple of gents from the walking forum - Robbo who I had met the week before on Moel Eilio and Mike from Cheshire. Both work shifts which allows them to walk midweek, so I'm sure we will walk again - good company both. On Saturday it was up to Ingleborough with Stuart from walking places fame, who drove me up at break-neck speed to walk a delightful and eventful walk around the dales. Read the stories for the details - Yr Elen and Ingleborough.

I got to use my new toy and it has great potential when I get used to pressing the right buttons. The only drawback on Saturday proved to be me - I left the wrong map in from Friday, so only had a GPS map and not the OS map. But it was good enough and I couldn't get lost on either day, as Robbo led me by the nose on Friday through the clouds on high hills, and Stuart did the same on Sunday. Both however tried to commit a kamikaze trick - Robbo attempted a dive into the Afon Llafor, and with Stuart I heard a bit of an anxious cry, followed by 6ft4in of fell walker hurtling down the slope, legs in air. Excellent entertainment and he certainly reached the bottom of the slope a lot quicker than I did. My Satmap gave a distance walked at an average speed of 2mph, with a moving speed of 3.4mph - not too bad for the icy conditions. It also showed my maximum speed as 73mph - I forgot to turn it off until the motorway. Better luck next time - I'm off to Norway for some work soon and then it's the Cheltenham festival when I get home - giddy up as they say..

My gear

Every so often I have a splurge and splash out on some new gear. Always expensive, but my adage is that good quality stuff will last that bit longer and will be good value over the years. My first real pair of boots were Brasher Hillmaster and they served me well for over 10 years - they are still ok but a little worn and now they have retired to gardening duties. I replaced these with a pair of Meindl Burma Pro, which fit very well straight from the box - the only downside of these boots were the very thin insoles, but this was rectified with some thicker replacements. I keep them well dubbined and they will last me for the next 10 years or more. My waterproofs are Berghaus Paclite (goretex) and I chose these because they pack down to a very small pack which is ideal for my long distance walks. Like all waterproof jackets they will get a little moist inside when you are working hard, as it cannot wick away sweat fast enough. These are no different to any other material as far as I can see, but they dry out quick enough and are completely windproof.

My latest purchase is Icebreaker merino wool base layers - the most important thing about these is to keep anyone else away from washing them, or they may end up looking like something from mothercare. They are a fantastic buy, really comfortable and warm. Most importantly they are bacterially treated and absorb everything I can throw at them - very nice for those windy days! As for socks I use more than most, as I take mine to work as well. I swear by Bridgedale, as in 'feck' there goes another pair - no they do last pretty well, and unlike ordinary socks they come out oif the washer in pairs, not in singles.

And last but not least, after my escapades last year I have finally bought a GPS - a big splurge, but one that will save me from any future grief. I will of course be mainly using map and compass, but it will be interesting to monitor my progress with the GPS. I already have the memory map, and I can plan routes and download to the Satmap. It also means that I can download all my routes for my LDP's and use in conjunction with my guidebooks. It was a very expensive piece of kit but I decided it would pay for itself over the years. For general maps I print off from memory map and then laminate them - ideal for walking and no worries if they get wet or lost. More on this next week after my first walk with it.

Winter walking

Well a week has gone by and there have been a few walking tragedies in this wintry weather. Two in the lakes and three on Snowdon - it does make you rethink your strategy for winter walking. Because I got lost on a mountain once, some people think that somethings going to happen to me every time I go out walking, but I am extra careful in these conditions. I use Metcheck to monitor the weather, and compare it to the BBC forecasts and make my decisions based on these.

I had two walks this week and as I sit here typing up this, my legs are reminding me of my weekend exertions. The first was down to the Snowdon area and a walk to Moel Eilio from Llanberis. This route was chosen by Derek and we were accompanied by Paul. He had to carry an ice axe around with him all the way - better safe than sorry in this weather. The entire route was snow covered, but we all felt safe and only fell over once or twice. The path took in some lovely rounded hills (rounded on the parts we walked) and had fabulous views to all points of the compass. A great walk and many thanks to Derek, as well as apologies for murdering the pronunciation of the Welsh place names - sorry.

My second walk was selected by Stuart and was up in the Howgills to the east of the Lake District. A big group of rounded hills that always look very gloomy when viewed from the M6. The route was again chosen for it's rounded hills, but that didn't stop it from being a very tiring walk, as we had to walk like the flowerpot men - high stepping from out of the snow drifts. We were only at 2100ft and the wind was bitter cold, and the ground icy in patches. We pondered what it would be like on the high fells of the lakes - a step too far for us - brrrrr.

I'm in the third week of my slimming world diet and have now lost about 10lbs. But after the two walks my weight is the same despite all the exertions - it just goes to show you are what you eat, but also muscle weighs heavier than fat - so don't be discouraged. Put that pie down now!! I also took delivery of my Satman GPS and will have a play with it today, and maybe go on a little walk around the water park to check out the mileage!

Snow - likes and dislikes

The start of February and we have a real winter for a change, with real snow - for some parts of the country, but not really where I live. We just have a dusting, and over the last 20 odd years we haven't had many years that I can remember making huge snowmen. When my girls were young we went out towards Buxton so that they could have a play in the snow. I had to stop the car at the first sight of it, and they hopped out and built a 6" high snowman each. But there are a few things that I love about the snow, that make up for all the cold and disruption.

I love the silence we have when the snowfall is really heavy - no cars around. That crunch of snow under your boots, even better when you're up on the hills. Clear blue skies above a white blanket - brilliant. But there is a downside - too much snow and the higher fells become restricted to all but a well equipped experienced few. The roads clog up, it can cover boggy holes, cover boulders and hide ankle snapping holes, then it turns to mush - ok for walking, but not so good on the pavements.

We can all wrap up well and enjoy it though. Last year I had a fantastic day on the Coniston Fells, walking through a winter wonderland. I got back from Norway last night, after being delayed for a bizarre reason. The rig I was on had orange helideck lights and helicopters had been landing there for years without a problem. But the powers that be decided that they were the wrong colour, so the helicopters wouldn't land after dark! Needless to say, the flight I was due to leave on was delayed and didn't fly out to us because it was dark - but every cloud and all that - I got some overtime, and managed to catch my flight home the next day....with 5 minutes to spare...phew.

Now for some walking - hopefully

Welcome

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