Our Holiday Pics from Northumberland Sept 2007

Slide Show of August Backpack Adventure

Our First Backpacking Trip

August Bank Holiday saw us finally put all our shiny new gear into use. We had recently sold the big tent and bought ourselves a small lightweight tent, fancy new sleeping bags, sleep mats and big rucksacks.
We decided that the Lake District would be good, despite it being a bank holiday. Sam and Penny were 'up for it' and together we decided that Ennerdale would be a good place to start. Sam had completed the 'Coast to Coast' walk earlier in the year and had camped at a small farm site (Bradley's Farm) which he recommended for our first night at Ennerdale Bridge.
So Friday night we all met up at the camp and enjoyed a night of 'Old MacDonald' noises (galloping horses and barking dogs included!!).
The next morning was a bit grey and drizzly but we weren't put off, after breakfast we packed up our sacks and drove to a car park at the end of Ennerdale. We decided to walk up the valley to the Black Sail youth hostel before climbing up into the hills as the weather was quite poor, with low cloud. This was accomplished quite easily and we stopped for a brew at the youth hostel.
We climbed up to pitch camp below Haystacks at Blackbeck tarn - we named our first hill camp 'Pussy Camp' (don't ask - but it wasn't rude!).
A pretty wild and woolly night with lots of strong wind making the tents flap. We were warm and toasty in our new sleeping bags but poor Mo decided that he'd had enough of sleeping at the foot of the tent on a pile of discarded clothes and flopped down on Isabelle's head half-way through the night!!
Sunday morning dawned much better weather, the cloud had lifted and the sun was coming out. We had a good breakfast and set off for our 'big walk'. The first summit was Haystacks, we paused by Innominate Tarn and then decided to go for High Crag via the direct route which was very strenuous and really tested the old lungs and legs!!
We reached Seat summit next then pressed on for High Stile - what a corker, very strenuous but incredible views. By the time we had admired the views we all decided that we had had enough and agreed to exit off the ridge to the valley. The descent was still very hard work on the legs carrying heavy packs. By the time we reached the newer youth hostel in the Ennerdale valley we were all pooped and in need of water.
As a first venture into backpacking it was superb, great route, excellent gear and wonderful company! Can't wait for next year! Watch the slide show for all the piccies....

'Bagging the Views' - Devon 2007

This was a walk which really lived up to it's name. It was about 6 miles and started in Croyde, we walked across country up some very boggy and soggy lanes until we reached Putsborough where we had a run on the beach.

We then followed the coast path to Baggy Point where we watched some rock climbers. The coast path was fantastic and a botanist's dream as there were some spectacular wild flowers growing in natural rock gardens.

I think the best bits were the views from the coast path and running about on the beach! Mo definitely loved the beach...

Watersmeet to Lynmouth and back in time for cake!

This was our first walk in North Devon where we started to explore some of the north Devon coastal path.

The walk was from Watersmeet which is situated in a wooded valley above Lynmouth. It was about 5 miles and took in some very varied terrain. After climbing steeply in the wooded valley we then crossed up and out over moorland with spectacular views of the coast and out to sea.

We dropped down into Lynmouth and after a short rest to eat lunch we followed the river Lyn back up the wooded valley to Watersmeet again. We had to test out the tea and cake on offer at the wonderful cafe (it would have been rude not to!). There were lots of small birds who obviously were used to picking up the leftovers and a bluetit came and finished off my crumbs.

This was a very beautiful walk with some quite steep sections both up and down.

Swedish Lapland

A fantastic fishing trip to Swedish Lapland with our friends Andy (Footy) and John (Woody)!

After three flights which also entailed an argument in Manchester airport over 'explosives' (we were carrying self inflating life jackets in our luggage) and a bit of a hissy fit in Stockholm (Footy was a 'bit concerned' about missing a connecting flight), we arrived in Swedish Lapland. The land of the midnight sun, chewing tobacco, moose, no crime, mad driving antics and LOTS OF FISHING!

We had a fishing guide called David who also lent us a car and arranged some accommodation for us and generally showed us wonderful hospitality the way that only Swedish folk can. We stayed in a typically Swedish house which was basic but comfortable - NO TV FOR 2 WEEKS!!! how cool is that?

Each day David would take us to a lake or part of a river and suggest places to fish, he would organise boats for us to use and motors for the boats etc.

It is difficult to describe Swedish Lapland and really do it justice - there are LOTS of trees, so many lakes to fish, hardly any people and roads with no tarmac. Oh, I forgot to mention Beaver! I only said that for comedy purposes! There are beaver in the lakes and rivers and we found evidence of their existence but didn't manage to see one in real life.

This is a beaver dam!

We also saw moose regularly and a reindeer one day! There were lots of birds but the forests are so dense that you rarely see the song birds. There were some storks in the field outside the house and they were doing their 'dancing' ritual.

Anyway, we went there to catch fish and we did! We were after Pike and Perch mostly but also had a dabble with a fly rod and caught some beautiful brook trout. So here is a slide show of some fish we caught.

Sweden slideshow!