Bleaklow - a walk on another planet!

Bleaklow in the Peak District was our aim, we met up with Sam and got parked up after admiring his new car. A walk of approx 10 miles was planned! - ha! Weather looked reasonable as we set off but closed in a bit as we started our first ascent up Torside Clough, never mind it gave Andrew a chance to 'test' his new waterproof.
We reached the summit of Bleaklow Head which is marked by a cairn and large stake and decided to seek a little bit of shelter from the breeze and have lunch. After lunch (OK so I ate more than half of the Mars Bar I was supposed to be sharing!) we set off across a bizarre terrain. The moorland is covered in peat dunes which are shaped and formed by the wind, it is really difficult to navigate or tell where you are amongst these 'dunes' despite the route being vaguely marked by large stakes on top of some of the mounds.

We had fun at Bleaklow Stones which are eroded by weather and time into most fantastic shapes. By this time the sun had come out and we were into some fine weather.

Onwards again across more 'dunes' by which time we were getting a bit pooped trying to determine which way to go and walking up and down and in and out of bogs! So much so that when we saw Grinah Stones ahead with a lovely clear path we just walked towards it like heading towards an oasis in the desert!! Doh! we should actually have headed off to the descent but hey ho - what's another 2 miles between friends!!! Actually it was quite groovy at Grinah and Barrow Stones with magnificent views right down beyond Sheffield across to the power stations (Ferrybridge, Eggborough and Drax) in 'megawatt valley'. We came across a lovely spot where a stream was flowing through a moss plateau and we spotted at least 3 small lizards amongst the vegetation.
We eventually made it back to the right track and after crossing the ford which was quite tricky we managed a short coffee break before the last couple of miles on the flat back to the car park.In total we did 13 and a half miles! Even our Mo was quite pooped when we got back to the cars. A great walk

Wales - a week of wild flowers and wild climbs

Saturday 14th June - Sunday 22nd June 2008
A lovely week with a mixed bag of weather and activity.

Our first walk was up Arenig Fawr (854m), it was a route suggested by Trail magazine and because this area is so quiet we had to do a fair bit of navagation as the paths weren't clearly defined. At one point we were scrambling over boulder strewn steep hillside. The summit of this hill (picture above) has a monument to a lost WWII aircraft and the American crew who were all killed when it crashed into the hillside, there are still bits of debris scattered around.

On the tops of the moorland on the ascent we came across a series of small tarns, these were beautifully secluded and one of them was 'alive' when we walked near it - I scooped my hand in the edge and discovered it was full of tadpoles! We saw small birds (wheatears) which were nesting amongst the rocks and also saw two buzzards quite close. We didn't see any other walkers!

Midweek we had a night of storms - wind and rain woke us up. We decided to still go out walking despite the rain and managed to find a series of short walks around Corwen which we tagged together. The first jaunt was up a small hill called Pen y Pigyn - there is a small monument on the top to Edward VII (Prince of Wales) and great views down the Dee valley. We then went across the valley and up another small hill called Caer Drewyn, this is an ancient hillfort dating from 600BC - it was quite amazing. We returned via a valley ramble and although it was a soggy kind of day we really enjoyed the views and the countryside as the hedgerows were full of wonderful wild flowers.

On Thursday we decided to tackle a BIG walk and Tryfan was our aim. We had a leisurely breakfast then set off. We decided to do a scramble route up Bwlch Tryfan and then up and over 'far south peak'. It was blinking awesome! I had always wanted to reach the summit of Tryfan and have never done such a long and sustained scramble route before.










The views from this route and the top were just fantastic and we really felt that we'd achieved something. The weather was kind to us all day and just as we reached the roadside where the car was the rain came! There was one of the best rainbows on the journey home I'd ever seen - it appeared to be lying on top of the fields, weird but lovely.

On Friday we rested our weary legs and had a day at the seaside, first stop was Dolgellau (a small market town) for some lunch, then on to Barmouth - this is where the mountains (Cadair Idris) meet the sea.

It's a wonderful old fashioned seaside town with a railway running right along the coast, wide sandy beaches and a natural harbour.

Saturday dawned rainy again and so we went off to do a local walk over lots of boggy moorland. The first half of the walk was nice and interesting with lots of wild flowers to see. Later, even using our navigation skills, it got frustratingly difficult to plot any decent route as the ground was boggy and rough. So, despite the weather at least we stretched our legs. The caravan site put on a Hog Roast on Saturday night but it was a bit of a wash out so we ate up and dashed back to the caravan to watch a footie match!

Sunday was our departure day and the weather was to scupper our plans again - gales forced us to stay put most of the day and we only managed to get away at about 5.30pm. A very windy drive home, but we had a surprise when we discovered that our wine gums had been stolen by a mouse in the car! Despite looking all over for it we never found the mouse, only the half eaten wine gums and a lovely little nest of shredded paper on the back seat (little bugger!).

Thornton le Dale weekend

We needed to chill out so we decided to go caravanning for the weekend. After much searching we found a lovely site in Thornton le Dale. It's only an hour away from home and just what we needed.

The site is adults only and only has 50 pitches, it's an old railway station and our pitch was on what would have been the railway line. Most of the other 'campers' were retired people who seem to have their vans there all the time.

We did absolutely bugger all for the whole day on Saturday and really enjoyed it for once! The weather was very hot and so we just had a stroll into the village for an ice cream and that was as energetic as it got.

Nice one! Next stop Wales....

Isabelle's 40th Birthday camp

Our first trip in the caravan was Saturday 22nd March - Wednesday 26th March. It also happened to be Easter and Isabelle's 40th birthday!!

We spent Good Friday getting ready, packing up and worrying about the gale force winds and snow which were forecast.

On Saturday we awoke to snow on the ground with more forecast and the wind which had howled all day on Friday hadn't gone away, so we were a bit worried about driving up to the Lakes with our caravan. To add insult to injury the AA reported that the A66 across from North Yorkshire to Cumbria was closed due to snow. Anyway, after deliberation and some lunch we set off and actually the journey was not too bad. We arrived safely at a lovely little site in a place called Grey Southen on the western edge of the Lake District.

We spent Sunday just having a potter around Keswick, shopping and eating fabulous cornish pasties!

On Sunday evening we were joined by Sam and Penny who were going to brave the elements under canvas. We made them hot water bottles and fed them pasta and booze.

So, Monday 24th March - Isabelle was officially OLD and after opening cards and pressies and eating breakfast we decided that today we would walk up Skiddaw. There was lots of snow on the tops of the high hills and mountains and it was going to be such fun!!

We got 'togged up' and set off. The walk up Skiddaw had been aborted by Andrew with his friend Ian back in November when they were caught in a blizzard, so there was a certain amount of determination that today would be 'it'.

Skiddaw is most commonly climbed from a car park at Latrigg which means that you are not starting from the valley floor, but it also means that you are pretty much straight off up steepish paths.

Mo was loving the snow immediately and was rolling around and leaping about like a nutter.

We had a few 'moments' as Penny was struggling - initially we all thought that she was just unfit or something, so we were feeding her energy drinks etc. However, after we carried on walking and lost sight of Penny and Sam for a while we got a bit worried and decided to turn back for them. Eventually they came over the crest of the hill, Penny fairly striding out. "What happened Penny, are you OK?" "Yes, I'm fine now Sam's taken my trousers off!" Turned out that she had got her self too 'togged up' and had about 20 pairs of pants on and couldn't bend her legs!!! We did laugh!

We weren't laughing for long..... as we climbed even higher, the snow started and quickly turned into a blizzard. Poor Mo's ears kept blowing inside out so Isabelle and Sam turned a spare hat into a snood for him which helped a bit. Didn't stop his beard from gathering snow though - bless him!

We eventually got to the summit to quickly turn around and dash back to a flatter area where we cracked open the Champers! Perfectly chilled!

Quite an experience and not just for the views. We were all wishing we had crampons at one point, only to be overtaken by a chap with white trainers and ankle socks!!

Anyway, we completed the adventure with Fish and Chips in Cockermouth and then back to the caravan for birthday buns, more champagne (thanks Sam n Penny) and indoor sparklers. A fantastic birthday.

More photos from this adventure can be found on Sam's facebook site by clicking this link http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=21432&l=59759&id=755947538

We got a new Caravan!

Yay! After much searching we finally found ourselves a little Eriba.

Now all we need is some good weather and we'll be off. Looking forward to our first trip which hopefully will be for Isabelle's birthday in March. Watch this space....

Kinder Scouting...

Sam and Penny rang us to see if we fancied a walk.. and we did. So after a bit of consideration we decided to go up Kinder Scout.

Andrew printed off a route and used his new memory-map software (fancy as).

It was a 'nippy' kind of day with jackets on and jackets off every ten minutes!

There was quite a stiff little pull up at the beginning of the walk but then we were up on the plateau. Don't think we actually reached the true summit of Kinder Scout as it is notoriously difficult to find being a large plateau, we definitely got to the summit of Kinder Low - here is Mo checking out the trig point.

Then we walked on and had an impressive view of Kinder downfall - the photo doesn't really do it any justice. The waterfall comes straight out of bedrock to fall down the crags.

We had lunch sheltered behind some rocks and I tried to fly my little kite, much to the amusement of my brother! The wind was a bit too blustery and the string snapped then after I'd mended it the darned thing kept crashing!! Oh well, the Bailey's Irish Cream I took to put in the coffee went down a treat.

Quite a muddy descent back to the cars, tired legs and rosey cheeks - by 'eck it were grand!

A walk up Win Hill

On Sunday 21st October we got up early (the stars were still out!). We decided to take advantage of the weather forecast and go walking. The Peak District beckoned us and we picked out a walk from one of our guidebooks, packed the sarnies and set off in the dark and foggy gloom.

We were the first car in the car park at Heatherdene, just at the side of Ladybower. As usual Mo was giddy as Mo as we set off. The first couple of miles were very dank and misty out through the woody valley and then we started to climb up, the light was lovely coming through the tree and all the cobwebs were holding the mist.

We began to climb more steeply and kept getting glimpses of the sun through the thinning fog, we couldn't wait to be on top of the hill in the sunshine. Then at about 9.30am we reached the summit of Win Hill - not a very big hill but the views were fantastic. We could see for miles and miles and were above the fog which was hanging in all the valleys below us! It was like cloud inversion. We stayed and chatted to some bonkers fell runners who had stopped for a breather. Then we took a few piccies and set off for the rest of the walk. Most of the rest of the walk was over moorland along side a forest. As we started to drop down to the valley again the path steepened and we ran the gauntlet with even more mad men - the mountain biker nutcases!

As we got back on the main path way along Ladybower reservoir we met our pal Mark who was out mountain biking! A fantastic little walk of approx. 9 miles or so, made wonderful by the weather and the time of year.