Intro’

Hello and a very big welcome to my blog “tothehills”.

(Started September 2008) 

My site, as I add my diary posts, will build a retrospective look back at country walks I’ve done, in what I hope is an informative and entertaining way for you to share.    

Country Walking, Rambling, Hiking, Hill Walking, Mountain Walking (or whatever you want to call this great pastime) is my most enduring passion and as such I have tried to convey this in my writings.

Please dip-in and find out about the walks I’ve done and places I’ve been.

I hope my diaries give you walks ideas for yourself.

 [I'd welcome comments/feedback if you feel inclined or if there are any questions on my walks please ask .... I've also a large back-catalogue of walks done across England and a bit further afield in my head (and on film) since about 1980 when I did my first walk (Kinder Scout from Edale to Hayfield) so if you think I might be able to impart some knowlegde please ask ... one day I might actually be able to get them down in print!]

Site Navigation :-
There are a number of ways to move around my site.

• The simplest is to just continue to scroll down from this home page; this will show my diary posts in the order in which they were published, most recent at the top. This maybe isn’t very intuitive if you’re looking for something more specific, but fine if you want to see what I’ve just written.
• Use the search box (next to the tabs at the top of the page) … type what-ever you want to find – you might get lucky.
• Use the categories in the side-bar area on the right, or click on the links below, which will take you to the groups of diary posts associated with regions where I’ve walked.

Coventry, Warwickshire and Close By     Lake District     Peak District

Yorkshire     Cotswolds     England-Other Places     Wales

With The Midland Hill Walkers     With The Coventry CHA Rambling Club

Walks on Long Distance Footpaths     Charity Walks

The interesting stuff (I hope) :-
I intend to separate my walks diaries into several regions in order to make Navigation as easy and as intuitive possible (see above). It may take some time to post something in each category, but I hope to populate each “folder” in time.

My diaries are written in an informal style describing the walks I’ve done, combining general route descriptions with comments about anything related to the walk, whether it be the weather, particular views, emotions, etc.

The boring stuff (perhaps) :-

 I will also add some pages that describe who I am, general interests, and various scribblings related to my walking activities and my views and opinions.

These are not essential to read before dipping straight into the walks but I hope they convey a bit more about me and how country walking has been a huge part of my non-working life.

Because walking in the countryside has its hazards and risks please read my disclaimer.

I hope you enjoy reading my walking diaries and scribblings.
Gary.

Feed-Back Please !

Hi everyone :-

If anyone has any anything they’d like to say or have any questions about my diaries or photo’s …. then I’d love to get your feedback …. There are several ways you can do this :-

• Use the comment box at the end of each diary post.
• Use the comment box at the end of the “CONTACT ME” or “MY LINKS” tabs at the top of the site pages.
• If you don’t want your comment or question or what-ever to be public on my blog pages, use my email address noted here (tothehills@ymail.com) and also on the “CONTACT ME” page.
• I’ll try to reply/comment back as soon as  possible – even if it’s just to say thanks.
  

If you want to follow my diaries as I add them, then there’s an option to click on the RSS FEED button and subscribe to my blog.

Obviously complimentary comments are nice and very welcome (ego always needs a boost!!!!), but if anyone has constructive criticism (please be gentle though) I’ll try to be big-enough and broad-shouldered enough to take your thoughts on board and maybe incorporate any suggestions with a view to improve my scribblings.

And finally,

ENGLISH :- Please be aware that English writing never was my strong suit, but I try my best to get spellings and punctuation as accurate as possible … It does make me smile when spell check gets very confused over Welsh and North of England spellings … Lots of RED LINES when I’m composing.

AMERICAN ENGLISH :- Despite having computer settings at “English English” a lot of the time the spell check often tries to default to “American English”, which I find very irritating, but occasionally and unfortunately this can find its way into my text – Sorry to all pedants out there – but please don’t bother telling me – PLEASE !

PHOTO’s :- I hope you enjoy my images : I’m not a pro’ photographer, I’m a walker first and a snapper second, but I do try to illustrate my walks as best I can, hopefully telling the story of each walk in all its glory (whatever the weather!) – I’m currently enrolled on a beginners course to try and improve my pic’s – Only time will tell I suppose !!!

Anyway, in summary ….. PLEASE COMMENT IF YOU FEEL SO INCLINED.

T.T.F.N. Gary (tothehills) Hadden

20110923_Pre-amble to Robinson-Hindscarth Horseshoe Walk

20110923_Pre-amble to Robinson-Hindscarth Horseshoe Walk

When : 23^rd September 2011

Who : Me and my sister Janet

Where : Newlands Valley, Lake District, Cumbria, England

Distance : Approx  10.7 km (6.6 miles)

Heights climbed : Approx 770m (2527ft)

Car Parking : Just outside Little Town, small car park near bridge over Newlands Beck.

Summary : The first of three circular walks in the superb English Lake District, Starting in Little Town in the Newlands Valley, walking to the top of Robinson, then a bit of a drop and rise to the top of Hindscarth before dropping back into the Newlands Valley, having a mug of Tea at Low Snab Farm (at the foot of the mountain) before returning to the car and the drive round to Borrowdale via Newlands Hause (pass) and Honister Pass.

Just a few pic’s are included from the walk …. just to whet your appetite really – more on the main walks diary … also, click on a pic’ and it should launch as a larger image on my flickr photostream.

I’ll not scribble too much of a preamble to the walk as I’ve done a degree of that on my other diary “20110923-25_Lake District Long Weekend – An Overview”. So suffice to say, I’d left home in Rugby, picked up my sister Janet just down the road in Coventry early enough to join the M6 before rush-hour had really got going through Birmingham. As it happened, the traffic, although flowing OK, was quite busy, so we decided to use the M6 Toll road to bypass “Brum”. The cost does seem to be extortionate for the length of road but because of that, there are hardly any trucks and car use is quite light, so speeds are good and you feel that you’re making progress north rather than crawling through the second city. And let’s be honest the bits of Brum’ the M6 passes through are quite ugly, the toll road is much more pleasant on the eye.

The journey was pretty uneventful, just the weather was a bit on the damp and claggy side of good. As we passed Lancaster and caught that first glimpse of the Lake district in the far distance, there was a small sense of disappointment – All the fells were shrouded in cloud, and as we headed past The Howgill Fells and up towards Shap we got rain and low cloud – It wasn’t boding well for today’s walk. However as we crested the rise over the top of Shap and started the drop towards our exit at Junction-40 at Penrith there were signs of brightness trying to break through – giving us hope things were going to improve.

As always, the drive down the A66 lifted the spirits even further; I just adore this road; the approach towards and then beneath the flanks of Blencathra is just superb and the vistas opening up over Keswick to the northern fells and mountains give me a real sense of excitement. In common with the A591 passing Kendal into south Lakeland, driving down the A66 flicks a little switch in my heart reigniting a little bit of me that stays dormant for the rest of the time. It’s as if part of me has “come alive” again.

Anyway, we drove past Keswick, to branch off the A66 at Portinscale to follow minor roads south through the lovely Newlands Valley eventually passing through the little settlement of Little Town nestling under the craggy flanks of Cat Bells and Maiden Moor. Just to the south of Little Town is a small rough surfaced car park immediately before Chapel Bridge, but by the time we’d arrived this was chock-a-block with vehicles and a line of cars had already filled in much of the road side opposite as well – I just about managed to squeeze in at the end of this line tucking in as close to the fence as physically possible and we donned boots, coats and hoisted ruck-sacks onto backs. We’d arrived – Our Brother and Sister, Annual, Lake District, Long-Weekend, Walking Trip had begun !!!!

Now, I can start writing about the walk … but it’ll probably be best to start a new diary entry for that. I hope I’ve whetted your appetite to read more … so please go see “ 20110923_Robinson-Hindscarth Horseshoe Walk_Newlands Valley“.

…. If you’d like to comment on my diary or any of my pic’s please feel welcome.

T.T.F.N. Gary

20110923_Robinson-Hindscarth Horseshoe Walk_Newlands Valley

20110923_Robinson-Hindscarth Horseshoe Walk_Newlands Valley

  When : 23^rd September 2011

  Who : Me and my sister Janet

  Where : Newlands Valley, Lake District, Cumbria, England

  Distance : Approx  10.7 km (6.6 miles)

  Heights climbed : Approx 770m (2527ft)

 Car Parking : Just outside Little Town, small car park near bridge over Newlands Beck.

Summary : The first of three circular walks in the superb English Lake District, Starting in Little Town in the Newlands Valley, walking to the top of Robinson, then a bit of a drop and rise to the top of Hindscarth before dropping back into the Newlands Valley, having a mug of Tea at Low Snab Farm (at the foot of the mountain) before returning to the car and a drive round to Borrowdale via Newlands Hause (pass), Buttermere and Honister Hause (Pass).

If you click on a pic’ and it should launch as a larger image on my flickr photostream.

You can go straight into the text below that describes the walk, but if you want you could go see my earlier diaries of “20110923-25_Lake District Long Weekend – An Overview“ and “20110923_Pre-amble to Robinson-Hindscarth Horseshoe Walk“ which both give a bit of back-ground to the weekends walking.

So, we’d arrived at the car-park at Chapel Bridge just south of Little Town and got ourselves ready for the walk, hoisted ruck-sacks onto our backs and set off crossing the small road bridge and then almost immediately turning left into a tarmac’d driveway. After a few hundred yards the track divides; one route turns left, south, towards Low Snab, but our route was to carry straight on (westwards) but not before stopping briefly to read the plaque on the wall of the chapel/old school house attractively positions within dry-stone walls and a group of trees just starting to turn to their autumn colours.

Although overcast, conditions were dry and our pace was reasonably good taking advantage of the level terrain and tarmac surface. As pleasant as the surrounding are here in the valley bottom, my gaze was constantly being drawn to the view on our left. The nearest fell (Scope End) sticks out into the valley here abruptly rising towards the skies. This would be our descent route off Hindscarth later in the day but our current route was to rise up Robinson via High Snab Bank and this ridge line could be seen slightly set-back and to the right of the scene. The step of Blea Crag rose up into the cloud base and we hoped this would lift as the day progressed; I like the sense of achievement of reaching the tops but it really is so much better if you can get some views along the way.

The driveway, curving round to the left, led us up to the oddly named Low High Snab where we’d gained enough height to afford some views back over The Newlands Valley. We’d sufficiently warmed up enough by now (it hadn’t rained either), to stow our waterproofs in our sacks and then continue onwards the walled track, now pretty much contouring on the hill side heading into The Scope Beck Valley. After a short distance, where the right hand wall turns directly up the fell side, we chose to turn right (leaving the track), to climb steeply on a grassy path cutting a very visible line through an extensive area of bracken, passing a stand of conifer trees along the way. The views behind us rapidly opened up, giving an excuse for several “breathers” as the exertion levels rose. It didn’t take long though to reach the top of the ridge (“High Snab Bank”) and the grassy, pretty much level path, made for some easy walking with views in all directions although the temperature had dropped enough for us to put coats back on.

Ahead of us, the ground now climbed steeply although not difficult underfoot, that was until we reached a particularly awkward crag line necessitating the use of hands to clamber up, I guess what you’d call a mini-scramble. One problem was what to do with our walking poles which sort of just got in the way – Perhaps we should of stowed the on our sacks to help! There might have been a different, less-difficult route, but I didn’t see an alternative path circumventing the way we took, but anyway we made it and the route continued it’s climb fairly uneventfully from this point on.

As with most walks of this nature, the climb can be a bit of a slog at times, especially in cloud restricting the view, but luckily the cloud base rose as we did, a cool stiffish breeze helping keep some views open, all we had to do was negotiate the several “false tops” until we reached the broad summit. Although the high tops around us were still shrouded in the uniform grey and uninteresting clouds, we were rewarded with some decent enough views to have made it all worthwhile. I think we’d been very fortunate, as it could quite easily have gone the other way and fogged in on us.

The wind was quite chilly though, so we didn’t hang around very long before moving off again, at first to the south but then swinging left to descend quite quickly picking up a path down the side of a wire fence. This was leading us down to the broad saddle of Littledale Edge. The wind was quite stiff and decidedly cold but not so much that it prevented us admiring the views over to Scarth Gap and up Gatesgarthdale to Honister Pass. I tried to capture some sun-bursts breaking through the cloud cover like huge spot lights lighting up the fell sides, not easy in the cold blustery conditions! …. Still, I like some of the resulting images.

Once we started to climb from the low point of the saddle, the path diverged, the most distinct path heading up towards Hindscarth Edge and Dale Head, but our route (on the less distinct path) swung around to the left cutting diagonally up and across contours on the way to the broad summit of Hindscarth. Thankfully we were slightly sheltered from the wind on the rise across the fell making the going relatively easy despite the added exertion of the climb. The respite was quite short lived though, because as we crested the top, the ‘breeze’ picked again. One good result of this was that the cloud that had been hanging around the top all day, had been blown off the top and allowed us to get some half-decent views. This was most notable to the north as we started to drop off northwards along a lovely ridge. A horseshoe shaped shelter cairn allowed us to take a refreshment stop and enjoy the vistas in relative comfort.

It had to be done; We had to move off again and start losing height, which is always a struggle for me as I like being up on the high ground!

The descent off Hindscarth though is down a ridge heading north with a distinct but not overly eroded path with great views all the way to the very end.

• To the east there’s the upper reaches of The Newlands Valley and across to the High Spy, Maiden Moor and Cat Bells Ridge.
• To the west, there’s Robinson, seen across the bowl of Littledale and the ridge we’d climbed earlier in the day including Blea Crag and High Snab Bank.
• Also to the west, beyond the Hindscarth ridge is the mass of the North Western Fells which today were looking very dark and foreboding with an entirely separate feel to the rest of the surrounding hills and mountains.
• And, to the north, a huge view right down the Newlands Valley to The Skiddaw and Blencathra massifs, a glimpse of Derwent water and Keswick all framed by closer fells such as Cat Bells and Causey Pike – Superb !

As we followed the lovely winding path down the ridge the afternoon sun decided to show itself, casting shadows and warming up the colours, from the browns of bracken, to the multicolored hues of the rocks, purples of heather and lush greens of the valley bottoms.

This is what we’d come for: -

• YES the sense of achievement on reaching the tops.
• YES to the high rugged scenery.
• YES to the time spent with my sister (hopefully she feels the same way too).
• YES to the camaraderie of meeting fellow walkers (although very few met today).
• And YES to just the sheer beauty of the place! I just love it here!!!

Up until now my knees had stood up to the rigours of the day quite well, but as we dropped through some of the steeper crag-lines, I could feel the strain a little (see my earlier diary for an explanation) and was now very glad I’d walked with two walking poles, as they helped enormously, and then all too soon we were down, reaching the intake wall as Scope End meets the farmland of the Newlands Valley and Low Snab Farm in particular.

I’d already reminisced with Janet about a walk I’d done many years before, where the farm served mugs of tea from their back door, and I’d wondered if they were still doing this all these years later. So upon reaching the intake wall, we turned right, followed the path round in a curve and reached a track where it emerges from the farmyard. Lo and behold, there perched on the dry stone wall was (painted on a piece of lakeland slate) a sign saying “POTS OF TEA” …. and that did sound rather inviting.

As we walked past the farm buildings, a lady (of mature years) appeared from the back door and she was delighted when we asked if tea was being served. She directed us back up the drive to a set of plastic table and chairs in an open barn cum storage shed cum work-shop (probably the messiest “cafe” I’d ever sat in. The tea promptly arrived on a tray and the lady stood chatting for a while, before pulling up another chair for her to continue with the almost completely one-sided conversation. I think we got her life story, the changing state of farming, what her offspring were doing with their lives and that most English of subjects – The weather. I guess we must have been there about half-an-hour before raising ourselves for the final mile down the farm drive to meet our outward route at the old school house/chapel and then back to the car park.

The final part of the day was to drive round to Borrowdale and the youth hostel at Longthwaite near Rosthwaite. Just because I love the route, I chose to take the road over Newlands Hause (a Pass) passing Moss Force (waterfall) on the way, before dropping down to the little chapel on the outskirts of Buttermere Village. From here I took the road left past Buttermere Youth Hostel along the northern side of Buttermere Lake to Gatesgarth Farm and then the spectacular rise up through Gatesgarthdale (we’d looked down on here from above during the walk). However, before the climb, at Gatesgarth Farm we made an unscheduled stop to pick up a hitch hiker (obviously a hill walker) … it turned out he had been unable to keep up with his group on their walk and had dropped down off the hills to pick up the little bus that runs through here – only he’d missed the last one, stranding him on the wrong side of Honister Hause Pass! Honister Hause (in my opinion, one of the best passes in the Lake District you can drive over) is not a route to walk, especially at dusk, so we played The Good Samaritan (poor analogy really, but you know what I mean) and he jumped in the back seat of the car with his ruck-sack.

At the top of the pass is the famous, still working, Honister Slate Mine and another Youth Hostel (descriptively called Honister Hause Youth Hostel). The descent is superb as well and soon brought us to the head of Borrowdale at Seatoller, and it was then only a matter of minutes before we dropped off our impromptu passenger and then turned off down a narrow drive to reach Borrowdale Youth Hostel by the banks of the River Derwent.

Unfortunately, we were too late to book for their evening meal, so this necessitated a walk up the lanes to Stonethwaite, where the hotel/pub (The Langstrath Country Inn I think) managed to squeeze us in to their restaurant for a satisfying meal and a well earned pint of excellent beer; A really good end to a day on the fells.

I hope you enjoyed my scribblings and photo’s …. If you’d like to comment on my diary or any of my pic’s please feel very welcome.

T.T.F.N. Gary

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 10,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

2011 into 2012

Happy New Year to all my readers, thanks for making my blog stat’s brill’ in 2011 – 3X more than in 2010 !!! I hope anyone who’s dipped in has enjoyed reading my scribblings and looking at my pix.

Here’s to a super 2012 – Cheers !

20110925_Haystacks circular walk from Buttermere

20110925_Haystacks circular walk from Buttermere

When : 25^th September 2011

Who : Me and my sister Janet

Where : Gatesgarth, Buttermere, Lake District, Cumbria, England

Distance : Approx 7.9 km (4.9 miles)

Heights climbed : Approx 541m (1776 ft)

Car Parking : Car park near Gatesgarth Farm at the foot of Honister Pass and near the head of Buttermere Lake.

Summary : The last of three circular walks in the superb English Lake District, Starting at Gatesgarth in the Buttermere valley and taking in Warnscale Bottom, rising to the area of Dubs Bottom, then rising up onto Haystacks via Blackbeck and Innominate Tarns, and the descent via Scarth Gap back to the car-park and then the drive home.

If you want to see a larger image of the photo’s in the blog, just click on it and it should launch as a larger image on my flickr photostream.

We’d awoken, packed up, had breakfast, readied our rucksacks & walking boots and loaded the car boot and in amongst all that made some sandwiches and drinks for the day. We had discussed the walk we were going to do the night before which was to be a relatively easy 5 or 6 miler and relatively low elevation. The highest point was to be on Haystacks – We’d ruled out doing Fleetwith Pike as well, due to the extra heights and distance and we had the drive down the M6 to think about during the afternoon. So, we made the decision for the above reasons and because Janet had never been on Haystacks before – and – as an equally good reason, I like the mini-mountain, having crossed this attractive fell on several occasions before.

We set off in the car, from Borrowdale Youth Hostel, for the drive over Honister Pass, which is a fantastic drive. The east side is a steep climb needing low gears at the best of times, but our climb was made considerably harder by getting mixed up in some kind of cycle time trial race; there were slow moving cyclists (some walking and pushing their bikes up the hill and some weaving back and forth across the road) which we had to negotiate past, as well as avoiding vehicles coming down in the opposite direction – Not the easiest of drives! Once over the pass at Honister Slate Mines (there’s a youth hostel here as well) we had the long drop down the western side of the pass in the Buttermere valley. To my mind this is the most spectacular side of the pass, the road bounded by the steep slopes of Fleetwith Pike to the south and the Dale Head range to the north. This is not a drive to be hurried if you really want to a) be safe and b) appreciate the scenery. The funny thing was, some of the cyclists were coming down faster than we were in the car – absolute madness – so I slowed considerably a few times to allow some of these mad-men and women to come flying by us.

Towards the bottom of the pass, as the gradient eases, is a farm at Gatesgarth and there is a reasonably sized car-park (charge applies) which we pulled into. Being early in the morning, we had almost a pick of where to park, although I’ve seen this chock-a-block and overflowing at busy times. A good number of the cyclists flew past at a great rate of knots as we donned walking boots etc. and we were soon walking back up the road in the direction we’d come from taking care to avoid more cyclists as we passed some cottages on our right. As we cleared the buildings, just a few yards further on, we branched right onto the low fell side. In effect, the walk felt like it started here.

There are two paths that start here, one heads more to the left heading up to the famous small white memorial cross on the lower slopes of Fleetwith Pike, before rising up to Low Raven Crag and then the climb up Fleetwith Edge to the summit of Fleetwith Pike (see my diary from back in 2008). This wasn’t for us though as we needed the path (a bridle path by designation) slightly more to the right and soon heading just about due south. This is as easy a start to a Lake District walk you could ever hope for, with a wide firm track, almost dead level and dry underfoot (amazing given the rain from the day before). That’s not to say the scenery was anything other than fantastic; we were heading directly towards the rugged northern flanks Haystacks and off to the right a view down the Buttermere Valley. The track swings around to the left in a long curve and slowly but surely brings you into the bowl of Warnscale Bottom with steep rugged fell sides encroaching on both sides and directly ahead. In the bottom of the bowl we had a choice, a) continue on the bridle track to the left, rising up the flanks below Fleetwith Pike, or b) take a footpath to cross a stream and then rise up the right hand side of the bowl beneath the buttresses of Haystacks.

We decided on the smaller path, branching off to the right, and soon crossed the boulder strewn stream via a footbridge and soon after this crossed another smaller stream this time without the aid of a bridge. This was done without much difficulty and we then started up the fell side at times quite close to cascades tumbling down the hill side. The path was visible on the ground and easy enough to follow (apart from a couple of times where it became a little indistinct) but much less pronounced than the bridle way we could see across the ravine being cut by the fast flowing waterfalls.

It was as we climbed this path that we met a couple of fellow hikers, one of whom was lagging quite a way behind his colleague. It turns out he’d taking a fall the day before and hurt himself quite considerably. Being well equipped for an overnight on the fells, they’d taken the decision not to descend off the mountain in failing light the evening before, instead hunkering down for the night in a small bothy in amongst some mine workings a way above us. The injured chap was walking OK – just very slowly, and after we’d parted company we kept looking behind (and below) us to see their progress. Even as complete strangers we were happy to see them reach the main track in Warnscale Bottom and then disappear from view as they headed off towards Gatesgarth.

After a couple of big zig-zags of the path we reached the very bothy the two guys had over-nighted in. I couldn’t say in all honesty that it looked particularly salubrious but it would certainly keep the worst of the weather at bay – and I guess could be relatively cosy with a fire in the hearth. Outside, the view over Buttermere and Crummock Water was absolutely stunning.

Once we’d spent some time here, we picked up a route (one of several potential options here) to climb steeply up through the old quarry workings intermingled with the fell side crags to emerge onto a more pronounced path skirting round the edge of a broad hummocky area called Dubs Bottom.  It’s kind of difficult to describe what this area is like really, it’s a sort of a wide saddle or col between the flanks of Fleetwith Pike and  Haystacks, but it’s also a bit like a bowl as slopes rise up towards Grey Knotts and Brandreth about a mile away. Upon joining the path we turned right to skirt around the back of Green Crag with occasional views down Buttermere on our right and higher cloud topped fells to our left viewed over Blackbeck Tarn.

Once over the outflow stream from Blackbeck Tarn (predictably called Black Beck) our route then climbed through crags on a distinct path towards Haystacks. We were now seeing quite a few more people (heading in both directions) testament to the popularity of Haystacks amongst the walking fraternity and we soon reached the enigmatic Innominate Tarn.

I say this small, fairly ordinary, attractively positioned pool of water is enigmatic for good reason. A dictionary definition states enigmatic as meaning “a thing that is mysterious, puzzling, or ambiguous” and Innominate means “having no name” … so as soon as the tarn with no name was named “Innominate Tarn”, it then did indeed have a name which is then ambiguous as it either can either have a name or not have a name and so by default becomes enigmatic. This is further enhanced by the famous love of this place by the inimitable Alfred (A.W.) Wainwright MBE.

It was time for a bit of a refreshment stop, so rather than sit by the side of the path, we thought we’d explore around the tarn to find a sheltered spot out of the now rather stiff (and quite cool) breeze – Actually it was really quite windy! As we climbed over a low hummocky crag above the tarn we came upon a smaller pool with something floating back and forth in the middle but never reaching the banks. As we got closer this turned out to be a toy sized boat and really quite elegantly made – A very odd thing to discover on a high fell and I’d love to hear the story behind it. The top of the hummock afforded a decent view over Innominate Tarn and its line of islands and we soon found what looked and felt like a sheltered hollow looking out over the water.

As soon as we’d sat down the wind picked up again swirling around the hollow, which wasn’t a problem until we started to pack up. Janet was the first to get up and her sit-mat promptly took-off, did a quick twirl and headed off over the crag. I stood up to chase after it, where immediately my map-case (with map!) also promptly took off. The map being most important was grabbed but by this time the sit-mat had disappeared. The whole laughable episode had lasted probably no more than a minute; we found it funny anyway, as did a group of four blokes across the way on the main path who’d seen most of our chasing around. As it happened, from the top of a small crag, I could see the sit-mat floating about in the tarn trapped by some pond vegetation. I clambered down and as I got to the water’s edge a gust of wind scooted it across the surface straight to me – So, “all’s well that ends well” to badly quote Shakespeare.

After the interlude, we set off on the very distinct main path climbing towards the summit (or really summits) of Haystacks, stopping only to take some photos and the occasional chat with passing hikers. We kept on a fairly low path for most of the rise, ignoring alternative routes that climb up and down the craggy tops of the fell. After a while we branched right to climb to one of the tops with a rough cairn perched on top – I’m not 100% sure this was the absolute highest, but for all intents and purposes we’d reached the summit of Haystacks. The views all around are superb from here but unfortunately many of the mountain tops were shrouded in cloud and it was difficult to stand and appreciate what we could see by the buffeting wind trying to blow us off our feet. We chose to drop down a little to the south to get out of the wind rather than the direct route off the fell side. The path we picked up swung around the fell side, dropping quite quickly on a fairly easy path. Eventually we picked up a boundary fence which rose up slightly to meet the rockier and more exposed paths we’d ignored earlier. We were now at a cross roads of footpaths, at the top of the Scarth Gap Pass, giving four options of travel, as it happens more or less in the directions of the main points of the compass :-

• East – Back up onto Haystacks.
• South – Dropping down into the upper reaches of Ennerdale (towards Blacksail Youth Hostel in this fantastic setting).
• West – Climbing onto Seat and up and beyond to the High Crag – High Stile – Red Pike Range.
• North – Descending into the Buttermere Valley.

Our route was to take the north option, the descent starting quite rocky but later becoming much narrower and easier under foot as the route heads diagonally down and across Buttermere Fell following the line of a wall. As with the rest of the walk, the views are superb here, including off to the right to Fleetwith Edge, into Warnscale Bottom and up to Dubs Bottom and round to Haystacks’ Buttresses. The views north across the valley (towards the Dale Head Range) showed the final path across the flat pastures at the head of Buttermere Lake to Gatesgarth Farm and the car park.

We finished the final part of the descent chatting to a lone walker who was heading back to the same car park where we were parked up. Once we’d negotiated around a small landslip that had destroyed part of the path we reached the valley bottom and a broad path. Turning left would take you round Buttermere’s south shore (a lovely walk in itself), but our route was to take the flat farm track, mentioned earlier, across to Gatesgarth Farm, crossing the almost dead straight Warnscale Beck via a bridge. This is a very easy end to a super-duper walk.

I hope you enjoyed my scribblings and pic’s …. If you’d like to comment on my diary or any of my pic’s please feel very welcome.

T.T.F.N. Gary

About the Cycleway – Rugby Viaduct Route – Sustrans

About the Cycleway.

 

Work now started apparently … Should be good !

20110923-25_Lake District Long Weekend – An Overview

20110923-25_Lake District Long Weekend – An Overview

When : 23^rd to 25^th September 2011

Who : Me and my sister Janet

Where : Based in Borrowdale, Lake District, Cumbria, England

Total week-end walks distance : Approx 34 km (21 miles)

Total significant heights climbed : Approx 2,300 m (7,560 ft)

Summary : Our annual trip to the superb English Lakes, simply, to walk up some mountains.

 **** Pic’s to follow in while ****, …. When added, click on a pic’ and it should launch as a larger image on my flickr photostream.

The week-end trip had been planned for some time, with a room booked at Borrowdale Youth Hostel at Longthwaite + Rosthwaite, in the lovely upper reaches of the Borrowdale Valley south of Keswick and Derwentwater. This would be the 4th year on-the-trot we’d organised a Lake District trip and the second time in as many years we’d based ourselves in the Borrowdale area.

• 2008 = Based in Grasmere.
• 2009 = Based in Patterdale (near Ullswater).
• 2010 = Based at Derwentwater (northern end) of Borrowdale.
• 2011 = Based in southern Borrowdale.

The plan was, hopefully, to use one of the days to climb Scafell Pike, the highest place in England and because we had several hours of driving on both the Friday and Sunday, this only realistically left Saturday to attempt the walk. We just hoped the weather would be kind to us … especially as we were staying in the wettest place in England!

The other two days of walking would be organised sort of in an on-the-hoof / ad-hock basis, depending on the weather and ;

• on the Friday on how long it would take to drive up from The Midlands, and
• on the Sunday on how fit we felt after the first two days of walking.

The other snippet of back-ground that adds a certain meaning to the week-end, is that I’ve put-up with a pair of dodgy knees for many years and which, in recent years, had started to play-up more and were certainly taking longer to recover after any harder walks. Well, after about a year of seeing GPs; Having physio’; X-rays and MRI scans I had eventually gotten to see an orthopedic consultant surgeon on the day before we traveled :- His advice was to Stop Walking; Not do anything that will keep knees flexing (like Cycling and Gym work); take up swimming, but not breast stroke …. and so effectively become sedentary! Although he didn’t actually say that last word. To say this was depressing would be an understatement!

I know I have never been the best sportsman in the world, or the strongest mountain climber, but I enjoy physical activity. Over the years I’ve done Basketball, Race Walking (where all my knee problems began), Cricket (bowler rather than batsman), Tennis and of course Hill Walking.  Of all the things I’ve done or tried, it’s the Hill Walking that’s become a passion! It’s the one thing that keeps my well-being well. No, it’s more than that, it’s what keeps me, me … I just love getting out into the countryside and if I don’t get out there at least every now and then, then I suffer. So the consultant’s words were almost like a shot to the heart! All I wanted to do was cry!

So, this week-end felt that it could be the last time of getting out into the mountains that I love, or anywhere else for that matter. Probably overly pessimistic, but the consultant was unnervingly stringent in saying the walking had to stop, but what he did do was refer me on for surgery to clean up all the torn cartilage in my knees and any other work that might help improve things. I resolved therefore to make the very most of the week-end and get in some good mountain tops, including Skafell Pike as I’d never been to the very top of England before!

And there you have it …. that’s the back-ground over-view to this long week-end.

Oh, and the way the week-end panned out as 3x really good walks =

• Fri 23^rd = Robinson + Hindscarth Circular Walk from The Newlands Valley

• Sat 24^th = Skafell Pike Circular Walk from Seathwaite, Borrowdale.

• Sun 25^th = Haystacks Circular Walk from Buttermere.

Walks diaries will follow.

…. If you’d like to comment on my diary or any of my pic’s please feel welcome.

T.T.F.N. Gary.

PS. I’ve now had the key hole surgery on both knees (last week-early Dec 2011) and currently hobbling about the house with two elasticized tube-y-grip bandages trying to squash the residual fluid out of the joints. A ¾ of a mile stroll on the flat from the local village of Bilton to home seemed a huge success on Friday evening!

20110918_MHW_Cheddar Gorge and Mendip Hills (B-Walk)

20110918_MHW_Cheddar Gorge and Mendip Hills (B-Walk)

When : 18^th September 2011

Who : The Midland Hill Walkers – B-Party

Where : Mendip Hills – Somerset – England

Maps used : 1:50,000 Ordnance Survey Landranger map no. 182 Weston-Super-Mare & Bridgwater area.

Start Point : ST475,513 [Draycott]     End Point : ST446,597 [Churchill]

Distance : Approx 16.6 km (10.3 miles)

Approx significant heights : Climb-1 = 200m (656 ft) ; Climb-2 = 220m (722 ft) ; Climb-3 = 105m (328 ft)

Summary : A very wet walk (at least for ¾ of the day) crossing The Mendip Hills AONB generally south to north, using The Mendip Way for some of the route, starting in Draycott and including the observation tower at Cheddar, climbing up the southern edges of Cheddar Gorge, crossing the highest place on the Mendip Range at Black Down and finishing off by crossing Dolebury Warren and hill fort before descending to Dinghurst/Churchill on the A368.

If you’d like to see a bigger photo’, click on the pic’ and it should launch as a larger image on my flickr photostream.

As with all MHW walks, the coach left almost dead on 7:00 a.m. which had meant being out of the house by about 6:25 for the drive to Kenilworth. Rather than go through all the blurb about car parks, timings, etc., again please use these links to see my earlier post about the MHW and the MHW’s own web-site.

The coach headed off down the motorway system eventually leaving the M5 to drive right through Cheddar heading towards Wells. Because today was my sister Janet’s birthday and she was walking today, and my other sister Julie was also out on the walk, I decided to join them with the B-walkers for the day. We and the rest of the B-party were regurgitated from in the village of Draycott about two miles outside of Cheddar on the A371, on the edge of the Somerset levels …. we were only about 30m above sea level here, even though we were miles from the coast. The A-party stayed on the coach for an extra mile or so, to the village of Rodney Stoke, for the start of their slightly longer route.

Being so close to sea level, meant only two things could happen :- 1) we could start off pretty much on the flat, or 2) we could set off uphill. Unsurprisingly, being called The Midland Hill Walkers we had a hill to climb. This entailed crossing the main road and then a more minor road, heading north-east(ish), before a surprisingly steep ascent kicked in on a grassy rise up past Batcombe Farm; the going was good underfoot so this wasn’t particularly difficult. Above the farm we continued uphill in a mini-valley, but soon after made a right turn (still rising) doubling back on ourselves to do a big zig-zag, ending up still heading parallel to our original direction. After a while (near the top of the mini-valley) we tended to the left towards the field boundary as the gradient started to ease. From here the effort level began to drop, but unfortunately  so did the rain, as the low, monotonous grey clouds decided it was time to stop being just flat and miserable and become fully fledged rain – Meaning waterproofs in variety of colours (mostly shades of blue) were rapidly found and donned before moving off again.

It didn’t take long before we reached the top of our climb, took a big swing left and then followed the path (I think it might have been a bridle-way) passing above Carscliff Farm. We were now generally heading in a north-westerly direction on a long descent of maybe a couple of miles towards Cheddar. The way was on grassy fields, a narrow muddy enclosed track and later country lanes as we passed through Bradley Cross to reach the outskirts of Cheddar, having now lost literally all of the height we’d initially gained at the start of the walk.

However, we didn’t make the final drop into the small town (or is it a large village?), famous for its cheese; instead turning right to start regaining all that lost height on a steep rise to emerge in a clearing. At one end of the clearing is a metal observation tower, which a good handful of us climbed to the octagonal viewing platform. This afforded some super views westwards over Cheddar and its oddly circular reservoir and beyond over the Somerset Levels to the coast to the south of Western-Super-Mare (or Western-Super-Mud as we’ve always joking called it). However, today, because of the miserable cloudy weather the sea couldn’t be made-out in the far distance. Looking more to the east though, there was a half-decent view (albeit a rather damp one) up the lower reaches of Cheddar Gorge and the famous cliffs.

      

Once the handful of us had negotiated the descent of the tower, we rejoined our fellow walkers who’d patiently waited for us. At least the rain had now eased to a very slight drizzle and the optimistic among us had removed coats (the majority were pessimistic though and kept theirs on) and we again set off uphill. We were now following the southern edges of Cheddar Gorge, not that we could see much due to the trees and scrub hereabouts, but every now and then a viewpoint would afford some better views of the largest gorge in the UK.

As we climbed higher, the views became more expansive, especially where side paths branched off to reach out onto the tops of the cliff bastions / buttresses protruding out into the canyon below. The rain had now restarted (the pessimists had been right this time) and keeping my camera dry became a difficult task and made me think I’d been right plumping for the Pentax K200D with its weather-seals. This couldn’t stop the lens being covered in rain-drops though and I’ve ended up with a disappointing set of images of the gorge, although I’ve kept a few just as a record of the walk (and to illustrate this diary post).

  

At the top of the climb, we then had to negotiate a very slippery muddy path down through an area of woodland, not the easiest of tasks especially as the smooth limestone rocks had become treacherous in the wet; there were at least couple of people who inadvertently ended up sat on their bottoms in the middle of the path. This descent through the woods to meet the B3135  road (which runs through the bottom of the gorge) wasn’t too long in length though and we regrouped before crossing virtually straight over the B-road to enter an area known as Black Rock.

This steep sided valley is really just the top end of Cheddar Gorge, although much shallower now and has a different feel about it. There is a wide track in the bottom making walking very easy and the sides are covered in trees, the canopy creating a gloom and permanent dampness, perfect for mosses and ivy on the stone walls and exposed rock here. It was towards the top end of this area that we stopped for lunch … I plumped for standing out in the open in the steady rain, whilst others headed under some trees hoping they’ afford some protection – to me I couldn’t see much difference, only the size of the droplets being much larger under the branches and leaves, only maybe fewer of them … either way we stood eating in the rain – a necessity, but NOT a pleasant experience! …. However, a nice treat was in store for us all, as Janet (my sister who’s birthday it was) took out two big Tupperware pots of home-made cakes to hand around :- Very nice Jan’ thank-you.

Once packed away, we set off again and soon emerged onto high almost level pastureland where the rain although still persistent seemed to have brightened – bright-rain rather than dull-rain. The walking had become easier again and the pace quickened and low and behold the rain eased back down to a drizzle. This was most welcome as the inclement weather had become really quite tiresome; I think my other sis’ Julie really wasn’t enjoying herself by now!

After a while, we picked up a farm track (heading north) at Gorsey Bigbury and then, at its end, turned left onto a minor road heading east to Tyning’s Farm (a riding centre). We’d all got spread out somewhat along the road, and we used this as a regrouping place.We’d been walking on The West Mendip Way, but now (rather than continue on its route towards Shipham) we turned right up a muddy track, wire fenced on both sides to reach a pair of gates which in turn led onto an area of rougher land. We were now on Black Down, the highest place on the Mendips. There are various paths heading off in different directions here.

• One to the right would lead to the highest point of Black Down at Beacon Batch (325m/1066 feet above sea level); this would be the A-parties route, but not ours.
• A path to the left headed past what looked like a war-time bunker of sorts. It turns out that a decoy bombing town (known as Starfish) was constructed here in World War II in the hope of diverting bombing raids away from Bristol.
• However, our path went straight ahead on a track heading out into rough grass, heather, bracken and gorse heathland.

The big wide open space was a pleasant contrast to the walk done so far, especially as the bright rain had now given way to dry and patches of weak sunshine breaking through onto the fields below us. However, it was very wet underfoot; all the recent rain filling the ruts and hollows of the track making us weave left and right to find a way ahead.

As we crested the rise, some super views opened up in front of us including, in the distance, the Severn Estuary and beyond this to Wales. As we dropped on the northern flanks of the hill, we then turned off to the left on a narrow track through an extensive area of waist high bracken, dropping gently to a conifer plantation at Rowberrow Warren. We now headed further north on a track and then hung left once again rising gently onto the hill of Dolebury Warren.

 

At the western end of Dolebury Warren we had to climb the earth banks of an ancient hill fort (Iron Age) and then the route took us right through the middle of the sizeable fort cum medieval rabbit warren, to then drop through some woods to a minor settlement, crossed the A38 main road and then one final little rise to join a minor road (well access drive really) for the final drop down, (passing two pubs, one small and one large) to the A368 at Churchill, where we had to find the coach … turned out it was parked in a lay-by just outside the village.

Although the final stretch of the walk had allowed my clothes to dry, I changed into clean clothes, before joining my fellow hikers in the walk back up to The Crown Inn which we’d passed earlier (the small pub) which, from the outside, could quite easily be mistaken for a normal residential cottage. The inside was like a throw back in time – absolutely no frills, but the beer was certainly drinkable!

Six more mini-cakes appeared from a ruck-sack …. They’d been carried for the entire length of the walk by my sister Julie, along with birthday candles, which were promptly lit and a rendition of the eternal “Happy Birthday To You” was sung to Janet. With smiles all-round. The toilets were as traditional as the bar areas – I mean they were in an outhouse in the back garden, next to a bunch of beer kegs (I’m guessing empty!) …. And then it was back to the coach for the sleepy drive back up the M5 to Kenilworth …. I can’t say it was the best day of walking I’ve ever had, rain does that to a walk! But – it’s a super area for walking and it was a good day nonetheless.

I hope you enjoyed my scribblings and my photo’s …. If you’d like to comment on my diary or any of my pic’s please feel welcome.

T.T.F.N. Gary

20110821_MHW_Fan Frynych – Corn Du – Pen y Fan – A-Walk

20110821_MHW_Fan Frynych – Corn Du – Pen y Fan – A-Walk

When : 21^st August 2011

Who : The Midland Hill Walkers – Walking Club

Where : Brecon Beacons – Wales

Maps used : Brecon Beacons National Park Map – 2x extracts of some kind given to me by a fellow walker – but I think 1,25,000 OS Explorer Map Sheet No.OL12 Brecon Beacons National Park (Western Area) covers the walk.

Start Point : SN 952,246

End Point : SN 995,260 … Village of Lubanas/Tai’r Bull

Distance : Approx  20.5 km (12.8 miles) (by WalkJogRun Route Mapping and my Memory Map 1:50,000 National parks programme)

Approx significant heights : Climb-1 = 330m (1080ft) + climb-2 470m (1540ft)

Summary : A-Party walk with The Midland Hill Walkers; taking in a couple of tops in The Brecon Beacons National Park. A very strenuous walk as there was a good distance involved as well as over 2,600 feet of significant uphill sections (and equivalent downhill’s) – A great walk !!!

If you click on a pic’ and it should launch as a larger image on my flickr photostream. There are also another ten pics in the set on flickr not shown in this diary post.

As with all MHW [Midland Hill Walkers] walks, the coach left almost dead on 7:00 a.m. which had meant getting up very early to be out of the house by about 6:25 for the drive down the A45/A46 to Kenilworth. Rather than go through all the blurb about car parks, timings, etc. please use this link to see my earlier posts about the MHW and the MHW own web-site.

Once out of Kenilworth, we headed off for the longish journey to South Wales, to start the walk to the south-west of the town of Brecon which gives its name to the region we’d be walking in : The Brecon Beacons National Park. The B-party were dropped off first and the A party continued on to be dropped off a little later by the side of the A4215 … in the middle of nowhere really. I’d decided that, because I’d never been up Corn Du/Pen y Fan before and although it’d probably stretch me somewhat, I’d do the A-walk. Given a decent weather forecast, I wasn’t going to miss out on the chance today.

Once dropped off and ruck-sacks hoisted onto backs, we started off with a little road walking down a quiet lane (towards Heil Senni) for about half a mile until we reached a turn off to  Blaenbrynich. Passing the farm, the path rose up a vibrant green grassy field dotted with a multitude of yellow starry dandelions highlighted by the sun. This was a lovely start to the days walking as a small group of us at the back of the group discussed the dominance of the English cricket team during recent test matches. Ahead of us loomed the steep northerly slopes of Fan Frynych, looking quite daunting, but our route picked up a farm track onto which we turned right, to skirt along the baseline of the hill. The gravel track rose quite steadily with Fan Frynych’s ridge above us on our left and a wide rural view off below us to our right.

After about a mile, the track steepened considerably as it swung round to the south, the views opening up across the valley below; a patchwork of green fields, hedgerows and areas of woodland backed by the hills of The Brecon Beacons/Black Mountains; beautiful. As we rounded the nose of the ridge, we turned almost a full 180 degrees to continue our ascent and then another half-right to follow a path still uphill, but now rising up the broad ridge. We now had about a mile of steady climbing to reach the summit of Fan Frynych. As with a lot of mountains, the views from the ridge were probably better than the actual ground we were on, but the views, they were just spectacular – The shapely hills, mountains and valleys offset against a beautiful vivid blue sky with one or two fluffy white clouds were simply perfect!

As we crested the top of Fan Frynych (part of Craig Cerrig Gleisiad National Nature Reserve) we were greeted by the twin tops of Pen y Fan and Corn Du dominating the sky line across the wide Glyn Tarell valley. I have to admit that, at least to me, they looked a very long way away, considering I knew that was where we were heading. Being at the summit meant the next section had to be downhill, so taking a path swinging south we dropped steadily over more grassy moorland, with views all around, to reach a wide saddle with one or two pools dotting the terrain. We then had another small climb to reach the crest of Craig Cerrig Gleisiad, maintaining the superb views, especially to our left where the ground dropped away steeply into the Glyn Tarell valley. The hill top became a refreshment stop allowing us to admire a group of hill ponies grazing the upland area for some time.

Once sated, we set off again with a long descent over grassy moorland in a generally south/south eastern direction. There was a path of sorts “on the ground” but not so distinct to spoil the feel of remoteness of the area; the sweeping hills and valleys all conspiring to give a wild feel to the walk – Lovely in good weather like today, but I’d guess could be quite intimidating in poor weather. We were walking part of The Beacons Way now and the pace fairly zinged along given the downhill nature, easy-going terrain and absolutely no stiles. I really enjoyed the walk across here, even as we neared the busy A470 and Storey Arms Centre. There were obviously a lot of people down there, virtually none of whom were on our side of the valley.

As we neared the car park at Storey Arms Centre, I could make out our B-party contingent starting a steep climb up the side of a coniferous plantation towards Y Gyrn. We soon reached the car park, dodged the cars trying to find a space, and instead of following the B-party’s route we turned right down the side of the A470 (southwards) until we reached another area of car-parking set back from the main road. This was absolutely teaming with people, with fast food and ice cream vans and a toilet block. After the remoteness of the morning walk this was not a very welcome area to be walking through and I was quite happy when we all moved off. I didn’t envy the leaders trying to keep count of all of our party in amongst the throng.

The route turned left on a major path, soon crossing a rocky river (Blaen Taf Fawr) via a substantial footbridge and then immediately steepened as the wide made-up path headed uphill climbing towards Corn Du. The climb was well over a mile in length and apart from the obvious physical exertion needed, another difficulty was the number of fellow walkers, mostly now descending – it was almost like a game of slalom dodgems at times. Our leader gave us carte-blanche to take our own pace up the mountain, eventually to all meet up again just under the final summit climb onto Corn Du. I felt really quite relieved when I reached this point, as this was by far the hardest climb I’d done for quite some considerable time. I think it felt worse than it might have done because of the unrelenting gradient, there didn’t seem to be any respite at any point on the climb.

Perversely, the final rockier, steeper climb up onto the summit of Corn Du somehow seemed easier; perhaps the short rest and then change in gradient were all that was needed for the final push to the top. The views from the top were absolutely stunning –  in all directions; especially to the north where the mountain dropped away, almost sheer, into the huge amphitheatre of Cwm Llwch.

The next top of Pen y Fan was only a short distance away, reached via an easy descent to a shallow saddle and then another little climb, all following the edge  along the mountain top. The summit of Pen y Fan is marked by a pile of stones set in a wide circle leading up to a small national trust marker giving the height at 886 metres above sea level (that’s  2,906.8 feet) which I believe is the highest place in South Wales. It’s not every day you get to the top of a fantastic mountain with the weather to match and this just had to be marked by some group photo’s

  

… and then after another short time drinking in the views, it was back over to Corn Du for the second time before dropping north westwards along the edge above the cwm to reach a small obelisk. From here we took a path now dropping slightly right and then arching further round to the right and then to the left in a large zig-zag above the dark waters of a small corrie lake “Llyn Cwm Llwch” (sorry mixing my Scottish and Welsh nouns for the mountain hollow …. or maybe you know this physical feature as a cirque?, from the French language!).

  

The route was virtually all downhill now, following the Cwm Llwch valley from the highland area and into more enclosed gentler farmland. I love being on the big wide open spaces of mountains where you can reflect on how small you are in the landscape and in the wider world as a whole (very philosophical don’t you think); I also when walking try to stay as high as possible for as long as possible, but, I also like the more intimate contrasting feel of dropping down to the tree line and pasture lands …. just as well really, as it’s gotta be done at the end of every mountainous walk at some point!

Anyway, the path reached the bottom of the valley, where, after a short distance on a farm track, rather than swing right to join a minor road we turned off left (continuing more or less northwards) to cross a few fields, passing Llwynbedw on route, to pick up some minor country lanes, crossing the Taff Trail at one point (route map) and later the Afon Tarell (river) just before our finish at Libanus on the A470. The coach was waiting for us by the side of the road and after getting changed and a very welcome pint (or was it two?) in The Tai’r Bull Country Inn, it whisked us back up through southern Wales to the M5 and a snoozey journey back to Kenilworth.

A simply brilliant days walking! Strenuous? Yes … Tiring? Definitely! But brilliant none-the-less.

…. If you’d like to comment on my diary or any of my pic’s please feel welcome.

T.T.F.N. Gary