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.

The bench is back!!

Check out Cawston Greenway’s latest blog post … Some good news on the developments on the nature reserve bit of the old Leamington/Rugby railway line (The Lias Line) and especially interesting info’ on something being done on the old trackbed through Dunchurch Station. This bit has been incredibly wet and boggy for years and it now looks like someone is trying to do something about it – Could it be Sustrans themselves ? or some other organisation ? who-ever it is the amount of hardcore being put down is on an industrial scale not the odd bucket load – Thanks to whomever has done this.

Use this link for the full post – Hold down the ctrl key and left mouse click at the same time …. The bench is back!!.

Cheers,

Gary

20120219_Clifton-Upon-Dunsmore, Lilbourne Circular Walk 1st Half_Clifton to All Saints Curch, Lilbourne via Clifton Lakes.

20120219_Clifton-Upon-Dunsmore, Lilbourne Circular Walk

1st Half_Clifton to All Saints Curch, Lilbourne via Clifton Lakes.

When : 19^th February 2012

Who : Just me

Where : Clifton-Upon-Dunsmore, Near Rugby, Warwickshire, England.

Start Point & End Point : SP 533,764

Full Walk Distance : Approx 8.8 miles (14 km)

Full Walk Significant heights : … See end of diary for details.

Maps : 1:25,000 OS Outdoor Leisure Map No.222, Rugby & Daventry.

Full Walk Summary : A circular walk across pleasant Warwickshire Farmland, starting and finishing in Clifton-Upon-Dunsmore, taking in the small village of Lilbourne, two motte and bailey castles, an old disused railway station and passing straight through the middle of the famous Rugby Radio Masts and then, in complete contrast, joining the Oxford Canal at Hillmorton Locks including seeing a canal boat accident.

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

I’ve just rediscovered some of my photo’s from just over a year ago now, and they brought back some good memories of a super little walk that just proves that good walking weather CAN happen in the winter in England – Even if we’ve seen precious little decent weather this year so far (writing in April 2013).

I was rehabilitating from knee surgery from the December before, and the thought of a 7-8 mile walk felt quite daunting, but, with all day to do it and just myself to look after, I decided to give it a go and soon found myself parked in the Village ofClifton-upon-Dunsmore in a small car-park near to St. Mary’s Church (on the Lilbourne Road).

First of all, I went for a wander around the church grounds with the morning sun perfectly lighting up the stone and woodwork of the church and memorial cross. I particularly liked the textures of the mosses on the Lychgate roof tiles (nature can be so beautiful even in the simplest of forms), but after a short while I returned to the car to don boots, grab walking poles, map, ruck-sack etc. and set off with all the joys of spring, albeit still in the last chills of winter.

The start of the walk was easy, allowing my knees to get moving nicely, heading out along The Lilbourne Road towards Lilbourne (easterly) for a very short distance before turning left on a minor road towards Manor Farm. This road reduced down to a farm track (Buckwell Lane on my map) to the left of and just outside the frankly quite scruffy farm; the boundary fence being strewn with rubbish from old tyres to plastic fertiliser/feed bags and all kinds of detritus. So much for the so called stewards of the countryside (i.e. farmers) telling us ramblers not to leave litter in the countryside. In my experience there’s more litter left in the hedgerows by farmers than ramblers. BUT, if you are reading this and heading out into our superb landscapes, either wild or cultivated – Please follow the Countryside Code.

The farm track soon emerged into pastureland with the way ahead down the left hand side of a hedge, the ground severely marked by deep tractor furrows leading down the gentle slope into the next couple of fields, populated by a handful of rather proud looking sheep.

The path takes a half-left across this last field to then pass through a hedge, cross another (narrow) field and emerge into a rather scratty looking field, much of which was covered in the striking seed heads of teasel plants; Time to get out the camera and play around with focussing/depth-of-field and the like; one or two even came out OK I think.

.

The way ahead was to follow the left hand edge of the field, slightly raised up from a series of ponds sitting adjacent to the young River Avon; the ponds are collectively known as Clifton Lakes and I’d imagine a haven for wildlife, despite the appearance of what looked like a rubbish dump in the area.

Right in the corner of the field is an electricity pylon, and I played around once again with my camera trying to capture the strong industrial shapes against the increasingly vivid deep blue sky.

There had been two signs along the route so far, educating me that I was walking on two named paths:-

• Shakespeare’s Avon Way, From the Source to the Severn, devised and promoted by Shakespeare’s Avon Way Association.

• Canal Circular Walk, British Waterways / Warwickshire County Council.

I mused to myself whether The Bard had ever made it this far up-stream of the much larger and far more famous stretches of the Avon at Leamington, Warwick, Stratford and Evesham, etc. Anyway, I moved on, again near the left-hand edge of a field and raised up above a curiously long and thin rectangular shaped lake. It didn’t look like a canal, and it was far too straight to be a natural water-course; so, a closer look on the map showed it to be following the route of a dismantled railway in a cutting, now partially flooded … perhaps to serve as a landing strip for the local swan population? This “lake” ended abruptly near the A5 road, otherwise known by its Roman name of Watling Street.

This almost dead straight road (you could guess it was Roman even if you didn’t know for sure) is a major carriageway, carrying cars and lorries at what could be described as break-neck speeds. It maybe wouldn’t seem so fast when sat behind the wheel, but to a person on foot trying to cross you’ve got to have your wits about you and take great care. Luckily for me, there wasn’t too much traffic on the day, and a large gap soon presented itself for my traverse of the tarmac to the other side. I believe this is where I moved out of Warwickshire and into Northamptonshire.

A drop down a bank and through a hedge-line brought me into another crop field. The route ahead was half-right, diagonally through the middle of what could be a ploughed field or crops depending on the time of year, heading up a rise aiming to the left of another pylon up ahead. I again tried to capture some interesting pic’s of the steelwork. I’ll let you be the judge of whether it was worth it or not. Gaining the little bit of height opened up a pleasant view across the shallow Avon Valley and up to the attractive little village of Catthorpe.

Now, you may have heard of Catthorpe, but not because of the diminutive village; no you’ve probably heard the name associated with the nearby interchange of the M1, M6 and A14. This junction is infamous for being quite dysfunctional and synonymous with accidents (often serious) and traffic jams; it seems a week hardly ever goes by without at least one incident or hold-up being reported on our local radio. If there’s ever a redesign on our roads needed then this junction should come pretty high up anyone’s list.

Anyway, enough of that, back to the walk; Once past the pylon, the path swung a little to the right, into a corner of the field, passed into the next field past a small pool and on to the end of a small piece of woodland marked as Lilbourne Furze on my map and then over towards a slightly larger area of woods called Lilbourne Gorse. Just before reaching Lilbourne Gorse, the path swung to the right (almost south), still rising, to reach an area containing the ancient remains of a medieval Motte & Bailey fortification. A less than pristine sign informed that : “the large mound, the motte, was made of earth or rubble and was topped by a defensive structure such as a palisade or tower. The bailey, which lay to the north of the motte on this site, was an embanked enclosure containing a variety of buildings”. Well the motte is still visually quite impressive, commanding fine views in all directions. The bailey, not obvious at-all … and buildings contained within – have disappeared completely. A conveniently placed bench became a welcome spot for some refreshment, looking across a patchwork of fields and hedges and over to the hurried ribbon of vehicles heading up and down the M1 completely oblivious to the historic site about a mile away from them.

Eventually, I dragged myself back to my feet, deciding I really ought to make some more progress and I soon found my way back to the edge of Lilbourne Gorse and crossed into the next field (pasture land). Another ancient remnant of history immediately presented itself, this time not marked on my map, but more earthworks and then a series of ridge and furrows spread out in front of me, like the land had been corrugated down and across the hillside. Two paths were available at this point and I chose the one heading pretty much eastwards heading for a church Tower, at the bottom of the slope. Once down, the path crosses a wooden stile directly into the church graveyard and then out onto a very minor road where a very prominent sign pronounced the church to be All Saints’ Church, Lilbourne.

    

Just after stepping out onto the road, a cyclist in a bright yellow top appeared, moving quite quickly on the otherwise empty road. Nothing unusual about that do I hear you say?, well no, except the cycle was a unicycle and the rider was perched quite high above the ground. I rapidly fired off a couple of shots on my camera, but didn’t really get a decently sharp image, but enough to record the oddity.

Opposite the church on the other side of the road is another motte and bailey castle (signs say no public access), the motte seemingly consisting of several mounds. I know not whether these are definitive separate entities or the remains of one much larger mound, I suspect the latter and if I’m right it must have been quite a structure. Unlike the earlier castle on top of the hill, this lowland fort would have had a ready supply of water; the River Avon being just a stones throw away.

Well, that’s it, for the 1^st half of the walk, I hope you enjoyed my scribblings enough to want to read about the 2^nd half … If you do, please use this link to go straight there.

If you’d like to comment on my diary or any of my pic’s please feel welcome. I’d love to hear from you.

T.T.F.N. Gary.

PS.

Break-Down of Heights Climbed (over the full walk) :- Although nothing steep or too difficult at-all, just gently undulating farmland.

• 25m (80 feet) – From A5 near Clifton Lakes to the 1^st Motte + Bailey Castle.
• 15m (50 feet) – From Lilbourne Church to Centre of Lilbourne Village.
• 30m (100 feet) – From Hillmorton Locks/Oxford Canal to Clifton Village.

20120219_Clifton-Upon-Dunsmore, Lilbourne Circular Walk 2nd Half_Lilbourne to Clifton via Rugby Radio Masts and Hillmorton Locks.

20120219_Clifton-Upon-Dunsmore, Lilbourne Circular Walk

2nd Half_Lilbourne to Clifton via Rugby Radio Masts and Hillmorton Locks.

When : 19^th February 2012

Who : Just me

Where : Clifton-Upon-Dunsmore, Near Rugby, Warwickshire, England.

Start Point & End Point : SP 533,764

Full Walk Distance : Approx 8.8 miles (14 km)

Full Walk Significant heights : … See end of diary for details.

Maps : 1:25,000 OS Outdoor Leisure Map No.222, Rugby & Daventry.

Full Walk Summary : A circular walk across pleasant Warwickshire Farmland, starting and finishing in Clifton-Upon-Dunsmore, taking in the small village of Lilbourne, two motte and bailey castles, an old disused railway station and passing straight through the middle of the famous Rugby Radio Masts and then, in complete contrast, joining the Oxford Canal at Hillmorton Locks including seeing a canal boat accident.

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

This is the continuation of the walk from my previous diary … Just to keep the prose and pictures on each diary reasonably compact ….. If you want to read the 1^st half first, please use this link. If you’ve already found and read about the 1^st half the walk, you’ll already know that I’d arrived at All Saint’s Church just outside Lilbourne and opposite it is a medieval motte and bailey castle, or at least the remains of the motte are still visible. Not far away is what would have been a ready supply of water – A small river :- The Avon.

Arrh yes; The Avon, I walked down the road for a short distance to cross the river (just a stream really) via a brick bridge; I’d describe this bridge as being functional rather than overly attractive, although being brick built with arches, rather than concrete does create a degree of attractiveness, but the proportions just aren’t quite right somehow, at least to my eye. Crossing the bridge took me from Northamptonshire into Leicestershire, my third county of the day. From here I could have just returned to the church and continued on, but I was curious about a path that I could see on my map which passes under the M1 nearby and thence off towards Swinford, perhaps a possible walk destination in the future ? ….  so off I set along the minor road away from the church, passing over the line of an old railway at what looks like an old platform. I believe this was Lilbourne Station [maybe dating back to the Beeching cuts ?.... maybe someone can tell me?]. Near here I turned off the road down the side of a field through a ribbon of trees and down to where the path crosses underneath the M1. The M1 is raised up above the ground here for quite some distance, supported on relatively slender concrete pillars, you could almost think too slender for the amount of weight and roaring traffic they support, but there again, I guess the road engineers must have got their calculations right, as it doesn’t appear to have collapsed yet. The area under the mass of concrete is drab, cold, dry and really not at all attractive in any way, shape or form, even the Avon has no charm about it as it crosses under close by, so I turned back on myself, retracing my steps to the minor road and the old station.

Heading back towards Lilbourne gave a different view of the motte + bailey remains, and to get a closer look I chose to take a footpath running south, up the middle of a grassy field to the east of the mounds and west of the M1. I particularly liked the way shadows and highlights enhanced the ridges of soil creep (slow natural erosion) on the slopes of the mounds. It was also quite interesting having the nearby traffic on the M1 rushing by. The path emerged into the outskirts of Lilbourne village, where I followed minor roads to drop back down to the church and thence be back onto my original course. At a road junction near the church, I picked up a footpath heading roughly south rising gently, which gave a pleasant view back over the church and I soon found myself on a minor road leading up to the village green area of the village where I found the name of the road to be called “The Horsepool”, an odd name but that’s it name. A village green bench became another short stop for refreshments/a bite to eat.

Moving on, after a mini-explore of the village centre, I crossed the main road through the village (Rugby Road/The Green/Yelvertoft Road) and joined Hillmorton Lane heading downhill in a southerly direction. It seems every community has it’s challenges and difficulties, and it seems Lilbourne is no different; numerous posters dotted around the village pronounced their particular battle – A campaign against The Lilbourne Wind Farm. Some of the posters looked like they’d been up for some time, some were more pristine, so it would seem the protest had been quite protracted. I wonder if the result has now been announced all these months later ?

I now had a stretch of road walking to do, taking the Hillmorton Road around a sharp right-hand 90-degree bend to head westwards and then swinging round to a south-westerly direction. Although on tarmac, this was pleasant enough as it is a very minor thoroughfare and I don’t think I saw a vehicle of any sort. In the fields to the south were a smattering of tall slender radio masts forming an extended portion of the famous Rugby Radio Masts not very far away. I talked about farmers’ detritus at the start of the walk, well it seems not far behind is road rubbish littering the verges, an example of which was an old beaten up traffic cone lying half in and half out of a large puddle – You can’t pin that one on the rambling fraternity either !

Hillmorton Lane comes to an end as it meets the A5, which again had to be crossed carefully, to immediately pick up a track still heading roughly south west straight through the middle of the Rugby Radio Masts, bounded by barbed wire fences. I was surprised by the number of masts and different sizes, especially as there have been some high profile removals in recent years. It’s rumoured that the whole site is likely to become a huge housing development as the masts disappear completely. If true, this won’t be just another village, it’ll be almost like a new town. I guess that when that eventually happens the buzzard flying over-head will have to move to pastures new.

After just over a mile on the almost dead level track, with a multitude of dirty puddles (some really quite large), I was quite happy to arrive at The Oxford Canal at Hillmorton Locks. Having never been here before, I decided to have a look around and walked up the minor road, passing a farm entrance and the church to reach a very tall tunnel under a main line railway. At the far end, the tunnel dramatically reduces in height before the road leads up into the estate of Hillmorton in the south east corner of Rugby. Having looked up the tunnel, I back-tracked to the canal and dropped down to the towpath and immediately found a bench for a refreshment stop, directly opposite Badseys CafeBistro across the cut.

I was enjoying my short break in the afternoon sunshine when a narrow boat (The Grebe) sailed down the canal heading north and the pilot had to stop the boat whilst the nearby lock was vacated/opened up for it to pull into. Well, the person at the tiller made a right hash of stopping the long craft, ending up slewing across the canal and hitting a moored barge on the opposite bank. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a canal traffic accident before, and even though it happened at very slow speed the crunch was obviously significant enough to bring a couple out from the nearby buildings – I’m sure in my mind they were the owners of the innocent barge – They really didn’t look at-all impressed!, although I don’t think there was any significant damage.

As much as I was enjoying my rest I had to move on, heading north on the tow path, passing interesting features along the way, including:- An attractive arched brick bridge over a side arm of the canal to a chandlers ; Various Moored multi-coloured canal boats ; A twin lock which only seems to have one half in use (which Grebe eventually negotiated) ; and a grassy picnic area with lock-gate “art-work”.

The photographer in me liked an old work-mate bench next to a barge/narrow boat being renovated; the two white non-matching mugs both empty and unwashed perched on the bench somehow suggested a prolonged period of inactivity to match the lack of noise emanating from within the boat – Perhaps a beer or two were being quaffed in the afore-mentioned bistro cafe?

The last boat moored along here was an odd looking craft, with a slightly unkempt but happy feel about it; maybe it just needs a lick of paint and a touch TLC. The best I can describe it, is, if it were stereotyped as a person it’d be a 1960s hippy; my thoughts are probably born out of the self-sufficiency of the solar panels perched atop the roof and bright multi-coloured sheets of Perspex over the windows …. it must make for an odd glow inside, especially with the sun shining through.

The tow path is sort of sandwiched between the railway and the canal with farmland stretching up the slope beyond, nice enough but fairly non-descript really, but a pair of swans nibbling on the emerging crop shoots added a certain charm – I think everyone probably likes swans.

At the next bridge (going over the canal), I had to leave the tow path and join the road. I then had several hundred yards of road walking (generally northwards) climbing steadily to pass Home Farm. The rise opened up a view I just wasn’t expecting across a valley, over a golf course and then up to Rugby Town with St. Andrew’s Church Tower and the Rugby Cement (CEMEX) tower and chimney punching up from the skyline. Just after Home Farm, I crossed over the road to pick up a footpath heading across the last few fields. It’s not often a walk finishes on an up-hill section but this one did before easing off in the last field where some Highland Cattle stood not caring a jot about my passing by. I think these beasts are brilliant looking, with their long twisty horns and shaggy hair covering their eyes. They may look fierce, but I’ve never had a problem walking past them and toady was no different despite gently having to encourage one from in front of the final stile of the day in the corner of the field.

A little bit of road walking and a couple of alleyways soon brought me back to the church and the car-park. I was very restrained and decided to forego a drink in The Bull Inn across the road, instead heading back to home on the other side of Rugby – Just a few minutes away really.

Well, that’s it, I hope you enjoyed my scribblings as much as I enjoyed the walk, and as much as I’ve enjoyed revisiting it over a year later writing it up and rediscovering my photo’s ….

Break-Down of Heights Climbed (over the full walk) :- Although nothing steep or difficult at-all, just gently undulating farmland.

• 25m (80 feet) – From A5 near Clifton Lakes to the 1^st Motte + Bailey Castle.
• 15m (50 feet) – From Lilbourne Church to Centre of Lilbourne Village.
• 30m (100 feet) – From Hillmorton Locks/Oxford Canal to Clifton Village.

If you’d like to comment on my diary or any of my pic’s please feel welcome. I’d love to hear from you.

T.T.F.N. Gary.

20130330-01_A wander down to Bilton (Rugby) to the green covered in crocuses

20130330-01_A wander down to Bilton (Rugby) to the green covered in crocuses

When : 30th March 2013

Who : Me (and my son who went and played in the nearby park)

Where : Bilton + Cawston, Rugby, Warwickshire, UK.

Just had a wander down to Bilton Village, just to see the crocuses [and play at taking a few photo's] …. They’d had a bit of a battering with the recent snow and maybe they weren’t at their best ever, but still good to see anyway.

For some reason this year there seemed to be mostly purples and whites and very few yellows. I was hoping for the colours to zing in the early spring sun (it was cold but quite pleasant when I set out), but by the time I got there it had clouded over and there were even a couple of fine snow showers trying to numb my fingers.

Because of the overcast conditions the vast majority of the charming flowers remained stubbornly closed, but one or two deemed it acceptable for me to see inside to the beautiful stamens protected by their delicate petals. On the way back I stopped to add a few images of the miniature daff’s planted on the roadside verges at Cawston about a mile away from Bilton Green.

Don’t know what the passing motorists and pedestrians braving the chilly conditions thought, seeing my 6 foot+ frame bent double and at times lying prostrate with camera and tripod whilst being snowed on, but hey I guess I don’t really care.

Anyway, if you want to see some more of my pic’s, please use THIS LINK ….I hope you enjoy them, as I enjoyed taking them

If you’d like to comment on my blog or any of my pic’s I love to hear from you.

Cheers, Gary.

20133023_Duke of Edinburgh – Bronze Training Walk.

20133023_Duke of Edinburgh – Bronze Training Walk.

When : 23^rd March 2013

Who : Me my wife and a group of Year-10 school pupils

Where : Circular walk starting and fishing at Kenilworth Castle, Warwickshire

Map : 1:25000 OS Explorer Map No. 221, Coventry & Warwick

Start and End Point : SP 280,721

Planned Distance : Approx 3 miles or so

Click on a pic’ and it should launch as a larger image on my flickr photostream.

A few weeks ago my wife came home from the secondary school she does voluntary work at and asked if I was up to doing a short walk (on a Saturday morning) with her and a small group of students who were about to do some practical training towards their D of E bronze expedition. Our 11 year-old son was to come with us as well, who is quite happy to come out walking with us and has done, virtually since he could first walk. I think he was only 3 or 4 when he raced us to the top of Wansfell Pike near Troutbeck and he almost got to the summit of Cat Bells in the Lake District too.

View Larger Map

Well, I agreed, I’d pretty much been volunteered anyway! What else could I say !

We were to meet at the main (top) car park that services Kenilworth Castle and there were to be several groups who would have different routes to take. There are 5 or 6 different paths fanning out from the castle area into the farmland west of Kenilworth. Our role would be to supervise about 6 or 7 of the students, ensure they stayed on legal rights of way and use correct road-craft if and when walking on country roads. We didn’t know for sure what route was planned for “our” group but I think the intended route was west from the car park on a path heading out towards Beausale and Haseley Knob. A little way along this path, they’d turn off to the south, join Rouncil Lane and then head back to the car park, passing close to Fernhill Farm on the way.

It wouldn’t be far, only about 3 miles! about an hour and a half, which I guess would be enough for the students to get a first feel of map reading and navigation actually out in the countryside,  most of whom probably would never have previously tried to do anything quite like it before. On my behalf, map reading/navigation is something I just love doing and I feel quite odd if I go on a walk and just “follow-the-leader” without having a map where I can at least keep track of where I am.

Anyway, my wife, son and I were all looking forward to the stroll on the Friday evening, despite there being some snow on the ground and it was still falling out of the sky as we retired to bed. We awoke to a very good covering of the cold white stuff on the ground (and cars), and when I came downstairs I found Craig already dressed absolutely perfectly for the conditions … 3 or 4 layers of clothes on legs and body, a superb way to keep warm in the below-freezing conditions.

My wife and I were about to dress nice and warm too, when an email came in saying (to paraphrase) “SORRY- EVENT CANCELLED” due to health and safety concerns. All three of us were, well, completely deflated and disappointed. I guess we could have headed out on our own, but somehow the reason for the day had just been removed, so we didn’t feel like heading out for a walk for just the three of us.

  

  

Instead, I headed for the kitchen where I baked a load of sweet scones, and then a bunch of cheddar cheese scones, and then Craig broke out the candy floss maker and we all made mini-candy flosses! … and, as it was still pretty miserable during the afternoon, I spent a while taking photo’s of our Guinea Pigs who live with us (their home is in the utility room).

  

  

And that was that, now all we need is to hear when the rearranged dates are for the D of E training. Hopefully with some nice warm spring weather and a drop of sunshine, now long over-due after what seems to have been a very long winter.

So in the end this Walk-Diary has turned out to be a No-Walk-Diary.

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

T.T.F.N. Gary.

20130303_A wander of a walk at Baddesley Clinton

20130303_A wander of a walk at Baddesley Clinton

When : 3^rd March 2013

Who : Me and My Family

Where : Baddesley Clinton National Trust House, Gardens and Tea Rooms (a few miles west of Warwick).

Well, this isn’t a country walk as such, but closely linked in a way, as I enjoy going to National Trust Houses and Gardens with my family and they tend to be out in the countryside and involve walking (well strolling) around their gardens and grounds … and … visiting their tea rooms. These visits also give the opportunity to take some photo’s, which if you’ve seen any of my other diaries you’ll know is another of my interests.

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

Well, this year we’ve sort of got ourselves organised and taken out a year’s family membership of The NT …. Although seemingly quite a bit of money up front, this will give us free entry to properties around the country for the next year, and we only need to visit three or four places to be “in profit” … and we have the satisfaction of thinking we are helping preserve some of our national treasures including great tracts of open land …. which brings us full circle to my love of walking in the hills much of which is owned by The Trust.

  

Anyway, back to the our first visit of the year : Baddesley Clinton – The 15^th Century Manor House is one of the few in the country with a real moat surrounding it on all sides, and is accessed via a double arched bridge across to a courtyard. I’ll not say too much about the house itself – Go discover it for yourself - but the priest holes are probably one of the most interesting things to learn about, and my lovely wife liked the stained glass crests and coats of arms. My son however liked searching for a number of mini ginger bread men “hidden” in the rooms. A lot of NT houses are big grand palatial piles of stone with huge grounds and formal gardens and possibly bigger egos as well; however, Baddesley is on a much smaller, more human scale, and as such we could even imagine living there – the size of rooms being perfectly liveable in.

The same could be said of the gardens/grounds, which can be walked around in a matter of minutes if you put your best foot forward; although they are large enough to accommodate a stream, sizable pond, the moated manor and various out-houses/stables/store buildings etc. Some of these buildings now house the shop, tea rooms and a used book store.

After the tour around the house and a quickish wander around the gardens (it was decidedly chilly) we headed for the tea-rooms, where the family had warm scones with real butter and raspberry jam and I had spicy carrot soup with a big slice of fresh crusty wholemeal bread (yummy!).  Despite the cold outside, I fancied taking some pic’s, so I left the family inside and headed back outside.  Once outside, I tried to get some half-acceptable shots, although the light really wasn’t brilliant (pretty grey really) and the chilly (cold!) breeze was blowing across the grounds numbing my fingers (I hadn’t taken gloves).

There weren’t many flowers out this early in the year, or even many plants in leaf yet, but the drifts of snowdrops in bloom were pretty, although a little dog-eared from the recent inclement weather, and they are always a nice link from late winter into early spring. There were also a few Dwarf Iris’ and a couple of primroses in flower too.

  

The few winter Jasmine flowers growing against the outside of a brick garden wall were not spectacular from a distance, and the plants themselves can be a tad straggly (almost messy), but up close the star-like flowers are quite charming; I particularly like the splash of red in the buds before the predominantly pale yellow flowers open up.

Close by in the gardens, I also liked some catkins hanging from the bare branches of some coppiced woody bushes, the oddly attractive structures gently swinging in the breeze. I’m fairly sure these are hazel nut bushes. Anyway, it took some time to get a pic with a semblance of sharpness due to the breeze waving them about too much to stay in focus long enough to get a decent image.

My hands were saying enough was enough of the cold, and as it happened, my family emerged from the warmth of the tea rooms to come find me, and we then walked up the path leading from the front of the house to the adjacent church. This is a stunning little path when the hoards of daffodils come out in flower, but we were just a bit too early, with the cheerful bulbs still some way off blooming …. all that is, except one clump which were just opening up, giving a welcome splash of bright yellow colour, a portent that spring should be just around the corner. A good proportion of the church graveyard was blanketed in snowdrops, the bowed heads seemingly in reverence to and intermingled amongst the weathered head stones.

And that was that, a very pleasant and very gentle way to spend an afternoon.

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

T.T.F.N. Gary.

20130113-17_Moss _ Lichen – Canal Bridge Braunston

20130113-17_Moss _ Lichen – Canal Bridge Braunston, a photo by gary.hadden on Flickr.

I like the detail in the English landscape as much as the wider view … These mosses and Lichens on a bridge over the Grand Union Canal at Braunston  are almost like a world in miniature ; clinging onto life in nooks and crannies in the brickwork.