2019...A look back.

Its been a cracking year for walking, visiting many places both new and old..Heres a few photograph that I have taken on this years adventuring.

January.....

Holy mountain

Moel siabod

Conwy mountain

February....

Stainforth and Keadby canal.

March...

Chesterfield canal at Hayton.

April...

Nidderdale.

May...

Boulsworth hill

 

Wolds way ..East Yorkshire.

June...

Brimham rocks

Lathkill dale.

Alport castles.

July...

Staithes

Staithes [again]

Bradfield dale

Beck hole.

August...

Chrome hill.

Parkhouse hill.

Moss valley.

Froggatt edge.

September...

Peters stone Cressbrook dale.

Knaresborough.

Gardoms edge.

October...

Solway coast

Sandyhills bay.

Mull of Galloway

Back tor.

Lose hill.

November...

South Yorkshire Navigation 

Dovestone reservoir.

December...

Lads leap.

Local woods.

Hoping for more of the same in 2020.

16/11/2019

A route around the Rivelin valley.

Another wet day was on the cards, but 13 familiar faces [ including mine ] turned up at the Rails road car park in the Rivelin valley for todays walk with the Doncaster ramblers. Suitably kitted out in full waterproof regalia we listened to our leader as he delivered the walks briefing..It was going to be a grand day out..if a little damp.Leaving the car park we set off up the lane steeply at a cracking pace.Warmed up, the route levelled out and we enjoyed the path as it snaked its way through an area of woodland [ mainly Birch ] known as Rivelin rough.

Emerging from the trees we crossed the A57 to be greeted with the lovely sight of the Lower Rivelins dam reservoir, some lovely autumnal colour reflected in the glassy stillness. I don't seem to have done much walking this autumn, it seems to have passed me by..This makes me feel sad..never mind Winter will soon be here, the loveliest of all our seasons.

From here are route was to follow alongside the delightful Wyming brook on a popular path as it climbs out of the valley passing pretty little waterfalls. Sadly though today this was not going to happen for as we rounded a corner we were greeted with a path closed sign, apparently several of the bridges that cross the brook have been damaged in the recent bad weather, with one of them being actually washed away...Oh well....we reverted to Plan B.A quick perusal of the map and we found another route up to the car park on the Redmires road. We followed soggy wet paths and crossed even soggier meadows to reach todays pub stop, the Three merry lads. 45 minutes and a couple of pints of Moonshine later 8 merry lads and 5 merry lasses were ready for the afternoon walk.

  

This afternoon we were to follow a path that sticks to the high ground as it traverses the valley along its southern edge...Drizzle came then went, then came back again but we hardly noticed as we followed this entertaining undulating path passing many a fine viewpoint.The highlight of this section being the crossing of Blackbrook...A raging torrent today.[ a slight exaggeration ]

All safely across and it was more ups and downs to cross the road near the old Bell hagg pub..We were on the very edge of Sheffield now.

We dropped down steeply on wet slippery paths into the Rivelin valley were we were to follow the Nature and heritage trail back to our cars..for me this final 2 mile stretch turned out to be the best part of the walk..Waterfalls, weirs, stepping stones, mill pools, bridges and a rushing river all backed with some lovely autumn colour...Whats not to like.

Its been a cracker..

03/11/2019

A short walk from Edale.

This week i was lucky enough to get a rare Sunday night off work which is great, as it means that i can get out to do a decent walk. I let Karen choose todays walk "why not a quick jaunt up to Ringing Roger with a return over Grindslow knoll ?"..Good choice i thought..we pulled into the car park at Edale which was already half full. Not raining today but the last month or so has been a complete wash out. My boots were soaked through after yesterdays walk with the Ramblers around the Yorkshire sculpture park, luckily I had a spare pair in the car.A bit chilly as we set off as I am still wearing my shorts..i have been wearing them since March the 29th this year [obviously not the same pair]. I think it is almost time to get the trousers out. We passed the Rambler pub followed by the Nags head, maybe we could pop into one of them for a pint on our return...Before long we were free of the village and heading for the hills.

Todays walk was to be no longer than 6 mile, 6 wonderful miles over some of the best terrain in the Peak district. Its a steep path that zig zags up out of the valley, but after half an hour or so we had made it up to the fine crest of rocks along the little ridge of Ringing Roger...I don't know who Roger was or why anyone would want to ring him..I have an idea that the ringing bit comes from the noise the wind makes as it blows through those rocks and maybe the Roger bit comes from the French word for rocks "Rocher"...one thing I do know is that it always seems to be quite windy up there..i remember a few years ago we stumbled across a German choir up there belting out songs amongst the rocks...I remember it well...I remember it as one of the best things I have ever heard in my life...no singing todays just the rasping of my lungs as I left the path to enjoy a scramble over the rocks...Superb place

From here its just a short easy walk up to the path on the plateau of Kinder scout..Having walked many of our countrys mountains and hills, I consider Kinder to be up there with the best of them, It has dozens of routes up to the plateau .No one ever got bored of dear old Kinder, Ok it has its busy spots but there are also places to walk that gets away from it all especially along its northern edge.

We followed along the edge...Dawdling, taking photographs,  exploring the windswept rocky tors..just taking it all in..too good to hurry. It was great...I was surprised how dry it was up there after all of the rain we have had of late..We crossed Grindsbrook and changed direction heading for Grindslow knoll.The 1972ft summit seems to have turned its back on Kinder scout, its an independent peak, all alone, like its been left out of the party...Not much to.be seen up there today as the mists dropped down.

We found a rock to shelter behind, sat down for a drink and to eat the leftovers of last nights pizza along with a vegan sausage roll..Time to head back down..Mist fizzled out and we were treated to some nice views again over the Vale of Edale.

So that's 2 more tops ticked off my Peak 170 challenge..28 now done...Back in Edale we decided to visit the Ramblers inn for a pint..Farmers blonde for me while Karen chose the Ramblers Gold..Might as well have a bite to eat while we are here too..Nice way to end a walk.

08/10/2019

The day we climbed Criffel.

Its going to be nice today, well that's the information that I got from the Met office website..Unbroken sunshine between 9 am and 2pm, with a 5% chance of rain [but where that rain might come from with unbroken sunshine beats me] it cant be true? can it? we shall see..It certainly was nice at 9 o clock as we took the short drive to the walkers car park at Ardwall near New abbey.We were expecting a steep climb,someone told us it would be boggy, cant be that bad we thought. The summit rises to the modest height of 1870ft but it appears much higher..It dominates the views around these parts of the Solway estuary. Boots on and we were off.

Once into the forest we picked up a most inviting path that runs alongside the attractive Craigrockall burn.The well constructed path was a gem to follow and the Burn added interest to the climb,as did the numorous Fly agaric mushrooms and puffballs.

Gaining height quickly we were soon free of the forest, the open fell beckoned, its looked easy enough, we were probably nearly halfway up already. However what came next can only be described as "a Bastard"..We had reached an area of dreaded bog, Black ooze hindered progress. We slipped and slithered up hill at a snails pace, I was being pulled along by Alfie, Thanks Alf, but Karen was soon left behind floundering in the black grime.

After a while the going got a bit easier although a lot steeper..Lungs rasping and calfs fit to burst we pressed on heads down, eventually making it up to the huge pile of stones known as Douglas cairn. at the summit of the hill. I don't know who Douglas was or why he has a cairn named after him but he chose a good spot for it, looking out across the waters and sands of the Solway towards the English Lake district...

The views are stunning from up there, although a trifle windy today, I decided it was time to put a waterproof on to help with the wind..Imagine my dismay when I realised that a bottle of Lemonade had leaked in my rucksack, soaking my coat, oh well I put it on anyway, it will soon dry in this wind and whats more It smelt quite nice. Back to the views I dropped down a bit to get a good look at the view to the south across the Firth.I don't know what had happened to the wall to wall sunshine.

A quick visit to the Triangulation pillar before retracing our steps a bit to pick up the path heading for Knockendoch, one of Criffels satellite peaks, its closest friend...We followed the reasonably dry ridge, for me this was the highlight of the day... Standing at around the 1400ft mark its a grand viewpoint, to the north the Southern uplands while to the south Criffel itself dominated the scene.

All downhill now towards the forest, but first we had to deal with "the bastard" again, only this time it was twice as bad. several times I went in over the boots..My white socks turned to grey, who the hell would go out hillwalking wearing white socks anyway. I decided I may as well just walk though the bogs now as my feet couldn't get much wetter.

The views down to New abbey and Dumfries made up for the wet feet..Karen was struggling on this terrain..i was walking as slow as I could but I was getting further and further in front...I would wait for her when I reached the forest track

Nice to get back down to a solid track through the woods, No more mud..it seemed like luxury, black water squelching from my boots with every step..I need to get these dry for tomorrow but I feared that this was never going to happen..We made it out of the woods where we needed to cross a couple of meadows to reach Loch Kindar...But somehow or other we got lost and ended up crossing the wrong meadow, ending up at a dead end, we had to retrace our steps, I cant believe we got lost..we never get lost..Ok lets just say we went astray "just a little bit"..Then to make matters worse it started to chuck it down...Whats going on , its not 2 o clock yet...Anyway we eventually made it to the shores of Loch Kindar...Its a lovely place..Alf had a swim to clean himself up a bit.

Almost back now..An easy walk through the woods back to the farm at Ardwall...We hadn't seen a sausage all day although there were now half a dozen cars parked up in the car park. I wondered how many othere were up there floundering around...I had planned on going down to New abbey for a well deserved pint but looking like bedraggled tramps we decided against it..It wasn't all bad..In fact I loved it and I would do it again at the drop of a hat, Those that love the hills will know what I mean.

06/10/2019

The Colvend coast.

Today is the first day of our holiday up here at Colvend in Dumfries and Galloway..I made the big mistake of checking out the weather forcast for the week ahead and I have to say that it is not looking good, pulses of rain spreading in from the west every day, never mind its only rain...
It rained for a solid 12 hours last night..i wasn't holding out much hope for today either..But on wakening I was pleasantly surprised, the rain had ceased, even a few specks of blue up there...We decided on a walk from the cottage today to kick start the week..After a hearty breakfast and a few cups of tea we were off...we had walked no further than 50 yards and it started to rain..so what,its not going to spoil my day..The first section of the walk was to follow a quiet country road down to Sandyhills..Nice to see some early Autumn colours.

After about a mile and a half of trudging along tarmac we turned off to the right into Sandyhills bay, It was great to get away from the road, it felt like the walk was just beginning..I like Sandyhills bay..even on a dull,damp day it seems a cheery place..Miles and miles of sand stretching out before us. A few of the lake district mountains could be made out on the horizon..Thats Skiddaw on the left, panning round to the Grisedale pike group and further to the right lies Red pike and the High stile group..All firm favourites..We took time to explore a bit..i love to have a wander around on a beach.

Alf was off his lead along here, bounding around like a pup...Sometimes he forgets that he is 12 years old...Before long we had to leave the beach, following the coastal path up to Torrs hill...Great views opening out across the Solway firth. The firth forms the border between Scotland and England and was designated as an area of outstanding natural beauty in 1964...It certainly looked beautiful today..In fact I was mesmerised as I stood and looked out over mile upon mile of shimmering sands.

Soon we dropped back down to sea level to visit the little scattered village of Portling..I think most of the cottages around here are holiday lets, its a quiet little "off the beaten track" sort of place...After Portling it was steeply uphill again as we walked up the slopes of White hill,..We are walking the Coast path as far as Rockcliffe about 3 miles distant..i enjoyed every step...The hillsides were alive with Gorse..I never knew Gorse flowered at this time of year..We passed a monument below the path..i couldn't resist dropping down to take a closer look [and a photograph]..I read the inscription on the Cross, the words were sketchy but I got the jist that the monument was a memorial to Samuel Wilson whos Schooner "Elba" ran aground on the rocks below

A little bit further and I saw a fox on the beach..never seen a fox on a beach before so I was chuffed with that...Lots of Gulls about, Karen reckoned it was after their eggs...She could be right, A wily critter the Vulpes Vulpes.

We were now closing in on the small coastal village of Rockcliffe. Its a nice spot along the estuary of the River Urr..It has some lovely views out to Hestan island and Rough island which can be reached at low tide by a natural causeway across the mud/sands..We were treated to the sight and sound of a group of 20 or so horses cantering out onto the mudflats..second to dogs these are mans best friends...so nice to see them enjoying themselves....We let Alfie have one last swim here to clean him off of all of the crap he had collected to his undercarriage along the way..Its hard to keep a Springer clean, of all the breeds they seem to be the biggest muck magnets going..He was soon spotless but could we keep him clean as we ended the walk with another mile and a half of road walking back to the cottage?..I enjoyed the walk back..it was quite uneventful...although I did take 3 photographs of signs that I saw along the way..This first one made me smile.

Its been a good day.....Now where shall we walk tomorrow.

22/09/2019

A walk from Litton.

I have compiled a list of 170 tops in the Peak district that I would like to visit whilst out walking, mainly hilltops, some edges, some rocks, all of which I consider worthy candidates for exploration..Some I have visited many times, others that are new to me..I have given my self a couple of years to get around to visiting them all....The adventure started a few weeks back when Froggatt and Curbar edges were the first to fall, since then several others have followed..Higger tor, Over owler tor, Carl wark, Carhead rocks, Hordron edge, High neb, Ox stones, Burbage rocks, Hitter hill, Parkhouse hill, Chrome hill, Hollins hill, Birchin edge and Gardoms edge have taken my tally up to 16...The time has come to chip away and do a few more. The weather has been glorious the last couple of days, but unfortunately I have been tied up walking in other areas, so today is the day to knuckle down....I couldn't decide where to go, so many choices. The weather has taken a turn for the worst with rain heading our way later in the afternoon. With this I mind I chose a short walk from the lovely White peak village of Litton. The first top of the day was to be Wardlow hay cop, To get to it we would have to drop down into Cressbrook dale via Tansley dale..An easy start to the walk...However as we climbed a wall stile to leave the village into the first field of the day we were greeted with the sight of dozens of Friesians hogging the path, milling around right where we wanted to go..I cant be doing with another confrontation so we changed our route a bit..No big deal...We followed the lane away from the village..A hazy view of Wardlow hay cops pointy top greeted us.

Another path soon materialised, its a cracking path that traverses the edge of Cressbrook dale. Turning right we soon made it around to the top of Tansley dale, a quiet side dale..as we dropped down the rain started, a rogue shower..It wasn't too last long. 2 minutes later the waterproof coats came off, far too hot to walk with them on. A path snaked its way up the hillside we followed it..A dull grey morning but the views more than made up for the weather.

The view down into Cressbrook dale I consider to be one of the finest in the whole of the White peak. Pressing on we reached a gate that lead into the final field of rough pasture that would take us up to the trig pillar atop Wardlow hay cop..We detoured from the path slightly to avoid a herd of Belted Galloways as we had our dog with us, but they hardly batted an eyelid, Why cant all cattle be this docile..Before long we were stood on the 1214ft summit...Its a cracking little hill with some lovely views, maybe not today though.

We now retraced our steps down into the valley bottom, passing a group of Ramblers on the way..The group split as some were doing a shorter walk back to Litton..We followed three of them as we dropped down steeply.They were not enamoured with the steep slopes and the slippery limestone..As we passed them one fellow was cursing his Scarpa boots saying they had no grip, the worst he has ever had.. I however have been wearing Scarpas for years as I reckon they are the best that money can buy...At the valley floor we headed northwards bound for the second top of the day.

We rounded a corner and the 2nd top came into view..Peters stone, a most impressive block of Limestone..It also go's by the name of Gibbet rock..centuries ago the bodies of local criminals would have been hung up there in a iron cage as a deterrent to others..Bleached bones pecked clean by the Ravens.Crows and Jackdaws..Enough to make you shudder. The wife and dog settled down on a rock while I set forth to scale this most beautiful of tops...Now I have never been up here before and I wasn't even sure if I would be able to clamber up to the top, I found a breach in the ramparts and scrambled up...Puffing and panting I pulled myself onto the topmost rocks..To my surprise there was already somebody up there, a women with a huge pit bull terrier..She said she often comes up here to take photographs, especially at night,  took a quick snap and was off...Looking back now I would have like to have spent more time up there..Soaking up the atmosphere..Its a great place and I shall return someday...Here are a couple of photos that I took looking back at it.

We picked up a path that meanders up though outcrops of Limestone to reach the lane that we were to follow back to Litton. But first there was one more top to visit...Little Litton edge...Walking up the lane my eagle eyed wife spotted a coin on the ground..filthy dirty...I spat on it and wiped it on my shirt, turns out its a sixpence, but not just any old sixpence..its an old one, until I clean it up I cant make out how old but the head on the back isn't our present queens head..looks like Queen Victoria...I shall have to do some research.We branched off to the right to bag Litton edge...That's 19 done now..only 151 left to do....Not much of an edge but on a fine day I can imagine its quite nice up there with views out across the village

Not the best of days for taking photographs...So we finished up with a pint in the Red lion...A pint of bitter, a pint of lager and a packet of crisps £9.90...Surely they overcharged me?..The three ramblers we saw earlier were in the pub waiting for the others, so we sat and had a chat with them, Turned out that they were from Sutton in Ashfield..They said they preferred flat land around Nottinghamshire...I suppose it takes allsorts.

20th July 2019.

A high summer circular.

Its time for me to lead another ramblers walk. This time from Wharncliffe side in the Don valley, just to the North of Sheffield,i have been away this week staying in a cottage in Hinderwell, up by Staithes on the North Yorkshire coast...We have had a smashing week, walking every day in glorious summer weather.So now we are back home and it looks like the weather has taken a turn for the worst.The weathermans prediction for today is mainly showers.sometimes heavy.Oh well never mind.On the drive to Wharncliffe side it was drizzling constantly, I wondered if anyone else was going to turn up.We pulled into the small car park at Glen howe and noticed that one early bird was already there..We were early as usual, I have always been early I cant help it..We sat and waited to see if anyone else would turn up..Before long our numbers had swollen to 15. Some had trouble finding the venue as the car park is tucked away down a narrow country lane. After a short walk briefing we were off...uphill...up Storth lane towards Brightholmlee.

Still drizzling but it didn't bother us, our spirits were high, This was going to be a cracking walk, a walk with great views lots of twists and turns, ups and downs..in fact 1800ft of ascent. The hills are what it is all about for me. As long as I am amongst the hills I am a happy bunny.We dropped down into the Ewden valley to follow the path alongside More hall reservoir then later up to Broomhead reservoir. Along with the hills I find that water also enhances a walk, be it river lake or canal or coast.

Leaving the valley a steep climb lies ahead..Up through the trees. The sound of rain above , we didn't care we were sheltered.It wasn't to last though as the path soon disappeared into an area of Bracken. At least 7 ft high in places. There was no alternative than to plod on..No big deal it's only Bracken, but have you ever walked through Bracken after or during rain?.We were soon soaked through ..we emerged from the jungle onto the lane on walker edge resembling drowned rats. One of the group summed things up perfectly..."my legs have never been so clean"

A short walk along the lane and we were to reach a bench, a good spot for our elevenses break.We sat in the sun, scoffing Cheese and onion wraps washed down with refreshing green tea..The sun was out..the view was good and I do believe we were beginning to dry out a bit.

I explained that the worst bit of the walk was now over and that we should now dry out on the next section..This turned out to be another lie as we were soon following a path through knee high wet Billberry plants..I could feel water sloshing about in my boots.

Who cares about wet feet, us ramblers are made of sterner stuff..We carried on over Ladder stiles, open moorland. There were even bits of blue up there in the sky..Great views opened up as we walked along Rocher edge and then down Agdenside to the Reservoir...What lies ahead can only be described as a bastard...The bastard in question being the steep path up to High Bradfield..I wondered if anyone was calling me a bastard for leading them up such a steep path...I couldn't resist taking a photograph of the red faces as we reached the top.

Into the village and it was time for our lunch break..Benches in the churchyard were taken up by the sandwich eaters..a few however rushed off to the pub...The old horns is a great pub..a bit busy though..we slipped outside to enjoy a couple of pints in the beer garden..Great views..i reckon there are not many pub gardens with views this good.

Back to the walk....just 3 miles in the afternoon over Onesmoors and down the access land on Bent hills

The sun came out...I realised my feet were dry...everything was tickerty boo..I usually take lots of photographs on my walks but today I took very few, and the ones I did take were nothing special..but it had been a fabulous days walking...great countryside with a great bunch of people..I took one last photograph at the end....everyone was still smiling...I hope they enjoyed it.