A visit to the far north west of Scotland is an invitation to slow yourself down and reset to a quieter, simpler way of living. It’s a place where the demands on your time and the notifications on your phone can be turned off for a while and you can instead, absorb the silence or watch fishing boats bringing in a catch of prawns in the golden hour whilst listening to the tide gently lapping on rocks that are among the oldest on earth. In the highlands you can find the time and space to think about things, to breathe out, or just do nothing at all, when was the last time you did that? These are rare treasures indeed in our ever busy, scrolling world. “We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom” to quote E O Wilson.
Continue reading “A walk around the Shieldaig Peninsula”
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Walks throughout the UK that can be completed in a day. Click on the walk to read the post or use the interactive map to locate route.
A visit to the far north west of Scotland is an invitation to slow yourself down and reset to a ...
The car park for the Falls of Kirkaig is empty when we arrive with two steak pie and mashed potato ...
What they undertook to do they brought to pass; All things hang like a drop of dew Upon a blade ...
The Isle of Arran is often referred to as ‘Scotland in Miniature’ because the north of the island is mountainous ...
‘Everywhere peace, everywhere serenity, and a marvelous freedom from the tumult of the world.’ Saint Aelred Rievaulx Abbey sits on ...
I first read about Sandwood Bay in 1982 in that wonderful series of hardback ‘Classic Walks’ books written by Ken ...
“This oak tree and me, we're made of the same stuff.” Carl Sagan There has been a great outpouring of ...
Ogwen is a familiar and famous place to hillwalkers in Snowdonia. Surrounded on all sides by the high peaks of ...
It’s early but the summer sun has already lifted above the hills as I pull into a little lay by ...
It's a clear fresh Autumn morning as I pull into the top car park at the end of the Aber ...
Autumn in the Lake District can often be one of the most sublime times of the year, truly a "Season ...
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The Sandstone Trail is a thirty four mile footpath that runs down the centre of the county of Cheshire in England. Following the mid Cheshire Sandstone Ridge it offers a variety of walking through forests, across farmland and along sandstone escarpments that give great views across the Cheshire plain into North Wales. It can be walked in a day as an endurance challenge, or over a more leisurely two or three days. Click on the walk to read the post or use the interactive map to see the route.
The Sandstone Trail is a thirty four mile footpath that runs down the centre of my home county of Cheshire ...
Today's section of the Sandstone Trail turns out to be a walk of two halves, the first, fields and crops, ...
This last section of the Sandstone Trail is possibly the best. There is sustained good walking throughout the day along ...
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The car park for the Falls of Kirkaig is empty when we arrive with two steak pie and mashed potato dinners purchased twenty minutes earlier from Lochinver Larder but still hot. “How many other vans do you think will turn up, three, four?” I muse over our meal. Mish looks out of the window at the April showers and lowering temperature and confidently predicts “none”. Surely not, we’re in beautiful Assynt, surrounded by ancient woodland with the Kirkaig river not twenty feet from us. When I look out the window in the early hours the rain has stopped and we are alone, with just the owls, the roaring river and a billion stars twinkling in the ink black night sky to keep us company. Wives, why are they always right.
Continue reading “A walk to The Falls of Kirkaig”
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My journey along Wainwrights Coast to Coast Walk from St Bees Head to Robin Hoods Bay. Walking from the Irish Sea to the North Sea through three National Parks this walk has everything, Mountains, Dales, Moorland and Ocean and is soon to become a National Trail. Click on the walk to read the post or use the interactive map to see the route.
Introduction. I’m sitting in the bedroom at our bed and breakfast in St Bees the night before I set off ...
Day 1 St Bees to Ennerdale Bridge 14 Miles. It's a rainy start to our adventure. Gwen and I picked ...
Day 2 Ennerdale Bridge To Rosthwaite 14 1/2 Miles. Day two dawns dry but misty. We set off from our ...
Day 3 Rosthwaite to Grasmere 9 1/4 Miles. Today was the day I got a twenty six year old monkey ...
Day 4 Grasmere to Patterdale 8 1/2 Miles Today turned into a very eventful day for what was meant to ...
Day 5 Patterdale to Shap 17-18 Miles Overnight, Gwen and I had talked and we decided that if the wind ...
Day 6 Shap to Kirkby Stephen 20 miles Had a leisurely breakfast catching up with Bob and Alan who were ...
Day 7 Kirkby Stephen to Keld 12 miles We don’t often consider it, but sleep is a powerful healer. Despite ...
Day 8 Keld to Reeth 12 Miles Keld sits right in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales. If you are ...
Day 9 Reeth to Richmond 10 miles After a comfortable night in the Dales Bike Centre we enjoy a leisurely ...
Day 10 Richmond to Danby Wiske 14 miles When I first walked this section of the Coast to Coast 26 ...
Day 11 Danby Wiske to Osmotherley 10 miles We had breakfast with a couple who had stayed in the same ...
Day 12 Osmotherley to Clay Bank Top 11 Miles Having spent two days crossing the Vale of York we are ...
Day 13 Clay Bank Top to Glaisdale 18 Miles The end of the walk, which for a couple of weeks ...
Day 14 Glaisdale to Robin Hoods Bay 19 Miles Day fourteen, the last day, starts with a wholesome farmhouse breakfast ...
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What they undertook to do they brought to pass;
All things hang like a drop of dew Upon a blade of grass
William Butler Yeats
Ambitions and goals are important things in life. They give you purpose and hope. They keep you focused, moving forward and concentrating on the future instead of dwelling on the past or being indolent in the present. I have a fair number of goals, targets and projects or more poetically, dreams, hopes and aspirations. There are things I want to see and experience, walks I want to complete and places I want to visit before I go off to rest with my ancestors. And one long standing project is to stand on top of the highest points in the five nations that make up the British Isles, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Continue reading “A Walk Up Slieve Donard”
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The Isle of Arran is often referred to as ‘Scotland in Miniature’ because the north of the island is mountainous whereas the south is more pastoral. We’ve brought the van over from Ardrossan and are enjoying a mini road trip around the island, mini because Arran is only twenty miles long and nine miles wide. But what it lacks in acreage it more than makes up for in natural scenery and human history with an abundance of beaches, waterfalls and wildlife, castles, distillery’s and ancient monuments.
Continue reading “A walk to Glenashdale Falls, Isle of Arran”
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‘Everywhere peace, everywhere serenity, and a marvelous freedom from the tumult of the world.’
Saint Aelred
Rievaulx Abbey sits on the slopes of a quiet valley nestled in peaceful woodland with the River Rye flowing gently past as it has done for centuries. In its heyday it was home to about 640 Cistercian monks who devoted themselves to God following a daily routine of prayer, meditation, reading and church services. They also reared sheep and diverted the river to assist with smelting iron ore. This made Rievaulx one of the wealthiest Abbey’s in England in the 13th century. It was in this hard working, simple spiritual life that Saint Aelred found his peace and freedom from the tumult of the world. Eight hundred years later his words still resonate with many in the modern world who are finding themselves increasingly busy but less fulfilled and would love to find their own peaceful corner of serenity in a ever tumultuous and uncertain world.
Continue reading “A walk from Rievaulx Abbey to Helmsley”
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I first read about Sandwood Bay in 1982 in that wonderful series of hardback ‘Classic Walks’ books written by Ken Wilson and Richard Gilbert. Gilbert’s description of the walk fired my imagination, “rounding the cliff, one of the most glorious sights in Britain unfolds before you. Below your feet lies Sandwood Bay, a mile long sweep of golden sand bounded by rolling dunes and crashing breakers that makes you want to shout for joy”. I too wanted to shout for joy in Sandwood Bay. Thirty Nine years later I got the opportunity.
Continue reading “A walk to Sandwood Bay”
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“This oak tree and me, we’re made of the same stuff.” Carl Sagan
There has been a great outpouring of emotion and some anger this week and not just on social media about the Sycamore Gap tree. For those who have no idea you can read the story here.
I thought I would tell of my own walk to that tree one grey October day some years ago and share some thoughts as to why it’s felling may have touched people’s emotions.
Continue reading “My walk to Sycamore Gap and some thoughts”
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This last section of the Sandstone Trail is possibly the best. There is sustained good walking throughout the day along varied and interesting paths passing through differing landscapes. There are hills to climb with sandstone escarpments to walk along providing panoramic views of surrounding counties. There is peaceful walking to be had through ancient woodland and unique heathland and, once across the obligatory fields there is a pleasant watery flat section along the Llangollen canal before a short walk across town takes you to the finish in Jubilee Park, Whitchurch.
Continue reading “Sandstone Trail, Burwardsley to Whitchurch”
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Today’s section of the Sandstone Trail turns out to be a walk of two halves, the first, fields and crops, the second canals, woods and castles. I’m dropped off where I finished last week and the early walking is a very pleasant downhill section along a pretty tree lined track. Thick old oaks and beech trees line the trail, roots exposed on some by the erosion of the path. The walking is easy along soft earth with views between the oaks of flat green fields and distant Welsh hills. It’s another warm dry summers day and the morning sun is strobing through the leaves.
Continue reading “Sandstone Trail, Willington to Burwardsley”
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The Sandstone Trail is a thirty four mile footpath that runs down the centre of my home county of Cheshire. Starting in Frodsham it follows a sandstone ridge south through the Cheshire countryside giving good views of the Cheshire plain, the Clwydian hills in the west and the Peak District in the east. It finishes in the attractive market town of Whitchurch. Being a walker and living locally I have walked various sections of it over the years.
Continue reading “Sandstone Trail, Frodsham to Willington”
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Ogwen is a familiar and famous place to hillwalkers in Snowdonia. Surrounded on all sides by the high peaks of the Glyderau and Carneddau ranges It is the starting point to many an adventure in this mountain lovers paradise. It’s cluster of buildings including an outdoor centre, hostel and cafe, its small wood of tall evergreen trees, the constant sound of the Afon Ogwen crashing down nearby Ogwen falls and its location, nestled in the very heart of the mountains all combine to make this little hamlet feel like an altar in a mountain cathedral where hillwalkers come to worship and bring their offerings in the church of natural beauty.
Continue reading “A walk up Y Garn and Elidir Fawr”
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It’s early but the summer sun has already lifted above the hills as I pull into a little lay by just outside Bethesda. All is quiet, only the birds singing their morning chorus and the occasional bleating of newly born lambs in the fields break the silence of the still morning air. As I sort my kit out, the lack of any breeze attracts a million bugs who decide I would make a nice breakfast so I am glad when I can lock the car and start moving. The day ahead looks promising, the sky is blue, no rain is forecast and the tops are clear and inviting.
Continue reading “A walk up Yr Elen and Carnedd Dafydd”
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It’s a clear fresh Autumn morning as I pull into the top car park at the end of the Aber falls road. There is only one other car parked up and it looks like it has been there all night. The Sun has only just risen over the horizon and it takes the early chill away as I pull on my boots and sort out my rucksack. The air is still and nothing is moving. All that can be heard is the sound of bleating sheep on the hillside.
Continue reading “A walk up Foel Fras and Carnedd Gwenllian”
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Autumn in the Lake District can often be one of the most sublime times of the year, truly a “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” as Keats said. As I looked out of our hotel window over breakfast however and saw the leaves rapidly falling from the trees I wondered whether there would be any left to enjoy on my walk. I needn’t have worried, when the rain stopped there was still plenty of Autumn Gold to make for a very enjoyable walk around two of the smaller lakes in the district.
Continue reading “An Autumn walk around Grasmere and Rydal Water”
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Day 14 Glaisdale to Robin Hoods Bay 19 Miles
Day fourteen, the last day, starts with a wholesome farmhouse breakfast after a good nights sleep. Over breakfast we chat to the farmer about the weather and we all agree that it has been rather wet for the time of year. It’s a dairy farm and the farmer tells us that ‘even the cows are miserable’. This makes me wonder how you can tell a miserable looking cow from a normal looking cow but I guess I’m not with these cows every day for months and years. Continue reading “Coast to Coast Walk – Glaisdale to Robin Hoods Bay”
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Day 13 Clay Bank Top to Glaisdale 18 Miles
The end of the walk, which for a couple of weeks has seemed so distant is now suddenly within touching distance and only two days walking away. They are long days though, seventeen to nineteen miles a piece depending on which book you read (I did this walk prior to possessing my very own GPS which no doubt would have given yet a different number!) We are dropped off at Clay Bank Top just after 9am and, like yesterday the day starts with an uphill leg and lung warmer, a steady six hundred feet of ascent from the road up onto Urra Moor.
Continue reading “Coast to Coast Walk – Clay Bank Top to Glaisedale”
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Day 12 Osmotherley to Clay Bank Top 11 Miles
Having spent two days crossing the Vale of York we are now back in hill country and about to enter our third National Park, The Yorkshire Moors. We enter the Park just outside Ingleby Cross and the trail soon starts to head upwards at a steady incline through Arncliffe Wood. It is a still, silent morning and we are the only people around. As we climb through the wood, out of the corner of my eye I catch sight of a deer. It has its back to us and is munching away on some ferns about thirty feet away. Despite our best efforts all too soon it senses our presence and rapidly darts off into the undergrowth, it’s bouncing white bottom contrasting with the green foliage as it vanishes, magician like from view.
Continue reading “Coast to Coast Walk – Osmotherley to Clay Bank Top”
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