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A walk along the Dodds

It’s a bright, sunny morning and the birds are singing as I’m dropped off at the old coach road at Wanthwaite bridge, the start point of today’s walk. The high pressure weather system that has brought unseasonable Mediterranean heat to our shores continues to linger over the country into a second week and even though it’s early the temperature is already in the mid 20c’s . As soon as I start walking I realise that my poles, instead of being strapped to my rucksack are sitting in the back of the camper. It looks like today is going to be powered by legs only.

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Glenridding Dodd and Sheffield Pike from Glenridding

Glenridding Dodd and Sheffield Pike, the objects of today’s walk form the northern wall of the Glenridding valley and can be clearly seen from Glenridding village and from Gillside campsite, my home for a couple of days walking. Unfortunately (or fortunately if you like the heat) today’s walk coincides with some of the hottest days of the summer and with temperatures reaching into the 30°c’s an early start seems best to avoid both the crowds and the heat.

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A walk up La Mola, Mallorca

La Mola looks down onto the pretty seaside town of Cala sant Vicenc in the far north east of the beautiful island of Mallorca. Here, you can while away the hours enjoying a nice cold beer or meal in one of its many picturesque sea front bars whilst gazing out onto the aqua blue Mediterranean gently lapping onto the small sandy beach. In fact, the Med features prominently today, being in view throughout most of the walk.

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A walk up Y Garn and Elidir Fawr

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.

 

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Milford Track Day Four Dumpling Hut to Sandfly Point

It’s our final day on the Milford Track and there is a sense of anticipation in the air. Today, the forty of us ‘independent trampers’ who over the last four days have all walked together, ate together, talked together and slept under the same roof together will all complete our journey and at last fulfill what for many, including myself, will have been a long held dream and ambition to have walked ‘The Finest Walk in the World’.

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Milford Track Day Three Mintaro Hut to Dumpling Hut

As forecast we awake to a completely different scene from the Sunshine and clear blue skies of yesterday. Cloud and mist have descended low into the valley overnight, draining the colour from the trees and muffling the sound of the birds and the rivers. The huge rock wall of Mount Balloon opposite which last night rose up before us like a giant is completely enveloped in mist and may as well have disappeared as far as we were concerned as we could see nothing beyond twenty metres. The air was still and the mist, cold and damp, hung in the air. It was like a grey wet blanket had been thrown over the valley.

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Milford Track Day Two Clinton Hut to Mintaro Hut

Sometime during the night the rain had stopped and when we left the bunk room the sun was breaking through and the clouds were beginning to lift away from the mountain tops. We enjoyed breakfast of porridge and banana washed down with plenty of tea and chatted with some of the Americans who we met at dinner last night. Our fellow ‘trampers’ seem to be a fairly international bunch, mostly Americans with a smattering of French, German, Dutch and Australian. As far as I can tell, no Kiwis though. The only other Brits seem to be a doctor who is working in Dunedin and his wife.

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Milford Track Day One Glade Wharf to Clinton Hut

The Milford Track is remote, so remote in fact that you have to get a boat to the start and from the finish of it. There are no roads on the track, everything has to be walked in or brought in by helicopter. This, in its very essence was the appeal of walking the Milford Track for me. A four day walk through pristine rain forest wilderness, following crystal clear rivers, surrounded by snow capped mountains rising straight up from steep sided valleys sounds just like heaven, and in a way it is.

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A Mell Fell Double

So today is the day. The day when I start my quest to complete all of the Wainwright’s in book order, starting of course with Book One, The Eastern Fells. I have spent the night at ‘The Quiet Site, a caravan/campervan site which happens to be at the foot of Little Mell Fell, perfect for my walk. It’s January and it’s cold but I am treated to a glorious sunrise, the clouds slowly turning golden in anticipation and then our very own star rising up over the Far Eastern Fells and marking the start of a new day.

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A walk up Yr Elen and Carnedd Dafydd

 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.

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