A personal journal recording and reflecting on my walks around the world.
Five years ago I had the pleasure of walking the Routeburn Track, one of New Zealand’s Great Walks and arguably one of the world’s. Our first night was spent at Routeburn Falls Hut where the peace of the rain forest had competition from a group of fifteen or so exuberant, high spirited and talkative teenage girls from Otago Girls High School on an outward bound course.
It’s been a while. My summer has been spent elsewhere but the seasons wait for no one and in my absence autumn has arrived. Golden yellow leaves, having enjoyed a brief summer of life are falling to become mulch and then food for leaves waiting to be born. In the cycle of the seasons the land is going to sleep, preparing and protecting itself for the cold dark months ahead. There has been rain, lots of it and the ground is sodden underfoot. Moisture hangs in the air and I can smell the scent of Lakeland on the fresh morning breeze, moss and manure, wood smoke rising from the cottages, comforting and familiar. It’s good to be back.
The small village of Les Chapieux sits at the western most point of the Tour du Mont Blanc. Although it’s elevation is 1549m (5,082ft), far higher than any land in the U.K. it is surrounded on all sides by higher mountain ranges giving it a somewhat enclosed, protected feeling. It has a shop with attached pizzeria, two functional but not luxurious Auberges, a tourist information office and a large Aire de camping car.
Continue reading “Tour du Mont Blanc Day Four – Les Chapieux to Rifugio Elisabetta”
If day one of the Tour du Mont Blanc was an hors d’oeuvre and day two a starter, day three is the 16oz steak and chips. Today we finally enter the land of big mountains with two high cols, the Col du Bonhomme and the Col de La Croix Bonhomme to get over and one one iconic mountain hut, Refuge Col de La Croix Bonhomme to visit.
Continue reading “Tour du Mont Blanc Day Three – Refuge de Nant Borrant to Les Chapeiux”
The Tour du Mont Blanc and the Alps in general are perfect for hut to hut walking. In France they are generally called Refuges, in Italy Rifugios and in Switzerland Auberges. They are often located right in the heart of the mountains among the most spectacular scenery and provide you with dinner, breakfast and a bed for the night. They also have showers, of varying degrees of efficiency. Last nights was by means of a token, which gave me maybe fifty seconds of mildly warm water before stopping altogether whilst in mid soap. We shared a room with an older German couple, the lady spoke reasonable English, the man none, which matches the extent of my German.
Continue reading “Tour du Mont Blanc Day Two – Refuge du Fioux to Refuge de Nant Borrant”
“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”
The storm eventually passed over in the early hours leaving behind a dry but overcast morning. Steve slept right through it all, not a care in the world, that’s an Irishman for you. Although it’s dry now, more thunder and lightning are forecast for the afternoon, just as we will be at our high point on the Col de Voza, so there is some urgency to our efforts to get out of Les Houches and on the trail in order to beat the storm.
Continue reading “Tour du Mont Blanc Day One – Les Houches to Refuge du Fioux”
It’s been a long two days in the driving seat, it turns out the Alps are a long way from the UK but at 5pm we roll into Bellevue Campsite in Les Houches. Dark, brooding, rain filled clouds are hanging low over the Chamonix valley cloaking the mountains. The atmosphere is still and electrified, awaiting the coming storm. The driving has stopped but walking the Tour du Mont Blanc is just about to begin. I’m tired but excited in equal measure and I can’t wait for the next twelve days.
Place Fell is one of Lakeland’s iconic and best known mountains. The walk up it from Patterdale, one of it’s prettiest villages is a Goldilocks walk, not too long, nor too steep, but just right. It attracts children and grandmothers alike, neither of whom would be inclined to tackle other tops and the view from its small but perfectly formed summit is also one of Lakeland’s finest.
It’s a dank grey day in Lakeland with a cloud filled leaden sky hovering worryingly over it. A day where the monochrome clouds threaten to descend to earth and smother the tops with their blanket of invisibility. Having a self imposed rule that I will see the view from each summit as opposed to only the hand in front of my face has inevitably meant some return visits on my journey through the Wainwright’s. This is because the weather does what it wants and does not seem the slightest bit interested in my needs, wants or desires. If we were in a relationship it would not be a happy one. It’s all good exercise though and as the saying goes, a cloudy day on the hill is still better than a good day in the office, not that I have had occasion to visit the office recently. And so it is in this frame of mind that I set off, more in hope than anticipation towards Rest Dodd and The Nab.
Continue reading “A walk up Rest Dodd and The Nab from Brotherswater”
Putting my boots on in the car park of the Brotherswater Inn, my eyes are drawn upwards to the long straight grassy ridge that leads to the summit of Caudale Moor. Stretching high into the blue sky it gives the mountain the look of a giant green Lakeland pyramid and I wonder what ancient king is buried at its centre. This ridge is my chosen route to the heights today where I’ll be visiting Caudale Moor, (which has a somewhat split personality as it is also known as Stony Cove Pike and John Bell’s Banner) and Hartsop Dodd. The ridge looks pretty steep from the car park but I console myself with the words of Wainwright, who says “Of the many approaches to the summit, this is by far the best”.
Continue reading “Stony Cove Pike and Hartsop Dodd from Brotherswater”
The morning sunlight is casting soft shadows over the quiet valley of Martindale as I park up at St Peter’s Church. Time passes slowly in this peaceful remote valley on the edge of Lakeland. St Peter’s sister church, St Martin’s, a little further down the valley dates from the fifteenth century and has a thirteen hundred year old yew tree in its graveyard. Not far away there is a Queen Victoria post box dating from 1851. Five Wainwright’s is a lot for me but they fitted together nicely when I was planning the route. So ahead of me, on what is turning out to be a fine spring day are Steel Knotts, Wether Hill, Loadpot Hill, Arthur’s Pike and Bonscale Pike.
Continue reading “Five Wainwrights from St Peter’s Church Martindale”
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”
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”
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.
The walk over the Coll de Síller begins in the attractive tourist resort of Port de Pollença with its bars, restaurants and sun worshipers and ends in the smaller but equally busy resort of Cala Sant Vicenç with its bars, restaurants and sun worshipers. In between there is a slice of Mallorca that would be alien to most of the bikini clad beach dwellers who tend not to venture beyond the resorts. It’s only a short walk but can be lengthened if you decide to return over the pass after spending time in Cala Sant Vicenç. It holds interest for walkers because of the views along the Cavall Bernat ridge and down to Port de Pollença and the way, in only a mile, it connects ‘holiday resort’ Mallorca with a bit of ‘walking’ Mallorca.
Continue reading “Port de Pollença to Cala Sant Vicenç via Coll de Siller”
We are nearing the end of our month walking and travelling through the beautiful South Island of New Zealand / Aotearoa. We have walked on mountains and through rainforests, along beaches and glacial moraine. We have seen a wild Kiwi in its native environment and visited a predator free island. We were drenched under its highest waterfall and gazed up at the knife edge arêtes on the snow plastered summit of its highest mountain. It has certainly been a trip to remember and for our last walk we find ourselves on the ‘Wild’ West Coast in the tiny settlement of Okarito, where we will be walking the three mile pack track.
Continue reading “A walk along the Three Mile Pack Track, Okarito, New Zealand”
From the car park at Hartsop the lush green tree peppered slopes of Brock Crags, my objective for the day rise up blocking any view to the north east. The view up the valley compensates with Gray Crag and Hartsop Dodd, their tops clear of cloud today, looking down from their lofty heights, silent observers of daily life in this small attractive lakeland village. The parking is free but donations are encouraged to support the local primary school. I went to school in a city and as I get my boots on I wonder what it must be like to go to a small rural school, surrounded by sheep and mountains in one of the most beautiful National Parks in the country.
It’s a promising morning, the sun is shining and blue sky is all around. As I set off from Sykeside campsite I notice a band of cloud lingering over the higher fells. I figure however that the sun will have long burned this off by the time I get up there. My intention today is to walk up Gray Crag, Thornthwaite Crag, Stony Cove Pike and finish on Hartsop Dodd.
Continue reading “A walk up Gray Crag and Thornthwaite Crag”
My wife and I have very different interests and hobbies. She is a creative, an artist. Part of an online Art Journaling community that collaborate and create elaborate pieces of Scrapbooking art. I on the other hand prefer the silence, solitude and simplicity of putting one foot in front of the other in the great outdoors, the sky above me and the earth below me. Occasionally, we venture into the other’s territory. I will go to the ballet where I will understand nothing of the subtle storytelling conveyed without words through the medium of dance. And she will join me in a walk up a hill, so long as it is not too big a hill, or too steep a climb.