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A walk along the Three Mile Pack Track, Okarito, New Zealand

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.

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Brock Crags from Hartsop Village

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.

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A walk up Gray Crag and Thornthwaite Crag

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.

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A short walk up Hallin Fell

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.

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A freezing walk up Sour Howes and Sallows

When I leave my warm sleeping bag and look at the thermometer it tells me that the inside of the van is -4°c. I knew it was getting cold in the middle of the night as my ears started to ache and I had to put my sleeping bag hood over my head. This is something I’ve only ever done a few times before, when sleeping in a tent at 15,000ft, you can read about those occasions here and here if you want to. When I check the outside temperature it’s -10°c so I know it’s going to be a cold walk up my designated hills of the day, Sour Howes and Sallows.

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A walk up Na Blanca

The Formentor peninsula is the rocky, volcanic spit of land that sticks out into the blue Mediterranean on the north east coast of the Balearic island of Mallorca. It’s precipitous serrated cliffs rise up sharply all along the peninsula and provide a dramatic landscape. My walk today climbs one of those rocky outcrops, Na Blanca. After being unable to travel for a couple of years because of Covid it’s a pleasure to be back on this beautiful Balearic island for a late autumn break and I am looking forward to reacquainting myself with walking in Mallorca.

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A walk up Wansfell and Wansfell Pike

I knew that I had to get away before Christmas otherwise the festive season with its activities, indulgences and its unique ability to warp time so you lose track of what day of the week it is would arrive and it would be New Year before normal life resumed. Thankfully, a period of very cold but dry and settled weather was forecast and I took advantage of it to head north, arriving at Troutbeck just as the last rays of watery sunshine were vanishing over the western horizon and the temperature started to plummet. When darkness fell, the clear star studded night sky sucked the last vestiges of any heat out of the ground.

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Ulva Island/Te Wharawhara, New Zealand. A Walk on the other side of the world.

It’s only sitting at home, a few weeks after my return from New Zealand that I have time to reflect on just how special my walk on Ulva Island/Te Wharawhara was. Sitting off the southern tip of New Zealand Ulva Island is a predator free paradise of unspoiled temperate rainforest and footprint free beaches where the waves of the Southern Pacific Ocean break rhythmically onto golden sands. Human interference has been kept to a minimum on the island and a rich variety of flora and fauna has been allowed to flourish naturally. I don’t think I’m likely to have the privilege of walking in such a pristine environment again. It also happens to be the furthest south I am ever likely to travel. When I discovered the handy website ‘antipodesmap’ and put my home town in, it took me to the ocean about 300 miles South East of Ulva Island. As you can’t walk on water I’m going to say that I have literally walked on the other side of the world.

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A Harter Fell Round from Sadgill

It’s the second day of my stay in the little hamlet of Sadgill and I had another silent and restful nights sleep in the van. Yesterday afternoon I walked down Gatescarth pass and this morning I’ll be retracing my steps as I make my way to Harter fell. From there I’ll essentially be walking along the eastern section of the Kentmere horseshoe taking in Kentmere Pike and Shipman Knotts before following the old cart track back to Sadgill.

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Grey Crag and Tarn Crag from Sadgill

I arrive at the little hamlet of Sadgill at the far end of Longsleddale just before the sun sets and have the parking area to myself. This long, picturesque valley is situated right on the fringes of Lakeland. Remote, unfrequented and unspoiled there are none of the usual tourist trappings that attract thousands to the honey pots not that far away across the hills. No cafés or gift shops, no zip wires or yurts, no phone signal, just sheep and peace and quiet. And I’m pretty sure the residents like and want to keep it that way. Just before I turn in, I step out of the van and am greeted by total silence and a blackness I have rarely, if ever encountered in this country. Above a cloudless sky all the stars of the heavens were twinkling and the Milky Way stretched from one horizon to the other.

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