Reasons for Reasons
I was ‘raised’ – to use a phrase from our American friends – in south Lakeland and it has always remained home. Even though I left to study when I was 18 and didn’t return untill September 2010. A lot of years.
During those interim years I have had a great life, travelled and met some wonderful people and also have a managed to bring up my son fairly successfully. So, it although it was sort of ‘on the plan’, my move back North was not without trepidation.
As part of my ‘self affirmation’ that I had made the right decision I started a Facebook album ‘Reasons To Move North’. This has had wonderful comments from my friends but I never had the courage to make it public. Then recently I went on a Travel Writing Course with Zoe ,and much to my delight and surprise received more affirmation from positive comments on my travel writing. Something else which has always remained strictly within closed leaves.
A mindful review of my first year here followed and I realised that I had had an amazing twelve months. Yes, I have travelled away, but I have also done more here in the North West than I would have previously thought possible. And I have had so many visitors! People like it here! I have become a guide for friends and acquaintances who then spread the word about how wonderful the Lake District is. This led to my providing itineraries for weekends or longer visits. Some I accompanied, others I simply provided a ‘bespoke’ itinerary, with or with accommodation booked.
So, now it’s time to go Global!
And now I have built my own blog I have used my technical, from a previous life in IT, to build one for the Howgill Harriers. If you would like one put together then please contact me for a quote.
Day 8, Horton to Hawes
Great day in the Dales. But it would have been good to see it. Almost the entire 22km there was grey. Visibility dropping with the clouds to a damp claggy day Sign posts and cairns became the focus. But the tracks were easy and it wasn’t cold. It didn’t actually rain, just wet walking through cloud. Bit of colour respite on the nature reserve of Long Gill Then the early warning signs of sun as a sky lark wheeled up and there was a valley. Well on the way to Hawes on the Cam High Road. Down off the moors into wild flower meadows...
read moreDay 7… The Best So Far
Malham to Thornton in Ribblesdale. 24km Malham Cove got the legs working with it’s hundred and whatever steps. Familiar countryside, having worked around here and walked for pleasure many times. White walls and deep green summer grass. And just in time for orchids. Fountains Fell the first lump of limestone to ascend. Views and countless heads of cotton grass. I love the limestone landscape. The weather was gorgeous, dry but not too hot. Slopes rather than steep ascents until Pen y Ghent. It really was the best day so far. So here I am....
read moreSummer in the Dales. Day 6 on the Pennine Way
Delightful. My sunglasses went on as soon as I set out, jumper off and hat on within the hour. This is what June is supposed to be Gardens were brimming with flowers. I saw butterflies, bees and even dragon flies. Swathes of grass, with a few bucholic cows and lazy sheep. Not a peat bog in sight. Admittedly not so many curlews but plenty of swifts and swallows. It really was a lovely day to go for a walk. And the south spine race started sometime in the night. So there were additional feeding stations and additional navigation aids A few...
read morePeaks to Dales Day 5
I have come to love the signs on the Pennine Way. Navigation with a GPS or my map is fine but one of the many variety of signs is so reassuring. Today my 21km stroll took me from Ponden Reservoir to Thornton in Craven. Ickornshaw still felt like the Peak District. The newly laid flags were much appreciated when looking at the bog either side. It had not been completed yet. Today was the first time I managed to put a foot in a hole deeper than my boot. A vaguely damp foot. It’s beautiful landscape, but you have to appreciate...
read moreDay 4 already! Pennine Way
Only 17km. What a short day. And what an uphill start out of Hebden. So far no rain And it did hold off through the wooded Calder Valley but as I headed up hill over Clough Head the horizontal rain and mist returned There were things to smile at. When the weather changes to good, bad is immediately forgotten as even boggy moorland becomes scenic From Withins Height there was even a view! When finally reaching my evening accomodation in Howarth summer had almost returned. Walked Hebden to Stanbury then short taxi ride to...
read moreStandedge to Hebden
Day 3 of the Pennine Way. 25k was somewhat of an endurance test. It rained. Relentlessly. All day. And at times it was windy There were no views. To re visit the book anolagy, pages of a comic book without the colour. Tunnel vision. To flowers, and trig points. The cloud clung all day. Millstone Edge, White Hill and Blakestone Edge trigs, had little to choose between them. Perhaps there was a view from Blakestone Edge. A mystery along the way. I asked Google and it didn’t know. And this is my lovely hotel bathroom reduced to a drying...
read moreDay 2 on the Pennine Way
20 km Torside to Standedge Wet from the start. A deluge day interspersed with patches of brilliant sunshine. So strong the rain evaporated instantly into a fine wavey mist. Started with a deceptively benign stroll through lakeside woodlands. Quickly turning uphill. The tops of which were shrouded in a rather off putting grey. A narrow ridge over Black Tor along Barehome Moss. Instructions very clear! Danger deep bogs There was plenty of boggy stuff yet to come Though Black Hill is now well paved. The deluge of recent days made river...
read moreThe Pennine Way – from the beginning!
Edale at 8am was bright and sunny. Then up on the moors, so typical for June, the hail came in horizontally But the walk was worth. All a surprise as I’d done little research and most was new. The main uphill via Jacobs Ladder was not as bad as remembered. The millstone grit over Kinder and the escarpment was magnificent and so different from the Lake District. Teraine was as varied as the weather. From rough millstone grit through peat bags, which made hazardous navigation, to open flat, moorland with the trail defined by slabs. When...
read morePennine Way Prequel
In 2012, my son, who was living in the USA, sent me Wild, by Cheryl Strayed. A recounting of part of her emotional life journey but also the physical journey of the Pacific Crest trail. I had a vague idea I may get to do that three months hike, but life and its challenges, some wonderful, got in the way. Now retired, I have time for my own longest walk. The Pennine Way. Three weeks, not quite three months, along with the red boot laces. Several months of planning and now with great feelings of trepidation I’m finally in Edale and ready...
read moreIsle of Skye; Back to the Blog
Things seem to be balancing into a ‘new normality’. I still feel anxious it will disappear, the moments with friends not seen seem so precious, not just because they have been missed, but in case they disappear once more. Travel is still curtailed but I am, like many, learning more about the near rather than the far. May, as soon as ‘permitted’ I headed for the Highlands, and my first ever visit to Skye. When consulting the weather forecast on the first day, we realised with, that it was barely going to rain. Coming from the...
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