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.
Wild Swimming
What could be better than a swim in a cool waterfall pool on a rare hot summer’s evening? Uldale Force has featured on TV as one of the best places for a wild swim in Britain – and it was not very far away. Just one stop up the M6 and a short ride past Sedbergh. Fairly confident that we had heeded the warning not to attempt the walk in wet weather we piled out of the car sure that this would be a short, easy walk to an inviting pool. Being good citizens we set off up the public footpath to the north of Rawthey Bridge, following the green...
read moreTryfan and the Glyders
Wet and miserable, the hall mark of my trek up Snowden. I ventured down to Wales again. The Brecon Beacons. Nil visibility blighted me then too. Third time lucky? Saturday the sun shone brightly and the rocks were dry. Perfect for the grade one scramble up Tryfan, a circuit of Glyder Fach, Glyder Faw and back down the Devils Kitchen. I had absolutely no idea what I was letting myself in for. My chaotic life just now had allowed no more time than reading the comments of the FB event’s page where I found the walk. ‘Great grade 1 scramble’. ...
read morePottering on the Outlying
Lack of time put the higher more distant fells out of bounds , and with mist and low cloud maybe a good day to ‘potter the short and easy slopes’ of the foothills, to quote Mr W. Brunt Knott and Ulgraves were still on my list of outlying fells and not too far away and may be the damp drizzle would lift? Optimistic; even Farleton Knott was invisible as I left the village. Parking my car the rain washed deep colours in the verdant foliage along the lane with cloud hanging low overhead. At least with all the water the falls put on a good show as...
read moreWheels
Walking up a hill is definitely my preferred form of exercise. I’d rather be outside enjoying the weather, stretching my limbs on a mountain than in a gym. Swimming is great for dull days, (indoor pool). I do try and imagine I’m back in Vietnam with the bath like waters of my once local pool in Saigon. Though I like swimming in the Lakes, I’ve even managed the Great North Swim once, their cold water can not quite match the summer water of Phong Nha. Swimming out of caves fully clothed in December was a little more challenging. And...
read moreCentral and Outlying Fells
I managed to I get out on two quite different walks this week. First from Armboth to Bleaberry, right in the centre of the Lakes, then on the peripheral Limestone Fringe. Wainwright’s commendation of Armboth as ‘little more than a quagmire’ is enough to put anyone off bothering to hike up the wet, boggy watershed between Thirlmere and Watendlath. After my first trip up in typical misty Lakeland weather, when I remember eating soggy sandwiches just before my friend took a tumble in to a water laden tractor track, I concurred...
read moreWalk with a Map
After some horrendous rain and wind sunshine returned to Cumbria. Amazingly forecast for Thursday, and arrived on Thursday! So, with the whole of Cumbria to choose from; where to go? St Sunday Crag was one of the first hills I went up when returning to live in Cumbria, five years ago, and I’d not been up since. Plus, still keen and enthusiastic after my ML training last week, a route over Arnison Crag and Birks would provided lots of little lumps and bumps to try to navigate myself to. It was a bit of slog up the slope to Birks from Arnison,...
read moreMountain Leader Training
Becoming a Mountain Leader could perhaps, turn my love of Lakeland into some kind of gainful employment. Excuses, lack of time always intervened but back in the UK so suddenly I have a little more time on my hands. Hence I spent five and a half days stretching my body and mind in the hills. Some of the content was surprising, some challenging but all interesting and by the end of the week I at least knew what I needed to learn, full ‘conscious incompetence’. As well as hiking up hills I was dragged back to my...
read moreArnside Shore and Knott
It doesn’t matter how many times I walk around Arnside and the Kent Estuary I never get bored with it. There is always something new to offer. This was my first walk there after being away for eight months, it was as beautiful as ever. I don’t suppose it has changed that much. The sands will have shifted and the clouds threw a slightly different shadow over the bay. But it was a different year and the seasons are not the same each time they come by. Somehow I picked a perfect day for wild flowers. The purple orchids were just about perfect....
read moreClimbing – Keswick Mountain Festival
A couple of years ago in Croatia I was hiking in Paklenica National Park and stared enviously at those going up the ‘hard way’ while I hiked up the gentler slopes. Then this year, scrambling around caves in Vietnam, with and without ropes gave me enough of taste for steeper rock climbs and chimneys underground, to think,, it would be good to try it over ground; with a view! The downside. You can see how high you are. In the caves I didn’t have much idea of what I was going up and down. Head torches restrict you to peripheral vision. Can...
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