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.
Yorkshire Blues and Greens
Frequent visits have coloured my idea of walking in Nidderdale with vast sky over wild moors. Peat bogs and tussocks, dramatic drops and rocks and cries of curlews and grouse. There is another side to the dale. After an extravagant day in genteel Harrogate an equally genteel walk was requested and to my surprise I found one. With five villages. Five villages must have tea rooms and pubs, I suggested. So lunch would not have to be carried, as refreshment would be frequent and abundant. How happy everyone was when my vague promises were...
read moreThe Troutbeck Tongue
I went for a walk today. Not miles and miles, not even miles and miles away. Just a short journey from home and a less than strenuous stroll down Troutbeck valley to the Tongue. Last time I went up this hill it was so misty and wet it was hardly possible to see from one side of the valley to the other. Things started a little misty today But eventually the full line from Thornthwaite to Windermere blended away in the early summer light and was just a pleasure. As for bank holiday Monday, there was barely a soul in sight....
read moreHarrogate Highlights
If you have to abandon the natural landscape for urbanisation then put genteel Harrogate high on the list. Betty’s for breakfast. A perfect start. Prepare to be seduced by shops and tea rooms where money glides effortless out of pockets, credit cards click as you happily give away pins and passwords, in exchange for things you probably don’t need. End the day at Valley Gardens Pathways wind round manicured lawns. Beds neatly made. Colours matched. Not a blade, petal or bulb out of...
read moreWainwright Revisited
Only a couple of weeks ago I asked; So what do you do when you have finished the Wainwrights? NOT do them all again, but it appears I can’t avoid at least a few. Assuredly by accident not design. And mostly by different routes so just as enjoyable second time around. Bar Friday. I tagged along the Kentmere Horseshoe, with a friend, who IS doing the list again and well. I am not going to write much as it was thick cloud for most of the route and then that missle, which really is rain, clung so closely my Gortext wrapped self resembled a cold...
read moreFairfield on Friday
Three days of walking over Easter have appeared out of order. Added to Jacks Rake, St Sunday and Nethermost, I had a quick hike around Fairfield on Friday. For the second time. The first back in March 2012 when I wasn’t really thinking about ‘bagging’ Wainwrights. Amazingly the weather was equally as wonderful then as this weekend. Having just read my account of the route, here, and without the weather to whinge about, there is not much to add. So just pictures of Fairfield on Friday: Scandale Beck .. and valley With a warning. The 360s...
read moreBeyond the Comfort Zone
From a solitary stroll one day to the exhilaration of a Grade 1 Scramble the next. No one can complain that there is lack of variety in the Cumbrian hills. Having completed ‘The AW List’ I need to be seek out new challenges. When I first moved back ‘Up North’ I walked up to Pavey Ark with friends who scrambled up, I didn’t and thought I probably wouldn’t ever. Suffice to say the older you get the dafter you get and yesterday, with the encouragement of a friend or two I reached the top of Pavey Ark via Jack’s Rake. Perfect Easter sunshine...
read moreBreakfast on a Hill
Windermere – Rydal – Grasmere – Thirlmere. Soft white mist rising from the images of inverted hills. Early morning quiet undisturbed, Hillsides and valleys still dark. Pasture green tipped with remnants of last nights frost There are some good reasons for an early start to the day. At last high pressure has hit the hills and there have been a few clear, cloudless days with the slightest whisper of a breeze. With a plan to go up to one of the highest hills I arrived at Wythburn car park before the rest of the world. Blue sky, sunshine on...
read moreThe End of a List
Two hundred and fourteen. A random number to most of the worlds populace, but to those odd few who are fans, followers or addicts of one Cumbrian personality, then it is hardly random. Reading this you are likely one of those ‘few’ who know I am not talking about Wordsworth, Beatrix Potter, Turner or Heaton Cooper – but Wainwright. So, 214, the Wainwright hills. Up which many hike, climb and scramble and thousands do the whole 214. I am under no illusion that this is an elite club. BUT I am now one of you. On Sunday I scrambled and walked...
read moreThe Tedious Trio
Grike, Crag Fell, Lank Rigg. Three Wainwrights whose reputation had preceded them. Not for being big. Not for being difficult. Just for being, wet, dull, uninspiring and a long way from any where. Leaving them until almost the end of my quest was a mere accident of wind, rain and weather. Not a plan. Do I agree with their reputation? They are fairly well off the beaten track. Even from South Cumbria it took me nearly two hours to get there by a Birker Fell. Returning via Cockermouth and knocked a bit off the time. Wet. Well yes it...
read moreSeathwaite to Lingmell
My quest to complete the AWs has led to some odd combinations of routes and made me ponder a little more about the topography of Cumbria and what a small area it is, considering how many hills and routes there are. Walking the Cost to Coast last year helped me string things together quite well but this latest walk made me think and looking at paths v roads. Wainwright may have 7 areas for his walks, but I have always sorted them by start point which often falls into the three valleys of Langdale, Wasdale and Borrowdale. All a relatively...
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