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.
Walking Around Milan
Why go to Milan for New Year? It has a famous football team. Must be famous. Even I have heard of it. Fashion and shopping. Not really a fashion follower and if I shopped in Milan the travel fund would be severely depleted. Truth is I had never been there and neither, it transpired, had the friend I was meeting for New Year. Plus there are flights to Milan from both Manchester and Birmingham. Our nearest respective airports. So it was more a process of elimination than positive choice. But a good one. Can I recommend it? Yes, for a...
read moreHistory Lesson
A few months ago I was scrabbling about in the ‘bargain bin’ at a local farm shop and pulled out The Tarns of Lakeland by John and Anne Nuttall. Two out of print Cicerone Books at a mere £2.99 each. Yet more books on walking, but too cheap to miss. For several months they sat around suitably ignored, until a few weeks ago I picked one up and idly read a page or two. As well as the obvious walking routes around tarns there are quirky descriptions of what happened to the authors and interesting morsels of local history. So as well as...
read moreStudley Royal
A different kind of walk from last Saturday’s wild wind and rain at the National Trust’s Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden. Straight Lines Sculptured lawns Captured waterfalls with solid bridges. Seats for quiet contemplation. Follies with views of castles. Which is, of course, the ancient Abbey, falling to ruin But still with arches and towers, not yet reclaimed by moss, fungi, and forest. Certainly no map or GPS...
read moreWind Rain and Mist
Boots and kit just about dried out I was ready to hike up this my last AW Eastern. Planned a week or so ago when the weather forecast was actually not too bad. It was only the night before when I had realised how wet, how windy, how low the cloud was going to be. So bad, that I had a text at 7.30 telling me Anne was arriving early in the hope that we might miss the worst of the weather. I think we did. Setting off from the car park. It was fine. It wasn’t raining. There was a bit of a breeze blowing in the tops of the trees as we...
read moreWet Weekend
One of the advantages of living in Cumbria is that you can pick your days to walk. Avoiding the wet miserable days with little hope of those glorious views. Skip the days when water oozes out of a leaking hillside. It’s not as though we have booked B & B’s and have to go out. Could it simply be an addiction? At least I am not alone. On both soggy ‘tramps’, I was with equally idiotic friends, though on Friday there was no one else to be seen on Sour Howes and Sallows. This short walk picked with the inclement weather in mind was more...
read moreLondon Flat
Thankfully after the somewhat protracted journey south last Thursday the weekend kicked in to a wonderful flurry of meeting friends, eating, drinking and shopping. I have debated over sharing where we stayed as it was so good. But to be fair to the owners of this lovely privately rented flat, John and Jean, I just had to give it a little publicity. Take at look at www.centrallondonflat.com. So close to everything. So comfortable. It was just as if we were personal house guests. At any moment I...
read moreStuck on a Train
What a day to go south. Only the worst storms since whenever blew over the north. Scotland was closed. No trains from Glasgow or Edinburgh through Oxenholme. A diversion to Manchester, we were told, would resolve the problem. Well it did, sort of. The train chugged slowly down by surf paradise sized waves blowing in on the Lancashire coast. After two hours we just managed to jump on the 13.35 Manchester to London. Except it wasn’t the 13.35. After standing in the station for two hours Virgin changed it to the 15.35. Clever. When we...
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Facebook Fells
Social Media and Cumbria Hills don’t sound synonymous but I was invited to join a Facebook walking group and so for a day at least, I left behind my current obsession of ticking off Wainwrights and met some people behind the profiles. Not that we didn’t follow AW, there were a few on the route and I was more than quietly pleased to discover that I could tick off an outlying fell/ Birkett, Walna Scar. Walna Scar road makes the Coniston Fells so accessible. After all you’re halfway up the hill when you get out of the car. Not...
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