Tuesday 26 February 2013 – An Evening Walk around Rivington

Back down to earth!  I hope this posting doesn’t leave the likes of Alan and Louise with another dose of vertigo, as Sue looks down from Rivington Pike to the Reebok Stadium, where Bolton Wanderers were in the process of thrashing Peterborough 1-0.

Nobody else turned up for this delightful evening stroll in lovely weather, but we did surprise a group of scouts at Rivington Pike.  Their minders arrived later to be puzzled by the fact that their charges seemed to have grown rather rapidly; they weren’t expecting to see any other adults up here!  We strode round the 6.5 km route in about an hour and a half before adjourning to The Spinners’ quiz night, from where Lyn had sent an SOS – not that we really did very much to help once we got there!

A more thorough report, and route details (tonight we returned via the barn rather than by way of the castle – there are many different options hereabouts), can be found from an earlier visit, here, but this is always a good venue for an evening walk as it enjoys fine views over Greater Manchester and Lancashire.

What would he make of Crib Goch in the rain?

I think I’ve referred to my scary day on Half Dome before.  Sue reported on it here.

Thumbing through the current Trail magazine today, I discovered the picture below.  This guy, Alex Honnold, seems to have found a much flatter path than the one I was on, so presumably (assuming the path continues amiably round the corner) he got to the summit without suffering the dizziness that got to me.

The photo is credited to Jimmy Chin/National Geographic.  The title to the post is credited to Trail Magazine’s caption.

Our Scottish Tour – 9 to 17 February 2013

For the few people who may be interested, here are some links to the individual postings for our recent trip around Scotland – press the Back button to return to this index if you want to work your way through the postings, and there’s a slideshow (150 – of dubious quality) here.

Saturday 9 February – Travel to Braemar

Sunday 10 February – Morrone

Monday 11 February – Leagag

Tuesday 12 February – Glen Banchor

Wednesday 13 February – Glenstockdale

Thursday 14 February – Allt Buidhe

Friday 15 February – Beinn nan Imirean (M) and Meall Glas (S)

Saturday 16 February – Creagan na Beinne with the XXL Club

Sunday 17 February – Travel to Timperley

Enjoy…as we did in the music room on Saturday night – picture courtesy of TGO Challenger, Simon Sawers.

Saturday 2 February 2013 - Dunham Winter Garden (2)

A perfect morning for me (Nallo Lady) to be amongst the flowers in the garden. These bell-like snowdrops have pretty orange stamens inside and are just one of several varieties creating carpets of white.

The early morning light is also perfect for lighting the clean, white bark of the silver birch grove:

The lawn at the back is a spread of yellow aconites and white snowdrops….

…And even the buds of the irises are elegant.

Only one was flowering:

The hellebores, newly opened, enjoy the sun.

This Daphne smells sweet…

…with the Viburnam scent only just detectable.

The witch hazels are still looking stunning:

The snowdrops are worth a close look, with their inner parts varying from orange to green, and simple to complex.

There are more photos from visits to Dunham’s Winter Garden mid-January 2013 and from early March 2011 and late March 2011.