Saturday 21 June 2008 - A 200th Birthday Party

This was the day that Chris, Colin, Jessica, Martin and Phil had chosen to celebrate their 40th birthdays. The venue was Gradbach Youth Hostel, near Buxton. It had been rented for the weekend.

After a sociable Friday evening, Sue and I co-opted 6 others to join us on a 25 km stroll, initially by the River Dane to the Ship Inn (point 3 on the route shown below) at Danebridge.

It was too early for lunch, so we continued past alpaca and horses along some lesser known paths of the Peak District to the Ryles Inn near Langley (point 4) for beer and soup (we’d had large breakfasts). By now we had spent much time in wet fields and everybody’s feet were soaked. Apart from mine – I could gloat in my new boots, which passed the 25 km on day 1 test with almost flying colours – I just have a slight rub on one ankle tendon.

Then we headed along the Gritstone trail to Ridgegate Reservoir for a second lunch (there was limited seating here) before heading past Trentabank and a few neatly stacked logs, and up Shutlingsloe. Not for the first time since I started writing these pages.

Today the ‘Matterhorn of Cheshire’ was in a cloud, so we headed quickly down towards the Crag Inn (point 9) before going up and over again, past a very nice looking house, to Three Shire Heads.

Cheshire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire greet each other at this pleasant spot, where a huge piece of fungus protruded from a tree, and everyone seemed happy to rest.

From here it was an easy downhill stroll back to the youth hostel for a rather sparse and drizzly BBQ, plus beer and a ceili in the thin long ground floor room of the old mill. Curiously, a stuffed wallaby sat in one window - they roamed wild hereabouts for many years until the 1990s (see here), and a signpost outside rather bizarrely pointed to Eskdale Green and Muncaster Head!

Here’s our route for the day – 25 km with over 1000 metres of ascent, taking us 8 hours including 1½ hours stops – an excellent day out despite some indifferent weather.


Now then, shouldn’t we be getting ready to go to the Alps?…
Panic!

Friday 20 June 2008 - Mobile Blogging and An Italian Border Route

I’ve just spent an arduous period on the phone to Orange, in an effort to clarify the cost of blogging from abroad over the next few weeks.
There seemed to be some uncertainty as to whether or not an email was technically a text message, and how it would be charged.
The third operative I spoke to was (helpfully) very clear about it. I hope I don’t have to use this blog entry as evidence to reduce my bill when I get back!
Emails to the blog will be charged at £3 per MB, and I’m assured that about 80 pages of text constitutes a MB. The cost is cumulative, so it seems I can produce about 25 pages of text for £1, or is there a minimum charge of £3? Other charges are shown above.
Anyway, it shouldn’t be as expensive as I’d expected, and I might even be able to add a low resolution image occasionally when there’s a good signal. But I don’t intend to spend hours on the tops of mountains trying to transmit huge messages like I did on the TGO Challenge!
So, WD, I shouldn’t be needing your help in uploading the blog. But you never know, if the emails don’t work I’ll have to resort to texting (SMS - Short Message Service) someone in the UK who can upload to this web page, or MMS (Multi-media Messaging Service) may work – it certainly worked direct to the blog when I tested it earlier.

So one way or another we can keep in touch.

I’ve decided to leave the ‘GTA’ (Grand Traversata Delle Alpi) flag on the blog – though I won’t be able to insert the flag remotely – as that route inspired the planned walk. Our latest plan includes only 13 of the 47 GTA stages detailed in Gillian Price’s Cicerone Guide.

We're planning on staying much closer to the border, and crossing over to France in places, so it’s very much ‘An Italian Border Route’.

Apart from the GTA, our planned route includes sections from the following trails:
Alta Via dei Monte Liguri
Via Alpina (surprisingly little of this, and the Via Alpina web pages are not really very helpful) Tour du Chambeyron
Tour of the Queyras
Haute Route Glaciere
Alta Via Delle Valle D’Aosta No 1
Tour of Mont Blanc
Alta Via Delle Valle D’Aosta No 2 – Alta Via dei Gigante
Tour of Monte Rosa

A mouth watering prospect!

800 kilometres (500 miles) and including around 60,000 metres (60 kilometres!) of ascent - in 56 days including 11 rest days.

Thursday 19 June 2008 - New Boots

My year-old Asolo Fugitive boots are not actually worn out, but as I discovered yesterday they do leak and I have my doubts as to whether they will survive a 500 mile walk in the Alps.

As no shop in Manchester (to the best of my knowledge) can provide the dual service of boot-fitting and a good stock of boots, I headed off to my friends at Outside in Hathersage.

It took over an hour to decide on a direct replacement for the Asolos, so despite trying on several other boots that seemed equally comfy, I came away with ‘the same again’.

I’m sure they’ll start to leak at some point on the Alpine trip, but at least I’ll start with dry feet! Now, shall I take Sealskinz, or just two pairs of ordinary socks? Decisions, decisions.

The shop has a nice café for lunch, and I enjoyed the drive home through the Peaks, past Speedwell Cavern and up Winnats Pass.

Sadly, The Marquis of Granby, an old haunt at Bamford, was a mere shell, and finally about to be demolished – you can delete that ‘PH’ from your maps. But at Speedwell there were coach loads of children on school outings – hundreds of them having fun in the sun.

Wednesday 18 June 2008 - Appley Bridge in the Rain

Today’s evening walk, the last for a while, was to be led by Keith and Carol.

Sue ducked out early. ‘I have to pack for the Alps’ she said, and started throwing bits of backpacking gear around.

I set off in the rain and after a while arrived at Appley Bridge.

It’s very rare that we start a walk from this position, but today was one of those rare occasions. Usually there’s a pub to wait in, but the one selected by Keith in his original instructions had been flattened into a car park.

So I waited patiently.

‘We are at the Water’s Edge, ready to start,’ came the text.
They were in a pub!

So, having planned and recce’d this walk, Keith and Carol had turned up and were determined to see it through despite the rain.

8 o’clock on a summer’s evening and it was getting dark, as we entered the Fairy Glen.





The waterfalls were barely visible through the murk.




Eventually we emerged into some fields.

A week in Torridon, two weeks across Scotland on the TGO Challenge, and a week in the Lake District, these had all given me a good feeling about my boots. They hadn’t leaked on any of those trips.
Tonight my feet were soaking wet after just a couple of fields. That means more kit needed for the Alps – it’s a good job I didn’t stay at home and pack!

Emerging, after some time, from a wet lane, we strolled up to Parbold Hill Viewpoint.

Not much of a view tonight, but this is the edge from which the flatlands of Lancashire stretch, on a good day giving lovely expansive views despite the viewpoint’s modest height of just over 100 metres.

Then it was down to the Leeds-Liverpool Canal – a busy stretch of waterway with an old ‘dual carriageway’ through one lock – and an easy stroll down the wet towpath.

Back at the Water’s Edge a quiz was in full flow, with a quizmaster who really did particularly greatly like the sound of his own voice.
The Cumberland Ale went down well though, and we returned home feeling mellow and well exercised.

Thanks for coming, Keith and Carol.

Here's our route - about 8km in just under two hours.

Tuesday 17 June 2008 - A Sense of Panic

This time next week we will be in France, preparing to dip our toes in the Med before strolling around the Alps for a while.

We haven’t really prepared for this (in fact it has only one mention on this blog – on 28 October last year!).

I’ve bought a few maps, and we have a bit of backpacking kit left over from the TGO Challenge.

A selection of windshields for the stove has today been ordered from Bob and Rose.
Why do we seem to go through these like hot cakes?
Is that all we need from Bob and Rose?
How windy will it really be?

Between now and next Tuesday I’ll try to get more organised, and broadcast a more detailed plan of our route so that anyone interested can follow our progress.

My original idea was to follow the ‘Grande Traversata Delle Alpi’ (GTA) route that is covered in 47 stages in a Cicerone guide written by Gillian Price.
The more I look at that route, the more it seems rather ‘soft’. So in an effort to achieve something a little more challenging, we will try to keep close to the French/Italian, and later the Swiss/Italian borders, staying in Italy most of the time.

That has involved buying a fresh set of maps to cover the north west corner of Italy – parts not reached by the GTA, such as the enticing Gran Paradiso region.

In an effort to show you where we are going, I logged onto Google Maps for the first time tonight. It was really quite useful, though I didn’t get to grips with any significant features, and I was unable to show a scale on the screen dump that I have utilised for today’s postcard.
But the image I’ve quite easily finished up with does show our planned start and finish points, and Google has placed a convenient yellow line to mark the Italian borders that will form the basis of our route.

The distance between our start and finish points is probably about 200-250 kilometres as the crow flies, but our walking route may tot up to double that length.

Well, that’s a start, anyway, and given that there is no natural fixed end point we can build in quite a few rest days and make visits to local towns where practicable. The route will be ‘pure’ (an unbroken line), but side trips will be permitted!

Next posting
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Monday 16 June 2008 - Queen Sofia of Spain visits Eccleshall

Queen Sofia of Spain visits Eccleshall - A Right Royal Occasion!?

Well, almost.

Mother, who lives in Eccleshall, was wandering the streets of Rhodes a few days ago when she was taken aback by the presence of lots of security men.

‘What’s the crack?’ she asked.

‘We’re just minding Queen Sofia of Spain’ they answered.

‘Ha’ said mother ‘I know you’re joking….!’

However, she remained curious, and after a short while a familiar visage appeared from a shop, and faced her.

‘Good morning’ said the lady, cheerily, ‘and where are you from?’

‘Good morning, Queen Sofia’ said mother, who can instantly recognise any Royal personage from quite some distance, ‘I’m from England’.

‘Well I do hope you have a most enjoyable holiday’, said the Queen.

It had made mother’s day, so today, as I passed through Eccleshall, I reintroduced her to this most amenable of Royal personages.

The observant amongst you might even spot that Queen Sofia appears to have taken part in this year’s TGO Challenge walk across Scotland. We didn’t see her, but she was rumoured to have spent one evening massaging Denis Pidgeon’s feet!

Back in Cheshire
A farmer was working hard to bale his hay, which must be lovely and dry after all the fine weather we’ve had.


The hedgerows are filled with the white flowers of the bramble this week – hopefully a sure sign of a rich crop of blackberries in a couple of months’ time.

Sunday 15 June 2008 - A Trip to Charlecote Park

We were in Warwickshire today for a visit to Charlecote Park, a National Trust property advertised as a:

"- Superb Tudor house and landscape deer park
- Shakespeare was rumoured to be caught poaching on the estate
- 700 years of the Lucy family, with a uniquely extensive portrait collection
- Colourful landscaped gardens by the River Avon
- Great walking and picnic opportunities in the 'Capability' Brown deer park
- Traditional family games and play area

The Tudor home of the Lucy family for more than 700 years, the mellow stonework and ornate chimneys of Charlecote sum up the very essence of Tudor England. There are strong associations with both Queen Elizabeth I and Shakespeare, who knew the house well – he is alleged to have been caught poaching the estate deer. The rich, early Victorian interior contains some important objects from Beckford's Fonthill Abbey. Landscaped by 'Capability' Brown, the balustraded formal garden opens on to a fine deer park on the River Avon."

Despite the rather aggressive looking wild boar guarding the entrance, the property was very welcoming today, with lots of happy people wandering around it on a sunny afternoon.

In keeping with tradition at such places, mute swans floated serenely on the River Avon

Pleasant gardens, and a croquet lawn, led from the house to the river

We found a large mulberry bush, its fruits are shown below

The house, as seen from the restaurant (above), and the gatehouse (below)

Then we retreated to Solihull and had a fine bonfire, coincidentally succeeding in trimming the holly and rhododendron hedge as well – the technique could be likened to trimming one's hair using a primus stove.

Saturday 14 June 2008 - Summer in Cheshire

All was well as I wandered the Cheshire lanes today.

Holidaymakers were mixing with locals at Lymm, where a ‘canal fest’ seemed to be in full swing. Can you spot the man in fancy dress?

Meanwhile the swans, about 200 metres away from all the activity, were busy training their children.

Dad, as usual, was malingering near a boat named ‘Freedom’.

Friday 13 June 2008 - 20/20 Cricket

Old Trafford filled up tonight for the type of cricket I’ve been playing after work for over 30 years. It was a shame that the New Zealanders were unable to compete, but the sun shone and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Andrew and I glanced across to the nearby suits of my former employers (he is still a client) and we were happy to be able to enjoy the game [it was a game, not a contest] without the need to make small talk with the inevitable guest or host who really doesn’t want to be there.

Thank you Richard for organising the tickets, and sorry Chris - didn't get a chance to chat to you - never mind!

(I apologise to readers who don’t understand cricket. There are far better pages than these to learn about the game. Suffice to say that in footballing terms the score was England 9, New Zealand 1)

Thursday 12 June 2008 - Bursting Hedgerows

Amongst all the colour in the local hedgerows just now, the bright white swathes of ox-eye daisies are currently the dominant feature along the disused railway line that links Altrincham and Lymm.

Wednesday 11 June 2008 - It’s a Duck’s Life

Here are two of Timperley’s resident mallard families, enjoying the sunny afternoon.

Tuesday 10 June 2008 - Notchy’s Trek to the Deeper Parts of Mid-Cheshire

Tonight’s walk had been planned for some time. And Notchy always puts his walks through a dry run.
So, when Richard, Jenny, Sue and I arrived at the Bird in Hand, half an hour early, we expected our leader to be ensconced over a pint of Best with the route memorised and not a map in sight.
He wasn’t there!
We supped in the sun and our intrepid guide duly arrived.
He placed a GPS and map on the table and ordered a ‘half’.
Something was wrong.
‘I...I haven’t had time…’ he announced gloomily.
‘It’s OK, you’re amongst friends’ we responded in unison, ‘and anyway, none of the rest of us recce our walks in advance’.
Then Notchy went pale.
Three more people had turned up.
‘Hello Anne’
‘Hello Sheila’
‘This is Ros’ said Sheila, ‘My next door neighbour’.

Notchy felt a turn coming on.
Last time strangers had turned up on one of his walks they had been secondees from Manilla to a local firm for whom Roger works. Roger had arrived on that occasion with half his office in tow, and Notchy had orchestrated a splendid guided walk, adapted on the hoof to take account of the fact that the lads from Manilla had possibly never walked as far (6-8 km) in their lives.
‘The air in Manilla is too polluted to walk’ they said ‘but the air in Manchester is wonderful’.

Well I never!

Tonight there were no real time pressures, as it wouldn’t be dark until after ten. Just as well, I thought, as the group moved slowly off, Notchy’s GPS indicating that our route commenced over the roof of the house next to the pub!

The route we actually took is shown below.


It was largely an amble through fields and down lanes. All conducted at a slow pace due to chatting and ambling (as opposed to ‘proper walking!’), but also due to the time it took to get eight people over the stiles liberally dotted around the route.


Here Sheila remonstrates with our illustrious leader on a particularly important point of order.

Had Notchy deliberately chosen an obstacle course? Perhaps not, I concluded, as he cursed the farmers for concealing the paths in their fields, and the local council for not bothering to look after their Rights of Way, one of which was even blocked by electric gates, with a stile clearly visible beyond them!
Luckily the ground was dry, but the nettles have recently flourished and were in fine fettle, happily penetrating everyone’s clothing.
Someone had planted some trees in the middle of a path linking two stiles that were about 10 metres apart!
At least the horses that crowded around us at frequent intervals were not the least bit threatening. They were a lazy lot, having made no impression on the high vegetation through which we had to battle.

At least this field was easy enough to negotiate...

It was a lovely warm summery evening, with few insects and a lovely sunset and lots of time to chat about ventures past and future – Mallorca, the Lakes, Pembroke, Devon, Cornwall, Peru – everyone had a tale to tell and another to anticipate.

The sun gradually disappeared off for a rest, leaving some nice colours in its wake.

All this chatting and exercising was rounded off with a quaff around a sturdy old table in the pleasant surroundings of the Bird in Hand, to which Notchy’s wonderful homing device eventually returned us after about 9 km and 2½ hours.

Thank you, Andrew, for your sterling efforts and your unfailing attention to the map.

Saturday 31 May to Saturday 7 June 2008 - Ravenglass to Dalston - Index

This page summarises our Lake District backpacking trip in 2008.

Our web page, giving full details of the actual route, and some additional panoramic images, is here.

The trip was 'blogged' as we went along, with numerous additional images added later.

The entire blog can be viewed here. You will need to click on 'older posts' and go to the bottom of the page to start at the beginning, or you can select individual days from the index below:

Day 1 - Ravenglass to Eskdale - Deepest Summer
Day 2 - Eskdale to Wasdale - A Sca Fell Day
Day 3 - Wasdale to Black Sail - Through the Mist
Day 4 - Black Sail to Buttermere - A Cream Tea Day
Day 5 - Buttermere to Byersteads - A Fine Lakeland Day
Day 6 - Byersteads to Dubwath - Low Level Heaven
Day 7 - Dubwath to Caldbeck - Whoosh!
Day 8 - Caldbeck to Dalston - The Home Run

If you try this route you will realise that it can be varied considerably, depending upon the ambitions of the party.

We would have stayed at Skiddaw House and walked up Skiddaw had Skiddaw House YHA not been full.

I am happy to answer any questions or queries anyone may have.

Saturday 7 June 2008 – The Home Run – Village Pub to Dalston Station

Distance - 16 km
Ascent - 160 metres
Time - 5 hours 15 mins including 1 hour 30 mins stops

It turned out to be a quiet night in our bijou room at The Oddfellows Arms, apart from a very vociferous dawn chorus.

Tea was served by Notchy before 7.30, just as we were coming to life for this short final day to Dalston. Wow, tea served in bed at a B&B!

An adequate breakfast fuelled us for our stroll. Today only four of us would be finishing the walk, as Sue and David were travelling to Langdale to continue their holiday. They were not in a hurry. Their bus left at 10 am, but much scratching of heads was going on as to where to catch it. Apparently there is no bus stop in Caldbeck, and there are only buses to Keswick and beyond on Saturday mornings. There are in fact two buses, leaving in opposite directions, so no-one knew where to catch them from.
‘Everyone here has a car’ was the uniform response.

We left S&D with their conundrum as we wandered out of this idyllic village at 9 am, chatting as we went to a friendly local returning home from the newsagent.

There had been rain overnight and the paths in Parson’s Park (a wood) were slithery. The air was thick with the scent of garlic from lush beds of ramsons.

The Health and Safety men had been checking this wood, and a sign warned of a landslide that maybe will occur within the next millennium, but there is clearly no immediate risk – what a waste of effort!

We entered a field of freshly cropped grass. A Nissan Micra flew through the grass. Joy riders? No, it was just the farmer checking the dampness of the grass and wondering whether it could be gathered today.

At Sebergham someone had made a good stab at demolishing the old bridge over the River Caldew. Much of the parapet had been pushed into the river, but there was no sign of the offending vehicle.

Sebergham Hall was apparently deserted, but well-kept and very private looking.

Our final brew up of the trip was on a grassy bank by the river near Holm House. Sand martins and grey wagtails were active here. A heron patrolled the river nearby, and a buzzard circled threateningly in the distance. Small white flowers – not water lilies - graced the surface of the slow flowing river.

Today our route followed the course of the Cumbria Way – a long distance footpath coursing through the Lake District by taking the least line of resistance (ie not over the tops).

After our brew stop we encountered two chaps who had also been in the pub last night.
‘Are you walking the Cumbria Way?’ asked Sue.
‘Yes, are you?’ one of them replied.
‘No, our route coincides with the Cumbria Way for this last section, but we prefer to go over the tops, so that route is really a bit flat for us.’
‘Oh, perhaps we won’t do the Cumbria Way, then!’ He ended the conversation leaving us puzzled as to what they were actually doing…

By the time we reached Rose Bridge, where the river banks were lined by dame's violet, the shrill cries of oyster catchers were being heard for the first time on this walk. Rose Castle looked impressive on the hillside above us.

A Redspearlands Footpath Group brochure sat lonely in a box fastened to a stile. We read about this local walking group and replaced the brochure before continuing along field paths.

A horse galloped past.

Then we entered the rhododendron strewn grounds of Hawksdale Hall, and passed the smart buildings of Lime House School.

Approaching Bridge End we noticed that we were on a ‘Reivers Off Road’ cycling route. We have encountered these routes a few times over the past couple of days.

The Bridge End Inn was bathed in sunshine and provided an excellent venue for our alfresco lunch, after which an easy path past an old mill (now owned by Cowens) led us to Dalston and the train back to Ravenglass on another sunny afternoon.

Here's today's route.

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