Thursday 24 June 2010 – The Cheshire Ring

I was about to commit myself to a trip involving quite a bit of time on a saddle.

‘Better check that I stand a chance of doing it’, I thought.

So on Thursday morning I rose early and embarked on a little bike ride.  This is a very brief report, due to time constraints, but there’s a link to a pictorial journey at the end of the posting.

Anyway, early morning beside the Bridgewater Canal was the province of wood pigeons, foxes and herons… and this lone cyclist who surprised a dog walker in Lymm.

About every three miles I encountered a pair of swans, only 50% of them with young.  Deeper into Cheshire a pair with eight youngsters steadfastly tried to block my way down the towpath.  There was no way round.  They were intimidating.  I managed to use the bike as protection, keeping it at arms length and quickly passing the hissing birds.

At home the towpath is quite smooth and easy in dry conditions.  In deeper Cheshire it becomes very bumpy and grassy.  Very much an ‘off-road’ experience.  Well, virtually my entire route was off-road, though I don’t believe Anquet’s calculation of 1500 metres ascent to be correct.  There may have been 92 locks, but assuming half of them were downhill, that would give an average height gain per lock of over 30 metres!  And the hills over the tunnels weren’t that high either.

Nevertheless, ‘off-road’ is off-road, and the day’s hazards included deep grass, wet grass (it rained for an hour), paths imbued with thousands of tree roots, and numerous ‘anti-bike’ gates, all of which slowed progress.  I only noticed one ‘No Cycling’ sign (in Marple Bridge), and perhaps some of the gates are there to discourage motor bikes rather than cyclists.  Anyway, I soldiered courteously on along the towpath with no complaints at all, all the way to Piccadilly in Manchester, where work on the canal resulted in a diversion down Whitworth Street to rejoin the canal system in Castlefield.  Or did I simply lose my way – it has all gone a bit hazy!

As an aside (Jamie may be interested) the towpath between Castlefield and Altrincham is very easy – it would take about an hour to commute to town from Altrincham, which is about how long it used to take me by car, though the tram is somewhat quicker.

Conditions were relatively benign – cloudy, only occasionally hot and sunny (not good), light winds (why do they always seem to be headwinds?), not much rain, dry paths (apart from in the rain), minimal route finding difficulties (I got misplaced twice going around tunnels, and became confused at other times!), pleasant waterways lined with wild flowers and chirpy birds, etc, etc.  Not forgetting the thorns that delayed my progress for over thirty minutes just after lunch at the appropriately named ‘Fool’s Nook’.

I’d estimated a pace of about 8 mph.  That would have meant 13 hours 20 minutes.  I’m usually pretty conservative with such estimates, and I normally cycle at around 12 mph on our local towpaths.  In the event I probably spent that amount of time in the saddle.  It gave me a sore bum.  So it’s not surprising that after taking a few voluntary (lunch, chats with cruisers, walkers and other cyclists, etc) and involuntary (puncture repairs) stops, it took me just over 15 hours to complete the whole enterprise.

Still, I was back at home well before dark, and in time for dinner, with plenty of energy in my legs and no pain from my back and shoulders (I was worried about that).  The sore bum is now better and the only lasting after-effect is two numb fingers caused by frequent use of the very stiff gear change on the old bike.  You may think canal towpaths are flat, but this trip required a phenomenal amount of gear changing!

Later, I committed to the trip referred to in my opening sentence, by purchasing the tickets to get there.  Did I pass my self-imposed test?  I think so, Markus.

There’s more about the Cheshire Ring canal route here.

My pictorial journey (47 images) is here.

And here’s a map for those not interested in the pictures:

Tuesday 22 June 2010 – Whitbarrow East and Lord’s Seat

A beautiful summer’s evening drew us to this spot for the third time for our traditional mid-summer’s evening walk.  It used to feature Coniston Old Man, but old age and infirmity has seen us slump in recent years to lower heights.  Having said that, it’s five years since we last enjoyed this route.

Sue and I left home in plenty of time to reach the turn off shortly after Levens before 7pm.  We enjoyed a luxurious picnic as a squad of mountain bikers arrived, donned what can only really be described as suits of armour, then set off gently down the road.

As is normal this summer, we enjoyed an exclusive evening stroll, starting at Raven’s Lodge, from where the Lyth Valley was bathed in sunshine from the cool shade of our tree-lined path.

At Rawsons, we were spied upon eerily from a dark building.

These woods always seem to be bustling with activity at this time of day.  We watched a young badger rummaging in the undergrowth, whilst a woodpecker tapped furiously in a tree high above us.

It’s an excellent time of year for wild flowers, and we spotted what we think is an Early Marsh Orchid, flourishing in the damp ground.

After quite a while spent on pleasantly shady woodland paths on a warm evening, we emerged eventually onto sunlit Whitbarrow Scar, to see the posse of mountain bikers pass along our near horizon on their way to Lord’s Seat (all of which appear as small dots on the horizon below).

We don’t have any problem with these bikers, even if there may not be a legitimate bridleway across here.  There was nobody else around, the ground was firm, and there was no evidence at all of their passage.

They had moved on by the time Sue and I reached Lord’s Seat, where there’s a faded plaque in honour of Canon GAK Hervey (1893-1967), founder of the Lake District Naturalists Trust (this link is the closest I could get to what the Trust has now evolved into – but further research may reveal more).  There are stunning views across lakeland from here, with the Coniston hills prominent and the Langdales just a bit more distant.

Our traverse of the Scar continued amiably over the crusty limestone pavement, with views to nearby Arnside, fronted by its long railway viaduct and the Kent Estuary.

The sun was slowly dropping behind the mountain horizon, and we lingered at the cairn at 198 metres to appreciate the view.

Then it was a pleasant descent over limestone then through woodland to the huge bedding plane of the old quarry floor at White Scar.  We always think this would be a fine venue for an outdoor concert, but the local wildlife may disagree.

The walk is about 9 km, with 300 metres of ascent, and takes about 2.5 hours.  An excellent summer’s evening or afternoon (or even morning) stroll.

Some route details for this fine outing, prepared several years ago, are here.

Enjoy!

Lord’s Seat

Sue and I enjoyed a stroll up Whitbarrow last night. The image shows Sue atop Lord’s Seat, with the moon behind her and Arnside in the distance.

A fuller report will follow shortly.

Goats’ Cheese, A Canal, and A Blog

Or is it ‘Goat’s Cheese’?

See here for more!

Meanwhile, austerity on the canal has led to barges being forsaken in favour of a cheaper form of travel.

But it’s summer, and that means Lilo and Trish have been in touch for advice on their next Alpine trip (always a pleasurable task).

TGO Challengers may be familiar with this pair, whose world is now being broadcast here, if rather sparcely at present – perhaps they need some gentle encouragement by way of comments.

Thursday 17 June 2010 – Standedge to Crowden – Blue Skies on the Pennine Way

Gayle kindly provided the impetus for today’s little excursion.  We met her at 9.30 at Standedge and left her around 3 pm at Crowden, to return home whilst she continued towards Bleaklow to enjoy a wild camp by Torside Brook.

We chose a good day to join her on her FAT (Football Avoidance Trip), the weather being typical  for the UK in June – why would anyone wish to be elsewhere at this time of year?

At Black Moss Reservoir we chose an easy route across White Moss and Wessenden Head Moor, rather than the more undulating Pennine Way route.

New flagstones across White Moss are giving the previously heavily eroded moorland a chance to recover.  Gayle was puzzled by the vocal opposition she had heard to such flagged paths; but I’m convinced that the majority of us are in favour of properly constructed pathways across such moorland, enabling the eroded vegetation to recover.

The white bags on White Moss contain bundles of heather and seeds, to help with the regeneration of the natural moorland.

The short section across Wessenden Head Moor to join the Pennine Way before Black Hill is little used and would be very boggy in wet weather.  But with the current paucity of Pennine Rain, Sue and I found it quite easy to hop across any damp patches in our trail shoes, though Gayle got slight ingression due to wearing Flip8s (which she likes, but which do at all times attempt to act as sponges).

An anxious curlew wheeled around us.

We spotted this prone object beside the path, and realised the cause for concern, before hurrying on.

The summit of Black Hill was a sun trap today.

Norman, doing the Pennine Way on a B&B basis, but with a bigger rucksack than Gayle, kindly took this photo for us.

Gayle was astounded by how much the area, which used to be a 365 days a year quagmire, had recovered since her previous visit two years ago.  Her observations are here.

The sceptics would have us walking through deep bog in a 100 metre wide section of eroded moorland.  I like this newish path towards Dun Hill.

A long lunch stop in the sunshine followed, and then a buzzing helicopter dropped a team to attend to a lady with a twisted ankle.

As we descended past Laddow Rocks towards Crowden, numerous Mountain Rescue personnel rushed past, in various states of breathlessness.  We half expected a medic to be following them up in case they collapsed themselves.

A busy aircraft ‘motorway’ was in operation above us – obviously no volcanic ash problem today!

Eventually, at around 3pm, the path to Polly (our car) led down past the ice-cream haven called Crowden, whilst Gayle’s route to Glossop (she never did get there) headed off in the other direction.

So sadly our ways parted, but it had been an excellent little outing.

Gayle’s report is here, and her Black Hill observations are here.

Our 15 km route (see below), with 350 metres of ascent, took a leisurely 5.5 hours, though Mr Slowman Naismith would have cut nearly two hours of that time!

The full slideshow (29 images) is here.

Stalwart TGO Challenger Models 2011 Dress Code

Presumably TGO Control approves of this dress code, which should enable the Austrian Challenger, Markus, to feel more at home than usual in Scotland next year.  Though Markus had threatened to attend in a kilt.

This was brought to my attention by one of the early Challenge bloggers, who will no doubt be spending a couple of weeks next May chasing around Scotland looking for cheese and wine parties, as explained by another stalwart outdoors blogger in his 30 May 2010 posting.  [Having managed nine wild camps on this year’s Challenge without meeting a single other Challenger, I have to admit to being somewhat baffled by the latter posting.]

Thank you, everyone, and I hope you’ll forgive me for borrowing the image in order to convey this important news.

Saturday 12 June 2010 – A Trip to Dunham Massey

The House looked good, on a busy day at this National Trust property.

Sue and I enjoyed a 5 km stroll around the grounds and along the canal.  The ponds are full of Yellow Water Lily.

The fallow deer range in colours from white to very dark brown.

One stag was lying a few metres away from a family who had set up a badminton court.  He was studying them closely!

It was a lovely day for eating outdoors, but we had a commitment, so delayed the BBQ for a day.  No photos from that, as it was abandoned due to ‘inclement weather’!

Sods Law!

Mallorca – 29 May to 5 June 2010 – Casa (Villa) Galvany

Here’s a final posting for our recent trip to Mallorca.

There’s a full slide show (218 images) here.

Highlights (100 images) are here.

Images in and around Casa Galvany (27) are here.

Our trip was organised through James Villa Holidays.

It wasn’t a walking trip as such.  But earlier starts could have taken us to some higher parts of the island, where the temperatures would probably have been amenable.  It was pretty hot where we were near sea level.

We used a Cicerone guide and also a Discovery Walking Guide and map; this conveniently links in with the walks, which are numbered on the 1:40000 scale map.  I also found this Guide useful on a visit in November 2006.

It’s a lovely part of the world.

Thursday 10 June 2010 - A Great British Ridge Walk - Number 22 – Helvellyn by Striding Edge and descent via Swirral Edge

A planned (at very short notice) stravaig over Place Fell was foiled by a ‘steering rack that was leaking hydraulic fluid faster than that leaky oil rig in the Caribbean’. 

So, no Pie Man or Bruno today.

But I couldn’t let this stop me from enjoying a day in the hills, especially as I now have my own independent means of transport.  Just as well, as Sue was to enjoy her first taste of work for many months today.

Some folk I’d bumped into on this year’s TGO Challenge just happen to live by the start of a Great British Ridge Walk, which coincides with the start of the aborted stravaig.  Moreover, Marian was happy to join me for a day in the hills.

So after a leisurely coffee in Patterdale with Mike and Marian, the two of us set off along an exclusive route to Lanty’s Tarn and thence to the fellside above Miresbeck.

Bluebells seemed to be getting the better of a section of bracken steeped hillside, but for how much longer, I wondered?

The forecast had predicted that the low cloud would clear.  The ‘Place Fell’ plan would have seen us out of the cloud for longer than this back-up plan, as demonstrated by this last view to Glenridding and across Ullswater to Place Fell, before we entered the thin cloud.

It wasn’t unpleasant, though gloves and a windproof top were deployed for a while.  We traversed Striding Edge in a fairly purist manner, Marian being an accomplished climber, meeting and parting with a variety of folk who were avoiding the ‘airier’ sections.  Eventually a large party of schoolchildren, queuing to descend the final steep little chimney gully before the easy ascent to the summit of Helvellyn, briefly held us up.  We were happy to wait, but their attentive leaders insisted on us passing through.

Once on the summit plateau, we passed the Gough Memorial, erected in 1890 after both Walter Scott and Wordsworth had alluded to the death of Charles Gough in their poetry.  The memorial reads:

Beneath this spot were found in 1805
The remains of Charles Gough
Killed by a fall from the rocks 
His dog was still guarding the skeleton

Today the wind was light.  Nobody would fall.  A happy bunch munched in the mist at the trig point.

Marian and I didn’t attempt to locate the other memorials, one of which commemorates the first landing of an aircraft on a British mountain on 22 December 1926.  We headed down Swirral Edge and on to Catstycam, where we enjoyed Part Two of a lunch that had been commenced in a sheltered spot above Bleaberry Crag.

The route down the steep north west ridge of Catstycam seems to have become popularised since Marian last used it (I’d never been there before – I think), and a clear path ran most of the way down.  We paused for a while after emerging from the mist below a steep, slippery section above Kepple Cove Dam, abandoned in October 1927 after after a cloudburst caused it to burst, resulting in devastation to Greenburn lead mines and Glenridding.

 

After traversing a disused leat (an open watercourse conducting water to a mill, etc) to join the path from Red Tarn, we descended to Glenridding Beck, where a group of helmeted youngsters were in the beck, making their way up the gorge.

We found some Starry Saxifrage and Cuckoo Flower here, as well as this little cutie, who turned out to be a champion jumper.

The cloud never really cleared, despite the encouraging forecast, but Rake Cottages, on the Greenside Road, did seem to be basking in their own little private oasis of sunshine.  I’m sure they deserved it.

Near Lanty’s Tarn, Marian pointed out the small Round-leaved Sundew plants.  They were everywhere!

Well, not here, but I am probably standing on some Tormentil whilst posing for this photo with an Ullswater backdrop.

I’m glad that Marian could join me today.  We enjoyed a good chat – the opportunity for that eluded me for most of the TGO Challenge – spotted a few items of interest, and I would never have discovered her excellent routes between Patterdale and Lanty’s Tarn, returning down one of which we passed a rich collection of wild flowers and some exotic trees.  You’ll have to go to the short slide show to see them, if you’re interested…

Here’s an overview of today’s route.  Bill Birkett’s version starts from Glenridding, but the start and finish at Patterdale has lots to commend it.  It was about 16 km, with 1100 metres of ascent, and took 6.5 hours, though you could easily knock an hour of that timing.

We saw not so much bird life, but lots of wild flowers today, including:
Bluebells
Bugle
Buttercups
Butterwort
Cuckoo Flower
Greater Stitchwort
Herb Robert
Lousewort
Common Milkwort
Wavy Bittercress* (Cardamine flexuosa)
Round-leaved Sundew
Starry Saxifrage
Tormentil
Umbellifers - various, including Pignut* (Conopodium majus)
Wild Pansy
Wood Speedwell* (Veronica montana)

* = as subsequently confirmed by Marian.

Thursday 8 June 2006 – Dinas Fach and Newgale Sands, from Dinas Fawr

I didn’t get out much today, but I can offer this glimpse of a trip that topwalks.com’s archive simply refers to as ‘cloudless’. 

The whole week was cloudless.  We walked from Milford Haven to Trefin.

It was a busy time….trips, work, etc.

Must write it up sometime!

But for now I’m happy to recall that cloudless day from exactly four years ago, when six of us walked from Little Haven to Solva, via a long stop in the Duke of Edinburgh Inn at the end of Newgale Sands, where we sought refuge from the blistering heat. 

The UK coastline certainly takes some beating, especially in places like Pembroke and the South West Coast Path.

Monday 7 June 2010 - Back at Home

It’s not so bad though. The proud swans of Lymm have been busy in our absence, and the swifts arrived much earlier than they did last year – they’ve been living under the eaves of our house since mid May. This morning a large family of newly fledged great tits enjoyed a spell in the garden, where the flowers are blooming nicely.

Cúber Reservoir

Here we are at Cúber Reservoir on another hot, cloudless day.

Luckily we were up near 700 metres, so the heat wasn't as stifling as it would have been lower down.

The walk was only 3 km, with no ascent, so that made life easy.

Can anyone identify the peak in the background?

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A Trip to L'Havanor

The Pixies demanded an 'at home' day. So Sue and I disobeyed by heading off (the statutory 15 minute drive) along the Sóller road as far as Mortitx.

Today's 3 hour, 11 km stroll with about 350 metres ascent was along a good track with fine views.

Starting from the Mortitx vineyard, it soon crossed a stile to pass an allegedly dangerous cave system accessed through a locked door, before meandering through groves of ancient olive groves (pictured) with a Mediterranean backdrop.

The cloudless day may have been sultry at sea level, but up at heights of 300 to 500 metres it was very pleasant. As long as you didn't move too fast.

On the way to L'Havanor are two dams on the Torrent de Comes. The 'torrent' was scarcely a dribble today, though both the small reservoirs were reasonably full. The upper dam was being patrolled by a large blue dragonfly that was seeing off all other visitors from its personal feeding ground.

Beyond the dams the track undulated past a surprisingly flat ploughed field before reaching a fine viewpoint. We lingered there, well beyond the branch path that led down to the small L'Havanor house (Rifugi), absorbing the views before returning by the way we had arrived.

The countryside hereabouts is rough and rugged, but surprisingly green, with lots of spring flowers still in bloom. The sea was mirror-like today. Flat calm. It's an area where there's a breeding programme for rare Black Vultures, and that's what the ever closer black specks in the azure sky that were floating towards us near the end of our walk turned out to be.

Superb.

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The Bóquer Valley

Today we enjoyed another little escapade from the rigours of living in Casa Galvany, situated just below Puig de Maria, with its dovecote, budgie sanctuary, 'goldfish' pond, exotic pot plants, BBQ area, pool, pizza oven (not yet used) orange, lemon and fig trees and neighbouring horses, sheep and chickens.

This time our customary 15 minute (or less) drive took us to the pleasant resort of Port de Pollença. Our 'there and back' stroll comprised all of 6 km and less than 200 metres ascent. We headed up the Bóquer Valley, through a narrow defile to the broad 80 metre Coll del Moro, before descending to a small stony beach speckled with patches of tar and strewn with piles of flotsam.

However, the narrow bay (pictured beyond Hazel and Andrew) is unspoilt and in today's fine, hot, windless weather proved irresistable to Sue and Al, who retained more modesty than some of our European neighbours who had also found the prospect of a swim irresistable despite their lack of equipment.

The rest reserved their swimming energy until after lunch in the shallower waters of Puerto Pollença, whilst I replenished our supplies of Vino Collapso Rosé (aka Faustino V11 Rioja 2009) ready for later consumption by pool and BBQ.

It's a tough life!

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Parc Natural de S'Albufera

Apparently Pliny wrote about the Night Herons we saw here today being sent to Rome as a gastronomic delicacy.

These days it is such species as the Crested Coot (pictured - very similar to a common Coot, but with two red headlamps and a bluish beak) that are sent here from places like South America to set up breeding colonies in a bid to avoid extinction.

The wetlands were drained for agriculture in C19. What land was left has now been restored and turned into the Mediterranean's largest wetlands nature reserve.

Apart from the Night Herons and Crested Coots we saw quite a few of the remaining 301 different species to be found here. Presently there are numerous egrets and other herons, lots of ducks and grebes, many small waders, and small birds like the Sardinian Warbler.

Fish jump in the rivers and lakes. Ospreys and other birds of prey soar high above, no doubt awaiting suitable opportunities.

It's flat. We stayed at sea level today. For the heat...

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The Ascent of El Calvari

The Pixies counted 408 steps up Pollença's Via Crucis (pictured), a carved stone stairway lined by ancient cypress trees which ascends El Calvari (Calvary Hill) to the north of the town centre.

At the top some religious art from the Neanderthal Period surrounds a much revered C13 statue of Mare de Deu del Peu de la Creu (Mother of God at the Foot of the Cross) in a simple, courtyarded chapel.

Lunch at La Scalinata restaurant back down in one of the main squares seemed to take up most of the rest of the day...

The BBQ is warming up for a long evening.

The ascent data for this week's trip, if you hadn't noticed, has gone from 300 metres on day 1, to 200 metres on day 2, to about 100 metres today. Snorkeling equipment has been laid out by one member of the party in anticipation of the continuing trend.

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The Ascent of Puig de l'Aguila

Today's ambitious target was the 214 metre summit of 'Eagle Peak'. It's a short stroll from Cala Barques, in Cala de Sant Vicenç.

The walk up the gently graded and finely constructed old track passes an ammunition store tunnel which was good fun with the Pixies. It goes at least 30 metres into the mountain before opening into chambers with a short circular route between them.

Our little group is pictured close to the summit, which Sue and I then visited on a hot and blustery day before recommencing our determined bout of R + R.

Kate appears to have hidden her body behind Andrew so as to create the scary impression of a child with two heads.

Believe me, it's as scary as it looks!

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The Ascent of Puig de Maria

Here's the view from this ascent towards the market town of Pollença.

We are happily installed in Villa Galvany with Al, Hazel and the Pixies, from where this modest summit is just an hour's stroll.

After the intimacy of Pollença's Sunday market, Al and I enjoyed the quiet 300 metre ascent to the Santuari de la Mare de Deu des Puig, home to various religious houses from 1348 to 1988.

Nowadays, luckily, it's a bar-restaurant-refuge. We enjoyed a beer, chatted to the goats, tried to peer down to our villa (failed, it was too close) and explored the chapel and its magnificent refectory.

Then it was back to the villa to test its impressive barbecue.

All very relaxing...

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Raining in Timperley

But it's 25C at dusk after a sunny day here.

The wine is cooling.

Even the red wine.

The cheese is on its way.

Life is good. Let the R + R commence.

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TGO Challenge 2010 – Index and Links

I’m inserting this entry now, to be completed when I return from the next trip.  It will index all this year’s Challenge postings to make them more readable, and will include links to other blogs, slideshows, web pages, etc.

In the meantime, if you wish to view the entries chronologically you can click here, go to the oldest posting, and rather tediously scroll upwards for newer postings.

I’d like to thank those who have made kind comments on the rather hurried postings made as I tried to maximise my enjoyment of long days in the hills over the past couple of weeks.  They really are appreciated.  You are not the only readers – in addition to the thirty or so ‘followers’ the readership doubled from its normal 100 page loads a day over the duration of the Challenge. 

The photo was a self-timed effort taken from the summit of Beinn na Caillich, just after 7 am on Tuesday 18 May, featuring the Pap of Glencoe.