Wednesday, 12th May
An added bonus in terms of walking this week with a trip to Twickenham and the RFU National U18 Executive Meeting. I decided to take a slightly earlier train and walk from Kings Cross Station to Vauxhall where you can pick up a train to Twickenham. The walk came from the superb walkit.com website. I simply chose London as the city I was visiting, put in my start and finish points and it produced both a map and directions from me which I could print out.
The walk had three distinct sections to it. Firtsly it took me through a number of small gardens in the environs of Kings Cross - a real bonus. I wouldn't have known they were there without the route. This also took me past Dickens House, although sadly I didn't have time to visit the museum.
The second section drops you onto the Strand and all the hustle and bustle of a London lunchtime, though I suspect it is busy whatever the time of day.
Finally, you end up on the banks of the Thames crossing the river by Hungerford Bridge and then walking along the embankment past the London Eye before things finally get a little quieter approaching Vauxhall station itself. Having said that this was the day that the new Government was being formed and Millbank, Conservative Party Headquarters was pretty busy as people were being constantly ferried to Downing Street.
It's nice to have some contrast in your walking and an "urban ramble" was needed after 2 1/2 hours on a train and the knowledge that you would be doing the same in a few hours time.
A few photos here
Dallowgill
Saturday, 15th May
6.5 miles Map : Explorer 26 - Nidderdale
Dallowgill itself is not acutallyNidderdale but a few miles East towards Kirkby Malzeard. This is another walk for Jack Keighley and his "Walks in the Yorkshire Dales" published by Cicerone.
I've never heard of Dallowgill before taking this walk and it certainly is one of the quietest dales I have ever visited (although there were a fair number of people out walking). The walk starts from a quiet pull in just off the Pateley Bridge to Kirkby Malzeard road (GR 204723). The first part of the walk takes you through some lovely green paths and across becks. Really lovely in the spring sunshine. The route takes you down Belford Lane and then on to green lanes that wind down and across the bottom of the valley before emerging onto a back road.
The middle section is a fairly long uphill pull which ends up on the edge of Kirkby Malzeard Moor and the perfect place to sit down and have some lunch. This actually takes you past Carlesmoor which, like many of the "villages" on the map is just a collection of two or three houses. Whilst the weather was sunny there was a stiff breeze, so being able to find some shelter from it made lunch even more pleasant. The final section took me off to Greygarth Monument and then dropped down to Dallowgill itself and through Stang Brae which was reseplendent with thousands of bluebells and the attendant heady perfume. The final stiff climb brings you out at Dallow itself - yes just two or three house, before a final drop down and across the River Laver, nothing more than a stream really. Here you rejoin the road for the final half-mile back to the car.
Another great day out. Pictures available here
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