One Small Step

04/01/15

Walks this week : 11.68 miles

Total this month : 11.68 miles

Total this Year : 11.68 miles

Well, we're on our way .......  only 988 miles to go to reach our target of 1000 miles in 2015. The stats at the top may look pathetic at the moment (the graph that I've drawn certainly does) but we've made a start. I have to say that both walks this week were absolutely stunning with bright blue skies on both occasions and reasonable temperatures given the time of year.

02/01/15 - South Stainley and Burton Leonard - 4.35 miles

Thanks go the the Walking Englishman (a superb site by the way) for this route.

The walk starts in South Stainley, just off the A61, not far from Ripon. Parking is available next to the village church where a honesty box operates. In fact when we finished the walk a gentleman appeared to empty the box and, whether it is a very popular spot, or whether it is not emptied regularly it certainly seems to be a money-spinner !!
From beside the church a well signposted footpath runs through fields eventually giving way to a track by more cultivated ground. Unfortunately, this is where we strayed from the published track ending up on Limekiln Lane, rather than going through Jackson's Wood as anticipated. However, we quickly consulted the map and ended up in Burton Leonard as expected.

The "return" journey is easily navigated as it follows roadways and tracks to return you to the starting point.

04/01/15 - Baildon - 7.33 miles.

Not the walk we had actually planned as the day was extremely frosty and driving would have been difficult. This walk, therefore, had the benefit of starting and finishing from home with the addition of bright blue, cloudless skies.

I have done this route before (albeit with a slightly different start/end point) and the best starting point is from the car park next to the Rugby Club. The route goes past the end of the pitches and then drops directly down the side of the valley until stepping stones are encountered crossing Hawksworth Spring. Thankfully, it had been frosty (!!) otherwise the footpath that runs alongside the spring would have been almost too muddy to navigate. Again, the route is faily easy to follow and eventually emerges on to the main road at Low Spring.

 

After a scary few yards (it is a very busy road) you escape up Sconce Lane and, once again the route is easy to follow along a series of tracks that skirt Baildon Moor before hitting the main road by a cattle grid.  Here, once again, it is straight forward  as the path follows Glen Lane until it ends at the top of Shipley Glen Tramway. 

Here our route took us along the pathway that eventually drops down to Baildon Green, but you could continue along the path, or cut through at various points on to West Lane which leads back to the centre of Baildon.

A New Year ---- A New Start !!

After pathetically failing to keep this blog up to date during 2014, I am hoping that 2015 will see me with a new resolve to ensure that I keep things up to date.
One thing that IS going to happen is that Gill and I are determined that we will complete the 1000 mile challenge. More details to follow but we hope to set up a charity page so that people can donate to DiabetesUK if we manage to get anywhere near the required mileage per. week/month/year.

Check back in a couple of weeks; once we've got started !!

Buttermere and Loweswater

BUTTERMERE & LOWESWATER
Saturday/Sunday 15th Feb 2014
Saturday - 7.17 km (4.46 miles) - 1hr 49 min
Sunday - 6.3 Km (3.91 miles) - 1hr 37 min

To mark the occasion of my brother-in-laws 60th birthday a group of us met in the Lake District to both celebrate Roy's birthday but also to re-create two walks we did 10 years ago when he was (obviously) 50!

Saturday's walk was a simple circumnavigation of Buttermere.  The main drama of the event was actually getting there.  What was rain as we drove past Keswick soon turned the thick snow as we ascended over Whilatter Pass. In fact our daughter, who was some 20 minutes behind us was forced to turn around and find a lower level route to the meeting point at the Bridge Inn, Buttermere (GR : NY 174 169).
The walk itself is very straightforward and well marked.  From the pub you walk down towards the lake and follow the very clear path across the top of the lake and then through Burtness Woods (an area where red squirrels are pre-dominant, although none were about at this time of the year). Whilst the conditions may not have been conducive to driving they certainly enhanced the scenery with all the mountain tops covered with a dusting of snow.
At the bottom end of the lake the path is, again, very well marked and well trodden in this weather and leads across to the road before turning and heading back towards Buttermere itself and descending onto the lake shore for the return and a very welcome drink in the warmth of the Bridge Inn.
Sunday
Thanks go to the Coffee Kitchen in Cockermouth who provided us with a superb buffet on Saturday evening and allowed some party members to furnish Roy with birthday presents. After a good night's sleep we all met up at Loweswater on the Sunday morning for another short walk and the traditional (??) pub lunch.

There is plenty of roadside parking at Waterend (GR : NY 118 225), although on a bright Sunday morning at the beginning of half term it was at a premium.  Once again this is a simple, straightforward route with pathways clearly visible and marked. Once again, the scenery was superb and just what was needed to clear the head after the previous evening. It is worth noting that the return leg has to be completed on the road. There are a couple of stretches where you can, if you wish, descend to the lake shore but in the current conditions staying on the road is the best bet.

Some photographs of the weekend are available from the link.

Postscript
I realise that it is a long time since I updated this blog.  2013 was an interesting year with redundancy, retirement, selling a house, buying a house, becoming grandparents -- as you can see it was rather busy !!  Hopefully, 2014 will be a little less hectic, although looking at my diary that doesn't seem to be the case at the moment - we have two weddings to attend, one of which is my daughter's, the other in Spain.  We also have a number of trips planned, including a week in Italy in the not too distant future. Hopefully, I can become a bit more disciplined and keep this blog up to date when we do get the chance to go walking!!

Nocton to Heighington

Sunday, 6th January 2013
14.6km (9 miles) - 3hrs.

A misty day in Lincolnshire !!  I know that most people are expecting a walk in the Yorkshire Dales and surrounds but my daughter and husband have just moved into the village of Heighington, just outside Lincoln and, as we were visiting we planned and did this liner route which started in the village of Nocton and ended back at their house.  Well done to both of them for walking this distance (they're not normally walkers) and well done to Gill who hasn't been too well over the festive season but was glad to get back to walking.

As I said this was a misty walk - at one point we thought the sun might break through but, instead, the mist actually got worse as we progressed.  Sadly, this didn't make for spectacular views and even less spectacular photography.

Anyway, the walk (as stated) began in Nocton (GR : TF057643) and soon picked up a green lane (GR TF058641) which headed away from the village towards Dunston, another of the small villages that seem to dot the countryside around Lincoln. The path (although I describe it as a green path) was actually partly metalled, so it was easy going.

At the end of the path we turned left past the village school and took the next left into a cul-de-sac with an easily spotted footpath sign at the end (GR TF065632). Here we met the worst of the recent weather as we had to cross the world's wettest field (well, paddy fields excepted !).Thankfully, the field wasn't that large and we soon met the appropriately named Green Lane (GR TF076637). A straightforward dog-leg brought us out at the wonderfully named Wasps Nest (GR TF080647).

A short  stretch of road brought us to the edge of a dyke and another wonderfully named wood called Bottom Barff (I must begin to look up some of these Lincolnshire phrases !) .  The end of this stretch joined up with another green lane before we skirted Burnt Wood and Potterhanworth Wood along the top of Car Dyke.  Eventually this brought us out a Potterhanworth Booths (GR TF074679) alongside the sadly closed Plough Inn.

Unfortunately, the next couple of kilometres were along a quite busy road but we soon turned off the main road at Branston Booths (GR TF061691).  The final stretch was along small country lanes turning down Brinkle Spring Lane and back in Heighington. 

A nice walk - but no hills of course !!  We have decided that we will go around the area later in the year when we can actually see further than 200 metres in front of us.  A selection of photographs are available from this link  

Thames Walk

Saturday, 10th November
7.46 Km (4 1/2 Miles) - 1hr 26m

 

So, the rugby season is upon us and, more importantly the QBE Autumn Internationals means that for four weekends I will be spending the weekend at Twickenham.  One of the problems (!) with these weekends is how to fill the void between breakfast and lunch !  Thankfully, walkit.com provided this walk at some point during the last season. Sadly I didn't record the walk then but am happy to share it now.

Luckily, we are able to stay in the Marriott Hotel which is part of the South Stand  at Twickenham so this is where the walk starts from.  The route is quite straightforward and mixes the urban with the river Thames

 and some rural views both down and across the river.  Start by going up the road, past the East Stand to the roundabout next to the Tesco supermarket.  Continue along Mogden Lane until you reach a main road.  Cross this to pick up Northcote Avenue until, once more a major road is encountered. Again, you cross this road and take a slight right to dogleg down another road (sorry, I've forgotten the name).  This street is followed until, almost by magic, the river appears next to Richmond footbridge.

From this point onwards the route is pretty straightforward as the path sticks close to the river, although it is at one point hidden from view behind houseboats.  The only difficult stretch is where the route crosses Richmond Road.  Here you need to pick up Cambridge Road before veering sharp left to pick up the river path once more.

At this point the vistas open out to reveal Ham Hill on the far side of the river and shortly afterwards Marble Hill House on the path side of the river. Not much further on the route diverts away from the river before emerging at a seating area next to the river at Twickenham itself.  Here we turn away from the river to the very busy Twickenham town centre and wander up to the Station where the stadium, and the walk end, comes into view.

This is a nice walk, and just the right length to "waste" an hour or so away from rugby!  I was lucky on the day that I walked as it had been raining quite heavily earlier in the day.  However, I was able to complete the walk without getting wet.   Some photographs of the walk give a flavour of the surroundings ! 

Oh ! and for the record England beat Fiji in the international that followed !

Calder & Hebble Canal

Sunday, 4th November 2012
6 miles (9.78 km) - 2hrs 15min
MAP : OL21 South Pennines

A dry but very cold day.  When I left home the temperature stayed a 0c and the fog was thick and cloying. However, the mist did lift slightly by the time I got to the starting point, as did the temperature.
This walk was taken from Country Walking Magazine and downloaded from their companion website Trailzilla. I have to say that finding walks/activities on Trailzilla is not the easiest, or most intuitive but at least once found the GPS downloads are first rate.
The most difficult part of this walk was finding the start position (GR SE 095223) since the car park is not well marked. However, I did find it and immediately started walking in the wrong direction !!  I put it down to the slightly confusing directions, I'm sure the author would disagree !  Anyway, thanks to some helpful cyclists I eventually got myself on the right tracks and have to say that the rest of the walk is simplicity itself. Put simply, once on the towpath, stay on the towpath !!

The colours at this time of the year were spectacular and the walking easy and flat.  I was quite surprised at how many people, both walkers and cyclists, there were out and about on what was a bitterly cold morning. It is good to see that many more people these days take the opportunity to get outdoors.

As I say the route is straightforward, along the towpath until you encounter Sowerby Bridge marina (opposite  GR SE065236) where quite a few canal boats are moored. Just past the marina you cross the canal and double back upon yourself until meeting the Navigation Inn (GR SE067237).  Here you leave the canal and cross the bridge to a road that leads through some pretty ugly industrial estates until the River Calder is encountered (GR SE070236) and you escape the industrialisation for a path running alongside the river. 
One of the features of this first part of the walk is the proximity of houses and roads which, whilst close do not intrude on the walk itself.  The second part of the walk escapes into a more rural aspect, although the views remind you of where you actually are.
After following the river the route then cuts off and under a railway bridge (Hollas Bridge GR SE076231). Here I picked my one and only cache of the day, nicely hidden by a fence post close to the bridge. From the bridge the route then cuts quite sharply uphill giving some good views down and across the valley to the Wainhouse Tower, a famous folly that dominates the skyline. Sadly, the mist was still hanging around and I'm sure the photographs don't do the views justice.  After climbing the side of the valley you then descend sharply ending up alongside Old Rishworthians Rugby Club (GR SE084223).  A short stride takes you back under the railway bridge to rejoin the canal and back to the start point.
A I mentioned the walk started in thick, freezing fog but I'm glad to say it had lifted slightly by the end of the walk.  Most spectacular at this time of the year were the autumn colours and the fact that the walk leads through some fairly built up areas which are unobstrusive and do not spoil the walk at all.
Well,  I'm off to Twickenham during the next month.  I may get some walking done prior to the matches kicking off and will try and post some of them up here.