Pennine Way - Day 14

I think I must have forgotten that I didn't make it as far as Bellingham, when I ended up having a very relaxed start to the day at the campsite. This meant I didn't actually start walking until 9:30!

Anyway, once I'd actually started walking it was dry and occasionally sunny for the first couple of hours. After that light rain set in for the rest of the day; so much for the sunny day that had been forecast!
It took somewhat longer than expected to reach Bellingham, where I arrived at 1ish to have lunch by the North Tyne. Over lunch I made the mistake of looking at my guidebook, which claimed that it would take a further 7 1/4 to 9 hours to reach Byrness!

The afternoon was spent walking across boggy moorland in the rain and, at times, I wasn't feeling particularly motivated. By early evening, I finally reached the forest roads. I followed them all the way to the campsite in Byrness, where I arrived 6 3/4 hours after leaving Bellingham; clearly I must walk quicker than the guidebook writers!

A sign at reception states that I won't be entitled to a refund due to bad weather or midges. Luckily neither of them seem to cause me any problems as I eat dinner and enjoy a wee dram from my pitch by a small stream.

Position: llz=55.30501,-2.34993

Pennine Way - Day 13

It was a late start this morning from Greenhead at 11 as I had travelled there from home this morning.

The walking along Hadrian's Wall was excellent, although very busy in places. It was very blustery all day and during the afternoon the cloud cleared and it was uninterupted sunshine for the rest of the day.
After leaving the wall, I didn't see anyone else until reaching Stonehaugh; clearly this isn't a popular section of the Pennine Way!

The campsite in Stonehaugh is good, and the hot water in the toilet block is heated using wind & solar power. Now tucking in to lovely meal of dehydrated pasta and sauce.

Position: llz=55.08146,-2.32461

On the way to Greenhead

I'm off backpacking again this weekend and my plans are to finish the Pennine Way. I reached Greenhead at the start of last month after 3 snowy days of walking.

I'm currently looking at the sunny Lakes and Howgills and wondering how much longer this nice weather is going to last!

Position: llz=54.49358,-2.67031

Brecon Beacons Day 2

We woke early party due to the heavy rain and partly due to it being quite cold in the bothy.  However due to the rain being quite heavy, we opted for a leisurely morning and didn't actually leave the bothy until about 10:30ish.

We headed up the slopes to the west of the bothy, with the snow being thigh deep in places and just a dusting elsewhere!  The first hill of the day, Garreg Las, was a short detour to the SW but as it was below the cloudbase we did get some excellent views from it's summit, which has two large ancient cairns.

After returning to the bwlch, there was a bit of ascent up to the top of Waun Lefrith.  We then walked east along the escarpment to Picws Du, enjoying good views down to Llyn y Fan Fach :)

Unfortuantly, the cloudbase now dropped and it became windier and started to snow lightly.  We continuted east to climb the two tops of Fan Brycheiniog in the cloud.  Descending south to Bwlch Giedd was in near white out conditions so some map & compass work was required to confirm that we were heading in the right direction.

We then had a short climb up to our final hill of the day, Fan Hir, from where we glimpsed occasional views of the valley below through gaps in the cloud.

On the descent to Glyntawe, the weather improved and we could make out the first hill for tomorrow.  We stayed at the campsite in Glyntawe, where we had no troubles pitching our new tents before heading to the pub for some Hobgoblin :)

Brecon Beacons Day 1

After driving south through mid Wales in heavy rain it was a relief to discover that the sun was shinning when we finally set off into the Carmarthan Fan in the early afternoon.  The views were excellent for the 3 hour stroll up to Llyn y Fan Fach, where we intended to camp for the evening.  

As we approached the lake, the wind seemed to get stronger and stronger and was gusting from unpredictable directions, which made Ben & I slightly nervous as we both had new tents that we had barely used before this weekend.  So it was somewhat of a relief to find a bothy at the outflow of the lake, where we decided to spend the night.

A Snowy Day on Kinder

Distance: ?km, Ascent: ?m

Edale was crisp and white when I arrived by train in the late morning. Colin soon arrived by car and we headed up Grindsbrook Clough. A dozen or so skiers and snowboarders were enjoying the snow on the slopes above the village.

There were some impressive icicles at various points and as the ground steepened it became icier; hence crampons were donned. Once up on the plateau we were exposed to the full force of the wind and by now almost in a whiteout.

We headed south towards Edale cross and then down Jacob's Ladder, where it became significantly more sheltered. The path was still quite icy so we stuck with crampons until we reached the road at Upper Booth.

It started to snow again as we walked along the road back to the car. I opted to get a lift to Sheffield with Colin rather that wait in the cold for over an hour for the next train. The journey was interesting in places, but as we descended towards Sheffield the snow gradually turned to rain and we reached the station safely.

Written up in September 2010 from memories and photos

Kentmere Horseshoe

Distance: ?km, Ascent: ?m, with Lynsey, Adam & Laura

We met Adam & Laura in Staveley, and travelled on to Kentmere in one car because of the limited parking.  We walked the horseshoe in a clockwise direction, starting with Yoke.

Written up in January 2011 from memories