Autumn Colours at Dunham Massey

Sunday 28th September 2014 

Here's a couple of photos from this morning's trip to the wonderful gardens at Dunham Massey, showing that Autumn is now well and truly here!

An Afternoon Walk up Thack Moor

Friday 26th September 2014 

An afternoon walk in the North Pennines up England's shortest 2000ft peak 

Distance: 8km; Ascent: 390m; Dry, sunny and windy; Solo

See tracked route in new window

After my lunchtime walk up Cold Fell earlier, I drove around the western side of the Pennines to reach the village of Renwick, where I parked on the road near the church.  I set off walking again at around twenty past three this afternoon, and headed up the steep little minor road towards Outhwaite.

Trees on way up from Renwick

A few hundred metres up the road, where the road takes a sharp right, I continued straight on along a reasonable stony vehicle track heading straight for Thack Moor, with good views SE towards Melmerby Fell.  The track allowed me to reach an altitude of around 500m pretty quickly, where the track ended.  From here a faint path led onwards up the steep grassy slopes to reach the moorland ridge above.

Track heading for Thack Moor

Melmerby Fell from southern slopes of Thack Moor

At twenty past four, around an hour after I set off walking, I reached the the trigpoint on summit of Thack Moor (Nuttall), where it was quite cold and exposed to the still bitter wind.  I nipped over the wall to visit the true summit of the hill, which is an unmarked area of grass on the north side of the wall.

Thack Moor trigpoint

Grassy summit of Thack Moor

On this side of the wall I was able to shelter from the wind and hence stopped for a short break to admire the excellent expansive views out over the North Pennines and the Lake District, although the sky was pretty hazy in the direction of the latter so it was hard to pick much out.  I also spotted what looked like a wooden nesting box in the base of the wall, which seemed like a strange spot for it - I wondered what it was for?

Nesting box? on Thack Moor

Returning to the southern side of the wall, I headed SE along the wall with excellent views towards Watch Hill and Black Fell.  The ridge onwards over these moorland hills looked quite enticing this afternoon, but it would have to wait for another day as it was now late in the afternoon and I doubted there would be enough daylight to complete the circuit!  Plus I'd already arranged to give Andrew a lift from Penrith down to Stockport.

Black Fell from Thack Moor

Watch Hill & Black Hill

I followed a fence SSE down the slopes of Renwick Fell to pick up a wet and muddy footpath, which gradually improved as it headed SW back towards Renwick.  Around two kilometres after joining this path, I rejoined my outward route and retraced my steps back towards Renwick.  I arrived back at the car at around half past five, a little over two hours after I left it and headed for Penrith station to pick Andrew up.  It had been a pleasant day's walking in the North Pennines, and I now had only 12 English 2000ft peaks left to climb!

Black Fell

A Lunchtime Ascent of Cold Fell

Friday 26th September 2014 

A short circular walk up the most northerly 2000ft peak in the Pennines 

Distance: 9km; Ascent: 430m; Dry, sunny and windy; Solo

See tracked route in new window

I had booked the day off work today, with the intention of going out hill-walking so I was quite pleased to discover that the weather wasn't forecast to be too bad :-)  I therefore decided to return to the North Pennines for the day to climb another couple of my outstanding 2000ft peaks in that area.  This entailed a drive north up the M6, stopping at Tebay for coffee and a Cumberland sausage roll, to reach the RSPB's Geltsdale car park at Clesketts, from where I set off walking at around quarter to midday.

The track up through the bracken above Howgill Beck

It was warm and sunny as I headed along the vehicle track towards the hills, and I soon reached Howgill from where the ascent proper began.  A grassy track aided my progress up the bracken covered slopes of the NE side of the Howgill Beck valley, past the RSPB's Bruthwaite viewpoint and on towards the moorland above.

Ruined building above the Howgill Beck valley

The track became fainter and wetter as I ascended further, and soon I reached a broad col to the north of Cold Fell itself.  From here I headed up the slopes to the south, whilst trying to avoid the worst of the peat hags!  At 1pm I reached the the trigpoint on summit of Cold Fell (Nuttall, Marilyn), where it was lovely and sunny but quite cold in the biting wind.

Summit of Cold Fell

I stopped for lunch in the windshelter, whilst admiring the expansive views out over the northern Pennines, Northumberland and southern Scotland.  I could also make out the Lakeland Fells to the SW, but they were quite hazy in the September sunshine.

Currick on Tindale Fell

After ten or fifteen minutes on the summit, I decided that I'd better get a move on as I still had a second walk planned for today, up Thack Moor to the south of here.  To vary my route I decided to head to the prominent tall currick on Tindale Fell that's pretty much due north from Cold Fell.  From here I began to descend steeply northwards, with excellent views down to Tindale Tarn and on over Hadrian's Wall country.

Looking down to Tindale Tarn

Tindale Tarn from the northern slopes of Tindale Fell

After a steep descent, in places through tall grass and bracken, I reached the valley floor at a vehicle track junction near the SW corner of Tindale Tarn.  A short ascent NW along the track lead to Thorn and then back to the car at Clesketts, where I arrived shortly after half past two after a pleasant few hours walking.

A Week on Holiday in Northumberland

Saturday 23rd to Saturday 30th August 2014

Last week we had an excellent family holiday in northern Northumberland visiting beaches, coast, castles and hills.  Here are a few photos:

Bamburgh Castle

Bamburgh Castle

Inside Bamburgh Castle

Bamburgh Castle and some of the Farne Islands

Flodden Field

Some of the ramparts and walls in Berwick

More of the ramparts and walls in Berwick

Peacock butterfly in Cragside gardens

Cragside

The Cheviot from Ros Castle

Seahouses harbour

Lindisfarne Priory

Lindisfarne Castle

Lindisfarne Causeway

Bamburgh beach

Bamburgh beach

TGOC 2014 - Day 7: Newtonmore to Ruigh Aiteachain

Thursday 15th May 2014 

A shorter low level day in Badenoch, linking the high peaks of the Monadhliath Mountains and the Cairngorms 

Distance: 22.5km; Ascent: 450m; Dry, overcast and windy; Partly with Laura & Louise

See tracked route in new window

Today was meant to consist of a long low-level walk followed by an approach to a high camp at the north end of the ridge between Glen Feshie and Gleann Eanaich, with a further high camp planned tomorrow night somewhere in the vicinity of Beinn Bhrotain.  However the forecasted strong winds put pay to that plan, as I didn't fancy camping in high winds.  Therefore I switched to a mixture of my FWA and main route, with the intention of heading to Ruigh Aiteachain bothy today followed by a high-level route over to another valley camp in Glen Dee tomorrow.

This change in route meant that I now had a relatively easy low-level day ahead of me today to Ruigh Aiteachain in Glen Feshie, as there was little point trying to push on any further than there today since I planned to head up Mullach Clach a Bhlair tomorrow morning.  Therefore I had a leisurely first half of the morning in Newtonmore and sorted through my kit.  My micro spikes were waiting for me in Newtonmore and I decided to carry them through to Braemar as I'd heard that there was still plenty of snow up high (although in the end I didn't actually need them!).

Heading along the cycle path with views of the hills beyond Glen Feshie

Ali came to find me shortly before I left to see if I was heading to Ruigh Aiteachain today and if so could I please take Jamie's camera with me, which he had accidentally left behind in the hostel.  As I was indeed heading that way, I was happy to oblige; so after saying goodbye to David, Ali & Neil, I set off walking at around 10am.  My first stop was the post office, a short distance along the main street, to post a few things home.  Shortly afterwards I bumped into Chris and Tony again, so I chatted to them for a while before heading to the Coop to re-supply with food.  The tarmac cycle path provided pleasant enough off-road walking to Kingussie, where I stopped for a quick break in the Gynack Memorial Gardens.

Entering Kingussie

Gynack Memorial Gardens in Kingussie

Flowers and lichen in the woods near Ruthven

Around here I bumped into Laura & Louise, who were heading for the Cairngorm Club Footbridge today.  As this meant that we'd all be walking the same way for the next five or six kilometres, I decided to join them for the road walk to Ruthven Barracks followed by a pleasant wander along the first section of the Badenoch Way through the RSPB's Insh Marshes National Nature Reserve.  Even though this was longer than just following the road to Tromie Bridge, it made a very pleasant change from the road walking!

Ruthven Barracks

At Ruthven Barracks

Start of the Badenoch Way

Heading through the Insh Marshes Nature Reserve

The Insh Marshes

We passed a few other people out for a stroll as we followed the waymarked route through the woods to reach the River Tromie, with its impressive looking rapids, stopping on route for a spot of lunch.  Soon afterwards we reached Tromie Bridge, from where we headed up into Drumguish; this marked the parting of the ways as Laura & Louise continued straight on following the Badenoch Way, whilst I turned right and headed towards Glen Feshie, stopping for a second lunch quick break just before I entered the forest.

The Cairngorms from the Insh Marshes Nature Reserve

River Tromie near Tromie Bridge

River Tromie near Tromie Bridge

It was quite warm as I followed the tracks and paths through the woods, across footbridges and open country before entering the Glen Feshie woods.  Soon I reached the private road along the western edge of the glen, which I followed southwards for around a kilometre before stopping for a well earned break!  I dropped down to the river to cross by way of the bridge, where I found a fellow challenger camped on the east bank, who I stopped to chat with for a while.

Heading through the Inshriach Forest

Bridge over the Allt Mor

River Feshie ~500m south of Stonetoper

As it was now around 4pm and I still had phone signal, I quickly downloaded the updated MWIS forecast to help me decide on tomorrow's route - it looked a bit windy, but otherwise fine so my Munro bagging plan was probably going to be possible :-)  I continued southwards along a new looking path through the woods to reach a new looking land rover track, which led me all the way to Ruigh Aiteachain bothy.  This was slightly confusing as lots of these tracks seem to have appeared in the six years since I'd last been here on my first TGO Challenge back in 2008, which seemed a very long time ago now!

River Feshie near the confluence with the Allt Garbhlach

Makeshift Bridge over the Allt Garbhlach

Ruigh Aiteachain Bothy

I arrived at the bothy at around 5:30pm, and headed inside to find two or three challengers and a few other backpackers here for the night.  Peter and Jamie were amongst them, and Jamie was very happy to discover that I had brought his camera with me from Newtonmore today :-)  I stayed inside and chatted for a while before heading outside to look for somewhere to pitch.  About now Sue arrived after a long day in the hills between Glen Tromie and Glen Feshie; I chatted to her for a while and she decided to join me on my planned high-level route over to Glen Dee tomorrow - it would be nice to have some company for a change :-)

After pitching my tent on a pleasant spot near the river a couple of hundred metres away from the bothy, and cooking dinner, I headed back into the bothy to enjoy a wee dram whilst chatting to Jamie, Peter and a few other walkers.  I was quite surprised that there weren't many more challengers here this evening, as previously in 2008 I'm sure there were 10-15 of us on the Thursday evening - perhaps they had pushed on further up the glen?  Anyway, as tomorrow's walk would be quite long, with potentially 4 Munros to climb, I didn't stay up late and was soon heading back to my tent for a reasonably early night!