Two trigs walk above Littondale, N. Yorkshire, England

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For my third walk of the week, (after everyone had departed), I decided to walk up the valley to Foxup and Halton Gill, (you have to love those Yorkshire names!). Then it was up and along the moorland ‘ridge’ and back down to Litton. With sheep all around and lambs being born in the fields, I did wonder whether I might spot a birth in action and I was close… The rather large lamb in picture 9 had just arrived as the farmer was tending to it and encouraging the mother to bond as I approached.

Another highlight was spotting several lapwings near the single track, moorland road over to Settle. (See pic 12). This was swiftly followed by a flock of golden plovers. (Sorry about the bad pic, 13, but that’s as close as I could get, even with the zoom).

I’m not sure what it is about trig points, but whenever I see them on the map, I’m compelled to seek them out. In this case, the two in question were not on the marked paths, so I had to detour about 400 and 150 yards respectively to take their photos. (See pics 20 and 30).

The route along the top, for the most part, followed a drystone wall which seemed to go on forever. (See pic 27). Inevitably, it was wet and boggy in places, but I couldn’t quite fathom the purpose of the structure in picture 28. The ‘sausages’ were stuffed with what looked like wool and they were held down by metal spikes. There were maybe 10 of these, of various shapes and sizes, in the space of about half a mile and I’d be grateful if anyone has any suggestions as to what they might be for. I can only assume it’s to stop further erosion of the soil and to allow the various grasses and heather to regenerate.

Walk from Litton to Arncliffe, Yorkshire Dales, England

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Jude and I have just returned from a week in Littondale in the Yorkshire Dales. Saturday, April 13th was a special (70th) birthday for yours truly and we’d booked a large cottage for a families to come and stay. I’d invited several of my old golfing and running mates (and their wives of course) to help me celebrate and they booked into the pubs nearby.

With, not one, but two barrels of hand pulled real ales available and copious amounts of delicious food prepared by Jude, a great day was had by all. On the Sunday, to blow away the cobwebs, quite a few of us went for a stroll along the valley, initially down the (very quiet) road to Arncliffe, then back along the riverside to Litton. My brother, Steve’s dog, Loki, and our “puppy”, Tomos, (I still can’t believe he’s not even 10 months old yet) had a wonderful time.

Arkengarthdale Walk, taking in Fremington Edge, Yorkshire Dales, England

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How many people do you know who go on holiday and forget to take their camera? Nobody? Well, you do now! Silly Mike forgot to take his when Jude and I went to the Yorkshire Dales last week! We stayed in a rented cottage in a small hamlet called High Fremington, which is less than a mile from Reeth in Swaledale.

The weather was relatively kind and I managed to get out for two longish walks. Just behind the cottage there was a feature on the map called Fremington Edge (at around 1,500ft or 450m). It’s not particularly high, but it had to be done, as did the ‘reccy’ (or checking out) of a small village called Booze. (I kid you not!) Perhaps surprisingly, there is no pub in Booze (well, it is only a group of about 6 or 7 houses), but there were two along the route and two more in Reeth. Not that I visited them all on this walk of course!

My apologies for the quality of the images below, they were all taken on my (not so expensive) mobile phone, but I hope you still get a feel for the walk.  

Ceunant Cynfal (Gorge) Walk from Llan Ffestiniog, N. Wales

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It didn’t take me long to check out the route which I posted yesterday, (since it was only about a mile long), so I also went to look at another, slightly more varied route, just down the road at Llan Ffestiniog. I’d seen that there was a nature reserve and waterfall marked on the map, but I didn’t expect to come across a rainforest… As the information board describes, (see pics 8, 9 & 10), the ancient woodland in the gorge is of international importance, being home to over 150 mosses and liverworts and rare lesser horseshoe bats. I also discovered that the river eventually flows into the river Dwyryd which runs right past our house. 😊

Just a note regarding some of the Welsh/English naming in both the title above and image descriptions below… I often see signs written in Welsh and English, like Rhaeadr Cynfal Falls. Now you might think that the Falls are called the Rhaeadr Cynfal Falls, but no… They save a bit of repetition and ink by putting the two languages together, since, in Welsh, most times what it is, like a waterfall (or rhaeadr), comes before the actual name, like Cynfal. It’s actually Rhaeadr Cynfal (in Welsh) and Cynfal Falls (in English). It can get very confusing, so, I’ve tried to simplify things by using the Welsh where I can, like Ceunant Cynfal, but put the English translation in brackets (in this case, gorge) afterwards.  I hope it helps! 

The Dee Way, Part 2, Day 4 (of 5), Chester to Parkgate

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As I looked out of the window before setting off, on what was due to be the longest section of the whole route at 15 miles (or 24km), the rain was pouring down (as was forecast for most of the day). So I donned my waterproofs and set off… To my amazement, as I stepped out of the B&B door, it had stopped and it didn’t rain again all day! 👍👍

The initial part of the route left Chester via a section of the city walls and along the Shropshire Union Canal. It then meandered through Saughall before crossing the A494 and A550 and reaching the parish of Shotwick, where I had lunch on the ‘2000’ bench and took a small detour to see the church. (See pics 7 to 20). From there it went through the delightfully named village of Puddington and past some beautiful houses in Burton. (Check out the bus stop shelter in pic 22, which not only had a bench with cushions, but also books to read while you waited for the bus!) From then on the path hugged the east side of Dee estuary, where I noticed hundreds of sheep grazing on the marshland. (See pic 27).

The Dee Way, Part 2, Day 3 (of 5), Farndon to Chester

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Day 3 of my walk had the best weather forecast and the route pretty much hugged the river Dee, on one side then the other, all the way to Chester. For the most part the going was very easy, apart from one particular section, where the usual nettles and brambles made life difficult. (See pic 15).

After donning my waterproofs to get through, worse immediately followed, as there was absolutely no path to be found alongside the field, planted with 7ft high maize. (See pic 16). There was only one thing to do and that was walk between the first two rows. (Pic 17).

As I approached Chester, I was pleased to see that people were taking advantage of the, now much wider, smooth flowing river, some in canoes, some on paddleboards and others by boat.

I think I even spotted a Roman centurion in the Amphitheatre… 🤔

The Dee Way, Part 2, Day 2 (of 5), Bangor-on-Dee to Farndon

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Not only did I have to contend with quite a few overgrown paths, gates and stiles, (see several pics below) but things got even worse when I came across locked gates. (Pics 5 and 9 are two good examples). Add into that a bit of rain and knee length grass, soaking your boots, and you can maybe forgive me for taking the ‘easy’ option down the road sometimes. I think it made it slightly longer, but much more pleasant!

It’s not all bad news though… My accommodation in Bangor-on-Dee had been, almost literally, between two good pubs, serving real ale and it was much the same in Farndon, where one pub was opposite my B&B (though it was closed on Mondays) and the other about 50 yards down the road. A further 10 minute walk took me across a bridge into the village of Holt, where another 2 pubs awaited (again though one was closed on Mondays). Well, you have to keep hydrated! 🍺👍😊

Porthdinllaen Peninsular Walk, Morfa Nefyn, North Wales

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One of the beauties of being retired, is that when the weather is fine, you can go out and do ‘stuff’. But that does mean ‘stuff’ gets in the way of blogging… However, when it rains (as forecast for today and the next few days) it means you have a chance to catch up. So, my apologies to Jude’s mum, Angela, who came to visit a couple of weeks ago now. I know she always reads my posts and has probably been wondering whether she missed this series of photos.

We took a trip over to Morfa Nefyn to walk around the peninsular. The coastal path goes around several holes of the Morfa Nefyn 9 hole ‘Point’ or Blue golf course (and as such makes it quite tricky for golfers to play when there are lots of walkers milling around – not that there was anyone on the course while we were there). For any golfers out there, or anyway, check out these flyover videos – particularly the 1st and 4th holes. It’s quite a challenging course.

Anyway, I digress… No sooner had we arrived, I noticed several butterflies fluttering about the bushes at the edge of the car park. After 10 minutes of running up and down, I was particularly pleased to capture a Ringlet, as I don’t recall seeing one since arriving back in the UK. 😊👍

Isles of Scilly, Cornwall, England (Part 1 of 5)

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At the beginning of May, Jude and I went on holiday to the Scillies (or the Isles of Scilly to give them their full title). You can fly there by small plane or helicopter, but our preferred method was by boat from Penzance. The crossing is notorious for being a bit rough, to the extent that the ferry is often cancelled, but we were very fortunate, going both out and back, as the sea was perfectly calm.

The Scillies are made up of numerous small islands, (see detailed map pic 18) but only 5 of them are inhabited (6 if you include Gugh, when the sand bar linking it to St Agnes is cut off by the tide). We stayed in a pre-erected tent on a campsite at the beautifully named Troytown Farm, on St Agnes, but we managed to visit all of the other 4 main islands.

In this series I’ll be posting some pictures of St Agnes & Gugh, Tresco, the main island ‘hub’ of St Mary’s and, finally, St Martin’s. We did also go to Bryher, but the weather was so bad, I only have a few vague pictures of some coastline in the mist! (I’m told it is very nice there though!)

However, I thought I’d whet your appetites with a few pictures of our journey, which was made all the more comfortable by the luggage transfer system: After dropping off our 4 bags at the quayside in Penzance, suitably marked with yellow “St Agnes” stickers, they were loaded onto the Scillonian III. Upon arrival in St Mary’s they were transferred to the inter-island St Agnes boat before we all boarded and, as soon as we disembarked, it was taken by tractor and trailer to the side of our tent by the campsite owners. (See luggage transfer, pic 11). With no tent to pitch, nor mattresses to inflate and all cooking facilities provided, it was the perfect start to our 11 nights under canvas. 👍👍 😊