One of the things that I have found difficult this year is finding walking partners. Not living in a hilly area, getting the required experience inevitably means travelling some distance and staying over weekends. It is difficult to find people who have the time and inclination to do this as well as people you like enough to spend hours with.

During 2 of my earlier trips this year I had come across a retired ex fell runner and mountain leader who was happy to help me gain the necessary experience on my log if I was ever in his area. He lives in the Peak District and that area plus the Brecon Beacons are probably the nearest to visit from the South East. Having spent most of the summer and early autumn waiting in vain for one of my closest friends to find the time to come with me, and so losing precious walking opportunities, I decided to just make the most of November and if necessary walk alone. Walking alone is never a good idea in my opinion so I was delighted that the chap in the Peak District was free to walk with me on two weekends.

I sorted out routes and sent them to him on line. He came back with adjustments, especially where I had been over optimistic, and I set off for both weekends armed with definitive route plans.

I spent the first weekend camping in Edale. Although in a superb location, the campsite left a lot to be desired and I was glad of the home comforts of my camper van, especially during the long dark evenings.

The second weekend I spent in Castleton at an altogether more luxurious site.

Camping in November is not too bad. Armed with books, DVD’s, wine and pasta it is easily possible to while away the dark hours in readiness for an early start soon after the light appears.

I had hoped to encounter poor weather and visibility during these walks and so strengthen my navigating expertise but alas, we were blessed with warmth and sunshine on many of the days. The last day was foggy so at least I returned home for the winter months having had some experience of limited visibility.

Route 1. 5/11/11

Edale, Broadlee-Bank Tor, Upper Booth, Jacobs Ladder, Brown Knoll, Lords Seat, Tumulus, Mam Tor, Hollins Cross.

6 hours, 12 miles (lots of stops for navigational training)

Boggy underfoot, 2 climbs, 1 of which was hard.

Cloudy. 10 degrees. Windy on ridge.

Walk generally went according to plan but I needed to rely on compass work on some occasions where the path had been altered.

Route 2. 6/11/11.

Edale, The Nab, Nether Tor, Blackden Moor, Seal Edge, Kinder Gates, Kinder Downfall, Crowden Tower, Grindsbrook Clough, Grindsbrook Booth, Edale.

8 hours, 9 miles!!!! Terrain awful. Some deep bog and 1 horrendous descent at the end taking about 1 hour to descend 100m on loose rock. 2 challenging climbs, short cuts did not work out.

This was mentally very trying. It was one of those situations where your time contingency is well used up as is your food contingency. Even though you feel mentally drained and demoralised you have to keep going because the light is against you. Stopping and sulking is definitely not an option. This is what they call character building!

The one saving grace is that we had sunshine and blue sky all day.

Not one to repeat but as the t shirt says, “a bad day hiking is better than a good day working”

Route 3. 19/11/11

Edale, Rowland Cote, Jagger Clough, Crookstone Barn, Crookstone Hill, Crookstone Knoll, Druid’s Stone, Ollerbrooke Clough, Ollerbrooke Farm, Edale.

5 ¼ hours, 8 miles.

Terrain mixed. Hilly, some narrow, steepish and rocky descent but overall this was a reasonable days walk.

Bright blue sky and sunshine again!

Route 4. 20/11/11

South Side of Ladybower Reservoir (as in Dambusters), Crookhill Farm, Bridge End Pasture, Woodcock Coppice, Lockerbrooke Coppice, along edge of reservoir to start.

4 hours. No stops….need to travel home.

Fog for first half of walk. Some paths not clear so regular bearings taken. Those seemingly enormous rocks outlined in the fog turned out to be the biggest red bulls I’ve ever seen, but oh so placid. Needless to say, I did not fancy hanging around to either take pictures of them or re check the map!

Diane 05/01/12

My journey to the mountains has already thrown up one surprise and that is that I am not as keen on mountain biking as I thought I was and will probably stick at the Trail Leader level. Road biking has taken a bit of a back seat in recent years. Soon after my Paris trip in 2007 there were some big changes in my life and in that year I became the proud owner of a dog, now owner of two. Dog walking has pretty well taken up most of the time I used to spend cycling so I was really looking forward to this trip.

I chose to take a guided trip where there is full back up support and your luggage is transported to each overnight venue. I discovered a company specialising in such trips called “Saddle Skedaddle” and I had been impressed with my dealings with them when making enquiries regarding becoming a cycle leader so decided to join one of their trips.

I have passed through Northumberland many times on my way to Scotland but never explored it so I thought this would be a good time to do so.

My choice of dates was unfortunate as, with the exception of 2 ½ hours on Sunday morning, we had torrential rain the whole weekend. The night before leaving I lie awake in bed wondering why I had opted to travel so far and what was the point of going as the weather forecast was so bad. Little did I know what joys were in store for me!

Day 1.

The meeting place was in central Newcastle. We started out leaving the city along the very well thought out cycle track system along the banks of the Tyne. Treat number 1, ..what a very nice place Newcastle is. Well regenerated and very clean, people very friendly. We then headed north into rolling farmland. Later we headed up into the higher and wilder countryside skirting around the foot of the Simonside Hills and into the Coquet Valley. This is in the Northumberland National Park on the southern edge of the Cheviot hills. We finished up at the historic village of Otterburn, in the Rede valley, having completed 65 miles. We were utterly soaked and the Inn kindly put radiators in our rooms and allowed us to use their boiler room to dry our gear. Overnight our bikes were given the required tlc to prevent overnight chain rust.

Day 2.

Leaving Otterburn we initially headed south west through some wild open country heading towards Hadrian’s Wall and the Tyne valley. En route we passed through some lovely villages and had to contend with some hard (which the organisers call “cheeky”) climbs, including the famous Ryalls used on the Cyclone event. We eventually rode close to Hadrian’s Wall before heading back east towards Newcastle. 55 miles covered.

Treat number 2- we covered some lovely countryside which was about as populated as Northern France. Northumberland has a lot to offer and it is now firmly on my list of potential places to live. I definitely feel drawn to it for some reason.

Treat number 3- I struggled with this trip as others in the group were more accomplished cyclists than myself and it showed on the hills. However, the support and encouragement I received from the guides was fantastic. What a lovely organisation I had booked with. Definitely one on the list for potential work opportunities when I am a more capable cyclist.

Treat number 4- the weather was awful yet I came home feeling I had had a fantastic weekend. Why? Well apart from everything I have already mentioned I actually love road cycling. I think I prefer to do it in the summer whereas I prefer hillwalking in spring and autumn. That leaves winter for planning future trips whilst sitting by the fire unless of course I get lucky and go skiing!

Saddle Skedaddle guides surround me-in front, behind, right hand side together with some of the others on the trip.

Well it was time to try my own routes and be responsible for navigating my way around this area.

Planning the first route took me a while because I was determined to “do it by the book” estimating distances, time, adding time for ascents and working out escape routes. Anyway, I ended up with a properly completed route card which can go towards my walk log documentation when I do my course.

The walk was planned from Pencelli Castle camp site where we were staying. I had to take into account my walking partner who has a knee problem so the ascents could not be large.

The second walk was, in fact, from a walking guide, but it fitted well into our itinery. However, this time I was determined to use the map more than the words and of course use the compass where necessary.

Route 1. Pencelli Camp site, Bryn, Waun Rydd, Twyn Du, Aber Village, Pencelli.

11 ¼ miles, 630m ascent.

This was a very successful walk with me using map and compass and looking for landmarks properly rather than relying on others. It was not as bad as I had thought it would be. We pretty well followed the route and things went according to plan. There was just one point where we had to find a route on moorland and we did not manage to find it although with the help of the compass we followed the right direction and picked up the remainder of the route later on. I got a lot of practice of using the compass. It’s not easy to sort out the names of Welsh places so we invented nicknames. Waun Rydd , for example, became Wayne Rooney! The weather was a mixture of sunshine and showers but it was not cold. It is usually easier to walk in the summer when temperature and length of day work in your favour. This is a good time of year to try new things and be a bit more ambitious as you have time to make mistakes.

We arrived back in mid afternoon and had plenty of time to organise dinner and the following day.

I don’t know where that path was meant to be.

Route 2. Fan y Big (nicknamed Big Fanny) and Taf Fechan Forest.

8 miles. 754m ascent.

This walk turned out in a similar way to the previous day’s walk. We followed the route perfectly for most of the way, but again, at the furthermost point, failed to find a minor route away from Fan y Big.  I need to learn more about the actual landscape associated with minor routes on maps so that I can do better with this aspect of map reading. Then weather was again sunny with some big showers and it was quite windy on the ridge but we were well prepared with our clothing. We descended slowly due to my pal’s knees and the fact that I had strained my back at the camp site the previous evening.

All in all a good weekend’s work and I feel much more confident to take on my own routes in future. I think a little visit to Plas Y Brenin to hone my navigation skills further before the summer goes would not be a bad thing.

I love the waterfalls here.

Walk with Berkshire Walkers. Shiplake, Sonning, Binfield Heath and Harpsden Woods. 14 miles. Challenging.

This was a local walk set as challenging for its distance rather than the technicality of terrain. Once again it was a lovely day. Although the terrain was easy I did feel, after 14 miles, that I was ready to finish the walk.

It’s easy to be dismissive of walks close to home as we never appreciate what is on our doorstep. However, rural Berkshire/Oxfordshire has a lot to offer. Also, walking around throws up ideas of good places to live. Despite popular belief, you do not need to move to the back of beyond to find peace and tranquillity. It is nearer than we think if we take the trouble to find it.

We walked through some very pretty areas and of course, in May, bluebell woods are a sight to be seen.

The rapport of the group was good, as usual, and also many meaningful conversations took place. We had a scary moment when a field of horses decided they were interested in our lunch but by keeping still and not crunching crisps too loud, we managed to convince them that we were not of interest.

A lovely day out.

Diane 13/5/11

Here was my second away trip of the year in a lovely part of the country. I went with the Spice group and we stayed in the Glamara walking centre. The walks were organised for us and there was a choice of difficulty each day.

Due to my known weakness in climbing, I opted for the medium walks throughout. This turned out to be the right decision because I found all the walks about as difficult as I wanted them to be.

Easter Saturday. Walked 10 miles with 3,000 ft of ascent. Esk Pike.

This walk followed the harder walkers out past Borrowdale Yews and went upstream to the beautiful pack horse bridge crossing Grains Gill.  After a steep ascent up Seathwaite Fell we were rewarded with views out to the Helvellyn Dodds and down the Seathwaite Valley. The summit was Esk Pike with its craggy and colourful rocks, ascended via Esk Hause.

The weather was cloudy until midday with mist and fog and then it drizzled all afternoon. But that’s the thing with outdoor pursuits; you have to endure all weathers as long as it’s safe, so with waterproofs, you just get on with it.

On the way up we did a bit of scrambling. This is not something I have a particular interest in specialising in but I did find that despite my little legs, I was able to make the moves quite quickly.

Coming down a steep descent in the wet was challenging but the camaraderie was great. One memory that remains with me was when I was at the front of a group descending and came to a difficult part with a sheer drop if I got it wrong. I hesitated to think about the best place to place my foot, aware that others behind me were waiting. Soon an outstretched hand from the last person of the group in front was there to help me make that step safely….and that is what it is all about.

Some great photos were taken…..what a shame I accidentally deleted them.

Easter Sunday. Walked 9 miles with 1650ft of ascent. Kings Howe and Jopplety Howe

This walk commenced with a beautiful riverside stroll. However, before we got to the river we passed lots of sheep with their lambs. Such a beautiful sight which I always find moving. The riverside stroll brought us down to Grange. Next a steep shady climb, which boy did I find hard, lifted us up to the rugged heights of Kings Howe and its panoramic views. After that we went over to Jopplety Howe and onto the perfect hamlet of Watendlath and the wild and tranquil Dock Tarn. Laid in the heather here, you’d never know it was the busiest bank holiday of the year.

Once again the descent was challenging with a relentless series of steps which were all a bit too steep for my little legs but I still find it easier than climbing. The old knees are good to me.

It was a lovely sunny day with not a cloud in the sky.

Easter Monday. 6 miles with 1,000 ft ascent. Tarn at Leaves.

This was a shorter work scheduled to let everyone get on their way back home. Leaving the centre we had the opportunity to warm up along the lovely riverside path to the meeting of Greenup Gill and Langstrath Beck. The route then ascended the deep cut ravine of Little Stranger Gill to emerge on the deserted undulations of Rosthwaite Fell and on to Tarn at Leaves. After enjoying the tranquillity of the hidden tarn we began the steady descent back to the centre. On the way down I turned round to laugh at a joke made by the person behind me and …ooops my ankle went over. I immediately sat down to take the weight off my leg and the cry went out to the leader that someone had been injured. For a joke someone told the leader that I had fallen on my btm and he decided that for health and safety reasons he would have to examine it…..not on your life! I had only sat down to take the pressure off my ankle. I leapt back up and soldiered on home. We had a lot of mileage out of that mishap….all at my expense of course. Not a bad sprain…, sorted itself out in about a week but just goes to show why you should always walk in good boots.

Lovely weather again.

Conclusions.

This was a fabulous weekend helped enormously by the lovely weather for the time of year. Walking with guides takes you off the beaten tourist tracks which can be so congested in the Lakes. These weekends are very similar in style to chalet skiing holidays in the way they are organised. I looked at the lifestyle the guides had and the way they went about their work and thought, “yes, this is definitely what I want to do.”

What a shame I lost the early photos.

This was a 9 ½ mile walk from a book that I planned to do with a close friend of mine. I have to say it was not one of my major successes although the weather was great.

The easiest way to describe this is through the lessons learned. I hope you will see the funny side of my abject failures

Lesson one-if you are travelling for a day trip on any day other than Sunday you must leave early to allow time for traffic. Obvious, but I was too relaxed about the timing. You have to find the start point and think about parking , which , when you have a camper van, is not always straightforward.

Lesson two- written walks seem to be sometimes written by people in the area for people from the area. They are not always clear. We spent virtually an hour getting through the first few points because the walk wanted to send us round in circles. In hindsight it would have been better to have ignored the wording and just gone by the map.

Lesson three- always take a smaller scale map with you so you can see the context of the bit you are walking. Yours truly did not do this.

Lesson four- country walks are often much harder to navigate than mountain walks because of the absence of obvious features. One field looks like another. Sometimes you lose count of how many fields you have crossed and when the instructions say “cross the stile in the corner” which exact corner do they, mean? I do find it incredible that such general terms are used for describing a route-how about some specifics such as maybe north, south, east, west, left, right etc?

Lesson five- Sometimes roads are hidden from view. We reached a place where we were supposed to cross a tarmac track. For tarmac track read “road.” We could not see it but then suddenly in the stillness we heard a car passing beneath us. We were in an elevated field and the vegetation obscured what we needed to see.

Lesson six- Don’t lose your nerve after continuous setbacks and go for the road back. We did this, also because we were running later and later. The road was busy, noisy and dangerous and I suspect if I had had more confidence we could have eventually got back just by reading the map and almost abandoning the words.

When we got back we had a well earned cup of tea in the camper van and excessed on yum yums! Its good to get lost with a good friend because with a partner a domestic might ensue!

The conclusion I have come to is that it is time to abandon the written walks and create my own. The maps are in the bookcase, I have the Ordnance Survey online mapping service to use, so here goes. Constructing walks will, I’m sure, be fascinating but only to be done in the evenings or when its raining.

Diane 13/05/11