Join me in my adventures over the hills, fells and mountains of the North West of England

Shrunk Expand

  • Category Archives The Training Regime

  • Return to the Yorkshire three peaks

    Posted on 9th June 2015 10:05 am by Mark Wild

    The walk of Saturday June 6th, 2015

    The Three Peaks of Yorkshire

    Let’s start from the beginning, if I have to be conventional for once! Two people are to blame here, for my six-years fixation with wanting to walk “The Three Peaks of Yorkshire”. So take a step forward David Arthur Hill who first got me interested in the names, Pen-y-Ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough, way back in the 1990s on one of our trips up to Darwen Hill. Also, take a step forward author Jack Keighley who managed to make walking up Pen-y-Ghent and Whernside look so easy in his Walks in Ribble Country that when I bought the book in 2009, I was immediately hooked.

    In 2009 when I was on my first flush of going for walks in the country, it was Christine (ha!) who, having observed me reading the said book, over and over again, calmly announced, “Well, let’s do Pen-y-Ghent then”. I didn’t give her the chance to change her mind and within the week we’d nailed the first of the three. At the time I was not exactly sold on the idea of doing all three on the same walk. It just seemed an impossible task to me. However, once at the top of Pen-y-Ghent that summer afternoon in June 2009, I saw for myself the sense of bonding between co-walkers (even co-workers) and was more than a bit intrigued. This only intensified on our next visit to the area when we successfully navigated the mist at Ingleborough. On our way back to the car I was transfixed by the long string of Three Peakers en route to this last of the three, they all seemed happy, I liked this, a lot.

    And so it was finally to Whernside, two months after our ascent of Ingleborough. There was no doubt about it, we’d picked the hardest route – from Chapel-le-dale, the route is festooned with false summits, multiple types of walking surfaces and oh yes…it’s phenomenally steep and somewhat relentless. On a conventional three peaks course, this is part of the descent, going up would be a killer. At the top of Whernside on our day, were countless three peaks challengers all having a breather before the steep drop down and on to Ingleborough. I was well and trully snared now. The following Monday at work I began to ask around, ‘Who’d like to give it a go?’

    Initial response was positive, ultimately nine of us would sign up to do the walk – in aid of Mountain Rescue (bets well and truly hedged) eight members of staff and one husband. We agreed on a date Saturday May 29th. The day came and so did the rain. I had done a number of local practice walks, around Southport, Winter Hill and a couple of Pendle Hill excursions. This counted for nothing. Pen-y-Ghent completely knocked me out, I had not trained anywhere near hard enough and although I made it all the way up the mountain and through the horrid bogs en route to Ribblehead, it was at the Station inn and Ribblehead where I had my reality check and gave up, vowing to do it again in the future.

    Pen - y - Ghent...and someone getting changed.

    Pen – y – Ghent…and someone getting changed.

    The photo that started it all off, with the Ribblehead viaduct behind me, last year in March

    The photo that started it all off, with the Ribblehead viaduct behind me, last year in March

    That ‘future’ was all set to happen in the summer of 2014, but following a sleepless night whilst on holiday in Benalmádena, I decided to cancel my booking and to get in shape before even setting a date. I started to see a Dietician who introduced me to the concept of low carbohydrates as a lifestyle instead of a ‘diet’. After losing 4.5 kilograms in the first week I decided to keep as closely as possible to this newer way of food watching and after a few months factored in regular gym visits. Added to this, walks up some truly huge mountains: Scafell Pike, Scafell, Helvellyn, Skiddaw, Cross Fell and Great Gable and the usual two of Winter Hill and Pendle Hill, have without doubt, made a massive difference and I am now at least two stones lighter than I was at this time last year.Thus, when I posted a photo taken of me (with Whernside in the background), on Facebook a conversation regarding the area turned into ours (mine and Mark Carson’s) 2015 Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge! Yes, I know, it took as long to get to this point in the post as it does to get up Ingleborough! A group of four of us had arranged to meet at the Penyghent Café in Horton in Ribblesdale at 07:00 on Saturday 6th June. I even hired a car as I didn’t want to be full of foreboding anticipation of our car (the wheel balancing of which needs fixing), making the journey or not! Peter had warned that he may not make the day because of injury, sadly this was to become true and his very Yorkshire presence was missed on the day.

     

    My co-walkers, Linzi and Mark at the trig point on Pen - y - ghent

    My co-walkers, Linzi and Mark at the trig point on Pen – y – ghent

    Fellow co-walkers Linzi and Mark.

    Fellow co-walkers Linzi and Mark.

    Linzi and Mark however, did arrive and we eventually left the café site at around 07:05. Linzi posted a note through the café’s door containing our start time. The gentle amble around to Brackenbottom, was soon replaced by the horrendous slog up the side of the moor. There are a couple of scramble sections to break up the seemingly endless slog. In all honesty, when I did this walk at a much slower pace with Chris in 2009, I got more out of it. Your Y3P day is not a day for taking photographs or admiring the scenery. We had set off at a blistering pace and I could hardly believe my eyes when at the joining of the Three Peaks and Pennine Way paths I glanced at my watch and saw that so far it had not yet been an hour since we left the café! After some more steep scrambling and the gradual run-in to the top, we were at the ordnance survey column. I checked the watch – it read 08:19 – roughly one hour and fourteen minutes to reach the top of Pen-y-Ghent, fantastic. There was a factor that I have thus far forgotten to include – the wind. The wind on Saturday was impressively irritating! There would be few precious, silent moments when the wind was not howling away.

     

     

    Behold the beast that is Whernside!

    Behold the beast that is Whernside!

    The highest point of Yorkshire...in Cumbria!

    The highest point of Yorkshire…in Cumbria!

    All three peaks candidates are fully aware that it is on the downhill sections of the route where time can be made up. Alas, with the wind hitting us from the left, this effectively slowed down the dropping of Pen-y-Ghent. I’d already made the call that we would be taking the newer, less organic and drier route over Whitber Hill as opposed to the old wet one over Horton Moor. Actually, I don’t even remember seeing the turning for the older route – it was no great loss. Even a little lump of a hill such as the 420 metre Whitber Hill, can take its’ toll, and ascending a hill that is only slightly higher than Great Hill was still something of a trudge after the mountain we had just ascended, but we did it and for quite some time the terrain got easier to traverse and the views were delivered to us. My Three Peaks DVD manages to make the route from Pen-y-Ghent to Ribblehead look like a complex series of twists and turns. We were fortunate in that this was a busy Saturday with many walkers to follow. Navigation was simply not an issue other than a case of ‘follow the throng’. I had been looking out for the Ribblehead Viaduct as a landmark, but, had failed to recognise it! What I had wrongly believed was ‘just a bridge’ was in fact the afore mentioned viaduct – we were now in sight of the end of the second section (the top of Pen-y-Ghent being the first section’s end). No Three Peaks walker will ever admit this, okay, I just broke that rule – the part of the entire walk which is the easiest and most comfortable to walk is: the stretch of road from Ingram Lodge to Ribblehead. Progress is swift, the terrain is quite level and as long as the people in front of you don’t keep stopping to talk to each other, then it’s all good. Better still was the fact that we had now arrived at road’s end. We sat and had something to eat – Millionaire’s shortbread which did give me a little bit of a sugar rush. For Whernside I would need all the energy I could muster.

    Because that wind would just not let up! On the positive side, this did aid progress, we set off from the road at 11:05 and I forecast that if we kept to our current speed, we should be at the top by 13:00. After a period of being in a relatively small group, we were suddenly surrounded and indeed our little procession turned into a giant chain snaking its’ way over the hillside. The wind continued to interfere with progress and I did stop a couple of times. However, there came a point when it was simply a case of ‘left foot forward’ – regular readers of this blog will note that whenever I lead with my left, it’s business! I put my foot down, then stopped to fill my water up, then put my foot down again and powered across Whernside’s summit ridge. The going was tough, the howling wind was quite literally pushing people sidewards.

    It was less than a minute before Linzi and a rather refreshed-looking Mark appeared amongst the throng of walkers, after squeezing through the narrowest of all gaps to get to the trig point we sat and had some water, I had another energy gel thing, they were working really well today. I glanced at my watch once more – it was 12:59!

    The last time I dropped off Whernside, I practically fell off it – twice, in about ten yards. I was prepared for it to be as bad this time, but, it wasn’t! Okay, I did have to stop and put gloves on (did I mention it was windy?), Mark and Linzi carried on after checking that I was okay. I caught them up and then for reasons of which I am still unaware, I went into warp speed descend mode. Seriously, I have never managed to walk so confidently and quickly down any hill before, and this was a hazardous one. On a number of occasions I did stop in order to wait for my co-walkers, but, I just couldn’t see them! A couple of late-teenage girls made an observation that I was the only person on my path (it had split into many grass v rock sections) and that I must ‘know something’. I simply responded ‘Yeah, but I’m mad!’ which brought about giggles galore!

    After the major descent I got talking to a fifty-something-year-old lady who was having a great old time and loving every moment of it…apart from the wind, we carried on chatting and walking for quite some distance until I reached a great big gate, where I decided to wait again for Linzi and Mark. After four minutes there was no sign, so I continued to walk and made my way uphill onto Philpin Lane in the direction of the little shop/stand. I wanted a coffee and damn it – it was going to have sugar in it. I reached the cart/stand and got the much awaited coffee. After a few moments Linzi and Mark appeared, and I was very grateful to be reunited with them once more.

    Next came the bad news as Mark revealed that Linzi was pulling out and catching a taxi from the Hill Inn on the B6255 back to where she was parked. Although I tried not to show it, I was a little bit saddened by this as it brought back memories of my own early exit five years earlier. In addition it’s always sad to lose a fellow walker but I did understand that the wind had whipped the zest out of her coming up Whernside. I do hope that she’ll try again at some point in the future. Mark and I resolved to continue the walk and we said our goodbyes to Linzi at the Hill Inn.

    We both knew that from here on in, it was going to get more difficult, Ingleborough is a tough, relentless slog, then there was the ‘steps’ with which we had to contend. We stopped several times, but that was okay, many other people (including a delightful couple from Wigan / Heathrow) stopped several times. This was negative bonding, or was it just bonding in the face of adversity – Bear Grylls would have been proud of us. I lost a water bottle – I have no idea at which point on the slog over from Chapel-le-Dale to Humphrey Bottom the little beggar made it’s bid for freedom, but I was relieved to remember that I still had a bottle of Bounty milk in my backpack and this would only come out when absolutely necessary. At the foot of ‘Frodo’s Steps’ as they have come to be known, we took a five minute breather. Mark gave me one of his cans of Red Bull and within moments I was shaking like a leaf. I don’t know what’s in that vile concoction, but it works, and is probably really bad for a person. Today, it was good, so good!

    In less than twenty minutes and several more sit-downs for yours’ truly, we reached the pass at the top of the steps. The next section of the walk, if one were to walk it having not just climbed the steps and the preceding eighteen miles, would be a relatively easy amble, the only real obstacle was the other weary walkers falling down from the summit. I saw the two girls to whom I had spoken on the path down Whernside (remember, I confessed my madness?) and they recognised me whilst cheerfully informing me “Oh it’s lovely at the summit, you’ll enjoy it!”. To which I responded joyfully “I just don’t believe you”, which brought about more laughter, altitude has a funny effect on the minds of us humans! The lovely couple from Heathrow / Wigan kept on encouraging each other – honestly to see the wife digging in deep (maybe I should have asked their names, but breath was a precious commodity!) was spurring me on like mad.

    Although the wind had been messing with us all day, it was not until the summit’s ordnance survey column before it really showed its’ hand – and that hand smacked us all in the face! The wind atop Ingleborough put paid my ambitions of summit photographs, congratulatory selfies and the likes. It’s said (pardon the passive voice) that Cross Fell (70 miles north of here) has the worst winds in England. Having now done them both, I am inclined to say that Ingleborough’s wind put in a good old showing for itself, it was evil!

    But Mark and I had done it, we’d now climbed these three mountains, we’d survived that bloody wind and even more, we still had food left – just no opportunity to eat it in peace. We began the long and it has to be said monotonous trudge down to Horton in Ribblesdale, with just one thing in mind, would the café still be open and us still able to register our times. It is indeed unfair to label the route down passing through lovely countryside and the limestone pavement of Sulber Nick as boring, but, when all that one wants to see are Pen-y-Ghent growing in size and the Pen-y-ghent café, then that same countryside is simply a distraction. For the next three quarters of an hour we would play catch-up, overtake, be-overtaken by those walkers with whom we now shared our vicinity. The path is fairly undulating although not in any way steep – especially compared to what we had already done. Finally Horton in Ribblesdale’s train station came into view, once safely across the lines we were back onto paving (real, not limestone) and from there the short journey over the bridges, passing my parking spot, then passing the pub (who’s name I really should remember!) then onto the café, would it be open? YES!!! We got ourselves clocked in/out/whatever, and our time was ELEVEN HOURS and SIX MINUTES – not the ten for which I had been unrealistically aiming, but below the twelve and that was more than good enough for me.

    To be honest, to complete the route at all, even outside of the twelve hours is no mean feat. It’s a hard challenge, yes the spongy path which now bypasses Red and Black Dub Mosses, does facilitate progress but then so do the paved sections throughout the route, strangely you don’t hear people moaning about them! I wouldn’t dream of attempting to cross Humphrey Bottom without its’ flagstones and likewise for some of the sections on the way up Whernside. I had remembered well, the pain of trying to amble up Brackenbottom – you can’t, you just have to put your head down and charge, I even overtook people! I was so happy with my descent off Whernside, it was nothing like as challenging as when I did it in rather wetter conditions last March. Yes, the scenery was good, but do you know what was better? The people. There were no stress-heads attempting to power their way through and to hell with anyone whom should happen to get in their way. We were all walking brothers and sisters, no matter what our motives – charity or vanity, sharing this experience with people that I will most likely never see again is something, the main thing, that I want to take with me from this six-year fixation. I’d love to walk with Mark again as he is great company, (Peeler’s Hike, Mark it is on your doorstep after all) and I was gutted that Linzi had to pull out after eighteen miles but I did empathise and I’ve volunteered to go with her if she ever tries again, and would be delighted to do so.

    I will do this again, next year, and I do hope to be at least two stones lighter (again) and to take at least an hour off my time, so here’s to more gym nights and visits to Pendle and Winter Hill in preparation. Controversially, Whernside is still my favourite mountain of the three, although it has to be said the other two aren’t exactly lacking in character either. Although I admit that this is not an Oscar Acceptance Speech, there are some people that I’d like to thank and the first one would be my wonderful fiancé, Chris, who had complete faith in this attempt, ‘I knew you’d do it’ was one of the first things that she said to me on my return home. Also, I’d like to say thanks to Jenny, my line manager who’s company in my lunch-time walks stopped me from getting bored and aided my progress. Mark already knows how grateful I am that he did the walk with me, but anyway, cheers Mark and to Linzi I may not make it to High Street this weekend but I do look forward to walking with you again in the future.

    I’d also like to plug the Just Giving page of Kirsty from Enterprise, who was so nice to me when renting the car, which ultimately took a whole load of stress off my plate. She’s doing a gruelling thirty kilometre Coniston Challenge in aid of Alder Hey. Personally, I think she must be mad, but it’s a very worthwhile cause: Click here to visit the site.

    Summary
    Distance – twenty four and a half miles
    Ascent / descent – over 5,000 feet

    Song of the walk: there are so many (well, it’s a long walk) :

    Christina Perri – Human
    Cheryl – Only Human
    Sia – Big Girls Cry
    Ellie Goulding – Lights
    Ellie Goulding – Don’t Say a Word

    Next challenge walk: It could possibly be this: In Pendle’s Shadow or alternatively, it’s high time that I ticked off the full route of the Sefton Coastal Path, 21 miles but I’ve done more than that now 🙂


    Challenge Walks Fells, Hills and Mountains The Training Regime Walking Walking for fitness

  • Around the Ressies and Up that Hill

    Posted on 26th May 2015 8:51 am by Mark Wild

    WH-OMGIt’s not been very long since I last dropped down to Rivington for a bit of a wander. It seems to get harder to get there these days as part of the road directly off the A6 is always closed and the diversions change sometimes. Anyway, after the two events:

    1. I’d done Pendle in record (mine) on Saturday afternoon
    2. When I last did a route similar to the one I’m about to describe, I did have the idea of modifying it to meet my requirements
    3. It’s always nice to return to one’s favourite fills (yes, we all know Pendle and Skiddaw do rank higher in my list)

    I must add to item 2 that the one thing which bugs me about walking the “B” walks with Southport Ramblers are the times when we go ‘partly’ up this hill or traverse across that hill. I want to start at the bottom of a hill, climb up it and then move on etc! Okay, rant over!

    So I got to my starting point which I shall refer to as the lower barn, it’s essentially over the road from where all of my previous Rivington / Winter Hill walks have started. I dropped down towards the reservoirs, I would go past three of them starting with the two ‘Rivington’ ones, ‘Lower’ first, then ‘Upper’ – both of which appear to be bigger then anything Pendle has to offer (ohhh handbags!). There is a nice stillness ambling around this area, I think a substantial part of it is included on the ‘Amble’ and there was very little in the way of ascension, which made for a really pleasant walk.

    Flower

    Much more manly, Winter Hill, Noon Hill and Hordern Pasture.

    Much more manly, Winter Hill, Noon Hill and Hordern Pasture.

    By the time I was at the side (Western) of the Yarrow reservoir, and from this aspect it has no aspirations of beauty, being essentially a grass wall, the incline had started to kick-in – my calf muscles nicely reminding me of the fact that I’d already climbed over a thousand feet two days earlier. I was possessed by an anonymous spirit to take this rather ‘girly’ photograph. I then managed to find the missing testosterone in order to take this far more manly photo of Noon Hill, Winter Hill and Hordern Pasture across the Yarrow Reservoir where the walk’s nature changed to tarmac, tarmac and an added bit of tarmac.

     

     

    Redmonds Edge from across the Yarrow Reservoir

    Redmonds Edge from across the Yarrow Reservoir

    I then continued onto a spot where I hardly ever go at Parsons Bullough / Alance Bridge, from where it’s possible to see yet another reservoir – Anglezarke, although I hasten to add that I’m not walking past this one on this outing. “The Meeting of the Waters” is the name given to the area where many streams, for example the Limestone Brook, conveying water off the local hills are channelled to the greater body of water – the infant River Yarrow, which then flows in and out of several reservoirs before being pumped out and sent in the direction of Heath Charnock before merging with the greater River Douglas, which starts about a mile and a half away from the Yarrow at Winter Hill. Incidentally, The Douglas later in its’ course converges with the River Ribble near Tarleton and then flows out to the Irish Sea – isn’t that a nice route, although it could be argued that it’s all rather engineered.

     

     

    Winter Hill from Will Narr

    Winter Hill from Will Narr

    So, I passed though an almost Woodland section of the route, for some reason with the song ‘January Butterfly’ going through my head! There was a bit of a climb up towards Simms, then the terrain suddenly became a whole lot more exposed and open, and bloomin’ gusty as I began to get closer and closer to Will Narr with both of the Edges – Spitlers and Redmonds, coming into view. I never did stop for lunch, preferring instead to plough on towards Will Narr, the last time I was here the views were all white’d out in a driving snow blizzard. This time it was just a bit windy and did a good job of cooling me down after the minor ascent a half mile back down the path. I now crossed Rivington Road, traffic was simply not an issue here today, and then sought out the path that is a wall, in order to facilitate my progress. Given that two rivers begin their journeys within a mile and a half of this location, it is of no surprise to discover that the terrain is more than a little bit spongy underfoot. I last did this route in 2010’s ill-fated ‘Royal Wedding day walk’ (remember the area caught fire?). A good fire might have made all the difference today as for some reason I kept getting really cold!

    Two of the three 'lads' atop Crooked Edge Hill

    Two of the three ‘lads’ atop Crooked Edge Hill

    Onwards up the north face of the Eiger – Winter Hill, I went, I won’t lie, in places it’s ever so steep, but then I’d had good preparation in Saturday’s walk which had an incline lasting for least three times as far. The last time I did this, I was completely disoriented at the top of the climb, so, it should come as no surprise to read that at the top of this climb today, I was completely disoriented once more. I wandered straight across Rivington Moor, instead of bearing left and heading for Counting Hill / Smithhils Moor. After a while, and some serious tussock hopping, (should that be ‘hoping’?) I managed to steer myself back on course by using the mast as a target – given that it’s visible from Wasdale Head ( a claim which I’ve not yet substantiated!) then this was not a bad choice of landmarks – it’s harder to miss! So eventually I got on to Winter Hill – the road, and headed off to the desolation that is Two Lads (which are now two lads and a toddler). By Christ it was bloomin’ cold here. I had ‘Big Red’ coat on, which is generally good for Spring and Autumn, but today I could have done with wearing the blue Winter one. Two Lads is never a warm location as the wind puts paid to any ideas of cosiness.

    I found that I didn’t have it in my heart to carry on over Brown Hill and onto Rivington Pike as I imagined it wasn’t going to be any warmer up there, so I continued on the bumpy path all the way to the old toilet block near the tourist’s path for those of us whom with to take that route up to the Pike. I next dropped downhill passing by Thomas Mawson’s Japanese Lake and the devilishly winding route all the way back down to the lane on route to the barn. then it was just a simple matter of crossing the main road – again not as busy today as it has been on other bank holiday Mondays.

    Time taken around five hours.
    Milage – well my bluetooth wristband software reported twelve miles, so we’ll call it ten.
    Ascension – around eight hundred feet
    Song of the walk – January Butterfly -Don’t ask me why!


    The Training Regime Walking for fitness

  • Pen-ny not so dreadful!

    Posted on 23rd May 2015 6:45 pm by Mark Wild

    The walk of Saturday the 23rd of May, 2015.

    It was a bank holiday weekend and I planned to do two outings, Rivington and Pendle. Both hills were currently on a count of thirteen ascensions, so which one was to make it to the magical figure of fourteen first?

    Well, obviously it was always going to be Pendle. In no small way was this thanks to the combination of my IPad, a lead which goes from the I Pad to my car stereo and finally the fact that I downloaded a lot of Ellie Goulding’s songs lately, so I had plenty to listen to on what was quite an enjoyable car journey – given that our car’s wheel balancing is kind of like blancmange!

    So Pendle it was then, en route I called in at Fylde Road pharmacy for some factor 30 – although I might like lobsters, Chris kind of freaks out when I come home looking like one! So with the temperature set to hit at least 20 degrees I armed myself with the sun cream that I can still smell now, several hours later. Also I called in to get some more petrol. Thus, after dropping Chris off at 11:22 I finally made it to the lovely village of Barley for around 13:15, there was not a space to be had on the Barley Visitor Centre car park, so I had to park on Barley New Road – this saved me a pound, so no loss there then.

    Pendle from Barley Common

    Pendle from Barley Common

    Pendle Hill looked tremendous from Barley Common, the sight of it popping over the top of Pendle Inn was just enticing. I was kind of umming and arring (yes, thought that might not get through the spell checker!) about which route to take. Had I the full day to myself I would have plumped for Stang Top Moor first then Pendle via the Pendle House stepped route. However, it did occur to me that there was a route right ahead of me that offered tremendous kudos in terms of its’ sheer challenging aspect – ‘The Middle Way’. It could be very easy to write off as innocuous, any route featuring the phrase ‘middle’. However, in this instance middle simply refers to the location of the route as it splits off from the steep, stepped route around the back of the farmstead, Pendle House. That route in itself has fitter people than me gasping for air and admiring the views…every fifty footsteps!

    And so it was to be that I would explode my heart by taking what I have often referred to as the lunatic path – I seemed to fit the bill most appropriately! On a couple of occasions, I had witnessed lunatics taking this route, which is essentially, straight up the side of the hill with very little obvious zig-zagging (oh behave spell checker!), in my contorted logic, if sheep could get up there, so could I – we have similar d.n.a. (What? We don’t? Opps), and I know they are four wheel drive (so to speak) but to me, gravity is still gravity and if something with an I.Q. of around 70 could climb up the side of the hill, so could I!

    I did make quite impressive progress, overtaking seventeen people en route to Ings End in twenty two minutes. Oh my was there some slow walking people out today? Some people seemed mystified by every gatepost / kissing post (I truly hate that description!) and took an eternity to get through each one. I didn’t want to appear rude, so I kind of held back when I could and led with my left foot when the opportunity arose (seriously, try this, unless you are left footed, then it won’t make any difference). I went speeding all the way to Brown House, Ings End, then at those bloomin’ twin fields at Pendle House I once again slowed right down. Seriously, I actually would make speedier progress up the ‘Middle Way’ than I did across these two fields. All the same, within about eight minutes I had made it to Pendle House, here I stayed for a minute or two, staring at the beast of a climb that I now had ahead of me. As much as I wanted to take a photo of the arduous trek I had ahead of me, I knew that if I got the camera out my whole tour de force would subside. So, the camera stayed in its’ holster (okay my pocket!) and onwards I went.

    I won’t lie, it was a bit difficult at first, then to make up for that, it got even worse! The slope was more of a drop to be honest. There would be no way in hell that you would ever catch me descending via this route. But, on the ground there were only a few stretches of the path when the path, for want of a better phrase, vanished. that being said, it did not take a degree in hill walking (how cool would that be?) to pick up the route once more – in a nutshell, GO UP until there is no more up to go. I sat down on a number of occasions, sometimes deliberately, once as part of a complicated uphill stumble I’ve been perfecting since Karl took me up Scafell the hard way! Cheers mate!

    The trig point at Pendle Hill

    The trig point at Pendle Hill

    More people at the summit

    More people at the summit

    From the parting of the routes, just behind Pendle House, the trig point had been my target, my visible target that is. Then, halfway up the side of the hill, it too vanished. Thanks to the lovely weather (yay, they got it right for once, oops sorry Lucy!), there was absolutely no mist to obscure the summit. Pretty soon, although I was no longer looking at my watch to tell how soon, I was at the last push, and what a push that was. This gradient was up there with the lake district giants! I’d say it was as steep as the same point on Great Gable – but without all those rocks. I was utterly astounded to see the trig point pretty much straight in front of me, less than twenty yards away. I tapped the trig point, and looked at my watch…it was 14:31, I had left the car at 13:22. This meant that I had gone the hardest way up Pendle Hill in the shortest time! I was buzzing.

    Other ascenders on the summit

    Other ascenders on the summit

    I got talking to a friendly sort of chap at the trig point, in truth I got talking to everyone I was so elated I just wanted to share! Poor sods, I must have bored everyone to death. It did make a nice change to be able to stand and talk at the summit, it’s normally blowing a gale and freezing. I offered to take a few people’s photos on their phones. I didn’t want anyone taking mine…and no bugger offered anyway! I ended up talking to a tall blonde, robust looking woman about next month’s Yorkshire three peaks challenge and she replied that she’d already done that. I wasn’t put out – I’d gone a harder way up Pendle than her ‘Boar Clough’ route which she had found challenging…I did wonder how she’d got along on Pen y Ghent then as it’s infinitely harder.

     

     

    Path to Under Pendle

    Path to Under Pendle

    Under Pendle

    Under Pendle

    Enough time passed by at the summit for me to have unwired and I made my decision regarding the descent. I suppose that I could have taken the steps, which would have been good practice for dropping off Whernside next month. However, I didn’t want my calf and other leg muscles to jam up like normal so I opted for trying to find Under Pendle’s lovely, if somewhat steep drop off. Eventually I did find the right way down, but not before going off piste and ending up in a place whereby if I’d have gone any further downhill I would have then had to straddle a barbed wire fence in order to go on. So, I retraced my steps and decided to just follow the fell runners as I didn’t think that their route would have them going up and down Boar Clough. I was right and before very long at all the tiny area of Under Pendle came into view.

    At the bottom of the tarmac path which leads from Under Pendle to Barley Green – about which there is nothing green. I slowed down considerably as it was a nice day, I was now no longer in danger of being hit by a fell runner. After a while one fell runner passed me by, I’d seen her on her way up near the summit, she reminded me of someone from my very distant past – there’s always the chance that this was her daughter – or even grand daughter, they breed them young in Bolton y’know! The cheeky mare was slipstreaming me for a few yards! Honestly, I can think of no other reason for her to be so close to me on a path which is at least twelve feet wide and had no-one else upon it. She was stunningly beautiful though in the four seconds that I could see her face.

    As has happened on all of my recent walks, I was all mixed blessings at the end of the walk. Of course I was still quite elated at my improving fitness and that every time I’ve ‘done Pendle’ recently my time has improved. However, sometimes it’s so nice to be carefree and out and about walking that the end can simply signify the end of it…if only temporarily. ‘Ah, never mind’ I thought and consoled myself with the prospect of a good old radio sing-along on the journey home. First I bought and consumed a “Frappé” and a Latte which must have been made with full fat milk – it was horrid, so was the Frappé. I did have a good old sing-along to the radio on the way home!

    All in all a good walk.
    Milage – about five miles
    Ascension – about one thousand feet
    Time – roughly three hours (69 minutes ascending)

    Song of the Walk: Years and Years by King

    Update: I’ve just managed to find (from my Facebook pages, of all places) these three pictures showing the path I took yesterday. Note: the pictures were not taken yesterday:

    The Middle Wat

    The Middle Way

    A distant shot of the two major routes up Pendle from this angle. The middle way is also visable.

    A distant shot of the two major routes up Pendle from this angle. The middle way is also visable.

    A close up of the "Middle Way"

    A close up of the “Middle Way”


    Fells, Hills and Mountains The Training Regime Uncategorized Walking for fitness

  • He’s going for it…again!

    Posted on 14th April 2015 11:06 am by Mark Wild

    Spring is here, so it’s time for my annual “I’m going to do the Yorkshire Three Peaks this summer”, pledge!

    But this year I do intend to actually do the walk with an old acquaintance from Bolton, step forward Mark, potentially another few people will join us for company and banter etc. Now that there is a nice dry path diverting walkers from the horrors of Red Moss and Black Dub Moss, that’s one obstacle off the list (technically one and one equal two these days).

    Yep, Pen-Y-Ghent, and the Pennine Way leading up it!

    Yep, Pen-Y-Ghent, and the Pennine Way leading up it!

    However, there’s still the mountains themselves to worry about and to prepare for…Pen-y-ghent from Brackenbottom is sodding steep – then it levels out, then it’s a lovely walk, then it gets all scambly, then steep (I’m mentally reliving this now can you tell?) then it joins then Pennine Way, then it gets majorly (I’m just making adjectives up on the spot now!) steep and scrambl-y! Finally at the top it gets all nice and flat…but you’re too busy hyperventilating (and in my case trying to locate Pendle Hill – obsessed much?) to really have a good old rest before falling back down the other side of it!

    The new route avoiding the moss’s should expedite things a tad, it goes without saying that I’ve watched another of Adam Galleymore’s You Tube videos (psst it’s not as good as your Anglezarke Amble one Adam), I’ve watched a lot of You Tube videos of people doing the Yorkshire 3 Peaks – some are quite bizarre, others couldn’t be less interesting, thus, I won’t be doing one!

    Whernside, looking surprisingly more formidable than what it really is...unless you do it from Chapel le Dale, then it's a pig!

    Whernside, looking surprisingly more formidable than what it really is…unless you do it from Chapel le Dale, then it’s a pig!

    Upon arrival at Ribblehead – the base of Whernside, I shall be doing one thing – NOT looking up! That’s one of the areas where I went wrong in 2010 – I looked at the gigantic cloud over the top of the mountain, I was already feeling the cold, owing to bad choices in terms of clothing and …chickened out! Actually, this could be one of the easiest parts of the route, I did Whernside from Ribblehead last March and survived, it isn’t actually that hard and it’s a damn site easier than doing it from the Chapel le Dale aspect. The only problem may be coming down the other side, one part of the path is in serious need of repair – or at least that was the case last March, so instead of coming down the hill at full pelt, I’d have to take it all nice and easy – which could eat into the overall time.

    Ingleborough, looking all dark and fearsome, and at this stage I do believe we'll have already done eighteen miles!

    Ingleborough, looking all dark and fearsome, and at this stage I do believe we’ll have already done eighteen miles!

    I’ve only ever been up Ingleborough once, I think Mr Farrington from Breightmet County Junior School had us somewhere near it when we were staying at Cautley Hall, one year. But as far as I know, my only ascension was with Chris in 2009. Apparently, the “Frodo’s Steps” section of Ingleborough puts fear into the hearts of people. I’m inclined to think that you can only go as fast as your body and gravity in conjunction will let you, ’nuff said. I am so looking forward to the walk back down – ‘cos we won’t get a view off the top of Ingleborough…you never do on 3 Peak days, but you do if you go to see Ingleborough just on it’s own, she knows…cobblers, when Chris and I went in 2009 it was like taking our own personal sheet of fog with us…got damned nippy as well if memory serves me right! Then it’s the one and a half – three miles, walk back to Horton in Ribblesdale to go and collapse at the Pen-Y-Ghent Café to drown yourself in coffee and stress over whether your clutch or gas foot is going to make it all the way back home!

    Piece of cake!


    Challenge Walks Fells, Hills and Mountains The Training Regime Yorkshire 3 Peaks

  • West Pennines Wanderings

    Posted on 20th March 2015 10:20 pm by Mark Wild

    In a slightly belated follow-up to a posting from 2012, on Saturday I went over to Belmont – well Rivington first, in order to have a practice at the first section of next year’s A.A. event. I am pleased to say that:

    1. I didn’t get lost
    2. I didn’t do myself any injuries
    3. Blinking heck, Rivington Pike’s steep!

    Of course I already knew that Rivington Pike is steep, along with good old Pendle Hill it is my most ascended hill. However, I’ve never set off at before with the attitude of ‘let’s see how quickly I can get up this’…and run myself out of carbohydrates within a mere matter of moments of the beginning of the walk!

    With regret that slope is part of my route...visually pleasing as it is!

    With regret that slope is part of my route…visually pleasing as it is!

    Leverhulme's vision and Mawson's toil come together beautifully

    Leverhulme’s vision and Mawson’s toil come together beautifully

    I’d set off from the lane as per usual but this time did not go north up passing the barn, no this time I went East(!) through the Pineatum / Planted Pine and other conifer parklet(is that a real word?). The going was okay, which was in itself a good thing as the area has had a right old battering of rain in the last month. Having essentially walked flat/downhill for a good ten or twenty yards, all too soon I started to climb and it was within the first hundred yards that my still apparent lack of fitness came to the fore as both shins began to do that awful “splinter” thing which occasionally afflicts me without any forewarning. One thing was now overwhelmingly certain – this was not going to be an easy walk. I limped on through the lower slopes and was amazed at just how many paths and offshoots of paths were available – this was like the trail of cairns on bigger hills and mountains – some were necessary, but all of them? Fortunately I had been in these parts enough times to hazard a guess at which route would get me up to the lake at the Japanese Gardens. Within a few moments this panting and stumbling wreck (me) had made it to the water’s edge.

    Rivington Pike

    Rivington Pike

    Winter Hill and the dreaded Western approach.

    Winter Hill and the dreaded Western approach.

    I did not loiter at the lake as to do so would have given me time to think…of an alternate way of spending my Saturday morning. So with as much gusto as I could muster I headed off through the maze of paths until eventually arriving at Belmont Road (the track, not the A675 for those of you trying to follow me!) and from here the way ahead could not be more obvious – head for the tower atop Rivington Pike – generally upwards. This is never a gentle stroll no matter what my current condition in fact the only time that I have got up here without feeling like I’ve been dragging a pair of anvils was the time in 2013 when Sheenah and I climbed up here in thick snow. All the same I lived up to my on-going personal challenge of not stopping at any point from the large gate at the start of this short ascension – to the last step at the summit. On the day of the Anglezarke Amble I imagine this could be the scene of something of a struggle as the best side of three hundred people attempt to squeeze up this steep and probably slippery, stone staircase…at pace. Nobody amble’s up the staircase to the Pike, at best one charges, at worst one upwardly collapses.

    Once at the summit the views open up…fantastically! On the one hand all the local reservoirs – and there are a good number here, could be seen but further afield I could easily point out Parbold and Harrock Hills and the nearby summits of Burnt Edge, Crooked Edge Hill, Healey Nab and Winter Hill all seemed to be offering fine views today. Winter Hill was the next destination – via the shockingly simple but sometimes arduous route up the side of Crooked Edge Hill – which does not show itself off at all well from any other angle than that from the Pike! First of all came the effortless glide down off the Pike and over the area known as Brown Hill – I’m not a fan! Again, the route could get a bit treacherous here sliding down the Pike en masse – there’s a lot of sandstone here and when it’s wet, it’s lethal but today it was just a case of ‘watch your feet’ and get on with it. The cobbled road upon which the Rivington Pike Dog Hotel resides loses its’ name here before joining with George’s Lane an unknown distance away and this is one of those roads whereby one is grateful to be wearing walking boots…it’s a bumpy old road. Soon enough I was at the gate / stile at which begins the track up Crooked Edge Hill – it appears there is a web plot by persons unknown to name this hill Two Lads Hill after the cairns which proudly sit atop the highest point. I don’t subscribe to this movement and shall refer to the hill now and forever as Crooked Edge Hill – and the O/S agree with me! The hill is steep in just a couple of locations, the beginning and the last few feet, all the rest is quite comfortable walking…if you can ignore the relentless wind which seemed to build up close to the summits of all the hills that I walked today. I never called in at the “Lads” to practice the noble art of hitting the final cairn with one’s hand or walking pole – I’ve done that enough times for the novelty to have well and truly worn off.

    The next segment of my day’s walk would be to cross the peat-riddled and it has to be said Anglezarke-Ambled mess en route across the moor to Winter Hill – the tarmac road. (In truth it is not the most beautiful of all roads!) The wind had really picked up by now and it became necessary to spot visual distractions as there was something of a biting tone to its’ gusts. I was reminded of happy memories of ascending the hill with Sheenah that snowy day in 2013 as I made my way passed the end of the track which bravely traverses the wettest section of moorland that I have ever fortune to slosh across. I was in turn passed by a group of three mountain bikers who were trying their best to cheer each other up the hill – in truth this is not the steepest part of the hill by any stretch, Georges Lane would have depleted all of their carbohydrate reserves a mile ago. All the same, it was nice to return the compliment and pass them as they came to almost a standstill! My target grew nearer – the twin sandstone pillars at the edge of the summit plateau and the beginning of one of the longest drops off any hill in modern day Lancashire.

    The Wood under Lower height

    The Wood under Lower height

    At this local there are a number of choices of where to walk next: to the left you can go towards the o/s column and having touched that carry on down the hill through long wet grass and onto Noon Hill and its’ Slack(?). Another choice is to turn immediate right and head on over to Counting Hill (South) which at 433 metres is the second highest summit in the locale and a good walk on a snowy day or when there has been no rain for a week or more (it is a bit wet underfoot). Directly ahead lies the sheep trod which is the route straight down the northern face of Winter Hill towards the Edges and Great Hill, there can be no overstating the gradient, you don’t want to do this in icy conditions unless you have crampons on. Finally the other right hand turn is my route and is in my opinion the nicest way up Winter Hill, until now I had never descended via this route but am happy to report that it was as easy as I had hoped as long as I remembered to turn around every so often…to make sure I was not startled out of my skin by mountain bikers. As it happened I was passed by four of them, three at great speed and one looked like he would rather be anywhere else. The views across to Longworth Moor and Green Hill (Lancashire has more Green Hills than you can shake a walking stick at!) were getting better and better all the time and making me think to the effect of ‘this Anglezarke Amble isn’t going to be an amble at all’. There was no doubt about it, this was the fastest-safest route down off Winter Hill I had to steal myself from breaking out into a run at times – it’s a badly kept secret that I descend hills at a leisurely pace…glacial some might say! I know that this aspect of my walking regime needs working on and that is one of the items on the itinerary for every walk in between now and the A.A. I had had some misgivings about which path to take through the woods beforehand …these were easily put to rest upon approaching the little wood the kissing gate came into view as did a very obvious path.

    The path through the woods was short, distinct and a little ploughed up by mountain bikers…and more than a bit sticky owing to the peat base having been utterly drenched in the last few weeks. I spotted a couple who appeared to be trying to liberate a tree stump…well whatever takes your fancy and from watching all of those American horror films we all know this…if someone’s doing something in a wood or forest -ask them no questions and leave them to it, I did this and lived to carry on with the rest of the walk.

    Photo of some creepy buildings

    Photo of some creepy buildings

    And not just that, I survived crossing the A675 / Belmont Road which can be like a formula one track at weekends, fortunately enough it wasn’t busy at all today. After less than an hundred yards I was turning left and into (for me) new territory. The brilliant GreatGalleymo’s fantastic You Tube video of Adam and Dave walking the A.A. doesn’t show quite how the afore mentioned walkers get from turning left off the A675 and passed Greenhill Farm to get up to Lower Whittakers – I found Greenhill farm without a problem – it would be more of a challenge to miss it but then should I take the left hand turn off just before the farm as the instructions say on the LDWA’s web site or carry on further down the track because what I can see looks nothing like what Mr Galleymore’s video shows. I decided to carry on down the track and ultimately came to a cul-de-sac, actually quite a creepy cul-de-sac with some lovely, bone-chilling buildings that could have allured the producer of any Hollywood slasher movie!

     

     

    Great Robert Hill...and it's mighty antenna!

    Great Robert Hill…and it’s mighty antenna!

    Having consulted my map more times than any sane man would, I opted for the path which lay before me now and which had very obviously been ambled upon – it looked a right old mess with obvious signs of having a had a couple of hundred pairs of feet trudge and slide their way across it – in truth it had been a month since this year’s “Amble” but nature is something of a slow healer! The none-trampled part (the majority of the landscape) was gorgeous countryside and I truly regret not getting the camera out and going photo-crazy. I descended some slippery steps and crossed a bit of a rickety footbridge over a brook or river and then began up one even more slippery hillside that had an almighty incline – even though it actually was probably less than fifty metres, but then fifty metres over a distance of about one hundred metres is not to be sniffed at! Fortunately there was not another sole in the immediate environment which enabled me to turn the air blue as I slipped, stumbled and fell up the slope – my walking pole helped…a bit. By the time I reached the emerging quagmire atop the slope I was feeling really weary as if I had just swapped over fuels from carbs to fat burning. However, the legs were still going so I carried on through the mud and grass to reach an huge stone wall which has to be the full length of Longworth Road near the myriad of Spruce and Larch plantations. This was now familiar territory with regards to me having driven around these parts when I lived in Bolton. with regards to walking, I had no confidence what-so-ever in my sense of direction and was at a loss to make a decision on where to go? The thought that it might take me another hour at least to find the correct route to take me to Catherine Edge (the way that I wanted to go) was weighing heavily on me. All of a sudden it dawned on me that to my left was a great big antenna, and as luck would have it, it stuck out like a sore thumb on the map as well. This was the site of Great Robert Hill -less than half a mile away from my current location. I don’t know who Robert was and for which reasons he may have been considered ‘great’ but in this moment I would have gladly shook his hand (even though mine was pretty filthy after the slope falling).

    Saint Peter's Church

    Saint Peter’s Church

    Belmont Reservoir

    Belmont Reservoir

    Now I was back in my strong domain – road walking. Countryside walking is lovely and all that but even for a pedestrian, roads get you there quicker or not at all. I sped off along Longworth Road passing Egerton Road and after just a few minutes was passing the tiny mound of Great Robert Hill…and from here the route got even easier as I now dropped a few feet in altitude and before not long at all I was on the fringe of the southern tip of the huge body of water which is Belmont Reservoir. From here I picked up a lot of lost pace as the path was very easy and in no time at all I was back on Belmont Road and heading towards Rivington Lane – though I dare say it probably isn’t called that at its’ start. I had walked over this very road in the opposite direction back in 2013 so I was fully aware of how narrow and dangerous it can be. However, I was being lazy and walking almost the entire length of Rivington Lane up to the Belmont Road track promised to be infinitely easier than the off-road equivalent. I did spot a corking path which ran along side of the laughingly named ‘Blue Lagoon’ – only the proudest of all the proud Boltonians would argue that the water here is blue – there used to be a car sticking out of the middle of it. The path then bolted straight up the side of Winter Hill to merge with the one which I had descended over an hour ago…it looked very steep.

    Noon Hill

    Noon Hill

    Dovecote

    Dovecote

    After what seemed like an eternity I was en route to Catter Nab in the shadow of Noon Hill having made my way through the enormous wooden gate. This is another path of which I have some familiarity having walked its’ entire length in both directions. Here the views all around were a little bit washy but I was so happy that I had so far been free of rain and I had taken a lot of photographs anyway. It had not been very long since my last visit to this area with Southport Ramblers at the end of February but it was equally nice to traverse this path instead of the muddier version and at a much more relaxed pace – my legs simply wouldn’t go much faster!

    The track eventually merges with the same track which I had walked upon after descending Rivington Pike and soon enough Dovecote came into view, I decided to take a random route down and avoid as much mud as possible – I’d only just cleaned mud off my boots in a very long puddle. After descending the vast series of steps at the rear of Dovecote I headed west then east to take me back to the more familiar main path from Hall Wood and eventually the newer path which would link up to one of the concessionary bridal paths which leads back to the barn and at last five hours after leaving it…back to the car.

    There can be no mistake, this had served as a real eye-opener, a reality check. If my previous two walks over parts of the A.A. route with Karl and Anne had shown me what can be achieved then today had taught me where the pitfalls lay – near the very start! Rivington Pike simply has to be respected, yes it is two thousand feet lower than Scafell Pike but as with the latter if one is not prepared and sets off thinking it to be innocuous one is likely to come a real cropper! I’ve always liked Rivington Pike and Winter Hill together they did make a really enjoyable and testing half day out – adding the Longworth Moor section certainly upped the tempo but if I am to be successful next year then I have to keep upping that tempo because nobody is going to make it any easier for me…the presence of other people engaged in the same activity will spur me on, there’s no doubt about that, but I have to give myself the best fighting chance if I am to avoid repeating 2010’s disastrous Yorkshire three peaks bid.

    The positive to go forward here is that my Garmin had my actual walking time as being around three and a quarter hours to walk ten point nine miles – however this means that it has recorded me not moving for one and three quarter hours – this just did not happen! So at the moment my overall speed needs a lot of work because ten miles in five hours equals two miles an hour and I need to make a 50% improvement on that if I am to not be disqualified from the Amble!

    I’ll be back soon with Karl in order to do the sixteen miles version…and can hardly wait.

    The song of the walk: Senadee – Life Support Machine


    Fells, Hills and Mountains The Training Regime Walking for fitness

  • Tottering around Turton Heights

    Posted on 2nd March 2015 4:51 pm by Mark Wild

    The walk along the edge of Turton Heights on Saturday 28th February, 2015

    As part of the great familiarisation in preparation of next year’s Anglezarke Amble, I was to visit the south eastern side of Turton Moor. Turton Heights had been on my ever-expanding ‘to-do’ list, it is a “West Pennine” top after all but even before today’s visit (and certainly after), I have to concede it’s not a star attraction, being something of a gentle lump protruding from the less notorious section of Turton Moor near the border of Darwen and Bolton. The summit itself is not even the highest point on the wide ridge that stretches for a few hundred metres in an odd north west to south east snake which starts on Green Arms Road, peaks at the quagmire that is Cheetham Close (complete with iron-age stone circle) and terminates at Horrorbin Fold next to the Jumbles Reservoir, Bradshaw / Bromley Cross, Bolton.

    Owing to certain logistical irregularities I didn’t get to Karl’s house in Darwen until around 12:45 but within fifteen minutes we were at the set-off-point at the lay-by on Green Arms Road. Our first few couple of hundred yards would undoubtedly be the most daunting, most anxious and most downright un-enjoyable as we turned left on the the A666 and made our way to the stile with cars roaring passed us doing at least the national speed limit and probably a great deal more. It was such a relief to get to the stile and begin our first stretch of moorland.

    image007

    A distant Winter Hill is right behind us.

    image008

    Charters Moss Plantation with Spitlers and Redmonds Edges behind.

    There was plenty of evidence around that it wasn’t long since a couple of hundred walkers had bounded through these parts, the grass was flattened, the mud was stirred up and myriads of footprints could be seen. Of course this was the result of this year’s Anglezarke Amble which had taken place on Valentine’s day – yes this is evidence of the amount of time, research and practice that I am putting in to next years event! Tiny bump though it may be, this side of Turton Moor is a twisted ankle waiting to happen! The first few yards were quite literally a walk in the park, followed by an-going dilemma of where to put one’s leading foot next! The ground at this patch of land was inconsistent with itself! One stretch of land would be at one level and the next would rise or drop but be akin to another patch doing just the reverse. Various gullies could be found without much investigation and so could what looked like (to me) abandoned plough-furrows (better description here when available). All in all the opening stretch of the walk – facing the majority of the western aspect of Turton Heights, was a rugged affair, thankfully over in a few minutes without any obvious injuries.

    Karl and the distant views to Ramsbottom's Peel Tower

    Karl and the distant views to Ramsbottom’s Peel Tower

    Turton and Entwistle reservoir looms at the end of the natural path.

    Turton and Entwistle reservoir looms at the end of the natural path.

    If I thought that the first few hundred yards was bad, then the walk along the side of the lump on a path(?) which went in and out of vision along with meandering up and down the slope to the summit of this hill; made the opening stretch look like a teddy-bear’s picnic…and I loved it! The video I have seen of someone walking along this path made me aware that we might be in for a little bit of a struggle – in all honesty Karl has probably done worse, considerably worse. For me however, this was and up and down, ankle threatening, roller coaster of a walk – which fortunately for us potential “Amblers” is before, as opposed to after Darwen Hill and Great Hill…after would be just awful! We had scheduled a quick nip to the top of Turton Heights in order to bag it, but, the ground was a combination of ridiculously heavy and in parts lethally slippery that we decided to postpone that until the drier days of high summer…after a good long drought!

    The path continues towards the unseen road.

    The path continues towards the unseen road.

    Eventually, we reached a large gate and made our way across a pasture with a bit of a downhill gradient. This was simple and almost care-free after the earlier stretches of the walk and before long we were crossing the road which separates the open moor from the Turton and Entwistle reservoir site. The path became very indistinct here and we essentially winged it across the field using the logic that a field generally has stiles diagonally across from each other – it did! This field for me was one of the highlights as I could imagine crossing this green oasis of smoothness when doing ‘the Amble’ next year and being relieved that for now some of the hard work would be behind me. We eventually made our way onto the paths that escort one around the reservoir in search of Edge Lane… or at least the track that would lead us there, via the Strawbury Duck (and no, that is how it’s spelt).

    The Strawbury Duck pub

    The Strawbury Duck pub

    Karl purveys whilst I attempt to take a photo of the hill we can't name.

    Karl purveys whilst I attempt to take a photo of the hill we can’t name.

    We must have spent about thirty minutes at the pub, but as I was beginning to cool down quite rapidly I was glad that we never stayed for a second shandy and instead took to Edge Lane. The tarmac path quickly deteriorated into a more natural, rural style, with added water and we began to ascend on the route to Cadshaw once more. The surrounding scenery was more lovely on the way out of the reservoir’s bowl than it had been on the way in and before long it genuinely felt like we were in the higher grounds of the West Pennines – although we would not climb more than a couple of hundred feet in over a mile. We met what must have been a bunch of Ramblers coming from the opposite direction there must have been about thirty of them! Our views to the west were somewhat dominated by one hill in particular and neither one of us could name it – so I will do the usual and refer to it as Cartridge Hill! Within a few moments we were on the A666 and heading towards the car, a few moments later and we were back on Green Arms Road only something like two and an half hours after leaving it.

    Aft views of Turton and Entwistle Reservoir

    Aft views of Turton and Entwistle Reservoir

    This had been a lovely walk out into territory that I wouldn’t normally have visited. The walk did serve its’ purpose as an eye-opener in terms of the terrain that I’ll be facing when doing the A.A. next February. I have to say that my joints and muscles did take a bit of a pounding during the traversal of Turton Heights – some gymn work will probably help with suppleness / recovery, my back hasn’t felt quite this bad since I had to pull out of doing the Great End walk last year. All the same it would be very nice to go back and next time tick off the twin summits of Turton Heights and Cheetham Close and now I know where the good parking spots are! We walked something like 5.7 miles and could have only ascended about four hundred feet.

    Winter Hill and its' ironwork again above Charter Moss Plantation.

    Winter Hill and its’ ironwork again above Charter Moss Plantation.

    The Song of the walk – What with me and Karl chattering on? You must be kidding!


    Fells, Hills and Mountains The Training Regime Turton Walk Walking Walking for fitness

  • Rambling around Rivington

    Posted on 23rd February 2015 2:28 pm by Mark Wild

    The walk with Southport Ramblers on 22nd February, 2015

    Sometimes you just have to ‘step it up’! A couple of weeks ago whilst waiting for the bus to take us to Saint Asaph I happened to be made aware that quite soon the Southport Ramblers group would be going to Rivington for a day’s walk. As this is one of my favourite areas I was obviously interested and booked a place on the coach at the first chance. In the interim the only other walking that I had done was my Darwen Moor and Coastal Road walks which as it would later turn out, would stand me in good stead.

    We arrived at the lower Rivington Café (I don’t want to confuse things by referring to Great Hall, Upper and lower halls etc) at around 10:00 and had a cup of coffee before heading off across the road and up the lane which leads to the main car park and the building to which people refer to as “The Barn” – this is where the bikers hang around on Sundays and Bank Holidays but for some reason it was somewhat devoid of Bikers today. From here the ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ walks all split off in other directions, I don’t know where the ‘C’s were going (must find out) the ‘A’s were off to Rivington Pike and we headed back down the lane, over the road and towards first the Lower Rivington Reservoir and then the Upper Rivington Reservoir – both of which were quite stunning to look at and I do wish that we’d had time to take some photographs. It has to be said that we did keep a fair old pace going, I resolved to stay as close as possible to the front of the pack – sixteen of us. I always admit to being something of a slow-set-off kind of person, it’s usually a good mile or even two into any walk before I pick up any kind of pace, however, given that on Saturday I posted my entry form for next Winter’s Anglezarke Amble, then now would be an ideal time to get fitter and less of a slow-starter. So I knuckled under, told my shins that any splints would just have to wait and carried on at this good pace which must easily have been three miles an hour.

    By the side of the reservoirs the weather, whilst not exactly tropical felt slightly warmer than the seasonal average and humidity was definitely on the higher side – we’d felt the odd tiny snow flurry at the barn, but there was more to come…I wondered how the ‘A’s would get on en route to Winter Hill via Crooked Edge Hill as it can be a bit hazardous without snow let alone with it. The walk was turning into a really pleasant day out – we took a wrong turn and had to retrace our steps (I’ve only pointed this out because it’s something that I do every so often and usually pay the price much later when I am confronted by impassable gullies and the likes), no harm no foul, we were soon passing the far side of the hidden-from-view Yarrow Reservoir. Round a gate and the snow switch was turned onto full. It was really quite scenic but the wind that accompanied it was ferocious, which was a bit of a shame really as this area was all-new to most of us…maybe I’ll return when there is more of a chance of calmer weather – just to see what can be seen.

    We now began to climb at a much more noticeable rate and it was oddly enjoyable, something to get one’s walking teeth into (insert better metaphor here)! Parts of the landscape were obviously former quarries (quarrys?) as we were now striding out through a pair of Bulloughs (Parson’s – Wilkinson’s) and into the area known as Simms, which, if memory serves me right; expands over to Great Hill in a northerly direction but we were heading west…into the snow and wind. Edit: Actually that is ‘Pimms’ which is north east of Great Hill. John had mentioned a need for us to stop en route to have lunch – even though to stop anywhere would be to start to lose body heat quite quickly in this snow gale, to go without fuel would be stupid…it’s the sort of stupid thing that I have done previously and paid for in terms of performance and hydration. Good call John. Individually we found parts of walls to site behind which would keep most of the gale off us…for me this mean kneeling down, which then meant my overly tight gaiter’s gaining one more step towards total freedom from my legs – I need to find wider gaiters…or lose weight from my calves. We spent no more than fifteen minutes eating our lunches, this was my first time out with my new half litre flask and pouring the drink in this wind was an exercise in pouring coffee on one’s legs- the flask needed to be nearer the cup!

    Lunch over; we set off back on the path once more, however at this point the path gave up all pretence of being anything other than terrain where others have trod; and as we began to ascend towards Will Narr – the reputation of the area was justified. This was now an exercise in walking through typical Pennine moorland – wet, slippery and… well do we need another hazard? It was here that we met with the ‘A’ group who had been blown and skidded down the north face of Winter Hill – I’ve had experience of coming down the track that they had taken – it’s a bit hair raising in dry weather, in snow it must have been treacherous! We spent a couple of moments chatting, they had done most of their hard work now and would return the way that we had left. Our route would now be a gentle slide down the last few feet of Spitlers Edge then a walk down Belmont Road/Rivington Road/Lane! The friends of the River Yarrow have a commemorative plague here to mark the beginning of the River Yarrow, in all honesty it’s not a big thing, today with the snow and the wind, we passed by it with barely a second thought, not even a photo.

    Rivington Road/Lane/Whatever it’s called, proved to be at one and the same time a brief method of getting from A to B and an exercise in road safety as quite a number of cars passed by at a much reduced speed than one would normally be passed on this road in Summer for example. We next exited the road to go across country, passing down an area which at one time or another must also have been a quarry and emerging at the other side of this little ravine no more than an hundred or so yards down the road – most rambling routes seem to take as much of an avoidance of roads as is possible (unlike my routes which rely on roads to avoid getting lost!).

    At times the mighty Winter hill loomed in and out of view. The distant trees I had spotted what seemed like miles ago suddenly got a lot bigger and we headed off along a snow bound pasture to what I will refer to as ‘Stile World’. Both of the stiles were quite big it has to be said, one practically impaled one of my fellow walkers in an highly uncomfortable way! Although by this time we were not at the end we where at least on the run up to the end of the walk as our surroundings suddenly got a lot more familiar – even though I have not walked much in this vicinity I have peered over at it from the Belmont track and from Noon Hill, we were just south of Catter Nab. Finally (for some) at the joining of paths with roads, near the car park at Hall Lane; four of our number opted to take the route back down to the barn – we’d had a casualty, given the underfoot conditions it’s a miracle that we didn’t have more, and we waited a few moments whilst John got them to the path which leads down to the side of the barn.

    Once reunited with our leader, we set off for the Japanese Gardens via the stony path (although not as stony as the path that for a time runs near parallel to it) which heads south towards the Dovecote or Pigeon Tower. Before getting to the tower we would take a right hand turn and take the muddy path around the small lake that Lord Leverhulme had Thomas Mawson design close to one hundred years ago. Now we were on the home-ward stretch, we took a winding path – which I’ve never considered using prior to this walk, that quite rapidly dropped us down to the lane but not before passing through a Pinateum (apparently this is like an Arboretum but mainly filled with Pine trees and conifers) which was a nice end to the walk. We arrived back at the coach not much after two o’clock having done something in the region of 8.4 miles and roughly 1,000 feet (not recorded by any instrument of mine as I still have none!).

    In conclusion, I’ve done harder walks – Great Gable, the Sca fells and it has to be said – once up the Barley steps to Pendle is a bloomin’ hard walk, but I’ve also done easier walks: last week’s Coastal Walk aside from the distance has little in the way of challenges – other than not being run over by cars crossing the roads or cyclists – being cyclists! I’m very glad to have stepped up from being a ‘C’ walker to a ‘B’ walker and feel that the decision was made at the right time if I am to successfully complete the A.A. next year in under ten hours. It was a great walk in many ways – the scenery given a snow coating was breathtaking (or maybe that was just the wind!) and I must return in Summer to see what it looks like without snow in my eyes. All in all, a good Ramble.

    Next time out for me with the Ramblers will see my return to the lovely village of Chipping on the border of Bleasdale – home to Parlick and Fair Snape Fell…hmmm? My next journey out walking however, should see another return…to Cadshaw where myself and Karl will familiarise ourselves with another section of the A.A. route – the ascension of the notoriously soggy Tutron Heights and a loop of the Turton and Entwistle Reservoir.

    Walks this year: Five
    Mileage: 56.1 (not including walking to and from the bus stops everyday)

    Some pictures of the day:

    Our Route Around Rivington

    Our Route Around Rivington

    Parson's or Wilkinson Bullough (Somebody's Bullough anyway).

    Parson’s or Wilkinson Bullough (Somebody’s Bullough anyway).

    Hmmm now where to sit?

    Hmmm now where to sit?

    The beautiful and roomy Café Hempshaws (Higher or Lower?) where we stopped for lunch...and frostbite!

    The beautiful and roomy Café Hempshaws (Higher or Lower?) where we stopped for lunch…and frostbite!

    The path that will eventually lead us to Will Narr.

    The path that will eventually lead us to Will Narr.

    A distant Spitlers Edge comes into view.

    A distant Spitlers Edge comes into view.

    Not really a misty day...except for in my camera's lens.

    Not really a misty day…except for in my camera’s lens.

    There's something reassuring about the site of the woods coming into view at Moses Cocker

    There’s something reassuring about the site of the woods coming into view at Moses Cocker

    More Moors

    More Moors

    Spitlers and Redmonds Edges in the background and one of about six close-together stiles in the foreground.

    Spitlers and Redmonds Edges in the background and one of about six close-together stiles in the foreground.

    Something tells me we might have a forest here in about fifty years...damn, I'll just miss that coming to fruition!

    Something tells me we might have a forest here in about fifty years…damn, I’ll just miss that coming to fruition!

    The area just south of Catter Nab is well walked but hardly ever written about.

    The area just south of Catter Nab is well walked but hardly ever written about.

    More scenic views from the area just south of Catter Nab

    More scenic views from the area just south of Catter Nab

    Song of the walk: The Saturdays – Missing


    Fells, Hills and Mountains The Training Regime Walking for fitness

  • Just Ambling along…

    Posted on 3rd February 2015 11:46 am by Mark Wild

    The Walk of Saturday 31st of January, 2015

    As I have announced in a previous post (about two weeks ago if not later) I have declared my intention to participate in next year’s Anglezarke Amble – at winter (well it’s normally the first or second week of February). Today’s walk would serve as my introduction to some of the route. It had been my original intention to start from the bottom of the descent off Winter Hill and go all the way over to Turton and Entwistle reservoir, over to Darwen Hill then back along Catherine Edge again to the finish point. Common-sense prevailed as for an introductory / familiarisation walk – the route I’ve just described is a long walk over extremely spongy terrain. My good friend and walking buddy Karl delivered a much more manageable but still challenging route that would start at a lay-by on the A666 and go a full circle around Turton and Darwen Moors taking in the ubiquitous Darwen Jubilee Tower to boot. Here is how the day panned out:

    I dropped my partner off at her works at 07:50 and my next task was to fuel up the car as it had something like one tenth of a tank’s worth of petrol. Problem number one was the key seemed to have jammed in the filler lock and it was after many slight twists before I could open up the filler. I could see where this might go…I wouldn’t be able to get the filler lock back in-situ and thus bought one of those emergency ones from the petrol station. This added ten minutes on to the time of the journey down to Darwen, but before this I would run into a road closure outside Heath Charnock, where I normally would go left for Adlington/Anderton I had to stay on the A6 all the way down to Blackrod before making my way back to the western edge of Horwich and onto the B226. Minor detours over I was afforded fleeting white views of the surrounding moorland as I drove over the tops past Wilderswood etc en route to the A58’s junction with the A666 and from there it was only fifteen minutes or so before I was at Karl’s to pick up Karl and Anne who would be joining us for half of the walk.

    How’s that for a nice path?

    How’s that for a nice path?

    Hard to miss…the Jubilee Tower atop Darwen Hill

    Hard to miss…the Jubilee Tower atop Darwen Hill

    We parked near Cadshaw Farm and immediately crossed the road – the A666 is dangerous for long stretches so we wanted to be on a pavement side – ironically enough this would then mean crossing the road again to get us back to the beginning of the ascent from Cadshaw to Smith’s Height. At Smith’s Height the path takes a decidedly westerly track along one of many stretches of the LDP known as “The Witton Weavers Way”. We passed through Top O’th Brow (there are many Top O’th Brows in and around Bolton) and saw a group of Ramblers as we neared Green Lowe. I was intending taking a photo but every so often a biting wind talked me out of it…photography would wait until the summit and the lowlands. Near Turn Lowe we changed direction as the LDP dropped down the side of the hill and we took the gently undulating but very muddy path to the north then east then north and then west…and then north to Darwen Hill.

     

    The borough of Darwen with Longridge doing its' Howgills impression!

    The borough of Darwen with Longridge doing its’ Howgills impression!

    Darwen Tower is one of those prominent landmarks which are instantly spotted from within it’s own environ. Yet it is staggering that on our route we were almost on top of it before clapping eyes on the monolith and as for that wind…It was no surprise to me, this being my fourth time up this hill, just how the wind can howl around this site. After making quite good progress across the moor and up the hill we then spent not much time at all eating our lunch and drinking (soup for Karl and Anne but water for me) before hitting the track once more. We took the northern track which swings southwards and made very brief progress downhill all the way (and crossing the road) to what will be one of the checkpoints for the Anglezarke Amble (event) at Slipper Lowe (aren’t the names around here just fantastic?). At this point we had to part ways with the Anglezarke Amble (event) path in order to cross the road again and head off uphill in order to get onboard the express walker’s highway of Catherine Edge.

    You can’t be a walker in this area without traversing Catherine Edge – it’s the A6 of all walking routes and seems to touch every main path along the great divide…the A675/Belmont Road which splits Withnell and Wheelton Moors on the one side and Darwen and Turton Moors on the other side – I may be guilty of over playing Catherine Edge’s part in the scheme of things, it’s a nice path which rather gently leads one up a gradient as opposed to some of the more “in your face” kind of paths in this area like the two northern ones up Winter Hill.

    Aft views of people enjoying the weather at Cartridge Hill

    Aft views of people enjoying the weather at Cartridge Hill

    Remember last month/year when on a Pendle walk I lost a watch? This time out; its’ replacement fell off my wrist whilst I was putting my backpack on. As the bracelet was one of those expanding hair-pulling ones it must have taken some force from me to involuntarily yank it off my wrist, pull the pin out which holds the bracelet to the crown case … the poor watch hit the deck, I gathered up the watch and the pin that had shot out and we carried on regardless as it seemed to be working (the watch). However a mile or two further down Catherine Edge – I said it was a major path, Karl asked me the time and I couldn’t answer as the poor watch was still saying five past one! We walked along the edge some more and gained some more gradual height – Catherine Edge is really long! We passed some families sledging down the lower slopes of Cartridge Hill – this was an activity that I didn’t think happened any more, really heart-warming, family fun – I didn’t want to get a camera out and ruin it. And finally our route split from the Witton Weavers Way as it snaked south east and our route took a north east leaning to Moorside – a more appropriate name you will never find! Inadvertently we walked right past our turn off – but that’s what walkers do…especially me and Karl. Karl indicated where the path that the walkers (on the day) will have taken across the moors passing Greenhill Farm, Lower and Higher Whittaker’s – if my maths serves me right it should only be a forty metres climb before turning onto the track that we were now on. Back to today and now we were essentially out of path and needed to hop over a barb wire fence. Karl being two to three inches taller than me went first, almost gazelle like! I, on the other hand set about it with all the finesse of a goat, a goat that’s been introduced to alcohol! Luckily enough the farmer had been using this field as a tip and I spied a bucket with which I could abridge the fence…even so it was a bit close to tender areas for comfort…bloomin’ maps!

    Once over the fence we weaved our way through this wet paddock and before long noticed that there was a dry path running almost parallel to it in the next field along, this was not on our route but it did strike us as kind of dumb that the route planners had elected to send us through this quagmire as opposed to that neat little carpeted promenade – ah well! I also noted with some dread that the land seemed to drop out of sight at the threshold…a very near threshold. And after a few hundred yards we came upon the reason why – a river. Of course the word river would be a very generous description for this body of water. It is only now days later that I have come to discover that this body of water is the confluence of the Holden’s Brook and Stones Bank Brook which go on to form…an inlet to the Delph Reservoir…it’s hard not to feel a little bit disappointed, if this had been the source of the river Darwen or something more impressive…. We carefully dropped down the side of the hill next to something like a fifteen to twenty feet drop into the stream/river/water and then crossed one of the single most rickety bridges that I’ve ever seen. Seriously, just the act of leaning anywhere on this bridge would be an extreme hobby!

    The other side of the bridge featured a lovely steep slope up to the area in-between Owshaw Clough and well not much else. The terrain had evened out albeit it was now equally muddy wherever one stood. The droning of the A666’s traffic grew louder and I was relieved when Karl confirmed that the conifer wood on our right hand side according to his knowledge and the map was Charter Moss Plantation – right next to the A666 and within about three quarters of a mile (perhaps less) from the car. There’s something very reassuring in the proof that you’re not lost and that the car is not far away – even though on the day of the walk my arrival at this locale will only signify that I have a hell of a long way to go yet.

    We were back to the car by around ten passed three and back at Karl’s house a few moments later than that. My super-dooper Bluetooth footstep logger informs me that we’d walked around thirteen and an half miles…I’m not so sure we’d gone that far, earlier calculations from Karl which included the loop of Turton and Entwistle reservoir and Turton Heights came in at 12 miles so I think we could estimate that we had walked (ploughed!) something like ten and a quarter miles over about 1,900 feet in five and a quarter hours (or thereabouts), a good performance and it would be easier to improve upon as I won’t be making the mistake of walking passed the turn-off point to get to Charter’s Moss Plantation – I’d already seen the turn-off featured on a “You Tube” video of The Great Galleymo which would save me about fifteen minutes. I can see myself completing the entire route in about ten hours if on my own or nine if accompanied…certainly not the eight that it took the afore mentioned Mr Galleymore.

    Summary
    At times I did think to myself ‘In to what have I dived head first, here?’. The walk up to Darwen Tower is a long one, but not that bad compared with others that I have done, even quite recently – Pendle’s Barley Steps route of New Year’s Eve are considerably more exhausting to mention nothing of Great Gable and Sca Fell for height and the soggyness of Cross Fell’s shoulders…I am up to doing the route. That being said, a lot more practice in this type of area needs to be done if I am not to finish embarrassingly late on the day of the event. To split the route down into sections and tackle these one at a time and sometimes twice, is a wise idea. I don’t think that the event route takes in the summit of Turton Heights…but as a West Pennine it is on my ‘to-do’ list and as such is set to be my next outing in a couple of weeks, I hope to park at the same place (and be accompanied by Karl – he’s good company) walk down the road to Turton Heights then take in the hill and return via the reservoir route which should finish opposite where our route today started.

    A special note has to be added here in praise of Darwen Hill and its’ surrounding countryside – it’s stunningly beautiful when there has been a bit of snowfall, I had expected charming scenes but these were almost exaggerated. I liked this route so much that I will do it again – the whole thing aside from having to do most of it next Winter…

    Some pictures from the day:

    The joining or parting of the Edges Spitlers and Redmonds

    The joining or parting of the Edges Spitlers and Redmonds

    Karl spies the bench upon which he can sit and have some soup.

    Karl spies the bench upon which he can sit and have some soup.

    The legendary Catherine Edge and you thought that was a person.

    The legendary Catherine Edge and you thought that was a person.

    The summit plateau of Darwen Moor, a bleak but impressive place.

    The summit plateau of Darwen Moor, a bleak but impressive place.

    Winter Hill and Redmonds Edge

    Winter Hill and Redmonds Edge

    Song of the walk: Idina Menzel – Let it go


    Anglezarke Amble Charity Events Fells, Hills and Mountains The Training Regime Walking Walking for fitness

  • Gearing up for the A.A.

    Posted on 22nd January 2015 3:53 pm by Mark Wild

    That’s the Anglezarke Amble!

    I am giving serious thought to doing the Long Distance Path known as the Anglezarke Amble – 20 miles around Rivington and Turton Moor, next year. It’s a lovely looking route – will I say that after I’ve attempted it? Although there is a one-day event to do the Anglezarke Amble on February 14th this year – that’s not an ideal date for me to go and get covered in mud and freezing cold.

    So I am going about this sensibly and will split my training for this into three stages. Firstly will be the stage from the bottom of Winter Hill – the A675 at Belmont over and around Longworth Moor up to and around the Turton and Entwistle reservoir, across Turton Moor then up to Darwen Hill and back along the southern slopes of Longworth Moor across Catherine Edge.

    Sounds easy doesn’t it? That’s well over a thousand feet of climbing. When I do the full course this is essentially the ‘middle’ section in between ascending Rivington Pike>Two Lads and Winter Hill and the long haul back climbing over Great Hill to White Coppice, passing Anglezarke reservoir and back uphill to Rivington Barn.

    As I am not in the least bit familiar with the area – remember I got lost on Turton golf coarse trying to find Cheetham Close, then it makes sense to have someone with me to stop me going off route – step forward Karl. I haven’t put the idea of the doing the whole route to him yet (so shhhh!) but as I haven’t seen him since tumbling down Great Gable it will be great to catch up.

    For more information see the LDWA’s website here: http://www.ldwa.org.uk/ldp/members/show_path.php?path_name=Anglezarke+Amble {opens in new browser tab}


    Anglezarke Amble Challenge Walks Charity Events The Training Regime Walking

  • The Coastal Stretch – DONE!

    Posted on 31st March 2014 9:55 am by Mark Wild

    Readers of this blog will recall that last year – some 50 weeks ago, I attempted the gigantic but flat walk along Southport’s Coastal Road starting at Woodvale and all the way to Banks. Last year the pain in my feet was so great – owing to a bad decision to wear walking boots, that I had to bail out at Marshside and regretted it for the rest of the year.

    The start of the Coastal Road

    The start of the Coastal Road

    The end of the Coastal Road

    The end of the Coastal Road

    This year I am very pleased to announce that I have now completed the entire route of 17+ miles yesterday – Sunday the 30th of March, 2014. The description of the walk is pretty much the same as for last year save for one minor venture on to the seafront, “sandy” path for a couple of hundred ‘wonky’ yards – even drying out sand is a bit of a nightmare upon which to walk. The weather was beautiful – blue skies, somewhat hazy. It was fantastic to see so many people out and about cycling and in the town centres – I don’t recall seeing any other walkers but then this route is not a popular route for walkers. The coastal road was not the usual cycling danger-zone (unlike last year) and I had no near-misses.

    The Snake-stick

    The Snake-stick

    Donkey

    Donkey

    The entire journey took 6.5 hours with something like five and an half hours of this actual walking time – the rest was either sitting down with burning toes or visiting shops to buy more refreshments. The oddest thing which I saw on the day way a snake-stick! As for wild life there was one rabbit, two donkeys, too many geese, magpies, crows, one swan, some wading and coastal birds of which I do not know the names and sadly – no alpaca at Marshside.

    The final stretch after leaving Marine Drive and buying yet more drinks at the BP service station was where the agony of too many blisters in one locale kicked in and after roughly one more mile, opposite the Spar on Preston New Road I decided to wait for the number 42 bus to cut out the next .85 miles. So in essence I didn’t walk the complete 20 miles circuit which I had mapped out beforehand – however I have now completed this wonderful stretch of road and the Marshside Coastal path cutting through the golf links and some marshes. This has been the longest that I have ever walked and although I do hope to even build upon this distance, there is a small amount of glory basking to be done in the interim! For now here are some more of the day’s pictures:

    Where's the "Plough" pub?

    Where’s the “Plough” pub?

     

    Our golden sands have gone rather green!

    Our golden sands have gone rather green!

    Donkey 2

    Donkey 2

    Go, go the Lightning tree...

    Go, go the Lightning tree…

    The petrified owl!

    The petrified owl!


    The Training Regime Walking Walking for fitness

  • The 2019 Anglezarke Amble

    Mud, mud, glorious mud, and hail, sleet and snow, and RAIN!9th February 2019
    The big day is here. I'm on the Amble!!!

  • Boots on (mostly) walks so far this year

    • Count :=5
    • Miles:= 348.6

  • My Facebook page

    My Facebook page

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Meta

  • KM>Miles

    Kilometres to Miles (Celsius) Converter – (JavaScript)
    Kilometres

    Miles

  • feet>Metres


    Length Converter
    Type a value in the Feet field to convert the value to Meters:

    Meters:

  • Blog Stats

    • 22,409 hits
  • July 2020
    S M T W T F S
    « May    
     1234
    567891011
    12131415161718
    19202122232425
    262728293031  

  • A big walk, September 15th

    Return15th September 2018
    The big day is here, if it's after Seven a.m and before six p.m. I'm doing the Yorkshire Three Peaks - SOLO!

  • Archives