The FastDay Forum

At last I start on "Walking in the North Pennines" by Paddy Dillon

14/05/15. Brampton, Gelt and Talkin. 9.5 miles. The author and I got off to a bad start, as the walk commences in Brampton. When I got there at 9.15 I found parking hell. There is a free car park but poorly signed, ie not from the road I came in on, and was chocka, as was the town centre, which had 2 hour disc zone anyway. So I drove back to Talkin Tarn which has acres of parking for £2 all day, loos and 2 tea shops.

Then I struggled to find the start of the footpath from Talkin Tarn from the directions, or rather lack thereof. It is signposted from the perimeter fence but not the lake shore. For future ref: head away from tarn at tea shop, pass the loos, turn right at the fence until you reach the finger post. After that it was plain sailing. There is some lovely woodland owned by woodlands.co.uk where they actually encourage you to use their paths which are not rights of way, unlike the grudging attitude of many landowners who string barbed wire by the footpath and plaster gates with private signs. I hurried through Brampton and failed to spot any cafes, but then it was crowded (sorry, "vibrant"!). Soon out of town, desperate dash over the A69, then had the river Gelt to myself.

When I reached the Middle Gelt bridge, I rebelled against the author's suggestion of a road walk to Talkin village, and carried on up to High Gelt Bridge and to Talkin by a good, if not highly used footpath, through a farm and pastures.

I recommend missing out Brampton altogether (unless you live there ). Another beef I have with the author, he is one of these public transport enthusiasts who tell you about buses to places (which have probably been axed since first publication) but will not advise on best places to park. This may be a,problem further from home (but see next walk).

Haven't read back on the thread, just wanting to report that I am walking. And walking and walking. It is so cool! We are in a wee house right at the foot of the Ochil Hills and they are GLORIOUS! The gorse is out, there are trees and it is spectacularly beautiful. Even walking along the High Street is a joy.
We have bought a wee book of local walks and will embark on them after the work tour as part of settling back in. So looking forward to reacquainting myself with the area and beyond and introducing Beloved to it.
Surprised at the step count of an ordinary day doing messages and the likes- easily hitting the 10000 + !
Happy walking and rambling people

15/05/15 Cold Fell and Hallbankgate 7 miles (I availed myself of the opportunity to avoid nearly 2 miles of road walking by parking at the RSPB car park). A day of white cloud with sunny periods with a breeze. This is the first walk in the book where you abandon tracks and venture forth on the unbounded moor, Heather turf, steering by walls and fences. Squishy underfoot. A good walk but I find the author too laconic in his directions. I came across a fence I was not expecting on the descent. Was it put there after 2009, the date the book was last revised? I turned right with it and later discovered I should have crossed it to meet the track to take me back to the start. I had to climb over the fence and descend steeply instead. A nice introduction to the wilderness, on the whole.

21/05/15. Castle Carrock and Geltsdale, 13.5 miles. I decided to start this one from Newbiggin, not Castle Carrock. The walk between the 2 villages is nice but fiddly, with lots of navigation on farm tracks, through fields, with many gates to open and shut. After many straightforward miles on moorland paths I find this kind of thing irritating at the end of the walk. It was a slightly overcast day and the walk up Geltsdale was a matter of slithering and squelching on. Three delightful moments: I approached a farmyard whilst they were in the midst of processing a lot of sheep and prepared to wait while they finished, but they ushered me through very politely; when I reached New Water almost at the head of the valley there was a new mother-beautiful wooden footbridge (2011 according to the Cicerone website updates) which was fortunate indeed as fording the river looked hazardous to me; and after I had mentally prepared myself for a long haul out of the valley the path turned right into a wide gap through which I could see the Eden Valley and Northern Lakeland Fells. A bit too hazy to be perfect, but very welcome!

23/05/15. Croglin, Newbiggin and Croglin Fell. 10 miles.

A bright morning and early start. Part of the route I had already done, in reverse, on the previous walk, so after crossing the New New Water bridge and heading down Geltsdale for a while, I had to turn right to follow New Water upstream until I could cross it. I did so as soon as I safely could, which I don't think is where the author meant but he is so vague! Then make my own way across the Heather slopes up the fell, which for me involved a lot of bearing left. Then got very cross with the author again. He mentioned a track and a trig point, why could he not have said "follow the shooters track with shooting butts on the left as it winds gently uphill and eventually you will see a broken wall to the left, with the trig point on a mound behind. Ignore a track to the right and follow the track leftward through a gap in the wall. To visit the trig point, follow a grassy track on the left. Then return to this point and continue onwards. At the next fork, take the track on the right". Then I would not have taken the wrong track down the fell, which admittedly brought me down only a few hundred yards away from the walled lane I was expecting to be following.

24/05/15. Barnard Castle and the Tees 8 miles. And now for something completely different. A figure of 8 loop which returned to Barnard Castle in the middle so we could have a proper coffee stop. Very pretty, and the sun came out later on. Woodland, riverside and meadows. I was expecting carpets of bluebells, but got carpets of wild garlic, pink campion and forget-me-not instead.

26/05/15 Tees Railway Walk 6.5 miles.
From Middleton-in-Teesdale to Cotherstone along a dismantled railway track. First the good news. There is a free long stay car park in the form of ex-school premises, just above the County Bridge to the right. Which the author did not mention. And there is a bus service between Barnard Castle and Middleton-in-Teesdale (not Sundays) which he did. The walk was very straightforward once the railway track was found. I started in bright sunshine and it got a little cloudy, so I decided to catch the bus and forgo the option to return by the Teesdale trail, which in any case features in another walk. Time saved was spent scoping out the Bowlees visitor centre, the Cow Green Reservoir car park and driving home via Alston rather than Brough to get an idea of exactly where Nenthead and Stanhope were.

Hi @Barbarita I'm planning to come up to Lancs over the summer, no dates set yet, but it would be great to arrange a hike hook up with you! PS treat me gently

Lizbean wrote: Hi @Barbarita I'm planning to come up to Lancs over the summer, no dates set yet, but it would be great to arrange a hike hook up with you! PS treat me gently

That would be great @lizbean! Go a bit easy on the cake at the London meet up then

Well, after the 26th of May the weather got wetter and more significantly, windier. So a few walks, but no rambles, until I went on my hols to Shropshire last week. Excellent weather from Sunday to Friday, although very windy on our arrival on Saturday. There was a mountain bike challenge going on and Cardingmill Valley was crowded with marshals, supporters and competitors, as well as many families picniicking by their cars.

07/06/15. The Pike, 4 miles. My favourite short walk from Church Stretton. I left the house before 8, dropped from the Burway to Cardingmill Valley, which was almost deserted, did a short heave up The Pike, skirted the golf course and descended a slope which I now know is called Flinnage, to Batch Valley. For my money this is one of the most beautiful places in England. Went down the valley and then returned from All Stretton through fields and woods running parallel to the road.

Later the same day, 8.3 miles 1510' ascent walk from the Clun and Borders book, called 'A hilly hike to Offa's Dyke'. Except I didn't get to Offa's Dyke as that was the 12 mile version, and the OH said that even he could not amuse himself for the requisite 5-6 hours it would take me to do it. Even though it started from Bishop' s Castle and he spends hours in the second-hand book/CD shop with his fine tooth comb.

08/06/15. Clun and Borders walk 10A, 'Woodland Paths and the Village of Clunton', 11.3 miles, 2270'

Another warm, sunny day and this walk featured green lanes, pastures and woodlands. Masses of wildflowers. The last part of the walk was through forestry and a lot of felling had taken place so it was difficult to reconcile the mess on the ground with the tracks shown on the map. I am bemused that you can ascend over 2200' in the course of a walk and not get to pat a cairn or trig point on the top of its head. Hilly and beautiful 360 degrees.

09/06/15. Much Wenlock to Church Stretton along the Jack Mytton Way, 15 miles approx (by pedometer). Last year I did the classic route along Wenlock Edge to Craven Arms. Having very much enjoyed the northern section, and not so much the last stretch past the tower and down to Craven Arms, I decided to treat myself by peeling off to Church Stretton where the Jack Mytton Way leaves it. This turned out to be another sunken mudslide, but I made up the time as there is a lot of road walking after it. It is not until you descend from the Edge that you appreciate that you were quite high up.

My main impression this time was of the vast areas of dense wild garlic in the woods near Much Wenlock, solid white and fortunately I do like the smell.

Wow @Barbarita you're fair clocking up the miles!
I'm awandering around the local area doing little explores in between decorating and gardening. managing to clock up outdoor time which is goooooooood.

10/06/15. The Owlets and Ragleth 5 miles. My second favourite walk from Church Stretton, again completed early on a sunny morning. Through woods and fields above the Ludlow Road to Little Stretton, over the A49, then a steady heave up to the South pole on Ragleth Hill. A nice little ridge walks with great views over to the Welsh hills and Longmynd one way, and the Clees, Wenlock Edge, Caer Caradoc and the Wrekin the other. Back down through woods and fields and cross the A49 again.

Spent the rest of the day visiting National Trust properties with OH. We strolled around the Pool Walk at Berrington Hall (2.5 miles), and I did the Croft Ambey walk at Croft Castle (3 miles).

11/06/15. 11.4 miles, 1700' ascent. Clun and Borders walk 12A 'A walk with King Off a and Mad Jack', mad Jack being Jack Mytton again. I actually saw a trig point on this walk, but as the authors point out it is not on a public right of way so I did not go over and pat it on the head - top of Llanfair Hill. One thing I did not like was leaving the Jack Mytton Bridleway, which carried on to a road junction which is on the route, to go down a valley to Brook cottage. Because (a) wasteful loss of height which had to be regained by trudging up a road. (b) lots of cattle and a bull in a very long field with barbed wire along the hedge. (c) I had done this path in the other direction on walk 7A last year. As the cottage does not serve coffee or tea what is the point of including it in 2 walks when alternatives are available?

I've done some hiking around Church Stretton, barbarita. It's really nice there.

I've not done much hiking at all since leaving lovely Sheffield on the edge of the Peak District. I hike a bit in Okinawa, but my fear of snakes and spiders (and the heat and humidity) limit the number of months good for hiking here. And there aren't good maps. Anyway, I was at a conference in Big Sky, and got a few small hikes in there. I'd love to go back and do some proper full day hikes. Beehive Basin is meant to be awesome during wildflower season (about 2 weeks from now).

MaryAnn wrote: I've done some hiking around Church Stretton, barbarita. It's really nice there.

I've not done much hiking at all since leaving lovely Sheffield on the edge of the Peak District. I hike a bit in Okinawa, but my fear of snakes and spiders (and the heat and humidity) limit the number of months good for hiking here. And there aren't good maps. Anyway, I was at a conference in Big Sky, and got a few small hikes in there. I'd love to go back and do some proper full day hikes. Beehive Basin is meant to be awesome during wildflower season (about 2 weeks from now).

I have scarcely set foot in the Peak District @maryann so except for cycling through it in the eighties it is terra incognita.

It must be frustrating not to be able to get out for walks, but I wouldn't enjoy humid either. I am curious about hiking and Japan. Do the Japanese do it, or is it an activity for eccentric foreigners? Are there guide books or leaflets available in Japanese, or might I have to wait for the Cicerone Guide to 30 walks on Mount Fuji? ( but if someone wrote it I might buy it, I have the one for trekking near Everest and I will never do that).