More chips please, 24 November 2013

Although we'd had a calmer night's rest, it wasn't really looking like walking weather so we headed over the wall, figuratively speaking, and into the old abbey with free tickets from the hostel.  But there was an icy blast blowing up the cliff this morning, so we didn't tarry too long before getting into our respective vehicles for other historical delights.

Helmsley furnished a mediocre and overpriced lunch (yes, they couldn't get the chips right, again - what is Yorkshire coming to?), but it had a rather good pile of stones which turned out to be the holiday overflow to Belvoir Castle.  The rain stayed in the distance just long enough to provide a fine rainbow over the keep, and we could hardly have asked for more than that now, could we?

Vlad Dracul vs. Robin Hood, 23 November 2013

Having been woken by two groups of rowdy drunkards in the early hours, it wasn't the most promising start to the day, even if this weekend's HQ was the only hostel with a stained-glass clerestory we'd ever come across.  

But off on cliff path we went, and we were soon strolling past fine-looking horses, fog-horns which could compete even with some of us on a Saturday night, and only a few mud-spattered walkers coming the other way.

Having left Dracula's haunt behind us in Whitby, we were soon enough in Robin Hood's Bay, for tea and cakes and a bus back to base - where the rabble-rousers had been turfed-out and all was well with the world..  

The Wreck of the Demeter

Pottering About, 7 September 2013

Over Glenfinnan Viaduct, as featured on at least one Scottish banknote and also in that bloomin' movie.  

The Jacobite Express furnished us with a ride on a proper steam train, which took us up to Mallaig for chips by the harbour. Steam, smoke, Irn-Bru and rainbows...

Multiple Choice Highland Flings, 6 September 2013

After a long week of exploring, it was a day of many options, so one group went for a short but scenic walk around Glen Nevis, another team scaled the nominatively-titular Pap of Glencoe, and one solitary snapper explored the Glencoe Lochan, landscaped to look like a bit of Canada.

Another contribution from the pap-arazzi

Surf's up, 5 September 2013

With all those tired legs, today was a recovery day in Glenfinnan, including lunch in an old railway carriage and a long leisurely cruise - with barely any waves at all, to be honest - on the freshwater Loch Shiel.

Big Ben, 4 September 2013

Summit day, or rather double summit day for some of us!  The main group headed up the Ben Nevis tourist track, while three of us scaled the ridge.  Up on Carn Mor Dearg, we actually had a view, and a rather splendid one it was too - worth all the planning.  Of course, there was a cloud covering the top of the ben itself by the time we got to it, but no change there!

There were some very tired people on the way back down, but we all made it safely back to base having rendezvoused on the hill.  An exciting day out and, oddly, for those of us who did the adventurous route one of the easiest ascents of Ben Nevis that we could remember, although that may just be because we had plenty of variety and weren't getting bored on the pony track.

Back to the hostel for very hot showers and very malty Scottish ales to follow.

Wafting Not Distilling, 3 September 2013

Sitting in Oban, a surfeit of islands meets the eye - these will all need exploring, sooner or later, but that's for another expedition.

Today's more modest fells and bens were covered in tarmac, and led to a distillery, where a rather formulaic (we're such awful whisky snobs) commenced.  

Home via Castle Aaargh (Stalker Castle, officially, but we all know better now, don't we?).

Wet weather testing, 2 September 2013

Glencoe sees a lot of rain, and it was falling in big sloppy buckets this morning, but we were in training for Munros so off we set up the A82 to explore a hidden valley.  The low cloud meant that everything was hidden, and indeed sodden, but we carried on regardless and were soon stuck in Glen Etive.  The rain was so torrential by this point that no-one was risking getting cameras out to take a picture, so here's one we made earlier (and yes, it really is where we walked):

Thankfully, two hardy souls were up for marching on to find the cars while the rest sashayed along a B-road just fast enough to stay warm - as it was too late to stay dry!  Back to base for excellent onion soup and a highly entertaining quiz, while our kit steamed gently in the drying room.

Kinlochleven, 1 September 2013

Around the corner from this week's hostel base, and the valley past amazing mushrooms and four deer. Then four intrepid amblers forded a knee-high stream and headed on up to the dam, encountering a surprised eagle en route. Over the old dam, and on to the track next to the culvert for a steady march back to the pub, down beside a few leaking high pressure pipes - the most scenic smelting plant in Scotland, surely.

High Force, 28 July 2013

Cumbrian rain had kept many a walker awake at various points in the night, so we set off from Dufton hoping that the Pennines would do their usual trick and keep the other side dry.

As we crested the Backbone of England, we saw that our hopes had been fulfilled, in that it had stopped raining but, even in County Durham, the watershed had lived up to its name and usually placid meandering streams had become rivulets of speeding white (or, rather, brown) water.

True to form the sun came out at Low Force, and we walked to the hugely swollen High Force for a picturesque picnic with a loudly rumbling soundtrack. Very, very, loud it was too - but by the time we'd got there, we'd all almost run out of superlatives anyway!

High Cup Nick, 27 July 2013

Sunshine, and lots of it!  In Cumbria, really?  Yes, really, so on with the sun-cream off to the hills around the left rim of High Cup Nick, past many a frog, to a small chasm with a stream at the top for a paddle at lunchtime.  On the descent, we had the valley to ourselves, in all its glory, which was an even more astonishing luxury than the continued blazing sunshine.

To be able to look back several miles up the valley, to the boulder field by which we'd entered it, was a reminder of what a great single-day walk we'd had - and the relative peace in the pub over dinner was a reminder of the energy expended.

Barnard Castle, 26 July 2013

Up the A1 in loaded jalopies, with the sun shining on our various convoys, to an organic café on the A66 for wood-fired pizza.  Then into Barnard Castle to explore the castle itself, source emergency hats and hedge-chopping equipment, and sup tea.

Over the Pennines next, on England's highest A-road, and on to the rather picturesque village of Dufton, where we found the hostel.  Into Appleby for a few drinks, some of which ended up in stomachs rather than in laps, and so to bunk-beds, giggling merrily.

Roll out the Barrowden, 9 June 2013

To Barrowden, where once many years ago the pub landlord saw the walking group coming and bolted the door.  Off we set under a grey sky, which didn't augur so well either.  But, any lingering pessimism was soon dashed, as the sun came out out for a fine view of the Rutland's "little Cotswolds".  An exploration of an old church in the middle of field near Tixover proved a fascinating spot for elevenses, and of course the path of wisteria and roses led inexorably to an ale-house.

With plenty of wildlife to admire just over the border in Northamptonshire, the warm afternoon sped by to the accompaniment of buzzards, red kites, and more gently rustling foliage than you could shake a twig at.  Then, having been buzzed by a banded demoiselle, no less, Barrowden's hostelry opened it's doors - and a fine brew they offered too.

Skillington survival skills, 26 May 2013

Somehow, the rain and hail of the preceding week had been swept away , and contingent of Ramblers pitched-up at Skillington in bright sunshine.  The choir was singing in the chapel, the flowers were glowing and/or fluttering, and the neighbourhood tank enthusiast had pointed his gun turret just to one side – yes, all the omens were good.

We made fast time across the fields to Isaac Newton’s house for elevenses by the apple tree, and then we did our bit for countryside rights of way by re-opening an overgrown and partially blocked path once more.  There was plenty of wildlife to admire as well as the landscape, with visits from several red kites, an awful lot of butterflies, and a remarkably bouncy fox.

In Sewstern, the pub had conveniently laid-on a beer festival, and this year we didn't have to abandon the walk leader there either (it’s a long story – see last year’s entry).  Leicestershire’s friendly yellow posts were a welcome sight on our side of the border, and got us from Blue Dog to Blue Horse just in time for a refill.

Welford Circular, 12 May 2013

The sun was shining, and it seemed to have put a spring in our steps, and indeed upon our accelerator pedals, so most of us arrived in Welford way too early.  Appropriately enough, we were parked next to an ornate antique sundial with the motto 'Hors pars vitae' - every hour is part of a life.  Well, so it was, and within the hour we were off into some classic countryside on the way to Naseby.

Naseby was the scene of a rather large Civil War battle, and the masses of buried Royalist musket-balls confused our compasses to an unprecedented extent.  Of course, that's why we temporarily found ourselves going around in circles - we wouldn't dream of taking such a cavalier attitude usually.  But we escaped from the battlefield with nothing but mild drizzle to contend with, and headed to a castle-shaped pub for a spot of, well, Restoration.

Willkommen auf Cheddleton, Sunday 28 April 2013

Die Bommel-Mützen sind verboten!

Driving through rural Staffordshire, probably the last thing you expect to come across is a level crossing guarded by the Wehrmacht.  But, it wasn’t the walking group’s first foray into an alternative universe.  We were in the Churnet Valley, where the steam railway was  hosting a 1940s weekend, and amongst the many and various uniforms were a select band of people in fleeces rather than flannel, thank you very much.

Back in the 1940s, food scraps were recycled by pigs, so appropriately enough we set off through a herd of swine, then a up a hill – a gentle one, though.

The route plan led us on an interesting tour with a few blind turns, and at one point a forest of rhododendrons which had just been turned to wood-chip prior to our arrival – but the natural scenery more than made up for that.  Some light drizzle dried up in time for a sunny lunch break in a meadow, and then before too long we were back down in the valley for beer, steam and coal smoke, and an easy saunter alongside the canal and the railway line... all the way back to The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy Of Company B.  The 21st century will be resumed shortly.

Mount. St. Bernard, 21 April 2012

That is not an order to sit on a big Alpine dog!

The sunshine from Saturday didn’t quite last until this morning, but the day at least dawned dry, and warm enough to feel like spring had properly sprung.  So, out to another walk.

Mt. St. Bernard is just on the far side of Shepshed, although it’s a gentle hillock rather than a ‘mount’ in any sense that the Ordnance Survey would recognise.  It is, however, named after the great reformer of the Cistercian Order, and that bit’s apt enough as the monastery here was one of the first Roman Catholic abbeys to be constructed in the country since our own Reformation and the long hiatus that followed it.

Of course, we were there just to use the car park, paid for by making a small offering, and head off on a nicely varied hike through rolling hills.  As several first-time walkers got into their stride, we encountered the usual range of wildlife and farm livestock, from some inquisitive pigs to a herd of impressively-horned cattle – who nevertheless didn’t object to sharing their field with us for a moment.

Lunch at the back of a pub, complete with old-school park play equipment (OK, some of us went for a ride on the swing horse) and back to the abbey in time to visit the visitor’s café  – for cream tea, fruity scones, and of course a fruitless attempt to decide how to pronounce them.  A classic end to a good day out.

Tilton at Windmills, 7 April 2013

A hint of sunshine, along with some slightly warmer temperatures, heralded in a pleasant spring Sunday walk from Tilton on the Hill.  

The morning circuit of the figure of eight walk took in a couple of lovely churches, a disused railway station and several of Leicestershire’s hills.    

After lunch in the sunny beer garden of the Rose and Crown, it was off for the afternoon’s trek of more hills and plenty of muddy fields fill of spring lambs.  In addition to our day of sunshine, fresh air and exercise, we were able to rescue two sheep!  Thanks to Phil for a lovely walk.  

Sub-waterfall walking, 1 April

Walking behind a waterfall?  Is this some kind of April Fool?  No, we did it, and it was spectacular!

Pebble-Dashing The Dragon, 30 March 2013

A gentler walk east from Port Eynon, around a headland of impressive cliffs and on to Oxwich, where the less adventurous retired to the pub and the hardier artisans got busy with buckets and spades.  We know how to live at the seaside, we do - and after a quick spot of sculpture, the drinkers exited to be confronted with a great big dragon.  Naturally a dragon - it's Wales.

On to Three Cliffs, where most enjoyed the sun from behind shades, while two more ambitious ramblers ignored the view of snow on the distant hills to go for a paddle through a cave, and on for another kilometre or two back to the dragon.  On, relaxed and partially baked, to get busy and fully bake a huge set of lasagnes at the hostel.

The Early Bird Catches The Worm's Head, 30 March

The sun rose from the sea and shone across the gentle waves into our breakfast room, where the lifeboat used to be kept at the ready.  We needed some readying too - coffee on the launch ramp, then a big cooked breakfast.

Thus prepared, a day out with our local comrades, the Tawe Trekkers.  Onto the coastal path again in the direction of the Worm's Head.  This being an island with a tidal causeway, we had a low-tide deadline to keep, although the contingency of breaking into faster and more relaxed teams soon went a bit tortoise-and-hare as the 'fast' group negotiated some vertiginous cliffs and the 'slow' group confidently overtook on the easy route!  But, we all made it Rhossili, and those of us who still had a head for heights climbed the Worm's Head itself, while other LRWG artists constructed a small model of Hadrian's Wall with sandcastles (Offa's Dyke looking a bit vague in sand).

Back to base for pizza, and lots of it.

Coherent Mumbles, 29 March 2013

What's this?  Sunshine? On Swansea Bay?  Yea verily, forsooth.  So we got going and used it!

Around the headland from Mumbles, it being far too early for the Mumbles Mile (thankfully), and on to the cliff path to Caswell Bay for tea.  Tea and Welsh cakes, in fact - when in Rome, and all that.  

On from Caswell Bay on the newly-incorporated all-Wales coastal path, trekking through swathes of wild garlic in sun-dappled glades.  OK, we're getting in to holiday brochure talk here, but it really was a bit special.

Then on to our hostel, in a converted lifeboat station, for great big curry.  Well, the when-in-Rome thing only goes so far...

A cold and snowy walk in Countesthorpe, 24 March 2013

Another guest blog from Paula:

Six of us hardcore walkers walked from Countesthorpe in the snow! It was due to be a ten-mile walk but due to the strange March weather conditions our leader had to cut a few miles off, so it was actually seven or eight miles instead.

We started from a car park in Countesthorpe then headed to Willoughby Waterleys.  The name of Countesthorpe originates from the eleventh century when the area was part of the marriage dowry of the Countess Judith, niece of William the Conqueror.  The 'thorpe' part of the name is a variant of the Middle English word thorp, meaning hamlet or small village.

We stopped for lunch outside the Shires in Peatling Parva where one member enjoyed his Guinness and memories of Irish trips to the Guinness Brewery were discussed - but we couldn't stop for too long as we were all getting too cold!  So we carried on, and thoughts of a hot bath and hot chocolate became very appealing.

So on we went to Peatling Magna then back to Countesthorpe.

A 3ft drift of snow along the hedgerow in Peatling Magna.

Thanks to Barney for leading the walk in these cold conditions and also to Rob for his help navigating.

Snowy St. Patrick’s, 17 March 2013

Most of us headed out hoping for a bit of the luck of the Oirish this morning, looking at the grey skies and the rain splatting on our respective windscreens.  It wasn’t looking promising.  But, someone had clearly had a word with the official LRWG Weather Pixies, and on the way, those rain drops turned into the one thing better than sunshine – yes, snow!

So, a fair crowd of us pitched up in Knossington with a promising layer of snow already in place, and munched profiteroles as the last few stragglers rolled/slid in.  So we strode off into the rolling countryside with relief that we had a delicately dusted white world to explore, rather than just mud.

In truth, the mud was still there, just below the fluffy carpet, which had appeared all of a sudden, but the enormous flakes still falling from the sky were enough of a distraction from any slipperiness underfoot.  Lunch was a picnic in the snow outside Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, complete with pints of ale and fondant fancies (we know how to live, we do), and after a march in the last of winter we had a very civilised tea stop in Knossington afterwards, too.

Another wonderful wander in the snow was, exactly and precisely, just what was required – ‘love it when a plan comes together.

Roll out the Barrow, 10 March 2013

Excitement in the morning, as your reliable blogger found two inches of snow on the car.  Sadly, there was barely any sign of the white stuff at Barrow-on-Soar, where we all turned up to walk through the winter/spring overlap anyway.  Our nominated leader having pranged a limb (temporarily, we hope), we were personally guided around this route by our very own Chair, no less... and if you think that’s clever, you should see what the LRWG Occasional Table can do when push comes to shove.

So, we had a bit of a wallow through quite a bit of mud, to be honest, slurping over the fields and alongside enthusiastically bubbling brooks en route to the pub at Quorn, which has nothing to do with veggie sausages but was where the secret Kriegsmarine signals were intercepted in the Second World War – Bletchley Park had the egg-heads, but we had the aerials.  But, the purpose of today’s visit was no Enigma; we were there for the beer.

Thus reinforced, we did some more wallowing back to the Navigation, another pub, where all the tourists ran away in terror at the sight of muddy people, and we had tea in proper china, because we’re so rock’n’roll.  Oh, and we did get a few flakes of snow, after all.  Not bad at all!

Bring me your poor, your huddled masses. 3 March 2013

Off through the spring-time road carnage – dozy cyclists and end-of-financial-year emergency road-works all over the place – to the exotic outdoor landscape of... Leicester.  Well, why not?  It’s where an awful lot of our members live, and there’s walking to be done, if you have a native guide.  Our native guide started us off, on this occasion next to the Statue of Liberty, which has shrunk a bit, pinged across the Atlantic and now lives on a roundabout.  We have no idea why, and look forward to imminent plans to recreate the Eiffel Tower over a pelican crossing in Melton Mowbray.  But, it was certainly quite a change from a field full of mud.

Walking by the river, canals and flood-plains did get us to some mud eventually, and Watermead Park was happily supervised by a plastic woolly mammoth as ever.  We were chalking up a good count of random monuments by the first ice cream stop, that’s for sure.  Then came lunch part one in a pub, a diversion past the space centre to see the most ornately crafted Victorian pooh pump still in full running order, and lunch part two in a café surrounded by goats, just after discovering the remains of a huge medieval abbey.  What with that, and a moment to explore where Leicester’s castle once stood, we have to give our native guide full points for variety!

A cold walk in Thornton, 24 February 2012

A guest blog from Paula:

We set off on what was a cold day from Thornton reservoir. 

A new LRWG member?!

The reservoir was originally built in 1854 when it had its own treatment works which were situated to the South of the current dam.  It is now owned by Severn Trent and the water is treated a few miles away at Cropston reservoir.

From Thornton we headed to Whittington Grange, Barlestone, Nailstone and Bagworth.

Hopefully these horses won't end up in our Burgers!

Barlestone - a pit wheel from the coal mines.

Coal miners used to live in Barlestone but there was never a mine in the village. The miners travelled to pits in Bagworth, Coalville or Newbold Heath.

Many thanks to Michael for leading his first group walk.

Old Sarum, Sunday 17 February 2012

We awoke relaxed – very relaxed, in some cases – on this sunny morning for a gentle walk around Salisbury.  Thankfully the paths beside the Avon proved not to be as submerged as we had feared when surveying from the cathedral tower, and we were soon on the dappled ramparts of Old Sarum.

The prehistoric hill-fort and its occasional Roman augmentations took a while to circumnavigate, and all the while we were buzzed by low-flying aeroplanes and parachutists as a reminder that modern military reinforcements weren’t far away.  Then, of course, we investigated the Norman castle in the middle, alongside the foundations of the old cathedral, and did what any self-respecting medieval citizen would do next – repair to the pub.