More weather madness as a bitterly cold day in Brecon Beacons was followed a week later by record breaking hot weather at Easter. We’d timed this to perfection with another visit the the Hotel Silverdale and our top notch friends who seem to tolerate our repeated visits with very good grace.
We packed in a lot over the four days around this rather beautiful and unspoilt corner of Lancashire.
An early morning walk to the shop to stock up on provisions via the The Cove and The Lots.
After lunch (or before maybe) a cycling trip to Trowbarrow Quarry.
I’d rather foolishly committed to a mountain bike ride around the many bumps, jumps and drops in the quarry with the Dangerous Brothers. They’d been reminding me for weeks not to forget to bring my bike seemingly concerned that I would chicken out (which was my plan all along).
I couldn’t let them down and did indeed have a go at most of the stuff they peer-pressured me into (although I decided not to try any of the jumps on the basis I’m far too heavy!)
I admit it was enormous fun and other than one wobble on a very steep drop that had me bouncing through tree branches I survived unscathed. As you can see above they even convinced their dad to give it a go!
Its a stunning spot on a clear sunny day and we all enjoyed a laze around as well as some more frantic two wheeled activity. I was actually a little disappointed that we never found time to head up there again.
We also found time to play with a boomerang in the fields behind the house.
Much harder than it looks actually.
Only a couple of attempts came close to coming back to the thrower. Doesn’t matter as we had enormous fun trying.
We took a walk up to Arnside Knott one morning. A fine small hill (England’s smallest Marilyn in case you were interested)
A gloriously hot and sunny day that had us searching for the shade to keep cool.
Superb views across the Kent estuary
And back via Arnside Tower.
An afternoon trip to sunbathe and swim at Levens Deer Park.
The water was startlingly cold but refreshing. I think its the earliest in the year I’ve ever been fresh water swimming.
The DBs of course were back in their element jumping of the banks (although as an honorary DB I joined in as well)
The evening on the patio was a festival of BBQ meat (and some Vegan stuff for those that way inclined) and a roaring fire burning the remains of the kids old swings.
And no trip here is complete without the classic walk around the coast to Arnside and back over Arnside Knott.
Arnside, packed with visitors, no seats in the cafe so an alfresco and delicious hot pie on the pier was a more than adequate compensation.
More views from Arnside Knott to finish off a superb weekend in the sunshine with good company, loads of activities and fine selection of food.
Big thanks to the Silverdale massive for taking care of us and making it into a wonderful mini-holiday.
I’ve read quite a few blog post in the past few days reviewing other peoples 2017 exploits. I enjoyed them so much I thought I’d do the same. Good excuse to look back through my photos and remember what we got up to. At my age I need help remembering stuff!.
Acutely conscious of the modern trend for these awful “round robin” letters you get at Xmas (we get one of these smugograms every year) I tried to select photos that bring back a particular memory for me so its more a personal, family introspection on outdoorsy stuff, than a blow by blow account of the year. As its based on my photo collection if I didn’t photograph it, it ain’t here!
January
We started the year off in Tenerife and New Years Day was spent on this rather splendid beach (the earlier part of the day was in the mountains but I cocked up the photos from that part of the day!)
Returning to the British winter, a walk along the Cats Back in the Black Mountains with TBF, memorable for a cloud inversion after a very wet morning. A reminder that despite our travels we are lucky to have some stunning scenery on our doorstep
A solo day out in the Brecon Beacons, the first snowy walk near to home and pretty much the only one with significant snow during the early part of the year (made up for it at the end)
A glorious day out in the Black Mountains with TJS and a cooked breakfast on a cold Table Mountain. I like this photo though as it has Mynydd Troed in centre shot, my very first mountain climbed when I was about 10
And my usual skiing trip (only a weekend this year) to finish off the month. Snow was a bit rubbish but we had a laugh nonetheless
February
Another solo day on Fan Fawr in the Brecon Beacons. I remember this day for a very mild Friday afternoon (16C) and snow in the mountains 18 hours later
A short walk with TBF on Hatterall Hill
March
The first weekend of the month is always spent in Scotland with friends of long standing. A new location at Bridge of Orchy and a two out of three days were magnificent winter days. The walk along this ridge high above Rannoch Moor on the first day was superb
Me and TJS also managed a cheeky backpack into the Black Mountains. Straight from work on the Friday for a one nighter in my new tent. Need to do more of these this year
2017 is the year I rediscovered cycling – mainly to help my knee and also to be less of a lazy layabout during the week. The Hardman – a VERY keen and VERY fit cyclist caught wind and insisted we meet up in the Peak for a trip along a couple of the old railway trails. A cracking sunny day and I survived cycling with the Hardman!
And we finally managed a meet up in the Berwyns with Uncle Fester after a few aborted attempts
April
More cycling and solo trip through the Brecon Beacons on the “Gap” route. Cycling to over 600m was a first for me and I started to feel that I almost, might, actually enjoy cycling.
Easter and a major backpacking trip with TJS to the Cairngorms. The weather was wild and windy but we had a couple of superb wild camps and TJS bagged his first Scottish 4000 footer
I even coaxed TJF out for a bike ride along the Brecon and Usk canal
May Day weekend was mostly in April. Mixed weather but we had a fine gaggle of friends on a hike around Greendale, taking in Buckbarrow and Seatallan
May
No finer way to celebrate a birthday than a lunchtime hike. This one was on one of my local hills, Bryn Arw with TBF
Followed by a weekend away in Cornwall. It almost felt tropical on the white sands just north of Padstow on one of our walks
Whitsun weekend was spent with our good friends in Silverdale. The Sunday was a real winner with a long but easy stroll and a fantastic pub lunch. Weather was mixed the rest of the time but great company, many laughs and a chance to relax
June
A different walk from the usual mountains. One of the small hills that overlook Gloucester and across to the Cotswolds. Not something I’d do every day but a nice change
One of the highlights of the year was the long-planned backpacking trip with the kids into the Howgills. Despite poor weather we gave it a go and it was a huge success. The kids really enjoyed the adventure and I’m hoping they have caught the wild camping bug
July
After the backpack trip I was out of action for a few weeks recuperating and resting after a minor knee op. Didn’t affect my water based fun though, a nice albeit far too long trip down the river Wye
By the end of July I was back in the hills again (the knee op has been a great success I’m pleased to say). A fine evening stroll with TBF and TJS on Ysgyryd Fawr (we even took a cheeky cold beer to drink on the top)
Another “local walk for local people” – this time Garway Hill where we reached the top, saw this nasty storm approaching and raced it back to the car. We won.
Late July brings the annual camping trip to Towyn Farm on the Llyn Peninsula. We packed in lots of walks and beach fun in a very mixed few days of weather. My abiding memory though was this game of Kubb which was huge fun with both adults and kids alike taking it far too seriously and larking about in equal measure. A happy afternoon
August
The big family trip of the year, a rail trip around some of Europe’s finest cities. An real change from our usual outdoor camping trips and it was real success. We all took took to the city life rather well you might say. One of my best ever holidays. A few photos that made me smile
One of the many fountains in Paris (we called this one the fountain of throttled fish)
A monster thunderstorm in Turin
My favourite seafront walk in Venice
The Colloseum in Rome – of course
Schloss Belvedere in Vienna (courtesy of an unplanned extra couple of hours from a very late train)
The thermal baths in Budapest – “like taking a bath in a wedding cake”
A stroll along the Spree river in Berlin on a sunny Sunday afternoon
And the railway bridge over the Rhine in Cologne
September
Back to earth with a bump. A few days after the heat and sun of Europe we were walking in the Black Mountains in driving rain and cold winds!
But there was still enough warm weather left for a round of the hills near the Talybont Reservoir in the Brecon Beacons
October
A walk with friends in the Roaches on the dreariest day of the year (when everywhere else was sunny – I’m not bitter)
More evidence of my new found cycling passion (probably too strong a word). A ride around the tracks of the New Forest while TJS took a look around Southampton University
And why settle for one trip to see major cities when you can do it twice. As a special treat for TJS 18th Birthday we spent a week in Barcelona. Probably my favourite city but despite all its famous sights, this little known hill and its view overlooking the city was my favourite spot
November
After sunshine comes the reality of winter. A couple of cold but beautiful days. One in the Black Mountains on the Sugar Loaf and Crug Mawr
And one of my favourite walks in the Black Mountain
A delayed birthday treat weekend for TBF saw us in Padstow for a couple of nice meals and walks along the Cornish coast and Dartmoor
December
And last into the proper depths of winter. The first snows saw me and TJS head into the highest peaks of the Black Mountains
The day after saw the biggest dump of snow I’ve seen in my own backyard for many a year. Walks around my village in deep snow under crisp blue skies were wonderful
The start of the Xmas holidays is marked with an annual get together of my University friends and their families. Always great fun but this year we could climb the hills in snow (rather than wet rain) and play at snowballs
Finally coming full circle with a return to the Canary Islands to spend Xmas in Lanzarote and Xmas Day sunning ourselves on the beach
Well I enjoyed looking through my photos, choosing a few and reliving a great year. Hope you enjoyed it too. All the best for 2018 🙂
Since I decided to give cycling another go I’ve had my eye on what looked like a rather fine round called the Brecons Gap Route. So named as it traverses the gap between Fan y Big and Cribyn in the heart of the Brecon Beacons. It’s a good deal tougher in the mountain section than anything I’ve attempted before but the weather was stunning so I figured I could at least give it a go. I set off from Talybont-on-Usk on a gloriously warm sunny day and headed off on the Taff Trail
The first section was very rough and bouncy. The Taff trail follows the line of an old railway along the valley – at least that’s what I thought. Turns out the first couple of km follow an old bridleway and it was rough going but not too steep and I coped fine
As it climbed the views began to open out across the Talybont reservoir
I wandered onto the dam to take a couple of shots. Stunning I thought
From there its a very long climb up to the pass above the reservoir. Never steep and by now on the old railway line the going was much smoother. They are clearing away the old plantation so the views were superb. Gave me an excuse to stop many times and admire.
I passed a few people walking but no-one else on a bike. The Beacons Way follows this stretch and it reminds me why I don’t like following pre-ordained long distance routes. There is a superb high level route that would avoid this long endless trudge on foot, a few hundred foot up above on open ground. In fact the Beacons Way actually descends from where that path starts to pick up the Taff Trail and then climbs back up again to meet it a few km later. Why the route chooses to ignore an obvious high level path in favour of a forest trail is beyond me. This trail is ideal for cycling but not for walking. Each to their own I suppose but the D of E groups I saw seemed not to be enjoying the trudge even on this glorious day
Seeing as this is the age of the selfie, here’s a very rare picture of yours truly enjoying another photo-rest excuse to stop
From the high point of the road there is a speedy short descent before the trail curves around towards the main part of the Beacons. From here things get a little tougher
The trail becomes extremely stony and rutted and while not steep was pretty hard work. I’m pleased to say that other than one short section that drops steeply in and out of a stream, I made it all the way to the “gap” (seen in the centre of the photo below) without needing to push or more importantly, falling off
I have to admit I was feeling pretty pleased with myself. I’d done 15km and close to 500m of ascent and survived to tell the tale. More than that I really enjoyed it – never thought I’d hear myself say that about mountain biking
I celebrated with a very lengthy stop to have lunch and a brew, chatting to other cyclists as they passed through (this a popular and well-known mountain bike route)
The descent from the gap gave me my only problem. The first 500m or so is steep and very rough, more like scree than a path. After a couple of nervous attempts I decided discretion was best and pushed for a few minutes. This section really needs a full on, front and rear suspension bike (mine is just a hard-tail). I managed to negotiate my way down carefully. It was wild and bouncy and my bike was making all kinds of rattling noises but again I was very pleased to make it all the way to the road-head without falling off, albeit very much slower than the madcap people taking the descent at full throttle. It must be a hell of an adrenaline rush but if you came off you’d do yourself a really nasty one
Once on the road its a very fast and steep descent all the way to valley bottom along peaceful wild-flower be-decked country lanes. A real blast. My route back to the car was along the Brecon and Monmouthshire canal. It was superb (and flat!) and gave an excellent last hours wind-down in more peaceful surroundings after the drama of the gap
The canal has a small aqueduct over the river Usk
This little bridge just after was picture perfect and I stopped for breather. Nice spot for a picnic I thought. More to follow in a later post
From there it was an easy cruise along the tow-path. Wild flowers were abundant and the route busy with other cyclists and families enjoying a perfect spring day
I think TBF would enjoy this part of the ride although definitely not the mountain section! I must fashion a route along the canal and back along the lanes of this quiet corner of the national park
35km ride in total and a real classic – me, enjoying mountain biking, who’d have thought 🙂
As I reported in my last post I’ve started having serious problems with my left knee. I’ve had two arthroscopy ops on my right knee which seem to have worked but its time to sort the other one out. An MRI scan is booked for January so I’ll have to take it from there
Even before this problem I’d been thinking about a new bike as I don’t get enough exercise especially of the lung busting sort. The fact that I’m now limited as to when I can hike pressed the need a little harder. I’m also hoping that it will build the muscles in my legs which will help support, strengthen and protect my knees for the longer term (as well as hopefully remove some of the upper body weight they have to carry!) 🙂
So this is my new pride and joy, built to my specifications by the excellent Tom at Bike Workshop in Bristol. Obviously its a Mountain Bike. I’m not a big fan of road cycling but around where I live there is a plentiful supply of forests and easy-ish mountain tracks for me to explore (I’m not or ever will be of the hard-core, steep downhill mountain biker breed). I’ve started to use it whenever I have a spare hour working at home to try and build a bit of fitness but I needed to try something off-road to get me into the swing of things
The best and easiest local area is the Forest of Dean. I’ve cycled with kids here and I thought I’d try a slightly longer circuit without too much in the way of climbing. It will take me a while to get bike-fit. It was nice circuit of 15 or so miles that took me a few hours due the numerous stops to check where I was. The Forest is maze of tracks
Now anyone that knows me will tell you I’ve never really been a cycling man. I’ve never quite embraced its particular charms but I have to say I really enjoyed the ride. Far from being a dense expanse of woodland, the Forest of Dean has numerous open and sunny glades and its extremely pleasant. The route I used seemed little known, especially to cyclists despite its popularity in the area. I saw more walkers than cyclists. I really wish I’d taken more photos
I stopped at Mallards Pike lake for a rest, a snack and a cuppa. Its a popular spot and heaving in summer but in late October it was quiet and rather splendid
I spent a happy half enjoying not sitting on a razor blade!
When I reached the car, satisfied with my new toy and the exercise it allowed it struck what a relief it was not to finish a day outdoors in pain from either my knee or my foot. Itv was actually quite liberating.
I never thought I hear myself say this (or read my own typed words) that I’m looking forward to some days out on the bike. I’m going to find it tough going for a few months as I’m not used to aerobic exercise (I find even the most gentle of hills hard work) but I’m hoping to enjoy a different slant to my outdoor fun. In good time I hope it will be good for the longevity of my hiking and my general fitness levels. Bring it on!
I spend alot of my time surfing the web looking for ideas on places to go, walking routes, travel ideas and tips to plan the perfect holiday or day out. (I'm a project manager I like to plan). I thought it was time to share my own experiences and contribute to the vast amounts in information that's already out there.
I'll also add in some gear and tech reviews and when something irks me I may even use this forum to have a rant - I do that pretty well I'm told.There are a few pages at the top that give a bit of background to what I like to get up to and what you can expect to see in my posts. I'm not exactly a creative writer but I hope some people will find my stuff useful or inpsiring or at least enjoy some of my photos.
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