Yorkshire Three Peaks April 2013

It was just over year the weather last Winter defeated our previous attempt at the Yorks Three Peaks, and so having compared calendars with walking buddy Dave, Claire and I found a date at the start of April this year to give the Three Peaks challenge walk another go.

It is an odd one it has to be said. Due to the nature of the challenge, you don't get a great deal of time to fully appreciate the scenery as you are trying to complete the walk in less than twelve hours. It also attracts a huge volume of walkers which obviously puts a strain on the footpaths of these fragile fells. A lot of work has been done to improve the path and make it more durable, especially across the infamous bog section between Pen-y-Ghent and Whernside

The sun was just coming up over the top of Pen-y-Ghent as we set off from Horton-In-Ribblesdale and it really was a beautiful morning to be out on the fells. The first couple of miles are very rewarding as although it is a sharp pull up Pen-y-Ghent, it isn't long before you reach the top, soaking up the views and thinking one down, two to go, that's not so bad!

Reality soon kicks in afterwards - the long trudge over to Ribblehead takes a few hours to complete and although I remembered this a being a flat march, there are actually a couple of short ascents and descents. The great news here is that the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust and National Park Authority have done a fantastic job in putting a new path that diverts away from the boggy ground of Black Dubb Moss which makes for much easier going.

The tarmac on the road for the mile or so over to Ribblehead is hard on the feet, but this was all good as we had left a car here and knew that a breakfast stop and water bottle refill was soon to come.

The next long trudge was along the huge hump-backed spine of Whernside, which is a good couple of miles of non-stop ascent. I have really enjoyed walking Whernside individually but as part of the challenge walk is it pretty tough going - even more so on a snow-covered path.

With Ingleborough up next, we enjoyed the gentle walk between the two fells and the good path across the lower slopes leading up to the steep bit. Normally this is a tough slog up a zig zag path, but with a thick blanket of snow, the only way was to head straight up kicking holes into the ice and climbing the sharp gradient upwards. This certainly got the heart, legs and adrenalin pumping!

From the top of Ingleborough we had some spectacular views all around of the terrain we had walked and way beyond. This is a great fell and definitely deserves exploration on its own and not just as part of the challenge.

The last couple of miles seem a lot longer than they actually are as fatigue sets in, but the end is in sight, and soon enough we were back in Horton in Ribblesdale hobbling to the Three Peaks Cafe on tired but happy legs.

We decided to stay at a spectacular bed and breakfast not far from Clapham, and toasted our walk with a couple of drinks in the pubs of Ingleton that evening before sleeping extremely well!

Durham Brewery Tour

I recently made the most of a great Christmas present, which was two tickets for a tour of Durham brewery. The car stayed at home for this one and we got the train up to Durham, visiting the town for a spot of lunch and a look around some of the outdoor shops. The brewery is a short bus ride outside of Durham, in Bowburn and we arrived just in time for the 2pm tour.

I won't give away too much, but the tour itself was really interesting. Our educated tour guide and master brewer Steve was very entertaining and we learnt a lot about the history of brewing as well as the start of the Durham brewery itself. For example I didn't know that the British traditionally brewed ale which which preceded the introduction of hops - and subsequently brewing beer rather than ale. Dutch migrant workers introduced hops, and that as they have preservative qualities, this was the essential factor that made brewing beer as an industry possible, rather than being simply brewed for private consumption.

And of course the star attraction was the beer samples, and these were plentiful and generous! No thimble of beer here and here, we got full pints to try and with each one we learnt about the brewing process and what makes each beer unique. The only exception was the Russian stout which came in a wine glass, and at 10% that's probably just as well!

I picked up a couple of bottles too, all I need now is a special occasion to get these opened and sampled!

Great Whernside, Wharfedale

Somehow the middle of March 2013 offered that rarest of occasions -  a free day! When I checked my diary and realised Claire and I had a weekend without appointments, so after a quick chat with our fellow walker Dave we decided to meet up at Kettlewell for an exploration of some of the fells of the Dales. The original plan was to take in both Great Whernside and Buckden Pike, but the weather had other plans for us.

There are a number of ways Great Whernside can be tackled from Kettlewell, and the route we picked seemed pretty straightforward and direct.

We started off heading out of the village along the pretty lanes before taking the footpath heading towards the interestingly named Hag Dyke. This was pleasant walking territory and we gained in height pretty quickly. We got a little bit confused at the scout hut which is situated at Hag Dyke, about halfway up Great Whernside, but soon found our way back onto the path.

Shortly afterwards and we found ourselves walking in the white stuff, and it was only a few minutes until we were knee deep in snow at times!

The deep snow made the walk considerably harder, but we pressed on upwards, soon reaching a collection of cairns. From here onwards we encountered a whiteout and wouldn't really see anything beyond the white ground and sky until well off the summit of Great Whernside.

Fortunately we were well equipped with map, GPS and the compass which kept us headed in the right direction, and shortly afterwards we reached the trig point that marks the top of Great Whernside. At this point the snow was also coming down and so we didn't hang around for long, as when we stopped for even just a couple of minutes the cold really got to us. We stayed on the summit plateau for a short while mainly guided by compass as there was no way of discerning the path on the ground!

Conditions improved slightly after we had passed through the summit crags and we could see a slight depression in the ground which looked like it was where the path should be and fortunately we were right. A short while on, and we came to some very steep slopes.

It was far too slippery to attempt to walk down them and so we had to just sit down and slide all the way down. It was great being a kid again and we've never come off a fell quite as quick as this!

Now that we were off the higher ground the visibility improved, but by this point we had got fairly chilled, and the prospect of going through that all over again wasn't all that appealing and so we decided to head back to Kettlewell and save Buckden Pike for another day.

We crossed the little road from Kettlewell to Coverdale, and took the path back to the village, following Tor Dyke and the Top Mere Road. This was a really nice path that made for pleasant walking, and as the skies cleared we had great views back over to Great Whernside and down onto the picturesque village of Kettlewell.

All in all a great day out and good preparation for the next big Dales walk, which I'll be telling you about very soon!

Causey Pike, Scar Crags, Outerside & Barrow

A mad idea from Claire and her colleagues meant that we found ourselves in Keswick on a night out mid-February, followed by a night in the freezing cold camping barn at Catbells afterwards. The problem was that if no-one volunteers to stay home and stoke the coals whilst the others are out having a good time, then that fireplace and camping barn is going to be cold!

An early start and a big breakfast at Booths soon warmed us up and meant we could head back over to Newlands and park up just beyond Stair for the start of this walk. Our planned itinerary was up the front face of Rowling End and onto Causey Pike, following the ridge over Scar Crags before taking the path down at Sail Pass which would bring us back along the lower slopes of Causey Pike before crossing over to ascend Outerside and Barrow.

The pull up Rowling End was a hard slog, but it did mean that we reached higher ground pretty quickly. As always each step upwards was rewarded with a view that was opening up and behind us we had fantastic views over Keswick and Derwentwater. The flat section along Causey Pike was a welcome break before the final scramble up. This looked much trickier than it actually was and as usual, a scramble up seems easier than using the same route to come down.

Having seen very few people, it came as a surprise to find a load of people resting on the top of Causey Pike, I wonder when the bus was due?!?! It was pretty windy here so we didn't linger for long.

One of my favourite parts of fellwalking is the ridge route - it's a great reward for the hard work in getting up the fell, and the ridge from Causey Pike over Scar Crags towards Sail is a delight. Good walking conditions and really rewarding views.

Ahead we could see the hard work done by Fix The Fells to restore the path up Sail, and you could see the scars left behind by the thousands of boots that had widened the path beforehand.

On reaching Coledale Hause we turned sharp right and headed along the path that would take us down to the bottom of High Moss. The path was iced over in places meaning we had to either go off-road, or sit down and slide down on our bums - this was nothing compared to the slides down Great Whernside which I'll be telling you about in a future post!

From here it was an easy walk over to the base of Outerside and a short and pleasant climb up. At this point the wind had picked up a bit so it got really cold whenever we stopped.

A short pause on the summit of Outerside and we pushed on, over the crags of Stile End until we made the summit of Barrow and our fourth fell of the day. From here once again we had brilliant view over diminutive Swinside and onto Keswick, Derwentwater as well as over Bassenthwaite Lake over to the Skiddaw range.

In a rush to get out of the wind we retraced our steps to Stile End, before taking the steep path down the side of Barrow which brought us onto the main bridleway along Stonycroft Gill, and here it was an easy walk back to the Newlands road and the warmth of the car.

More La Palma Sun: Pico Bejenado

And so we come to the last post of this series of walks on La Palma. We look forward to returning to this amazing island again and picking up from where we left off!

The conditions were perfect for us on this walk. Although there were clouds swirling around some of the nearby mountains and over the volcanoes in the southern half of the island, Pico Bejenado was surrounded by clear skies. This mountains is fairly unique on La Palma, whereas others tend to form part of a chain, Pico Bejenado stands proud on its own, at the southern end of the La Caldera de Taburiente national park.

There are only a couple of good starting points from the south, mainly due to the inaccessibility of the terrain to the north. We chose the El Barrial route, taking a long walk up a dirt track before arriving at the starting point at the start of the national park. From here the route was signposted really well, with directions at every junction helping us along the way, so we barely needed the map and occasionally dipped into the guide book to read about the attractions such as the lava tubes as we went past.

We gained height very quickly, and had some fantastic views back towards the mountains of the volcano route. The path was nice and varied, using a forest track through the pine forest before giving way to sparser scrubland and then towards to the end getting much steeper with sharp drops.

When we reached the point at which the path meets up with the other recommended walk, we found ourselves on the edge of a massive cliff as we could look deep into the heart of the Caldera de Taburiente.

Although we felt like we were near the top we still had several hundred metres of ascent ahead of us, but the panoramic views meant it was a pleasure all the way.

One on the pretty small summit we enjoyed our sandwiches and a bit of banter with a handful of other walkers before retracing our route back down.

This walk was fairly hard work, made a lot easier by the excellent waymarking and the great idea of going up the mountain gradually with long hairpin footpaths instead of just heading straight up.

As with the other walks, we rewarded ourselves with a bit of relaxation and swimming on the beautiful beach at Puerto Naos to finish the day.

Overall, La Palma was a brilliant holiday, we will be back!

More Walking on La Palma: Jedey Walk

I've never seen quite so much variety in the weather as on La Palma. And that's coming from a frequent visitor to the Lake District where we have had walks starting off in glorious sunshine ending up in a snowstorm a couple of miles later and several hundred metres higher.

Our strategy for picking where to walk was pretty straightforward, get up off the coastal strip onto higher ground, look at where the clouds were and then head off in the other direction.

We chose a walk starting from the village of Jedey as this meant only a short drive for us from Puerto Naos, meaning we could park up, enjoy the walk and be back in time for a swim and lie on the beach by mid afternoon.

The main footpath we set off along was the PR LP 15 that would have taken us back onto the GR131 and the volcano route, but to shorten the walk, after a short while we headed off the path and onto a forest track that was headed upwards.
Although the slopes were steep the path - as we found is the case with many of the paths on La Palma - they comprise of long straight sections and hairpin bends, meaning they take you gradually up into the mountains.

Once again this was a walk with varied scenery, as we headed up from the village we passed through volcanic slopes and the occasional vineyard before entering the pine forest. As it was cloudy more or less everywhere around us the views around us were pretty hazy.

After a couple of hours heading upwards we unfortunately found the path we planned to use on our descent appeared to be closed for maintenance - and in this volcanic terrain going off the established paths isn't an option.

So we took the same path back down and before we knew it we were back in Jedey and at the car ready for a couple of hours of seaside Atlantic bliss.

La Palma: Roque de los Muchachos

Here is some more Winter sunshine for you, a visit to one of the "must see" attractions on La Palma. Roque de Los Muchachos is the highest point in the island, a collection of rocks towering high up in the clouds at nearly two and a half kilometres above sea level.

The summit area is also a hotbed of astronomic activities, as we drove past countless observatories as we neared the top. La Palma is renowned for its clear skies and apparently is the second best location for astronomy in the northern hemisphere. Yes you read correctly - we drove up as opposed to walking - but the drive was more than an adventure as we headed up through countless hairpin bends with near vertical drops.

The views form the summit were simply stunning, you could look right over the cloud to El Tiero over on Tenerife.

Looking southwards we had a fine view over the Caldera de Taburiente, deep into the lush forest far below us.

Over to the west past the jagged crags we could see the expanses of banana plantations and beyond we could see the coast and the villages of Tazacorte and Puerto Naos.

We had a short walk to the central viewing point and the view from here into the Caldera de Taburiente was simply stunning! The GR131 (long distance footpath) passes this spot but we had a busy holiday schedule of things to see and places to visit, so we've saved that one for another time.

I have a couple more La Palma posts for you, before a triumphant return to the Lakes and a great little circular in the North Western Fells, so watch this space!