Collected Musings of a Hill Wanderer

My first two major walking outings of this year have been in parts of England and they share one thing in common: they are reminders of past excursions. The second of these happened over the weekend and took me to Northumberland where I walked along the coast from Alnmouth to Embleton and took in  Dunstanburgh Castle along the way. That recalled a trot of a cloudy day over six years ago that also started from Alnmouth but went as far as Craster before I turned towards Alnmouth train station again. Last Saturday had me hiking in far sunnier if more blustery conditions so I could make more of my surroundings in the photographic sense. Having been delighted by what I have revisited, thoughts of continuing north from Embleton as far as Bamburgh are coming to mind along with those proposing a visit to Alnwick Castle.

January’s stroll from the Cat and Fiddle Inn to Buxton reminded me of an earlier outing in November 2004 (not a great year weatherwise so the ground was very unsound in places) that took me from the same starting point but finished at Rushton Spencer in the dark. Again, more cloud abounded on that day it was a release to have gotten out of doors even if a careless step landed me up to my shin in brown Staffordshire clay. It was with very muddy feet that I caught the bus home from Rushton Spencer that evening though there was no comment from driver or passengers.

Those two returns of a kind have me wondering if there might be more of that this year. However, I have unspent ideas from exploring other parts of Staffordshire and Derbyshire that may come in handy yet. After all, lurking on Twitter is revealing more of the delights that lie not so far away from me and that has me asking if this could be a year of Peak District walking trips. Only time will answer that question.

Before the snow arrived at the start of the month, I took the opportunity to pop out for a lunchtime from work to take in The Carrs in Wilmslow. Though I’d skirted the public park a fair few times, it was the first time that I’d deliberately walked through the place only to realise that there was one part of it that I had glimpsed before without realising where I was gazing. That the River Bollin passes through makes the oversight that bit more remarkable to my eyes. It’s amazing how not looking at a map can cause you to miss things and prospects of an evening stroll to Macclesfield after work when daylight hours are longer come to mind. That sort of plan has surfaced before only for nothing to come of it so we’ll have to see about it happening in reality.

The Carrs aren’t the only spot available for anyone to do a spot of strolling in Wilmslow and I am more familiar with the delights of Lindow Common, particularly that part of it which surrounds Black Lake. Sometimes, it freezes too though only foolhardy souls would ventured on the surface then. It is fenced off too so that puts paid to any such temptations. A recent sorry tale about a little dog meeting an untimely end on an icy pond in Macclesfield (a local fire brigade team couldn’t help because they had no boat and needed to wait for a team from Knutsford who were too late when they came; it’s happenings like this that explain why folk come a cropper on icy rivers while rescuing daring foolish pets but it was just as well that it wasn’t a child that was involved)  might explain the fencing but for the fact that this also is a haven for water voles, a far more cheery development since they are in peril elsewhere. Wildfowl congregate here too and were concentrate on the one part of the lake’s surface that was unfrozen on the day when I captured the image you see below.

With both of these spots not far from my workplace, I should be better at making time for little lunchtime escapades than I am. Recent outings kept telling me that my legs needed more acclimatisation and these are two options that should do the trick; they just need the making of time during a busy workday. Maybe those longer evenings could help yet.

This day last week, a weather front was making its way down Britain throwing out good coverings of snow as it did so. Macclesfield didn’t escape either though it sounds as if other places got more; there were several inches left on cars in Harlow in Essex last Saturday night. Transport got disrupted too and Twitter was set alight with updates regarding bus and train services along with any poor road condition reports. If anyone believed that February heralds the start of spring and that has been taught in Irish primary schools, this year’s February should be troubling that kind of belief.

Sunday saw me spend a few hours trudging through the snow near the river Bollin and between Macclesfield, Prestbury and Tytherington, using muscles that hadn’t been active for a while and they were telling me all about it for a few days afterwards; somehow walking through uses different ones to normal walking if my perception is correct. As they did so, they were reiterating a message that I need to get out wandering through countryside more often. The walk had been through snow-blanketted countryside in foggy conditions that delighted in their own way more than the abounding greyness might have suggested.

When I returned home, I decided to clear the snow covering pavements around my house because the temperatures were softening it sufficiently that thoughts of its condition on refreezing weren’t good ones. There was rain that night but it didn’t take all the snow before frost revisited us on Monday and some remains with us even now to leave some footpaths less than passable. On higher ground, the white stuff persists and I was looking forward to walking along the Manifold Way today until a seasonal sore throat frustratingly forestalled the plan. Hopefully, that won’t be the way for much longer.

Weatherwise, 2012 started like a lion in some parts with Scotland getting a particular battering. Before that the second day of the year saw me crossing hills to pop over to Buxton. That act planted in my mind the prospect of exploring more of Macclesfield’s hills this year. However, the following weekend was a quiet one for me.

The weather may have been offering in other places but a prior commitment was the cause of my staying close to home and not getting out among hills in parts like Shropshire or even wandering along the streets of somewhere pleasing to the eye like Edinburgh or even Shrewsbury. That’s not to say that I wasn’t doing some more playing with ideas for outdoors outings though.

While adjusting albums in the photo gallery, thoughts were drawn to revisiting places where I haven’t been for a while. The online photo albums that attracted my attention were that for the Pennine Way and the Scottish Southern Uplands and Borders. The refresh involved adding photos were added, removing an old one rewriting a few descriptions. The trip ideas that came to mind while adjusting those photos included a stay in Peebles to explore the surrounding hills as well as getting to walk more of the Pennine Way or even the Southern Upland Way. Old and not so old photos act as reminders for me of past glories and lure me back to where I found them before.

Last weekend’s cold frosty sunny weather was enough to draw out among hills again on Saturday. It was a day when any part of Britain’s hill country would have delighted and I did play with a walk around Sedbergh that involved an out and back yomp into and onto the Howgill Fells. Looking a bus timetables caused me to leave it for later in the year. Remembering how stiff I felt after a trot about Church Stretton’s hills before Christmas was a factor too in not deciding not to set my sights too high. Thus, I opted for a hike from the Cat and Fiddle Inn to Buxton that mainly followed the Dane Valley Way with a deliberate diversion or two. After all, the prospect of seeing the Three Shire Heads bridge in full winter lighting was too good to miss; it may have added to the distance covered but proved to be well worth that. If all goes to plan, more will be said about the walk sooner instead of later.

Though our settled spell of weather is leaving us at the time of writing, there are promising signs for the coming weekend too. While limbs were stiff on Sunday and Monday, I take that as a cue for trying to get out a little more often then last year and January 2012 isn’t over yet. What I am not planning is anything as frenetic as this month last year when I walked successively in Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Pacing oneself is no bad thing either and quiet moments are needed for collating more ideas too. A recent catch up with a article from one of last year’s issues of TGO has me wanting to sit with it and pore over maps while ogling the contained photos of splendid Lake District hill country. Wandering needs forethought at times.

One thing that perplexes me about down-filled duvet jackets is that they’re incompatible with rain. It was something that dawned on me over the Christmas and I was mulling over the idea of acquiring one with a water-resistant coating. However, this winter has turned out largely mild away from Scotland and the cost of such things caused a rethink. In fact, a look in the January sales has resulted in a different outcome: the acquisition of  Páramo Cascada jacket.

Some may complain that they are too warm for them but the combination of warmth and waterproofing sounds appealing to me. What really has surprised me after years of using jackets fashioned from eVent and Gore-Tex is the softness of the fabric used in the Cascada. The length is generous too and a far cry from alternatives using drop tails instead, not that I have used any of these; the mere mention tends to deter me for one reason or another. For some though, the extra length may be too long and I certainly would not consider using it for cycling and the extra warmth would work against that too. The hood does have a wired peak though it did seem a little on the floppy side to me at first; handily, it can be folded away too though some frown on such things. Of course, it’s in making plenty of use of the Páramo that I’ll get the measure of it. Only then can more considered opinions be shared.