Collected Musings of a Hill Wanderer

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 have been offering in others 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.

Today came as a lovely sunny if chilly day around Macclesfield so thoughts turned to a little trip out of doors. A certain lethargy meant that I couldn’t muster up enthusiasm for a wander on foot through the countryside so I went by bus through the hills to Buxton instead. Looking through the bus windows, I was reminded of just how much hill country there is between Macclesfield and Buxton. It looked resplendent with the sun shining on it too so I am reminded again of what lies on my doorstep so I need to do more with it.

What surprised me was the amount of snow that remained wherever as sheltered spot could be found. The covering may have been light but there has been a green and grey Christmas and New Year for much of Britain and Ireland so I wasn’t expecting to see so much. An overnight frost did whiten some of the hillsides too though much of that was gone by the time that I passed the way. Sightings of the white just proved what a little height does sometimes so it came as little surprise to learn that Scotland was getting more of the white stuff with a front passing over that country, even while I was out in dry weather around Cheshire and Derbyshire.

There were a good few folk around Buxton with some taking in the dry sunny weather and more surveying the winter sales. When the clouds obscured the sun, I must admit to doing some of the latter too. Nevertheless, I get to savouring a little of Buxton Country Park too with a short walking idea for around there collected for possible future use. A potter to Grinlow Tower or Solomon’s Temple sounds tempting, as does following another part of the Dane Valley Way, and I recall one occasion when I walked from Buxton to the Cat and Fiddle Inn with part of the journey taking me through the said country park when a snow shower came the way. It was magical enough passing through snow-covered woods for the first time in my life without that so the memory gets reinforced. Beyond them the air cleared and it was patchy snow coverings that I met for the rest of the way. Maybe I need to revisit some of that again. It became a day for collecting walking ideas while still never far from humanity.

Travel Arrangements:

Bus service 58 between Macclesfield and Buxton.

Having had a few days to catch up with a few recent issues of TGO, a realisation has popped into my mind: maybe basing myself somewhere on a trip away might allow me to get more from it, especially for those places that take a little longer to get to them. Using Dunoon as a base for exploring Cowal worked very well in 2011 so I need to spend a little time pre-assembling some designs so that they have some hope of becoming reality. Along with the wilder parts of Scotland, Northumberland also comes to mind with the longer travel times needed for getting there and because of my whetting my appetite for its hill country during the summer of 2011. Parts of Wales such as the countryside round about Brecon or the Heart of Wales railway line also come to mind as do the eastern fells of the Lake District in Cumbria and the Cairngorms in Scotland. Methinks that setting aside a little time to think these over might be no bad idea and there others that I could list here too but there are enough mentioned for now.

The end of one year and the beginning of another is as good a time as any to take stock of things. One of these that comes to mind pertains to loose ends outstanding in my hill wandering from the last few years. The biggest of these is the Pennine Way, along which I haven’t walked for a while, and it now looks like multi-day trips are need to add to the mileage already completed. The mention of the Pennine Way also reminds that unused plans exist for walking Derbyshire countryside too, both new and already frequented. Then, there’s the prospect of extending what I have walked of the Rob Roy Way and the perennial desire to savour more of what my home country, Ireland, has to offer the hill wanderer. Those should mean no shortage of trip ideas like what I felt to be the case at the end of 2010, at least until I started to catch up with then unread issues of TGO anyway.

2011 has been a busy year for me and my hope is that 2012 lets me out of doors more often though the future will decide that when it first becomes the present and then the past. After all, there’s hill country near Macclesfield that needs to be revisited and other possibilities may come my way. Unlike the end of 2010 when I felt that I had ran out of ideas, a year later sees me pondering a fair few options as the blog goes into its seventh calendar year although its actual birthday is at the start of May; 2012 will see the sixth one being reached. Any designs that I concoct may not be as grand as those of other folk but having a few of them manage to come to pass will more than do me. Hopefully, 2012 will turn out to be a good outdoors year for you, dear reader, too.

July turned out to be a month when I was away for four weekends in a row and I decided that the same would apply to the fifth one to make a clean sweep. As it happened, August became a quiet month for hill wandering even if I had a few days off from work at the end of it. Then, a busy working life meant that any taking of the fine weather that was around for much of it took the form of local cycles with a call to Alderley Edge and Hare Hill featuring on one of the Saturdays. That has planted in my mind the idea of a walk taking in both of these for when I only have a few hours to spare.

On that last weekend in July, I headed to Gower via the Heart of Wales railway. That in itself has me mulling over the prospects for multi-day trips due to the travel practicalities involved; the train service is limited to just a few services each way every day. Stations such as Cynghordy and Sugar Loaf seem to offer easy access to the countryside round about there. Former spa towns such as Llandrindod Wells, Llangammarch Wells and Llanwrtyd Wells all are near stations on the line while Builth Wells is a little further away and may be better accessed using a Trawscambria bus from Newtown on the Cambrian Coast line. Though the appearance of the countryside wasn’t helped by the cloudy skies that lay overhead as I passed through it, thoughts of exploring hilly parts that are new to me sounds appealing. After all, the Elan valley is not so far away from Llandrindodd Wells either. All of these trip ideas need more work to make them happen but it’s great to have the possibilities regardless of this.

Swansea had the sun trying to break though the cloud cover without a great deal of success when I arrived and that was set to continue until I left too. While I have no doubts as to the scenic attractiveness of the Gower coastline, it was being afflicted by a lot of haze when I got to Rhossili. That may have limited whatever could be done with a camera, but I still enjoyed my potter around there anyway.

First, I walked out towards Worm’s Head, a famous spot featured in many a photo that graced the pages of magazines such as Outdoor Photography. Being owned by the National Trust meant that I wasn’t the only one heading that way though the crowds petered out the further along I went. The tide was in so I more than contented myself with seeing the rocky formations from the mainland. In any event, I am not so sure that crossing a tidal causeway sounds too appealing me even if there’s a coastguard station nearby. That tells its own story so I think it best to stay on the mainland anyway.

My next steps took me south along the rocky coastline for little while before I turned inland again to negotiate a few public rights of way to return to Rhossili again. Having a little time on my hands before I needed to make my way back to my base for the night, I fitted in a climb to the top of The Beacon on Rhossili Down where moorland was to be found. Any designs on a circular walk were put on hold in the interests of time but this was a good introduction. The need to gain a little height also meant that I’d found a quieter corner of Rhossili too. In fact, making a full a circular walk over and around Rhossili Down sounds like a perfect excuse for returning to that part of the world.

Apart from Rhossili, there are places in the Gower that sound as if they are worth visiting too. A trot from Oxwich to Port-Eynon to Rhossili sounds promising and a visit to Mumbles could be interesting too although it looks very built up on the map. Apparently accommodation can be tricky to organise on the Gower during the busy season so a little forethought might be in order. Getting weather that works wonders for the appearance of the coastline would help too. Sunshine may have been in short supply while I was there but the excursion really opened up ideas for me so I am not complaining.

Travel Arrangements:

Outbound train from Macclesfield to Swansea with changes at Stockport and Shrewsbury, the latter being for the train going down the Heart of Wales line. Return bus journey on X18 between Swansea and Rhossili. Return train trip from Swansea to Crewe via the Heart of Wales line and having a change in Shrewsbury. Bus service 38 from Crewe to Macclesfield.

While the prospect of a day of sunshine should have been enough to get me wandering through the countryside, that hasn’t come to pass. As it happens, the skies over Macclesfield are laden with cloud with the sun only getting out from time to time. That means the landscape gets spotlit instead of the full lighting that really enlivens it though there are some who’d enjoy the photographic possibilities that come with it.

What has resulted is a spot of time for pondering walking options and sorting out gear for when an opportunity really offers. Local options such as Nab Head near Bollington, Alderley Edge to and from Hare Hill and following the Gritstone Trail from Bollington to Disley are recalled but others have come to mind too. Around this time last year, I took myself down to Shropshire for a day of walking and I wouldn’t mind following up on that. Another possibility for these shorter hours of daylight is Ysgyryd Fawr (also known as the Skirrid) near Abergavenny.

Yesterday’s map surveying revealed other possibilities, this time in the Derbyshire Dales. A circular walk centred on Hartington that takes in Wolfscote Dale and Biggin Dale sounds promising, possibly more so than the sections of the High Peak Trail and Tissington Trail that I followed last October. Continuing from Wolfscote Dale into Dove Dale is a longer alternative that would get me near Thorpe. Following these deep narrow dales through the High Peak could be interesting.

In the same locality, there is another walking option and this is the Manifold Way that takes in the Manifold Valley as it goes from Waterhouses near Leek to Hulme End, a few miles from Hartington. It’s one that I have had in mind in while and considering what lies around Hartington has reminded me of it. Though it can be done in a day, this is longer distance option that needs some pouring over bus timetables to make it work. Now that there is no bus service between Macclesfield and Leek of a Sunday, it probably is one for a Saturday or another day of the week.

Of course, this just is a bundle of ideas with more coming to mind from Wales and Scotland. This hasn’t been much of a year for trips to the latter so there’s plenty of choice. For one, Peebles looks a handy base for a weekend wandering through the hills that surround it. Then, there’s Glenfinnan and Morar for those longer days of Spring when using later trains would be an option. Other parts that I only ever have passed include Sleat on Skye and Lochalsh on the way to that alluring isle.

A weekend reconnaissance trip to Gower in July revealed that it is somewhere worthy of a return but there are places lining the Heart of Wales railway line that merit more attention too. Looking a little further away from that railway line has brought my eyes to the Elan Valley and all that has to offer. Apart from my more customary haunts of Snowdonia and the Brecon Beacons, there is a lot of Wales that I have yet to see.

A busy work life seems to have lulled me into a torpor from which I feel the need to escape and collecting ideas like I have done here could be a big help. Even writing up that trip report for the weekend that I spent in Cowal has set me to thinking. Extending that further, could fleshing out those ideas lead to more entires on here, thus becoming something of a series? Anything that forces a certain readiness should help though there remains nothing like actually getting out in hill country and retelling those experiences for adding to the encouragement.