The Howgills

A nice surprise - a fine weather window on a Saturday.  Not quite the unbroken sunshine we were led to believe but dry.

I parked at the Cross Keys lay by at 10am.  It only has room for about eight cars but there was plenty of room at 10 in the morning. 

The start of my walk took me through the sheep farm where there was plenty of activity going on at this time of year.  I kept Shadow on the lead for the first 30 minutes till we were clear of the sheep.

 Most people just walk up the track to the foot of the waterfall Cautley Spout.

Bottom of Cautley Spout - Pass me a hanky Dad!

Once past the waterfall it was a steep 600 feet climb up the side of Yarlside.  Shadow was most confused by my zigzagging ascent as he is used to walking on footpaths.

The summit of Yarlside is marked by a small cairn.  This was Shadow's first mountain (i.e. over 2000 feet).

Yarlside - Shadow's first mountain - my 279th.

Next up was Kensgriff.  Care had to be taken not to take the direct route as there are some steep scree slopes coming off Yarlside but visibility was good so navigation easy today.

Kensgriff ahead with Randygill Top behind.

Kensgriff - not reaching 2000feet and therefore not classed as a mountain.

The second 'mountain' of the day was Randygill Top (624 meters), the summit again marked with a small rocky cairn.  This again was reached by a steep pull up a grassy flank.

Shadow's second mountain - Randygill Top

I visited the nearby geocache and grabbed the Excalibur geocoin that had been in the cache since last July.  On looking at it closely I see that the name Gareth is obviously an Arthurian legend name - I never knew that.

Shadow taking a break and guarding the Geocache site

2003 Space Odyssey geocache

Excalibur geocoin

The walk now got gentler - a stroll along the ridge to the trig point on top of Green Bell, passing the only other walkers I saw all day. 

The trig point on top of Green Bell

Time for lunch but it was pretty blowy and cold on the summit so I descended the valley and ate before climbing the last hill of the day, Wandale Hill.  Its marked as 497 meters but my GPS was reading 500 meters at ground lever - I wonder if it makes it a 'Dewey' as well as a HuMP.

A break in the cloud - in a far away valley

It was a beautiful end to the day descending via fields and crossing streams.  The Cross Keys pub serves afternoon tea.  What better place to sit and admire the mountains and the birds that come to feed on the nuts

.

Fine views with coffee in the Cross Keys

A full collection of my photos of England and Wales mountain tops can be found: Flickr Photo album

London Road Cemetery

I was out walking the dog and looking for Pirate Smurf's Treasure Chest

Found half of it and am just waiting for the second part to become available.

I wandered through London Road Cemetery which was more full of dog walkers than mourners.  It's well worth a visit, designed by the landscape designer Joseph Paxton full of impressive trees.

 

Oslo

Back to Oslo again, this time on business but with just a few hours spare to see the city.  I was expecting clear blue skies but no, it was grey, foggy and slushy.

An ice sculpted family

Back to an old haunt and somewhere to warm up.

The city was crowded with people visiting the winter world championships.  Judging by the TV pictures I saw, the spectators at the top of the ski jump could not see the competitors land at the bottom.

Even time for a bit of caching with fellow cacher Durham2006

Black Edge - Buxton

Going for a walk in the Peak District this weekend sounded just the ticket.  The weather in North Wales and the Lakes looked poor so let's stay closer to home I thought.  I planned a series of walks up HuMPs (hills with 100 meters promontory) and involving trigpoints.  When I woke up however I felt drained.  No ill, just lacking energy.  Never mind, I thought, let's feed the dog and get going. 

I parked on the outskirts of Buxton and first stop was Corbar Hill with the trig point on top.  Felt no better walking up through the pretty wood - still lethargic and heavy footed - must be the thyroid out of balance me thinks.

Corbar Hill - and the compound without a cross.

I grabbed a cache and then went to the trig point.  There used to be a large wooden cross here till recently when it was sawn down by someone in protest of the Pope's visit to the UK.  I left the Shadow in the compound as the trig point was in a field of sheep and I could sense him getting interested in them.

The felled Buxton Cross (photo from Buxton Advertiser)

From there I headed over the moor, to Cuckoo Tors and around the top of the wood.  I was expecting to be on my own but there were quite a lot of dog walkers out - plenty to keep Shadow company.  We met a dog that was a cross between a whippet and a lurcher - boy could that dog motor!

Looking down towards Peak Dale

I found a couple of caches and had a big surprise on one.  Someone had left a £20 with a note saying spend it on something special.  Being a man and no good at shopping I couldn't think what I would spend it on so decided to leave it in place.

Well its black and its an edge - I wonder how it got it's name?

The ridge was quite pleasant walking even though it was a bit soggy underfoot.  The view south was into the valley with quite a few quarries in the distance.  We rested at the top by the trig point and then made our way back ,descending by the reservoir and back to the car.  That was enough for me for the day and home to watch the rugby.

Look Dad.........ha, ha, fooled you!

Osmotherley Youth Hostel trip

For this years trip I hired out the youth hostel at Osmotherley.  It was an excellent hostel with good facilities  and we had 41 people there.  The weather was dry, cold but foggy.  There's plenty of walking opportunities on the North Yorkshire Moors.

My walk took in the three hills on the top of the map and ended in Carlton

Two groups went off walking on Saturday.  I was with the smaller group that went to tackle some of the higher hills on the moor's northern rim.  (The other group of 30 walked directly from the hostel and took in the local priory). 

First stop was to view the well preserved AA sign in Broughton

Round Hill (454 meters) - first Marilyn and trig of the day.

One of the more unusual footwear styles I've seen worn on the hills.

The Wain Stones - wasn't expecting to stumble across a scene like this in the fog.

Home for the weekend - Osmotherley Youth Hostel

Kilvay Hill, Swansea

In all the time I lived in Swansea I had never been up Kilvay Hill.  Its on the eastern outskirts of the city and the feature that causes the exit road to hug the coast line.

We approached it by parking in Port Tennant and taking one of the many footpaths that seen to go up the hill on the seaward southern side of the hill keeping just below the farmland for most of the way up. 

A dreary view over Swansea with only the Ferris wheel adding any brightness

At the top there is now the inevitable mast compound and an old concrete wind shelter.  The trig point that used to be up here has now gone but we were able to find the old base it used to stand on.

On top of where the trig point used to stand

The previous evening my friend had suggested we go down to Langland Bay for some Laverbread, an old Swansea delicacy made from seaweed.  I was expecting to go to a shop to buy some and was taken aback when we suddenly headed for the beach.  He meant that we were going to collect the laver seaweed from the beach and make our own laverbread.  This involved washing it and then putting it in the bottom of the oven overnight before frying it in bacon fact in the morning and adding oats. 

Washing the laver seaweed before cooking

Port Talbot Marilyns

Time for a bit of a walk after the excesses of Christmas.  Also time to try to complete the Marilyns on Section 32C.  I parked in the side streets of Aberavon and walked up the Avon Afan to Cwmafan watching the cormorants on the way.

Cormorant fishing in Avon Afan

After negotiating the streets of Cwmafan I was onto the narrow lanes tat led me up onto Foel Fynyddau which I approached for the last half mile along a footpath from the west.  There were no views from the top as the mist was down. I could hardly see the nearby masts. All I could hear was the occasional voice in the distance but I didn't see anyone.  The trig point looked in good condition.

The misty top of Foel Fynyddau

Back on the lanes, I headed south and then along footpaths and up to Mynydd Dinas, the hill that overlooks Port Talbot.

Abandoned farm vehicles adding to the bleakness of the day.

In all the years of driving past Port Talbot I have never been up here and neither have most people by the looks of it.  Although there are footpaths leading up the hill the way to the actual trig point and summit is far lass clear and not easy to find.  Again the trig point looks in good condition.

Trig Point on top of Mynydd Dinas

There is a steep decent back down to Port Talbot that needed care in today's damp conditions with snow left over from the pre-Christmas falls. once below the cloud level I could see the town of Port Talbot looking gray and dreary, reminding me of that Max Boyce line:  Is that the sun or the moon?  I don't know I'm, from Port Talbot.

A dreary view over Port Talbot steel works.

Section 32C of the Marilyns now completed.