Highs and Lows

ROUTE STATS (including map) The Pasture Beck Horseshoe The car bumbles along the bumpy road to Hartsop, wallowing like a laden elephant negotiating a tightrope. The tyres crunch over tiny stones on the surface, pestle-and-mortar-style, as we swing into a hidden, yet surprisingly well-known car park at the foot of a popular bridleway near the Kirkstone Pass. The early autumn chill stings a little as we transition from the warm car and hurriedly put on extra layers. There’s the merest…

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ROUTE STATS (including map) The Cwm Eigiau Horseshoe I love a quiet road. Particularly a quiet road with gates to open and close. Deep in the heart of the Carneddau is just such a road. The barriers force me to stop regularly on the narrow lane, easing frazzled nerves from the long motorway drive. There’s a gentle rhythm of jumping out of a warm car into the raw beauty of the mountains, edging the few metres through the gap, before…

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ROUTE STATS (including map) The Merrick and Three Lochs For hillwalkers more used to the Lake District and Snowdonia, the idea of walking in Scotland can be intimidating. Is the air thick with midges? Will my evenings be spent coaxing ticks from unspeakable crevices? What about that inevitable face off with a testosterone-fuelled stag? Aren’t there raging burns to cross and vast landscapes to negotiate? Angry gamekeepers chasing me off wealthy landowners’ estates? And if they don’t get me, surely the…

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ROUTE STATS (including map) The Whinlatter Fells A surprisingly rough walk over fine Wainwrights. That’s how my guidebook* describes this route across the Whinlatter Fells. I trace my finger across the map while my other hand cradles a steaming cup of coffee. From my comfortable layby on this drizzly late summer’s morning, I am fooled into thinking this is a mistake. “These are only little fells. Plus a gentle walk through the forest. How rough can it be?” It only…

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ROUTE STATS (including map) Cwm Llafar Horseshoe A sign warns me to cadwch eich pellter. That’s keep your distance in Welsh. Noticing the distinct lack of people and the huge expanse of the Carneddau ahead, I’m sure that won’t be a problem. Miles of pathless walking stands between me and Carnedd Dafydd, the first of the Carneddau giants on the Cwm Llafar Horseshoe. I’ve wandered the residential streets of Bethesda; locals and delivery drivers negotiating the twists and turns to the…

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ROUTE STATS (including map) Glyderau and Carneddau Expedition Vehicles inch unhurriedly across the asphalt of North Wales. I’ve been crawling along the motorway since Manchester and it seems everyone is heading in my direction. I feel that lingering sense of helplessness being at the mercy of the flow of traffic. With each tedious mile, I see time marching on, leaving me with fewer daylight hours to enjoy the hills. There’s no use in complaining. I’m part of the problem, sitting…

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ROUTE STATS (including map) Matterdale Common and the Dodds The Eastern Fells in the Lake District form the large mass of high ground between Thirlmere in the west and Ullswater in the east. The jewel in the crown is always going to be Helvellyn, with its precipitous ridges drawing thrill-seekers from the east, and its gentler, yet still-to-be-respected western slopes dominating the scenery around Thirlmere. Let’s not forget good old north and south too. South of the mountain everyone wants…

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ROUTE STATS (including map) Eastern Glyderau Lorries thunder past as I perch on the lip of the car boot, lacing up for the day’s hike. The dark shape of Tryfan rises ominously over my right shoulder, like a huge shark’s fin ploughing through an ocean of cloud. The bulky giants of the Carneddau stand resolutely above the frigid waters of Llyn Ogwen. After tentatively dipping a toe into the Northern Carneddau on my last visit, I am now among the…

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ROUTE STATS (including map) Warnscale Round I’ll start with an apology. There aren’t many photos of this walk to share with you. It was just too wet and windy to even think about testing the limits of my camera. So it’s mainly words today, with the odd washed out picture thrown in for good measure. It was cold too. Particularly for the end of June. And particularly since I’d promised to show off the best of the Lake District to…

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ROUTE STATS (including map) Blencathra scrambling I don’t often feel nervous on the morning of a mountain walk. It’s normally a mixture of excitement, anticipation and longing for being in places where I feel most at ease. But today, parked in a lay-by just off the A66, I’ll admit to noticing the odd butterfly in my stomach. This walk has been almost 30 years in the making. Today I’m visiting the spikier ends of Blencathra: Sharp Edge and Hall’s Fell…

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