Highlights of 2021 At the start of a new year, I like to look back at what I’ve achieved in the previous 12 months. I’m not very good at this. It’s all too easy to compare myself to other seemingly high achievers and play down my own accomplishments. But when I force myself to do this exercise, I start to realise just how far I’ve come in what has been an unusually turbulent year for most. So, in today’s post,…
The magic of a cloud inversion The chatter of excited adventurers carries up from the deep bowl cradling the tarn below. Helvellyn’s answer to the Whispering Gallery at St Paul’s Cathedral. I am high above them, tiptoeing across the narrow ridge, sending pebbles skittering across stone towards their inevitable plunge into the abyss. I move with laser-like precision, my gaze focused on nothing but the line of least resistance through the crag. I reach the summit plateau. Heart hammers against…
The consolidation period So, you’ve completed your mountain leader training course and have officially moved into the consolidation period. Congratulations! It’s a place where eager leaders lurk, as they transition from experienced hillwalkers to expert mountain professionals. Mountain Training describes this consolidation period between training and assessment as ‘an opportunity to develop your skills, paying particular attention to weaknesses identified during the training course’. This means the consolidation period will be different for everyone. It’s your chance to gain as…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Mountain food Do you give much thought to the food you pack for a day in the hills? Or is it a case of I’ll lob in a sandwich and a few snacks, maybe a flask of coffee and hope for the best? It’s enough to think about all the other kit we need and my food choices are often a guesstimate based on experience of how hungry I’m likely to be on a typical mountain day. There’s normally a…
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…