White Edge, Curbar Edge & Froggatt Edge

'Thunderbolts and lightning, but edges are exciting'

Date: 25 August 2012                                         Start time: 12:43

Start point: Longshaw National Trust car park, Peak District - SK255777

Walkers: Mark Illingworth, Emma Lever

Distance: 8.73miles                                           Time: 3:34:33

Route: Leave car park back up track to road. Turn L towards and past Grouse Inn. After bend, cross road R and head through gate to walk E uphill to White Edge Lodge up ahead on moor. Walk around R of house and keep E to gate with wall L. Turn L then immediately R to follow track across moor to gate by road. Turn around and take path W-SW away from road. Following obvious track, continue until you reach stone outcrop at wall junction, named on OS map as 'Hurkling Stone'. Follow wall W with wall L to gap in with wooden signpost. Take path to L marked 'Curbar Gap' that follows White Edge. Follow path, with moor to your L and edge drop to your R. Cut L after a little over 1 mile or so up to trig point then head back to edge path continuing S past field system below R. Path drops a little and splits - take R turn heading SW to Curbar Gap car park. Take steps in NW corner of car park. Turn L at top of steps then R up to kissing gate. Through gate, follow obvious path N with edge L along Curbar Edge and Froggatt Edge. Keep on obvious path through gate into wood and emerge at road. Walking E a few yards, cross road and take gate. Footpath drops to stream then rises to wood at foot of car park.

Weather: Remarkable. Filthy dark clouds surrounded us, rain could be seen in valleys all around us, thunder rumbled, Emma saw a flash of lightning, but we only got a little rain - five minutes of light shower at most. I still can't believe we didn't get soaked. It was pretty warm, some blue sky, even a little humid in amongst the bracken ferns and trees. Visibility was patchy in the distance because of all the rain around.

Notes: I've always said Country Walking Magazine route guides should start with an animal warning section, just so you know what to expect. We weren't expecting cows straight away, and with our fear of cows we crossed the wild uneven heather and grass covered off-piste route for the first section of the walk. The hills were liberally covered and coloured by vibrant purple heather - I didn't feel so bad walking over a small part of this, but it did work the legs more.

Then came the almost pointless trudge over White Edge Moor. Sometimes religiously following someone else's route without any re-con can lead to this. We did see a county boundary stone to add some interest, and found a nice place to eat lunch - until Emma realised there were some ants hard at work along the stones we were sat on. It was a nice place to sit and spot blue sky above whilst watching dark clouds dip into every valley around.

Next came White Edge, a Peak District edge I'd never heard of before, but maybe because its not really an edge as such - its set in the middle of the moor. Still, some splendid rocky gritstone outcrops and lovely smelling forna around, with a shiny white trig point to boot. 

Curbar Edge is where it really starts to feel like a Peak District edge, with a steep sharp drop to a green valley complete with river and road and lots of trees hugging around the smattering of buildings. There were plenty of rocky outcrops and overhangs to pause on for photo-ops - the 'Bolt' and 'Mo-Bot' were pulled in honour of the Olympics. I'm not sure where Curbar Edge becomes Froggatt Edge, as you follow one continuous tourist and family friendly path combing the two edges. If I could make any distinction, maybe Froggatt had more boulderous outcrops and was more wooded at the base. Either way, it was a delightful trek which featured a few interesting additions - most notably and intriguingly, a small herd of mountain heffers all hairy and nonchalant as they blocked the path, with one renegade member of the group hanging out by the edge. 

Below, just over the river from Froggatt we could hear the music of a brass band and saw a makeshift car park in a field close to a large stately home type building. Co-incidentally, whilst I was initially writing this up, Emma was watching Caroline Quentin's BBC2 show 'Restoration Home' which featured what we believe to be this building we saw - Stoke Hall, which was lovingly and painstakingly restored by an artisan craftsman, as much as labourers and tradesmen. The event that drew the bands and crowds this day was the Froggatt Show. This was not Caroline Quentin related. 

As well as the crowds in the village, it was also crowded on the edge in some areas. A 'Hollywood' name, comfortable tourist path and close proximity car parking at either end usually means something we dread on a walk - FAMILIES, WITH CHILDREN, AND DOGS! Altogether, an unruly group of outdoor 'enthusiasts'. The most unruly dog we met this day went by the name of Biscuits. It seemed more interested in chasing us off White Edge than obeying its owner.

There was a Leeds fan who must have seen the '3-in-a-row' Wembley loss coming because he was far from a TV at about the same time 'Abide with me' would be ringing around Wembley Stadium.

There was also a hairy caterpillar I would like to look into further - and I feel my flora and forna identification skills really need improvement too.

Malham

'No summits but plenty of sights'

Date: 12 August 2012                                       Start time: 11:22

Start point: Yorkshire Dales Visitor Centre, Malham - SD899626

Walkers: Mark Illingworth, Emma Lever

Distance: 11.67miles                                       Time: 5:05:54 

Route: Turn L out of Visitor Centre car park then cross road R opposite pub and follow 'Pennine Way' S out of village. After kissing gate, follow path L into National Trust wooded area and up around Janet's Foss waterfall all the way to road. Turn R on road, walk past lay-by and take gate L into campsite. Follow path N through camp site to Gordale Scar. Retrace steps back to road, turn R and take path behind lay-by through gate. At wall, head through gate R and go uphill to stile at gap in wall. Continue N up steep hillside then follow top E to steps at top of N chamber of Gordale Scar. Descend steps down to see upper chamber then retrace up steps and take wall stile on path NW. Follow path NW through field to intersection of walls. Head over wall stile and take stoney track N towards Great Close Plantation. Take path around N of plantation towards Malham Tarn. Follow 'Pennine Way' S-SW to car park for tarn. Cross road, head to gate R then follow 'Pennine Way' S to Ing Scar Crag. After descending to valley below, follow path SSE to Malham Cove through gate stile. Turn R and walk over limestone pavement to top of stepped path down. At bottom, head L through gate to see face of Malham Cove before picking up obvious path S away from cove to meet road. Follow road back through village to car park.

Weather: Blustery though not cold. Overcast with the odd very light spot of rain. Blue sky was rare. Immediate visability was ok but long rang visibility was hazy and poor.

Notes: The Country Walking Magazine route we followed was called Malham Cove, but that takes something away from the rest of the natural wonder you walk through, by and over on this walk, so I felt a wider name was deserved.

The first stop is Janet's Foss Waterfall (Foss being the Nordic for Force). A fairly powerful downfall in the midst of a pleasant National Trust maintained wood. The pool at the bottom was a family gathering area - an enthusiastic dog splashing was more enjoyable than the noise of children though. Possibly the ruining feature of this site is its too near a road. Families, lazy people, and even pushchairs can get there. But I shouldn't let that cast a shadow over an impressive natural feature. The waterfall has a strange 'wall' behind it that looks like mineral deposits that have built up. It prevents you from standing under the fall where the fairy Janet apparently resided in a cave.

Gordale Scar deserves the star treatment it gets on the OD Explorer map. Having never been here before we weren't sure what to expect as we head through a campsite, on to a clear path, that disappears round a corner into a limestone crevasse. What we saw was a massive WOW moment. Sheer and overhanging rock faces narrowing and channeling to a water forged drop with waterfalls stepped one on top of the other. Climbers head up the beyond vertical walls of the scar. Adventurous walkers could scramble through the waterfall to the upper chamber. I sat and watched a couple of guys do it. I consider myself an adventurous walker, but this looked beyond me with all the water. I'd blame it on my heavy lunch and waterproofs loaded backpack or on Emma's lack of skills, but really, I think it looked a bit dicey and I was scared off the idea. A steep hill climb and quick stepped descent was our was to the upper chamber and this way you got great views down into Gordale Scar from high up. The limestone valley at the top was equally wonderous, if not as striking as the scar below.

Malham Tarn is a national nature reserve, but obviously not a reserve for fish because we saw a few boats out there fishing - I didn't know you were allowed to fish in a nature reserve. It would've been better if you could shoot the ducks, they were annoying me. People must feed them often as a couple of them approached us repeatedly after out sandwiches, but we managed to shoo them away. We couldn't shoo away quickly enough the puppy handled by a family of absolute clownshoes as it climbed all over Emma. We sat on the eastern shore of the tarn, which is where the footpath goes, but maybe not the best for views. Especially in the dull hazy weather with no distant visibility. We had Highfolds Scar to the north in the corner of our eyes but Great Close Hill behind might have made a more interesting visual backdrop to our picnic stop.

Ing Scar doesn't get the star treatment on the map. Its a little smaller than Gordale Scar and the dry little limestone valley it creates down to Malham Cove might well be missed by most visitors to the area aside from Pennine Wayers and those particularly keen to walk up to the tarn. This is a shame as it is no less wondrous than the rest of the limestone creations nature has given us in this corner of the Dales.

Malham Cove rounds off the walk of wonders we went on and does so in spectacular style. This place, remarkably, lies off access land, but you wouldn't know it. There are people everywhere. And its clear why. The limestone pavement is the finest high level example of this type of scenery around. It isn't completely clear of grasses and certainly feature plenty of plant life in it's cracks, but the rocks are pretty bare and a little other worldly. The touristy path up, the amount of children and non-walkers would annoy me in many places, but this place isn't just a 'highest peak' like the Ben or Snowdon, its a real natural wonder. People should come and see it - all sorts of people. That's just on the top too. When you get to the bottom you get another WOW moment when you look up at the white chalky limestone cliff face. You might be lucky enough to see a falcon or two in the right time of year as well.

This truly was a walk of wonders and worth tripping around despite the crowds in places.

Criccieth to Porthmadog

'One walk, two towns and the number three bus'

Date: 9 July 2012                                            Start time: 12:13

Start point: Tyn-y-Gwynt Guest House, Criccieth - SH499377

Walkers: Mark Illingworth, Emma Lever

Distance: 9.37miles                                         Time: 4:23:02

Route: Turn L out of guest house door and follow street down to promenade / beach. Cross road at RNLI Station and take steps down on to beach. Continue from sand on to pebbled coastline and keep heading E / ESE. At Graig Dhu climb up headland and walk around caravan site to road. Follow road NE as it winds down past campsite then turn down first road on your R. Follow this road S and keep going forward down sandy track to beach when road turns sharp L. On beach, turn L and follow beach E minding out for cars and streams coming from caravan park which is behind dunes. Follow beach to Ynys Cyngar headland. Climb up and follow signposted coastal path above sandy cove with golf course L. At slipway, take stepped path rising steeply ahead then follow way marked coastal path along green cliff tops E past Pen y Banc nature reserve and round the estuary coastline into Borth-y-Gest. Walk N through car park then turn R to go across beach. Take slowly rising path at E of beach and emerge at road. Go L on to the road then take second R off road, that appears as a straight ahead lane. Come out on road next to harbour and disused railway area. Follow this NNE to emerge at Porthmadog harbour, head W towards bridge. Turn R on bridge then R after the bridge to the harbour train station.

Weather: Fairly warm, I was comfortable in shorts. Sunny spells but mostly cloudy. Brief light drizzle. Visibility across Cardigan Bay was relatively good, as it was back to Criccieth across Black Rock Sands.

Notes: The first thing you see is Criccieth Castle (http://cadw.wales.gov.uk/daysout/criccieth-castle/?lang=en). We took a tour and it's exhibitions of the castle before starting the walk. The castle itself is quite ruined but some interesting features remain. The two towers are the most obvious, complete with arrow loops and clearly marked floors. A chimney, some other rooms and a catapult pit also remain. The exhibitions were an alright enhancement to add the value for money factor. There was one about other Welsh castles and one about Gerald of Wales who did things during the Crusades and translated books by the looks of it.

We stopped quickly at Cudwaladers Ice Cream Cafe (http://www.cadwaladersicecream.co.uk/). That was nice, they were all over the area and this was the founding location. The only problem was I finished my tub after the last bin on Criccieth Beach and we had a mile of pebbles to walk before we reached the next bins on Black Rock Sands. 

Moel-y-Gest with its lion like shape was the background to this whole section of the walk

Black Rock Sands is an interesting beach - no whistling sand, but impressive none the less for its size alone. It was the most akin to beaches we have at home (St Annes, Blackpool etc.) of what we saw on this holiday, but one major difference was cars were allowed to drive on to and along the beach. There were also two major interruptions to the beach road where streams ran out to the sea, deep enough to go above the ankles. There was no black rock on the beach, just golden sands, so I assume the name comes from the dark cliffs at the west end of a couple of miles of sand and the rocks breaking out into the estuary on the east end. Despite what Wikipedia says, Coldplay's 'Yellow' music video wasn't filmed on this beach, but its more believable that the Manics 'This is my Truth, Tell me Yours' album sleeve photo was taken here - the wide sand, distant hills, and tyre tracks in the sand does resemble Black Rock Sands.

There was another links golf course that we got very close to, but Porthmadog's club wasn't as exciting as Nefyn's - although one green was above a brilliant little beach cove. The path that rose from this beach was a bit tougher than expected with our tired legs from days of walking, and don't be fooled by the signposts for viewing points, they aren't any better views than you get from the path.

Borth-y-Gest was next. It had a street of Balamory coloured cottages and a beach that was more estuary sludge than sand, but it actually looked quite nice with dry docked little boats. The newsagents selling beach toys and inflatables seemed rather optimistic and gave some amusement. I'm not sure what amused the gentleman who shared an observation in Welsh with us, maybe it was the dingy and alligator on sale in the shop, but maybe not. We stopped here for afternoon tea. It was a welcome break but not the most welcome I felt on the trip. Welsh was loudly spoken in the cafe behind us and a baby was making a racket in the room above the shop.

Porthmadog habour with yachts and steam train was the nicest part of the destination town for our linear walk, although some architecture was interestingly odd, with external ladders appearing to be used as staircases. Odder than this was the obsession the region has with pebble dash. As you walk away from the harbour this place gets less interesting. We couldn't find anywhere exciting to eat and the only decent thing to look at was a big church on the way out of town. The closest we got to excitement was running for the bus.

Notes on Criccieth: The B&B 'Tyn-y-Gwynt' (http://www.tyn-y-gwynt.com/)was very pleasant and was right smack in front of the castle, which I thought was great. Sadly our room was at the back so we didn't have a castle view. We did have a view of the cliff that was placed right between the town's high street and promenade. The garden was alive with colour and songbirds. The en-suite was excellent, everything seemed quite new and well thought out and deliberate, right down to the binder with information on local places to eat or visit. The owner Sally was very nice and friendly. There was some mystery about her back story - she was originally from Birmingham and has adult children still living there, but there was no Mr Sally we saw and no explanation of how she got to owning a guest house in Criccieth, though I'm sure its a story she would share. She had nice dogs too. The only drawback for me was the shared breakfast table, but the breakfast was very nice. Sally did some sauteed potatoes instead of hash browns, but unfortunately there was no black pudding.

The town was quite nice, but it was made by the scenery, beach and castle. It had a few pubs but we only went the The Prince of Wales. The beer was nice, the prices were reasonable and the staff were pleasant enough.

The town seemed to do food pretty well, there were plenty of options - apart from on Sundays and Mondays when a few places were closed, which incidentally were the days we were there. Seafood and fish was prevalent, probably because the town is right by the sea. Prices weren't cheap. On the Sunday we ate at 'Spice Bank'. It was an Indian inside an old bank building. The renovated building was very nice with beams and wood panelling and big fire places. The prices were reasonable, the food was alright, but the staff were a bit too keen. On the Monday we ate at 'Poachers Restaurant' (http://www.poachersrestaurant.co.uk/). This was very nice and strongly recommended. It wasn't cheap but the food deserved the prices that were slightly higher than we would normally pay. We had the set menu - 2 courses for about £16. All the food was very nice, so much so we had to try a dessert too. The only real criticism was the drinks prices, they took the mick a little there, but I'd definitely go back if I was in the area.

I think the only thing left is the trip home. We had two stop offs - Portmeirion and Gwydir Castle.

Portmeirion is quite frankly one of the most ridiculous places I've ever been to. Its like Florence and Balamory had a love child of a town and left it somewhere it should never belong. Basically, some bloke who wears plus fours wanted to put every type of old architecture in one place where they don't really fit, paints them loads of colours and sticks loads of uncoordinated statues everywhere and anywhere with no sort of order. The bloke dresses like a cross between an old golfer and a farmer and clearly has a style of his own, but thinks this is so stylish and beautiful that the town has to be made. To afford all this he had to make a hotel and cottages to let out. Unbelievably people thought it was a worthwhile venture and here it stands today costing £10 an adult to get in to essentially gawp at the nonsense. The most ridiculous thing might have been the 'lighthouse' I think, although I could list more, like the car-train thing you do a tour of the gardens and woods in, but back to the lighthouse - it wasn't really a lighthouse, but you walk half a mile to discover this. Its only on an estuary so isn't really needed and it doesn't have a light in it so wouldn't be of use even if it was needed. If it did have a light you probably wouldn't see it from the water because the structure is so small and short and under a lush canopy of trees. It was awful and pointless. From this you'd think I didn't enjoy the trip here. Actually, it was something hilariously stupid, pointless and at times a little ugly, that I really enjoyed seeing it. The fact that so many people go and hardly any can actually think it is nice amazes me, but all should at least find it ridiculously funny and weird that it holds some wonder.

Gwydir Castle isn't a castle, its an old sort of stately home or hall or something from medieval times, but despite the name being wrong, the place is very impressive (http://www.gwydircastle.co.uk/home.htm). It has well manicured gardens with roaming peacocks and centuries old oak trees. Inside, it has been faithfully restored to its former ways with authentic artifacts from the times of its glory and wood panelling that belonged to the house in the past, was sold to someone in America thus avoiding destruction in a fire at the house, and then bought back as part of the restoration chronicled by the book Castles in the Air. It was very impressive and interesting. This was a nice way to round out the holiday and a special treat for Emma after having her walking around lots all week. All in all we liked Criccieth a lot, we enjoyed the last day trip and it was a really nice holiday. I think we should try and have a holiday like this, exploring a different area of the UK to walk that we can't just day trip to, every year.

Nefyn Coastal walk

'Beaches and cliffs in equal measure'

Date: 8 July 2012                                         Start time: 10:14

Start point: Caeau Capel Hotel, Nefyn - SH306407

Walkers: Mark Illingworth, Emma Lever

Distance: 9.19miles                                      Time: 3:38:35

Route: Turn R out of hotel drive and take path L just after gate. Follow path to coastal cliff top then onto road. Follow road R then cross road ahead at T junction and take upper path along cliff tops that starts next to 'turreted' house. Follow this path round cliff tops out to point of Penhryn Nefyn and along to road that drops R to beach at Morfa Nefyn. Go down to beach and walk W across sands. Walk past houses and a pub at Porth Dinllian and take path over rocks to lifeboat station. Follow path up towards coastguard lookout, being mindful of golf balls from your S. Head to clear track running S alongside golf course fairway. Follow this as it becomes a lane leading to club house. Take road from golf club SE to Morfa Nefyn and take L at crossroads to head N towards beach. Just before beach, take steps R up to cliff top coastal path and follow this back the way you came. However, at lane on compulsory diversion, follow the lane until it turns sharply R and a path goes L through a field to coast. Take path and turn R through gate on leaving field. Follow coastal path back to turreted house and follow first L off road. Follow this road around to hotel start point.

Weather: Mostly mild but with some drizzle, particularly on second half of walk. Clouds were low all around and there was the odd sensation of there appearing to be no clear horizon out to sea because of how the clouds met the water in the distance.

Notes: Porth Nefyn beach has a touch of the idyllic and old fashioned about it. An optimistic cafe and ice cream shop called 'Oasis' complete with wind battered palm trees is at one end of the beach and a neat little harbour with white washed fisherman's cottages at the other end, with a line of colourful little cabins backed up to the sea wall in between. It has probably been the inspiration for many photographs and paintings from Victorian times, and it was the least tired looking part of the town really. Along the path above the bay were many monument benches to those who had clearly loved the place and possibly lost their lives nearby. Unfortunately for some, the placement wasn't always great. A couple fronted up to overgrown shrubbery masking the sea views, and one bench very oddly faced inland looking at a field and some houses.

If Porth Nefyn was picturesque, Porth Dinllean was picture postcard perfect. The painted red pub framed by cottages, fronted by a variety of boats and with sandy beach to rest on and green cliffs behind - it looks almost the perfect little seaside resort for those who loath crowds. Even to get there by car meant driving through a golf course, so secluded was this little bay. And just around the headland by the lifeboat station was an even more secluded perfectly golden sandy cove.

Seabirds were in abundance round the Porth Dinllean headland with its rocky outcrops, but my recently found bravery with birds was seriously put to the test by one bird - I think it was maybe a wren. I must have wandered close to its nest as it came squawking and swooping at me from above. I scarpered sharpish away to a little further inland and literally landed on a putting green - the map doesn't quite show it by Nefyn and District Golf Club comes right out onto the headland with a short par three teeing off from the coastguard lookout and a shared fairway of one hole out and another back in filling the width of the headland. The paths went very close to some of the greens and there is certainly the chance to be hit if the golfer doesn't do what is probably necessary and shoot it low under the winds. We saw one golfer get close on the par three, whilst his lady companion seemed to get away with a provisional shot on each hole. She seemed like an annoying snobbish kept woman. The coastguard was nice though, he told s they sometimes get dolphins and have seals turning up regularly. He thought he saw one whilst we we talking with him, but we didn't see it. I was disappointed not to see anything on our walks around this part of the coast as I expected it most here. Apparently they were more likely to appear at low tide, but it seemed we always caught the tide coming in. 

The golf course was quite impressive, running right along the cliff tops and up the head land. A shared fairway ran up the headland that was barely wider than a decent sized garden at its narrowest and you could see the bays on both sides standing on the middle of it.

Notes on Nefyn: Lets start with the Caeau Capel Hotel - the weirdest hotel I've ever stayed at. From the outside it looked like a once rather wonderful home or hotel had faded to something rather unloved and untended to. On the back was an extension that in 1970 would have looked thoroughly modern and tasteful. In 2012 it looks more out of place and ugly than stylish and modern. The decor, artwork and ornaments were all pretty awful and very out dated. The 'cocktail lounge' was open once for a brief period during the whole weekend we were there. We first saw this room in the dark and were rather firghtened by the life size model/mannequin in the corner all armoured up. The owner/hostess Ruth Stagg seemed as mental as some of the hideous paintings and porcelain animals she had on display. She was of foreign origin, somewhere like France maybe, but she spoke so fast that she was hard to follow. On a better note, the rest of the staff (apart from her rude southern husband) were very nice, the bed was comfortable, the shower was decent and the breakfast was good.
The hotel - old, tired, in need of a touch up - was a fair reflection of the town really. A lot of houses through the main road seemed up for sale, shop premises were boarded up or empty, and the roads were in the process of an upgrade. There seemed to be only one pub (that was attached to a hotel and restaurant) in business, another one was closed down. There was an Indian restaurant called 'Little India'. We ate there, the prices were reasonable and the food was quite good. I liked the samosas, which were amongst the nicest I've ever had. Emma had a house unique curry that was good. I had a reasonable Pathia. We had the stupid desserts that you only find in Asian food outlets. Little India was the only place we were sure was open in the own. There were two cafes we never saw open and a chip shop, as well as two convenience stores. The peninsula brewery was also based here - I had a few of their beers in Aberdaron and they were good, but the bottles we saw for sale were really pricey. The seafront was nice, but I've described that in the notes on the above walk.
I would say Nefyn was the least favoured place we visited. The lack of places to eat and drink was disappointing. So much so that we left the town on our second evening. We wanted to visit Whistling Sands but the weather prevented us on our way to Nefyn, so when the sun shone on the Saturday we took our chance. We stopped for food on the way in Tudweiliog at The Lion Hotel. The food was very good. Emma had gammon and I had rib-eye. The meat was perfectly done. The pudding was brilliant too - I had a toffee, fudge and ice cream creation that was one of the nicest desserts I've ever had in a pub. On from there was Whistling Sands (Porth Oer). I would really recommend a visit here - the sand really does whistle (well, its more of a yelp or a squeak but that wouldn't have the same ring to it) and the bay looks perfect and unspoiled once you're past the little shop. You'll start to wonder why all sand doesn't make noise - that's the one drawback really, all normal sand will now become disappointing! 

Yr Eifl & Tre'r Ceiri

'The peninsula's high point and it's little sisters'

Date: 7 July 2012                                              Start time: 10:35

Start point: Car park off lane north of Llithfaen - SH353440

Walkers: Mark Illingworth, Emma Lever

Distance: 7.64miles                                           Time: 5:18:20

Route: Turn R out of car park onto road for a short way then take clear bridleway L for roughly 1/2 mile until you reach apparent highest point of track at cross roads of paths. Take bridleway L, staying R on main track past huts L, round to concrete steps. Take steps to mast. First go R to head around heathery plateau, then back to mast and past steps to clearing. Here, take path L of fence up rocky slightly exposed faint path as it climbs and winds N-NE to summit cairn. Follow route back to steps and to path cross roads. Take obvious path up Yr Eifl. Path disappears when you reach rock scree, so just make a way up through scree and towards clear summit cairn. Walk around minor summit viewpoints to W/SW of cairns, then take faint path as it descends and heads E as you drop down to reach and cross wall L. Follow this faint path to Tre'r Ceiri W entrance. Explore fort and circle huts and follow path to NE cairn then drop down SW in direction of Llithfaen. Leave fort and follow through wall. At second wall/gate take fainter path R and head in direction of distant wall, staying R until path R at fork starts to raise up hill NW. At this fork take L path W. Over brow, you'll see the car park. Follow paths to car park, but before getting back in your car head into the plantation wood. Make way NW through trees to fence on edge of wood and go through access land. Continue NW to 'settlement' on OS map. At settlement, head E through woods then take marked route S from picnic area back to car park.

Weather: Mostly clear and sunny, no rain and no low cloud. Quite warm but still with slight chill following cold wet weather of previous day. Visibility was very good - you could literally see length and breadth of the peninsula. The bulky masses of Snowdonia (covered in cloud) to the east, Mynydd Mawr and Mynydd Anelog to the west, and all the peninsula in between, including Criccieth Castle.

Under foot was largely dry, but wettest on the way up Yr Eifl and quite boggy in parts descending from Tre'r Ceiri.

Notes: The most notable thing from this walk was the way man has affected the landscape around us and how this can enhance as well as damage the views and our experience of the natural environment. The most modern was the biggest eyesore - a mast on Yr Eifl's minor peak. Other than this, everything else man made was an enhancement, from the Iron Age hill fort dating back possibly over two thousand years in its oldest parts, to the new looking Yr Eifl summit adournment (a figure 4 with letters A and H coming off it). The surrounding areas to the west and east of the smaller northern summit are heavily quarried, I understand this was for their granite. The west quarry looks old as has been closed for years and grassed over with derelict ruins scattering the site. The east quarry looks more recent and possibly still in use. Trefor pier is another man made site that can be seen. The Tre'r Ceiri hill fort needs more discussion - supposedly it's one of the best preserved hill forts of it's time and age in Europe. Most finds at the site relate to the Roman period in the first few centuries AD, but some dating has suggested occupation as early as 100BC. The ramparts are clear and a large number of circle hut foundations / remains exist. It really is a well preserved site and something that I would say is a must see for visitors for the area.

People is the second thing to note - there weren't that many of them given this is the highest point on the peninsula, it was a clear day here but not in Snowdonia, you could see Cardigan Bay and Caernarfon Bay and all between the two. However, the ones we did see were noteworthy. A very nice couple staying on the west of the peninsula had been looking up to Yr Eifl for a week waiting for a clear day. They took a picture of us and discussed the wonder of seeing such a well preserved ancient site. We also saw a site nearer the coast at the end of the walk which didn't benefit from the same conservation program of Tre'r Ceiri, that was also quite well preserved considering this lack conservation.

Emma fell over in the heather, which was funny, especially as she wasn't hurt. There was a lot of heather on the flanks of Yr Eifl.

Oh, and the Swiss or German or some kind of European couple were too amusing to miss out. Firstly, I think they got lost looking for Tre'r Ceiri as they started shouting at us from a distant rise that wasn't Tre'r Ceirir. Secondly, there were ill-equipped fpr the boggy conditions as she had some slip-ons and he had some moccasins on their feet - clearly they hadn't seen the rain the day before. Thirdly, we weren't sure they made it to the fort as they stopped at a sodden gateway below the fort and the female wasn't impressed from what we could gather.

Aberdaron Lands End

'Holiday walk No.1'

Date: 5 July 2012                                          Start time: 10:56

Start point: Dwyros Campsite, Aberdaron - SH167265

Walkers: Mark Illingworth, Emma Lever

Distance: 11.58miles                                     Time: 6:04:27

Route: Take lane opposite campsite. Follow this past two houses then take small bridge L opposite third house. Follow clear path S, ignoring path L that drops to beach. Continue S keeping Sea and cliffs on L, fence and fields on R. Pass through kissing gates and descend steps to Porth Meudwy slipway, then ascend steps on opposite side and follow clear but slightly more overgrown than before cliff top path. After short distance, just after you round a well foliage covered crevasse and pass through a kissing gate, the path splits. Take the higher path to rocky outcrop and follow over rocks and it drops to meet the lower path before a stepped ascent. Continue on clear path keeping sea L to Pen y Cil. Path climbs up as you turn W then N a short way to a gate and briefly out of National Trust land to cross the R side of field in W direction. Head back into National Trust maintained land. Follow clearest path ahead, first going SW to earthworks then NW away form them, following coast line shape but from a short distance from cliff edges. Follow path with fields up to R above and sea below L over the back of Porth Felen and across a small stream. Go uphill between Trwyn y Gwyddel (on L) and Mynydd y Gwddel (on R) to dip in land with stream contained. After crossing stream drop down L on path to St Mary's Well and then return back to coastal path. Head NW and uphill towards hut circles shown on OS map. Head into straight gorge and climb out to R of opening, then turn L and head uphill over concrete foundations and up man made steps to the observation hut atop Mynydd Mawr. At end of wall line, follow faint path to clear path leaving road on R. Take this L away from road and along top of cliff line. At the end of this path, follow faint path down in E-SE direction and across sea facing side of Llanllawen Fawr into fields that leave National Trust land. Path drops to spring/stream and you cross a small wooden bridge. After bridge, turn L to pebbled beach at Ogof Goch. Head back to bridge but don't cross it and take path ahead that winds uphill and L. Follow this path through gates, with fields on R. Path rises along W side of Mynydd Arelog. You reach stone wall on R with small house further R. Continue past the wall on to wide track. When track turns R follow in this direction past small house L through gate, into farm yard. Head into field to your R in front of farm buildings. Follow fence on L of field and turn L through gate. Here you should take R edge of field, over the dyke, to small gate with overgrown path that leads to the road (we were concerned by the overgrown path so headed L in field and went up farm drive to meet road). Follow tarmac road for about 1/1.5 miles back to entrance of campsite.

Weather: Warm and humid, particularly where foliage was fully grown over pathways. Dry, more sun than we realised and barely any wind to speak of. Still damp and often very muddy in patches underfoot on paths. Visibility was very good except for brief sea mist on higher parts of W end of headland. In-land, you could see almost all of the peninsula clearly and views extended to the peaks of Snowdonia and the Cambrian Mountains.

Notes: The views across Aberdaron Bay and back to the village itself during the first section of the walk were brilliant - an idyllic crescent bay. The path has now joined with the Wales Coast Path and is largely well maintained. After the slipway on the first section, it does become more overgrown. It was a shame sections were so muddy as this did take some of the enjoyment away, with it causing concerns about footing and diversions of the path at times. 

As well as making things more colourful and humid, the weather combined with foliage seemed to really encourage the crickets out into son - particularly in the National Trust maintained areas, and most notably on the east edge of the headland. You could really hear the crickets' song, although as I'm no Sheldon or Howard I wasn't able to identify the particular species.

All around the headland the various coves were spectacular and interesting. All were a little different, with some playing home to seabirds, others being thick with plant life, some having little stoney beaches, and others with steep rock faces and sharp jagged rock formations breaking the sea. The ones you could get down to didn't offer a great feeling of peaceful retreat or isolated beach cove, but did give you a different perspective on the rocks and cliffs around you, helping you to appreciate more of the way the sea shapes the land. The water in the coves was an almost tropical green-blue, particularly in the south of the headland. One interesting feature was what looked like a man made outcrop, possibly a sea level well or turret, between Porth y Pistyll and Hen Both, but this like so much else would need to be fully investigated form sea level - an option not open to us.

As mentioned in the route description, much of the headland is maintained by the National Trust. We did donate some change in one of the many honesty boxes along the route. The signs and posters describing the work done to maintain the land kind of guilts you into donating, but the National Trust does some great work and helps provide on of the most interesting features on this walk - the observation hut atop Mynydd Mawr. It used o be a coast guard look out until 1990. It was also used to look out for threats during WWII. Now it seems mostly used for bird watching. The rather poor looking concrete foundations on the way up Mynydd Mawr were also set to house WWII observation points, but it seems they were never completed, or the buildings have since come to pass. These sites do serve as a reminder of our nations history.

Another pointer to the history of this land was the ancient earthworks and field edgings. Its unclear what exactly was here to my untrained eyes, but its something worth looking into. (Google didn't help me much.) 

Animals and insects need noting further - mainly my lack of fear shown to them. There were lots of birds, some coming near to us and most of them hovering around with a predatory look to them - but I barely flinched. Similarly, Emma barely took notice of the many creepy crawly little friends we made every time we stopped for a snack. Also, it being Wales, there were lots of sheep. One sheep served to irritate and then entertain us in equal measure as it had separated itself from its friends, but seemed reticent to pass us when not receiving any replies to it's many bleats. Eventually it summed up the courage, or remembered it's sense of direction, and passed us to return to the flock, who collectively gathered around on its return - we speculated that it was either to hear the tale of woe experienced, or to take the mickey.

Talk of animals brings me to my most negative and frustrating note - the farm and the hidden path. The farm yard was full of dogs and chickens which were so noisy and distracting we missed the path in front of the barn and were rudely instructed by a farmer lady sat in her car to go the right way, and she never did anything about the dogs snapping towards us. We calmly dealt with this and accepted our fate of having to go through a field hosting cows and ducks. Again, we calmly negotiated this, overcoming our collected fear of cows from events of walks past. We just about left this field before the cows came looking for us, more out of curiosity than menace I assumed. Now we had to figure out how to continue on our way but the Country Walking Mag directions weren't great at this point. We found a gate but what lay beyond it was so overgrown I couldn't believe it was the path, and if it was, I wasn't sure how to get through. We made quickly for the farm exit and did so as swiftly as we could before the rude farmers spotted us. It wasn't a pleasant five minutes or so but thankfully it didn't ruin the walk.

So as not to make the last noteworthy thing of this walk be a negative point, I've held off discussing the islands you see throughout the walk. Ynys Gwylan-fawr and smaller Ynys Gwylan-bach in Aberdaron Bay and Bardsey Island / Ynys Enlli off to the south west. The Gwylan pair are seen throughout the first part of the walk. They don't have any man made feature on them and are probably quite a haven for sea dwelling birds. At Pen y Cil you turn and start to leave these two behind as Bardsey comes into view. The ruins of the old abbey, the destination of pilgrims in years past, are visible from the mainland even for the naked eye. Further round the headland you get views all across the little island right down to the lighthouse on its south end. The cottages you can stay in on the nature reserve island weren't clear to make out - its a nature reserve due to the birds that call this island home, so I couldn't see myself staying out there.

Notes on Aberdaron: The village had two shops. The Spar shop was particularly useful, and a couple of gift shops were there too but we didn't go in these. The Spar had a store mascot of sorts - a four foot tall heron that sat on the roof during opening hours. There was also a bakery and a post office, and two cafes - Hen Blas Cafe we didn't go in, and Y Gregin Fawr (The Big Kitchen) where pilgrims used to stop and eat before crossing to Bardsey. The staff were nice, the building was clearly old and had low wooden beams supporting the low roof in a small upstairs dining area. The tea, cakes and lunch were all very nice. It seemed pricey to me, but it was probably normal cafe prices - which I always feel are expensive for what you're getting.

There were two pubs - The Ship Hotel that had decent beer and was quite well decorated to a nautical theme, with the bar shaped like the hull of a ship, and Gwesty Ty Newydd (The New House) that also had very nice beer and a balcony/beer garden that sat right out over the beach. The drinks prices were reasonable in both but the food menu prices looked a little expensive, although the specials were more reasonably priced so maybe they just have to operate that way out on a limb as they are. The beers I tried were all Welsh ales - the Peninsula's own brewery proving to be my favourite. It was amazing to sit on the balcony of an evening watching the tide come in. The small waves had a really clean break all along the beach in this almost perfectly shaped wide cove - some looked to get over 2 feet high before breaking, surfing for beginners maybe.

Alongside, there was St Hywyn's Church - a tiny church building with a nicely kept graveyard rising up the cliffs from the beach.

Two rivers met in the village centre, and were at full flow when we arrived. Up the rivers you could see rich green valleys that were almost hidden from view other than at the river joint. The rivers met and flowed through the beach into the sea, a sea that has clearly shaped this landscape and to the east of the village were some naturally formed caves that we didn't get chance to explore.

The Dwyros campsite was very good - £12 per night for tents, with good facilities in a fairly new looking toilet block. Improvements were ongoing but I didn't feel that much needed doing. a reasonable sized camping field had the best views over the bay from high up above the village. The site had a decent sized caravan field, largely occupied by season-ticket holders who've left their unmanned caravans in situ and a number of staic caravans were available for rent from the site.

Speaking of 'for rent', that brings me to another observation of Aberdaron. It seemed that at least half the village property was available for rent as a holiday let, including the very grand appearing old post office building in the village centre. 

Finally, the primary school bus looked just like the bus in Fireman Sam, so this clearly is an accurate cartoon depicting small town / village life in Wales.

Tilberthwaite Fells

'An early summer ramble'

Date: 26 May 2012                                          Start time: 10:06

Start point: Tilberthwaite Car Park - NY305011

Walkers: Mark Illingworth, Emma Lever

Distance: 9.66miles                                        Time: 7:55:49

Route: From car park, follow road N for a short distance to group of houses and follow public footpath around back of these, turning L where track splits. Turn R before small stream and follow path up to wall stile and cross stile. Follow path N/NW, keeping wall on L, down to Greenburn Beck. Cross stream using small wooden bridge. Follow path which arches W up grassy shoulder to Wet Side Edge. Follow ridge line with steep drops to your L, heading S over Great Carrs, around Top of Broad Slack, stopping off at the Halifax Bomber memorial before short walk E to Swirl How. Scramble down the Prison Band to large cairn at Swirl Hause, then take clear path ENE to summit of Wetherlam. Follow faint steep path NE down Wetherlam Edge until ground flattens at Birk Fell Hawse and take path E. Between cairns on slight raise, take path which drops S (faint dotted path on OS Map). Path reaches small ruins in large meadow. Path curves round to S with meadow on your R. Follow path ahead, with Tilberthwaite Gill dropping steeply on your R. You reach a gate, which takes you through to the path behind the houses form the start of the walk. From here, retrace route from earlier along road short way to car park.

Weather: Warm, sunny and windy. Very hot when out of the wind, very strong winds at the top of the ridge. Wind was from SE, but always found a way either form the S or the E to get to you on the route. The sky was cloudless and visibility was excellent - from the Northern Fells, to the Isle of Man, across Morecambe Bay and to Ingleborough in the Yorkshire Dales.

Notes: Although already discussed above, the first thing to note is the quality of the visibility and wide-ranging views. It felt like you could see the whole Lakeland, with views of almost all the major ranges and iconic fells. I enjoyed simply looking around most of all. The first views over the west of Little Langdale valley the Blea Tarn with the Langdale Pikes beyond were brilliant. As was looking between Crinkle Crags and Pike of Blisco toward Bow Fell. To top this off were views of Skiddaw and Blencathra poking through to the north and long range views of Isle of Man and Ingleborough. Heysham Power station was one negative about the views, and Blackpool Tower couldn't be made out on the extreme southern horizon unfortunately.

Greenburn Beck was a real treat for our feet, even though it cam less than two miles in to our walk. The water was clear and mild, reflecting the high temperatures. Plenty of factor 30 was used. The break really refreshed us for the long slow climb up to Great Carrs. On the hill top, I would comment on the number of false summits to our first Wainwright. All are named on the map and to be expected, but Emma wasn't reading the map and found these very frustrating. The tops were rocky enough to find some cover from the very strong winds.

The wind did help blow us towards the Halifax Bomber memorial, which we might have missed on other days. This is where a plane on training exercise crashed in 1944 - a reminder of the danger the beautiful Lakeland can bring. Combine this with views of Coniston Water, synonymous with the ill-fated Bluebird, and the lady we saw who opened her chin falling on the Prison Band, and the variety of dangers is even more apparent.

Summiting Swirl How felt like a personal achievement, if only because of a few previous attempts were foiled by either waning energy, adverse weather, or less willing companions. The summit cairn is notable, a kind of pepper pot like construction. It's large and well sited almost directly central to the sweeping ridge overlooking Greenburn Beck. It looks to have been developed since the sketches of A. Wainwright.

The descents of both Prison Band and Wetherlam Edge were enjoyable and scrambly at times, particularly Wetherlam Edge which seemed to take an age for us but barely any time for the group who left the summit just in front. I'm no climber or mountaineer, but I do enjoy the feel of hands on rock, only at a sensible pace and where ropes and technical equipment isn't needed.

From Dry Cove Bottom (an ironic name for such a boggy meadow type area) Wetherlam does look an impressive hump of rock, but by the quietness of this path I'm guessing not a lot of people see it in this perspective. This is a shame because they miss some interesting disused mining and quarry sites and some well guarded deep in roads into the rock, which appear to have served this industrial purpose, albeit on a smaller scale than you see in other parts of the Lakes. They would also miss the picturesque (and almost tropical-like on a day like this) Tilberthwaite Gill and the waterfall it houses. I couldn't see any obvious way up to the perfect pools which eventually run out over the slate remnants of quarries of yesteryear that line and surround Yewdale Beck.

Langdale Pikes

'One walk, five Wainwrights, countless views'

Date: 14 April 2012                                         Start time: 9:33

Start point: Stickle Ghyll National Trust Car Park, Langdale - NY295064

Walkers: Mark Illingworth, Emma Lever

Distance: 6.93miles                                        Time: 6:28:19

Route: From car park, head out of E end past Sticklebarn Tavern. Emerge from pub car park at New Dungeon Ghyll and turn L. Go through gate at top of lane and head out of NW gate of small paddock. Follow path NW up Stickle Ghyll past waterfalls. Clear and well laid out path takes you up ghyll and over footbridge past larger waterfalls. Path up either side of stream, with some disintegration higher up, so cross stream on occasion. You end up with stream to R and you emerge at dam S of Stickle Tarn. Cross stones across stream and follow E side of tarn around to Bright Beck. Follow path beside beck and cross over stones to path leading to 'North Rake', which is a rocky path W towards summit of Pavey Ark. At top of North Rake, head short distance S over rocks and buried stone walls to highest point of rocky crag which makes up summit of Pavey Ark (Wainwright 1). From here head W towards rocky clump that is Thunacar Knott. Cross boggy depression between Pavey Ark and it's parent fell and pick up a path to Thunacar Knott summit (Wainwright 2). Harrison Stickle, tallest of the Langdale Pikes, is the clear peak to SSE. Follow faint path across marshy depression in direction of Harrison Stickle (Wainwright 3). Head N back to junction of paths and head W towards distinct mound of Pike of Stickle down short, sharp, steep descent then along clear path to foot of rocky knoll of Pike of Stickle. Follow path up side of knoll and pick a route to scramble to top. We chose short scramble up north side of summit - some scrambling is involved on the last stage of all ascents to Pike of Stickle (Wainwright 4). Head back to base of final ascent and follow path at R of two E heading paths. This is SEE path to rocky outcrop along ridge edge which is Loft Crag (Wainwright 5). Head short distance SE from summit then turn L down short rocky gully towards cairned path. Head NEE to slight raise of Thorn Crag (not a Wainwright) to complete Langdale Pikes then go back to cairned path and follow this steeply S initially then path winds W down Mark Gate, with views of Dungeon Ghyll N. Path heads through a couple of gates before you get back to paddock at foot of Stickle Ghyll. From here follow route short distance back to car park.

Weather: Bright, clear and mild mostly, with very clear visibility and largely blue skies. Some snow on higher surrounding peaks but warm in sunshine. A couple of windy and wintry showers of hail and light snow. Brief periods of grey skies and colder temperatures during wintry showers but changeable periods were only very short.

Notes: I've enjoyed all the walks I've written about so far, but this is probably the best up to now. The great thing about the Langdale Pikes is the variety of sights and tops in close proximity, with five Wainwrights to boot. 

Stickle Ghyll is a mix of well made paths and eroding paths as you criss-cross the stream. It's fairly steep in sections and littered with waterfalls, some very impressive and 20ft+ in height. An alternative route than the rebuilt 'tourist' path is the scrambly route up the stream, which I wouldn't have thought of on a water flowing spring day if one middle aged chap didn't run past me to take that route. It was interesting watching him consider climbing up the rock wall almost within one waterfall. Sensibly he gave up on this when I had the mobile phone ready to call mountain rescue, and he took the scree beside the fall.

Walking up this ghyll we also saw the remarkable sight of a sheep dog rounding up the herd on a hillside, with distant calls from his shepherd below. From barely noticing any sheep on the slopes opposite us, it changed to seeing a big moving collective within a few minutes. Countryside activities such as this seem forgotten arts in today's celebrity and drama driven media, no more One Man and His Dog on TV, but this was an interesting and refreshing watch.

On arriving at Stickle Tarn, it has the classic look of a high up fell side tarn, almost heart shaped with steep rock faces round the top as you look, flat banks on the opposite side, feeding towards the downstream ghyll. The impressive craggy topped Pavey Ark rises steeply from the northern shore of the tarn, with the taller Harrison Stickle looming in the West. The only negative of this tarn was the bogginess and path erosion off the NE edge, which was unfortunately part of the route and the only disappointing part.

Looking at Pavey Ark, the preferable route to the top isn't exactly obvious. Jack's Rake, scrambling across the face, doesn't emerge until you head towards the NE end of Stickle Tarn. Easy Gully is a visible break in the rock face but looks steep and anything but what the name suggests when looking it in the face. We took North Rake over the eastern shoulder of the fell. This route was fun - not straightforward walking, but not scrambling either, hands were maybe used once or twice but weren't totally necessary. Finding the summit of Pavey Ark is tough with its array of rocky platforms and no clear marker of a high point, but I think I found it.

Thunacar Knott was a different experience. Its a broad dull bump that Wainwright only feels deserves mention as the parent fell of Pavey Ark. I agree, although the views west over Bow Fell, Esk Pike, the Scafells and Great Gable are impressive and enjoyable. Snow frosted tops were great to see from here. In all other directions the views were pleasant but more of a rolling nature.

Harrison Stickle is the tallest Langdale. The little hop to the narrow ridge that features its summit is enjoyable. The view to Pavey Ark with Stickle Tarn below were enjoyable, but on this day my favourite view was the southern aspect towards Wetherlam and Swirl How. The snow on the top of Broad Slack and the Prison Band looked impressive, especially on the occasions that brief gloomy grey clouds sat behind them.

Pike of Stickle is a funny hump of a hill, a rocky knob that rises from the marshy land around, but an exciting place. From the north-north-west to the east-south-east it can only be accessed by proper climbers, and from any directions the last few metres to the top involve a few scrambly steps. I was very proud of Emma who managed this task easily and without panic, probably defying her own expectations. The wind had picked up briefly so we only paused long enough to quickly check out the views over to the higher hills in the west and get a summit photo.

Loft Crag and Thorn Crag finished off the high level part of this walk before descending via Mark Gate with the Langdale valley and views over Windermere opening out in front of us. Other than some fearless kids 'bumping' down the mountainside, the most notable sight on the way down was Dungeon Ghyll waterfall. Tall and slim, but not particularly powerful. Unfortunately you couldn't get too close without going way off path.

The Lakeland journey was rounded off with some food in Emma's favourite, Wainwrigths Inn. She is still banging on about the lamb, and the broccoli and stilton soup was pretty good too.

And I forgot to mention the fell runner we saw. Somehow he had gotten himself two miles further west than he intended and was ruing setting off with only a small print out and no OS map. A lesson really - always take a map!