Blog Posts in Category: Walking

Walking on the Black Mountain

Alastair BegleyWalking Short Link

I have just returned from a rare weekend away walking in the mountains of Wales. On Friday after work I headed out to the Back Mountain with the Avon Mountaineering Club for a fun weekend of walking, drinking and playing silly games. We were staying in the quiet valley of Ystradfellte, as per usual in winter we arrived in the dark so it was great to wake up and be greeted by views the next morning. In order to make the most of the weather we made a reasonably early start, defrosted the cars and headed over to Glyntawe which was at the base of an obvious ridge up to Fan Brycheiniog. We were supposed to be meeting Phil at the car park, who had decided it would be a good idea to get up 2 hours before daylight and walk to meet us there! This didn’t quite go to plan and he was a bit delayed, so Pete and I decided to stay and wait for him while the others headed up the mountain, the idea was that we would catch them up. Phil was only shortly behind and we headed. Read the full article…

A fantastic 2013 in 100 Photos

Alastair Begley100 Photos, Alpinism, Equestrian, Landscape, Mountaineering, Rock Climbing, Scrambling, Walking, Winter Climbing Short Link

Somehow we are already at the end of another year, and what a fantastic year it has been! I have somehow summed up my year in 100 photos again. The photos make it look like I didn’t do much rock climbing this year, but that is just that I don’t tend to take my camera to the local crags where I spent a silly amount of evenings in May and June. In total this year I managed 125 trad climbs, 30 winter climbs, 7 walks, 6 alpine routes, 3 scrambles, 2 sport climbs, 2 caving trips and 2 via ferratas. I have had such a good year that summarising the high points was pretty challenging: Despite having a generally fantastic year, there were certainly some less good moments: Late January in South Wales At the end of January there was the first proper cold spell of 2013 which extended down to South Wales. During this spell I managed three days out in south wales where I managed to climb four routes. A Week in Fort William: 9th-16th Feb The beginning of February soon arrived, and with it the start of a. Read the full article…

Sunrise and Sunset in the Mountains

Alastair BegleyAlpinism, Mountaineering, Scrambling, Walking, Winter Climbing Short Link

After the fantastic summer we had where I was incredibly busy, I am making the most of this Autumnal weather and resting in preparation for the upcoming winter season. However I am getting “mountain withdrawal” so have been going through my past photos, due to this there will be a few themed blog posts appearing over the next month. If you spend enough time in the mountains you will be fortunate enough to experience some fantastic sunrise and sunsets, weather they are planned due to long days or unplanned due to epics. This post is focussing on times where I have experienced either sunrise or sunset in the mountains, or on some occasions both! Snowdon Horseshoe During March 2012 we set out late in the morning to climb Snowdon via the classic Crib Goch ridge, as the day progressed the weather continually improved and we were having a fantastic time. Despite it being late by the time we were finally on a quiet summit we decided to carry on and complete the full Snowdon horseshoe due to the fantastic conditions. The sun set as we were descending off the final. Read the full article…

An Afternoon Amble around the Peak

Alastair BegleyWalking Short Link

I was recently up in Derbyshire visiting some friends and to make the most of the beautiful autumnal weather we went for an amble around the Peak on the Sunday. We started at Grindon and headed down to Thor’s cave before heading up to the pub in Wetton for a pub lunch. It has been a while since I have done any walking in the Peak and I had forgotten how beautiful the countryside is, a bit different to the mountains that I love but excellent for a sunday walk.

A Sunny Late May Bank Holiday in the Lake District

Alastair BegleyLake District, Scrambling, Walking Short Link

I spent last weekend walking and scrambling in the Lake District with some friends from uni. It was a brilliant weekend with fantastic weather, over Saturday and Sunday we did the classic route of Helvellyn via Striding and Swirral edge, except with a twist. On Saturday we ascended Helvellyn via Striding Edge and then continued north along the ridge over White Side, Raise, Stybarrow Dodd, Great Dodd and Clough Head. Once we reached the end we descended down to Dockray and a well earned pint in the sun. After an evening lounging in the sun and enjoying a BBQ we got up to another day of sunshine and headed up to the classic grade 3 scramble, Pinnacle Ridge up St. Sunday Crag. It was great fun and we even found the start without too much difficulty, I was surprised while climbing the ridge just how crampon scratched the rock was on a classic summer scramble. Once we were at the top I continued with Rich up to Fairfield, down to Grisedale Tarn and then up to Helvellyn including all the subsidiary peaks before descending down Swirral Edge before finishing on Catstycam.. Read the full article…

Remote Winter Walking up Fraoch Bheinn

Alastair BegleyMountaineering, Scotland, Walking Short Link

For the first day of our Scotland trip no one wanted to have a long day so I was going to go ice climbing on Aonach Mor with Stephen and Simon due to being able to get ski lifts up to circa 900m while the others were going to do a grade I gully on the west face of Aonach Mor, however this plan was changed as when we arrived at the gondola station at 9am the lift was on hold due to the wind being much stronger than forecast.Due to not wanting to waste the day we headed back to where we were staying to head NW where there was supposed to be better weather, after a quick look at the map we decided to head up Fraoch Bheinn via the South Ridge and Descend down the North. The drive down the side of Loch Arkaig was fantastic but much longer than expected and I have never driven on a road like it, however eventually we did arrive at the end and start walking. We arrived at the snow line fairly quickly however all the way up the south. Read the full article…

Climbing, Kayaking and Walking on Dartmoor

Alastair BegleyLandscape, Rock Climbing, Sports, Walking Short Link

I spent last weekend visiting university friends down in Exeter, I originally arranged the trip so I could have a whisky night with my housemate from last year. However, as is often the way it turned into much more and involved trad climbing, soloing, bouldering, walking, white water kayaking and even a bit of unexpected pluming! I headed down to Exeter on Friday night before heading to the pub and then staying with some of my best friends. On Saturday morning the weather was lovely so I headed out to Dartmoor with Steve with the idea of doing some climbing if it was warm enough or going for a walk otherwise. We arrived at the car park at Haytor and it wasn’t too windy so we decided to do some climbing so packed our gear and headed up to the crag. I warmed up by solo climbing “Bulging Wall” a VDiff which I climbed with Steve and Andrew back in spring, it also happened to be my 100th outdoor rock route of the season. It was the second ever route I have soloed and despite the climbing being easy it suddenly. Read the full article…

The Lizard

Alastair BegleyLandscape, Walking Short Link

I have just spent the weekend at the Lizard in Cornwall with some of my university friends from ExSoc who I haven’t seen since graduation in July. It was a fantastic weekend which involved little exercise, lots of unhealthy food, lots of alcohol and great weather with great company.We arrived late on Friday night so sat around the remains of someone else’s campfire catching up before heading to bed. On Saturday morning we had a very rude awakening from lots of chickens and ducks which I really did not appreciate!After a very leisurely breakfast we headed down the coast to Kynance cove where we relaxed, went swimming in the very cold water and then headed to the cafe for more relaxing and cream teas. After this we walked the half hour back to Lizard via Lizard point, the most southerly point in England. It was a lovely chilled out day which was needed after starting work and still getting used to the early mornings. We spent the evening around the campfire again before heading to bed fairly late and enjoying a nice lie in the next morning to let the. Read the full article…