Blog Posts in Category: Walking

Red Screes Circuit

Alastair BegleyLake District, Walking Short Link

On our last day in the Lake District we were meant to be going climbing, but having removed a large amount of skin from my heal the previous evening while removing tape I was unable to put my climbing shoes on. Thankfully we had a plan b, and we headed off on a half day walk from our cottage. We decided to walk from Ambleside up to Red Screes, onto Middle Dodd and then back down Scandale back to Ambleside. The walk was fairly abrupt as we left Ambleside on the road up to Kirkstone pass, as we left the road it didn’t get much easier, but the views did get better. We made good time up to the summit and enjoyed the views. Despite not seeing anyone on the walk up the summit was fairly busy as it is very close to the Kirkstone pass. We then had the strange experience of descending to the second Wainwright from the first summit. The view down over Brothers Water from the Middle Dodd was brilliant. After a boggy traverse to avoid the re-ascent we were at the start of the descent. Read the full article…

Kentmere Horseshoe

Alastair BegleyLake District, Walking Short Link

After a relaxed morning in Ambleside we headed out for a late walk to make the most of the improved weather in the evening. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t quite as nice as forecast, but it was still a lovely evening and a great walk. Based on our time the day before, we set off at 4:30 which we thought would get us back just as it was getting dark. We made really good time and were back in 5h30mins just after sunset, which was a nice surprise. As we set off from the cars it was very humid and we were not feeling that motivated by the late start, but thankfully as we climbed up to the first top our motivation increased, and the breeze made it feel less humid. The views were brilliant for the entire walk, which was much more undulating than the previous day. We met a few other people out, who were mostly out for an evening wild camping. It looked like a nice way to spend the evening with the excellent forecast. It was great to see a different perspective of some of the mountains. Read the full article…

Fairfield Horseshoe

Alastair BegleyLake District, Walking Short Link

We decided to make the most of being able to walk from our cottage in Ambleside and headed out to do the Fairfield horseshoe. The weather when we set off was fairly marginal, but thankfully other than a few spots of rain we stayed dry. We decided to do the route clockwise, which meant a flat walk along the valley to Rydal at the start with before the steep ascent up to Nab Scar and onto Heron Pike. After Nab Scar the views were brilliant all day, with excellent views in every direction. There was even a surprising amount of sun. We made good time to the summit of Fairfield, where we enjoyed a quick lunch before descending. The descent was very warm as we were protected from the wind by a beautiful dry stone wall which snaked it’s way all the way down the ridge. After an enjoyable day out, and in a respectable time of 5hrs10mins we were back at the cottage in time to enjoy some champagne before heading out to dinner.

Malvern End to End

Alastair BegleyLandscape, Walking Short Link

For years as we have driven up the M5 we have commented that we should visit the Malvern Hills, however never quite got around to it. As we still have to stay fairly local, cannot go to the mountains and cannot stay away we decided this would be an ideal time to explore the Malvern Hills. So that we could have a big day out, and not just walk out and then back we decided to do the full traverse of the Malvern Hills, stating at Chase End Hill in the south and finishing at End Hill in the north. This provided a walk of about 16km with 750m of ascent. After parking the van at the north end of the ridge we headed down to the south and started walking shortly after 5. This meant that if we made good time we should just about be on North Hill by sunset. The start of the walk was very quiet, on small paths with lovely views. It was also very hot! We had occasional views of the bigger hills in the distance on the first half, and they looked a. Read the full article…

Quantock Hills Sunset

Alastair BegleyLandscape, Walking Short Link

With the easing of the lockdown restrictions we headed down to the Quantock Hills for an evening walk. We chose the evening as we thought it would be quieter, and also to coincide with sunset. During the walk we saw about 10 other people, so we definitely made the right decision to wait until the evening. It was great to be out in the hills on a beautiful summer evening with a lovely sunset, even if they were only hills and not mountains.

Nantlle Ridge

Alastair BegleyLandscape, North Wales, Walking Short Link

After a number of years of wanting to do the Nantlle Ridge, we finally ended up in North Wales with a weather window which would enable us to enjoy the ridge at it’s best. As the weather was best in the morning we started fairly early, which enabled us to see a beautiful sunrise as we were leaving the hut in Rhyd Ddu. The start of the walk soon woke us up, but once we were established on the ridge it was just brilliant. We had wonderful views in every direction and good weather, apart from the very strong wind! The scrambling was not extensive, but some of it was fairly involved if you stayed on the ridge crest rather than skirting off on the path to the side. The final section of ridge before the descent was fairly hard going underfoot, and if I were to do the ridge again I might have descended sooner. We had dropped a car at the end the night before, but somehow avoided having to do shuttle runs as Becky managed to hitch a lift with the only person we saw all day,. Read the full article…

Beinn a’ Creachain and Beinn Achaladair

Alastair BegleyScotland, Walking Short Link

After a very cold night and hard frost we woke up early for a reasonable day out climbing Beinn a’ Creachain and Beinn Achaladair. These hills are connected by a ridge and are the expanse of hills that you see when driving across Rannoch Moor towards the Bridge of Orchy. In the morning everything was white, there was ice on the inside of the windows and the doors were frozen shut! We headed off up the valley and made excellent time initially as we wanted to move quickly to warm up. Unfortunately this good progress came to a rapid halt when the footbridge we were relying on was not really there anymore, and the remains were certainly not something that I was willing to cross! At this point we elected to carry on for another 4km up the estate track to the next bridge, which also meant climbing a path less ascent up to the ridge. Despite the extra time walking along the valley, it remained stubbornly in the shadow of the mountains which meant that we stayed fairly cold. While this did add a significant amount of time onto. Read the full article…

Beinn Tulaichean and Cruach Ardrain

Alastair BegleyScotland, Walking Short Link

Our initial plan had been to do the Ben Lui circuit consisting of four Munros which required the use of bikes to significantly shorten the day. Unfortunately the hard frost overnight disagreed with bikes and left us with dropper posts which were initially frozen down, and then dropper posts which wouldn’t stay up! By this point we had left it to late to do the circuit on foot, so we decided to drive around to Inverlochlairg to climb Beinn Tulaichean and Cruach Ardrain. The start of the walk was in a very deep valley which hardly got any sun, so everything as frozen solid and was even colder than the car park we left an hour before. However the ascent up to Beinn Tulaichean was brutal, as it had no path and climbed steeply straight out of the valley. The ascent soon warmed us up, and thankfully the views were stunning and more than made up for the very tiring ascent. While it was a sunny day, when we finished the initial ascent we got hit by yet more brutal winds which made for another cold day on the hills.. Read the full article…