Category: Walking

Plans

Making plans for the summer: Shetland and the Great Glen Way

I’ve been trying to get hold of my friend in Glasgow for a while now. As I’m going up to Scotland for the summer and I haven’t seen her for a while it would be nice to catch up. Also I was hoping to be able to leave my car with her when I walk the Great Glen Way. I could leave it in Fort William or Inverness but as I’ll have a lot of gear in it I’d rather it was somewhere more secure. After several wrong numbers I finally got hold of her this evening.

I wanted to walk the GGW first and then nip back to Glasgow to pick my car up before driving to Aberdeen to catch the ferry to Lerwick. However, because of her shifts it’s actually better to do it the other way round as I’ll get to see a bit more of her if I stay with her later in August rather than this weekend. So tomorrow I have ring Northlink to try to get booked on to the Monday night ferry. It’s usually a 14.5 hr journey but because the Monday night ferries don’t call into Orkney it’s slightly shorter.

It’s not so bad doing the trip this way round as I can do lots of walking in Shetland to get myself trained a bit more ready for my long walk. It also gives me more time to organise things like getting a key for the toilets at the locks along the way. I’ll try giving them a call tomorrow as well and see how much it is to rent/buy the key and how I actually collect it.  

I had been planning to leave tomorrow but as I still have lots to do before I’ll be ready to leave I’ve decided to put it off until Sunday. Which is my birthday. And I like going on holiday on my birthday.

Country Tracks Exmoor

Floods caused by military experiments to make it rain and sabre-toothed tigers roaming around with ponies. I think I’m glad I didn’t know this before I walked in Exmoor.

I’ve just watched a Country Tracks programme on iplayer. I downloaded it ages ago and thought it was about time I got round to watching it before it expired. It’s the first time I’ve watched Country Tracks and I was only interested in this particular one because it was about Exmoor where I spent half term. It was an interesting programme though, so I may have to look out for others.

I learnt various things from it such as the Lynmouth flood may have been caused by the government and military experimenting with technology to make it rain. Also, that it’s thought that Exmoor ponies originally came from Alaska thousands of years ago and would have roamed around with sabre toothed tigers. I was quite happy to see ponies when I was walking – don’t think I’d have felt quite the same way if I’d run into a sabre toothed tiger though!

Coast

Some interesting facts about the Caledonian Canal which I’ll be walking along next month.

Last night I watched an episode of the BBC programme Coast on iplayer. I’d downloaded this one particularly because part of the programme followed the Caledonian Canal and Great Glen Way. The aerial shots were great as I was able to see the paths that I’ll be walking along in a few weeks time. Although I didn’t really learn anything new, it did remind me of a few facts:

  • The Canal was built by hand and was as much a job creation scheme for dispossesed Highlanders as it was to be of benefit to shipping.
  • It went way over budget.
  • By the time it was built ships had got bigger and couldn’t fit along it. So it turned out to be a bit of a white elephant.
  • Loch Ness is deep enough to hold 3 times the world’s population. (Though I don’t know if this was worked out based on the current population or if this is an out of date fact).

I’m sure there was more, but I don’t remember.

Morecambe Sands Walk

Fingers crossed, I’ll soon be walking across Morecambe sands.

Walking across the sands of Morecambe Bay is something I’ve had in mind for years. The sands shift with the tides and become lethal, sucking unwary walkers down to their deaths. The most well known case of course being the Chinese cockle pickers a few years ago. Because of the nature of the sands no-one should attempt the walk without a guide. Luckily, such a guide exists. Cedric Robinson is the official ‘Queen’s Guide’ and has held the role for over 40 years. He usually only leads walks at the weekend now and only over the summer season. All the walks are also charity walks so it’s not possible to just turn up and join one.
I decided I really wanted to do this walk last year as I’d found out it was probably going to be Cedric’s last year in the job. Although no doubt there will be a new guide to follow him when he does finally retire, it won’t be quite the same. As luck would have it my local hospice (Willow Wood) was organising a charity walk of the sands for the first time. So I signed up and was all set to go. The weekend of the walk, it rained. It rained a lot. It was still raining a lot when I turned up for the coach on Sunday morning. The organisers did a last check with Cedric before we set off and he said he’d have to cancel the walk. Because of the huge amount of rain, the river we would have to wade across was dangerously high and fast flowing and unpassable. As this was one of the last walks of the season it wasn’t possible to re-arrange another for that year. But we were promised that we would be able to reschedule for this year and Cedric would still lead the walk.
Well, my new sponsorship form has arrived and the walk is set for mid September. Surely it can’t be cancelled a second time? It’s got to happen this time.

Julia Bradbury’s Canal Walks

Learning about the Caledonian Canal as I prepare to walk the Great Glen Way.

Julia Bradbury isn’t my favourite walker and I’d rather be out walking myself than watching a TV programme about it. But occasionally she walks in a place I’m particularly interested in and so I’ll download the programme on iplayer and then try to make enough effort to actually watch it. She’s now doing a series on canal walks and the first was featuring the Caledonian Canal and the first part of the Great Glen Way. As this is where I’m hoping to walk in the summer I thought I should download it.

I’ve just watched the programme and I did find it quite worthwhile. It’s useful to see what the places actually look like as then I’ll be better prepared when I come to walk in them. She also gave some history about the canal which was interesting.

The canal was built by Thomas Telford and was on a scale that hadn’t been seen before. It joined up the west coast to the east coast utilising the lochs that were already there. It was the first canal big enough to take more than just barges and was meant to aid fishing boats in their journey from coast to coast as it would save them having to go round the more dangerous coast to the north of Scotland. The canal got public funding which was also a first, because the government were keen to invest in the area to stop migration and encourage business by making the area more economically viable.

The canal ended up being way over budget and taking about three times as long as originally planned. Some things never change! By the time it was ready and functional advances in shipping meant the north coast could be more easily and safely tackled and the railway system was taking over from the canals. So this amazing example of engineering was never used to its full potential and ended up being a bit of a white elephant. It looks stunning though and provides a great walk or cycle and is set to be the UK’s first long distance canoe trail as well. So at least it’s appreciated and well used even if not for the original reason!

Great Glen Way

I’m planning to walk the Great Glen Way and wild camp along the way.

For my long distance walk I’ve decided to walk the Great Glen Way. For it to count as the challenge on my list I have to complete it in one go and not just as a series of individual day walks. I also want to do it whilst carrying all my own gear. As I’ll be camping each night I’ll need to carry a tent, Thermarest, sleeping bag, stove, pans, etc as well as few toiletries and a couple of changes of clothes.

My walking in Exmoor last week was the start of my training towards this. I’ve been worried about my knees and whether or not they’ll hold up to walking consecutively over a week. I’m also not sure if I’m fit enough and strong enough to carry all my gear. I tried to carry a fairly heavy bag each day I walked in Exmoor and after a while I did ‘forget’ I was wearing it. My bag on the GGW will be a lot heavier though and more bulky, so I’ll have to do some training with this too.

My knees are going to be the biggest problem. I had to take two rest days in Exmoor. Each time was after a 15 mile walk with a lot of descent. I’m not too bad on the uphills – I can take short breather breaks if I need them – but the downhills are real killers. I walked slowly and used two poles but still had a lot of pain and swelling and later on stiffness in my knee joints.

One of the reasons I’ve chosen the GGW is because it’s only 73 miles so I should be able to keep most of my walks along it to a 10 mile maximum. Also, the first few days walking will be fairly flat. By the time I hit the descents I should have a lighter pack (I will have eaten away at the weight) and be more than half way there. I’ll take my poles and a stash of ibuprofen and will hopefully be able to complete it.

I’d like to combine my wild camping task with the long distance walking task. There are actual ‘official’ wild camps at some places along the route. Do they still count if they’re official? On some nights I will have to find my own wild camp though, so whether or not the official ones count, I’ll still be completing this task.

I’ve been googling the GGW to try to get as much information on it as possible. I’ve found a detailed blog from a few years ago, some general information sites and a very good photo diary on flikr. The photo diary in particular is good because it means I can see what the various bits of the route look like and how feasible it will be to camp along the way.

Now I just have to do more training, get a map and a guidebook, sort out train tickets and arrange to leave my car with a friend in Glasgow.

Wild Camping

Considering the possibilities of wild camping on the South West Coast Path.

As I walked along the Exmoor stretch of the South West Coastal Path I thought about how I would do the walk if I was doing it in one go rather than as a series of day walks. Most camp sites are a bit of the way off the path so would add a few miles walking to each day. Not something I’d particularly want to do. There was actually one campsite that the path went through and it had signs up saying hikers could camp for one night only on their way through for £4. Usual price being a mind-boggling £13 a night! It did say that this was for 2 people, but as there was nothing about prices for individuals it sounded like if I’d stayed here instead of Porlock I’d have had to pay for a non-existent second person as well as myself.

But, to get back to the main point, if I was walking this section in one go I would have had to wild camp on some of the nights. Much of the walking was through wooded areas that sloped upwards and downwards either side of the path, so there was really nowhere to fit a tent. This was particularly true on the first day’s walk when the only flat, clear bit seemed to be at the section where the path crossed the path leading to County Gate. This was a bit of busy area and so not ideal.

Between Minehead and Porlock it would have been possible to camp on the moorland, but this would have meant a very short day’s walking. The other stretches of the walk were similar in not having many appropriately placed areas to wild camp in.

I’m planning to wild camp on the Great Glen Way in the summer, so I hope it’s easier to find places than this!

Combe Martin to Ilfracombe

A short walk with plenty of time to sit enjoying the views.

My final day’s walking was a short one at just over 5 miles. I parked in Ilfracombe and took the bus back to Combe Martin. It was the same bus I’d picked up to go to Lynmouth yesterday so my walking start time was much earlier.

I’d had chance to have a brief look round Ilfracombe before catching the bus, but wasn’t impressed. It looks like a run-down seaside town with an abundance of cheap shops and takeaways, but little in the way of character. Not what I was expecting at all.

I started walking from Combe Martin by following a sea front path which quickly led on to the road. This is a main busy road and not particularly pleasant to walk along. After a while I was able to leave the road and get back on to proper paths. After walking round a bit of a harbour the path climbed and I was able to sit for a while at a wonderful viewpoint. It felt great not to have to be clock watching and instead to be able to sit and enjoy the view.

This part of the path is flooded at high tide

Honest! It’s England!

The view from a well-placed bench

Soon it was back to road walking again. The final section of the path took me back to the coast where I again enjoyed good views from a well-placed bench before descending back into Ilfracombe.

Although this was only a short walk today, and it had some not so good bits along road, it still took me most of the day. This is because of the amount of time I spent sitting and admiring the view along the nice coastal parts of the path.

Lynmouth to Combe Martin

A funicular railway, rock formations, feral goats and breath-taking views.

This was my hardest day’s walk. It didn’t help that I had a late start. I didn’t want to be rushing to get the last bus like I was when I walked from Porlock to Lynmouth so I decided to leave my car in Combe Martin and get the bus back to Lynmouth and the start of my walk. This also made sense with the bus times as the last bus back from Combe Martin was very early. However, the first bus of the day only leaves Combe Martin at 9.40 and doesn’t arrive in Lynmouth till an hour later.


I got to Combe Martin in plenty of time and found a place to park my car. I had a bit of wander round looking for the bus stop but it really wasn’t obvious. The timetable just said ‘seaside’. I asked a lady walking her dog, but she was a bit unsure. Then I asked in the sandwich shop where I bought a sandwich for my lunch. The woman had a rough idea but again wasn’t completely sure. Then I asked a road sweeper who didn’t even know the buses were running. This particular service only runs in summer and had only begun the previous week. Luckily, just then a bus arrived going in the other direction, so I quickly ran across the road to ask the driver and he was able to point out the correct place to me. I was soon joined by another walker who was having a similar problem.

The bus seemed to take a long time and it was quite daunting to realise that I had to walk all that way back. Once in Lynmnouth I had a bit of a look around as I’d not had time to see anything last night. Then it was up the steep track, criss-crossing the funicular railway to get to Lynton way above.

At the top the path turns right and west to follow the North Walk. It’s starts along road but quickly becomes a path leading towards the Valley of Rocks. This is an area of strange rock formations, feral goats and a liberal sprinking of goat droppings. This part of the path was quite busy with families and older people out for a stroll. The path heads towards Castle Rock – an obvious outcrop with a nearby car park meaning lots of people. It was so sunny and warm I sat on a bench for while and chatted to a woman who was just there to see Castle Rock.

The path then joins the road which leads towards the Toll House and then to Lee Abbey. The road goes alongside the manicured grounds of the Abbey before heading into woodland. A short while later the path joined the road again. Soon though, it was back on tracks and over stiles to reach the coast. The wind had really got up by this time and it was so strong I tucked my sunglasses away thinking they might be blown off the top of my head where I’d stuck them. The walk along the side of the cliffs was stunning with amazing views in both directions.

The path turned inland and dropped down to sea level at Heddon’s Mouth. At the inner end there is a pub and a car park so this part of the path had lots of people including people with wheelchairs and pushchairs. I didn’t need to walk all the way up to the pub as about half way up the valley there was a bridge crossing the river so I could walk down the other side to reach the sea again. It zigzagged very steeply upwards and I’d soon regained all the height I’d lost. I followed the coast on a very exposed and windy section before turning inland across fields and then moorland to reach the rises of Great Hangman and then Little Hangman.

Finally it was back down sheltered paths to reach Combe Martin and my car. It was a long day, with lots of up and down including reaching the highest point on the whole of the SW Coast Path. But I’d seen some breathtaking views and felt like I’d had a year’s supply of fresh air.

13 miles
Graded as strenuous by South West Coast Path Association

Minehead to Porlock

A tasty pasty, an impressive sculpture, a baby squirrel, podgy ponies and another knee-quaking descent.

Today was a shorter walk of 7 miles. Minehead to Porlock – the first section of the South West Coast Path. The first bus of the day didn’t leave Porlock until late morning which is why I hadn’t done this section yesterday. I didn’t want to be hanging about all morning on my first day. This morning however, I was glad of the later start as it rained really heavily for most of the morning. By the time I was due to leave for the bus stop it was just a light drizzle and by the time I started walking it had stopped completely and ended up being a nice day. 

When I arrived in Minehead I called in Boots to buy some special tick tweezers in case any more ticks think I make a good lunch. Then I bought a cheese and broccoli Cornish pasty and wandered down to the seafront to eat it. I wasn’t sure where the walk actually started so just walked along the seafront in the right direction. A huge bronze sculpture of a couple of hands holding a map open to show the path in it’s entirety was a pretty big clue. That and big white writing on the pavement saying ‘South West Coast Path’ and an arrow. I was very impressed with the sculpture so stopped to take a few photos of it before starting the walk. 

 

The walk soon headed out of town and uphill into dense woodland. It was beautiful, but like yesterday, there were glimpses of the sea rather than a permanent view of it. There were plenty of grey squirrels and I stopped to watch a baby one playing in front of me seemingly without fear. The path zigzagged upwards until it flattened out onto moorland quite a way in from the sea. At one point I passed a sign pointing to a ‘rugged alternative path’ which seemed to go closer to the coast. The ‘rugged’ bit of the sign attracted me though I thought I should maybe avoid anything too rugged as my knees were still sore from yesterday and I knew I had some more descents to cope with before the end of my walk today. The clincher though, was the ‘alternative’ part of the sign. I didn’t really want to do any ‘alternatives’ unless I had to. The alternative could be saved in case I ever did this walk again. 

 It was a good decision as the moorland walk was lovely with lots of wild flowers and big skies. I even got to see some Exmoor ponies. I only saw a couple of other people the whole time I was on the moor. Of course it had to drop down though and my knees were soon objecting. One bit in particular seemed very steep and I descended very sloooowly saying ouch with each step. As I got nearer the bottom there was a well-placed and welcome bench with a lovely view of the sea. I sat for a while and finished my flask of coffee. 

Then it was the final bit of descent before picking my way across farmland and marsh to the turnoff back up to Porlock. This bit wasn’t very well sign-posted and if I hadn’t have started my walk from here yesterday I would have missed it. So if walking here make sure you use your map!

The total descent (and climb) on this section is allegedly 698 metres. No wonder my knees hurt again.