South Stack lighthouse on Ynys Môn (Anglesey)
I seem to have spent a lot of time on Ynys Môn (Anglesey) over the past week or so, but unfortunately it’s only been in the virtual sense – I’ve been following the start-up of Môn-SAR, a new search and rescue team on the island. Seeing that I couldn’t get over to the island in person, I thought I would revisit my stock of photos from previous trips
Carnedd Llewelyn (left) and Carnedd Dafydd (right) seen from Yr Elen
It’s rare that I have a bad day out in the mountains – there are great days, and even better days! Every now and then though, I find myself on a route that I just can’t wait to get back to. A year earlier I had done a circuit in the mountains of the Carneddau that included the Northeast Ridge of Yr Elen (see post #159) and even before I finished the trip I was longing to be back there.
Heading for Great Gable in the distance
Despite living near to some of the best mountain walking in Britain just an hour or so away in Snowdonia, Chris and I have had a couple of trips back to Cumbria over the summer months to revisit the Lake District. Despite the memories of 2015 being mainly of wind and rain (nothing new there then!) we managed to get a few good days out – here’s one from a few weeks back.
A busy couple of weeks meant that I didn’t finish the latest post in time for today, so I thought I would revisit an earlier post from 2012. Fellow blogger Mark Kelly should enjoy this as he recently walked along these hillforts – I hope you enjoy the ‘virtual walk’!
The track up Moel Famau – a long way for little legs!
An annoying knee injury (now sorted out) kept me off the hills for much of August, but I’m an impatient patient and by the end of the month I was ready for a walk out. We had my grandson Lewis staying with us for almost a week, and a trip up one of our local hills looked like being an adventure for Lewis and a bit of exercise for me.
Between Coniston Old Man and Swirl How
The route
I’ve been writing routes for Walking World for several years now, and one of my earliest contributions was Coniston Old Man and Swirl How, returning by the Coppermines Valley. Not only is it one of my earliest routes for them, it’s also a consistently good seller. However, things change, even on the hills, so when I was looking for a Lakes route for Chris and buddies Richie and Babs Boardwell I jumped at the chance to repeat this trip.
“To Noroway, Far Noroway, to Noroway o’er the foam ….” (The Ballad of Sir Patrick Spens)
The author in Norway 1977 as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Marines
Royal Marines ski patrol at Okstinden, not far from the Swedish Border – 1977
I hadn’t been to Norway since 1978. In the 1970’s I was a member of 45 Commando Royal Marines, which was at that time the only British military unit to train primarily for ‘Mountain and Arctic Warfare’. I loved it, and did three winters out there, but hadn’t been back since – a return trip was long overdue, but the grandiose plan to do a ‘top to bottom’ trip of Norway was abandoned when we measured the mileage! So, this trip was going to concentrate on the south.
Arenig Fawr seen from the east
The route (in red – 2012 route in blue)
This was our second visit to Arenig Fawr – Chris and I had been this way in 2012 (see post #101) and had a cool day (that’s the temperature and not the vibe!) so a return was overdue. Last time we had approached from the west, missing out the lake that sits to the east of the hill – this time we decided on the east side.
Dow Crag (right) with Goat’s Water below
1974 was a black time for hill-going Lancastrians – it was the year that ‘They’ changed the county boundaries and the Old Man of Coniston, the highest point in Lancashire at 803 metres (2634ft), became part of the new county of Cumbria. It wasn’t as though they didn’t have loads of fine mountains already, but it was decided so that was that – the highest point in Lancashire now is Gragareth at 627 metres (2,057 ft), a fine hill, but a poor consolation prize.
I don’t get to many film premieres; in fact, if I’m honest, I don’t get to any! That is until a couple of weeks ago, when I attended my very first film premiere. I left the black tie and dinner jacket in the wardrobe for this one though – microfleece and technical T-shirt was dress of the day, for this was the premiere of the movie of the Spine Race.
Paul offers guided hillwalking in the UK through Hillcraft Guided Walking. He is also a freelance outdoor writer.
Hillcraft Guided Walking Website
Paul Shorrock - One Man's Mountains AKA One Pillock's Hillocks 