#191 – Happy New Year for 2016

Posted on 28/12/2015 by Paul Shorrock

Mist:   Wooof! It must be that time of year again – the boss always gets this funny tree thing with lights and puts it IN THE HOUSE!   Can you imagine?!   A tree in the house!!  I just don’t get humans!  Anyway, while he’s busy playing with trees, and putting loads of paper round things he calles ‘presents’ and then ripping paper of similar things, I’m hijacking this blog.   I found this old photo from last year with the boss and the missus messing about – don’t know how he did it, but everyone is back to their normal size again.   As I said, I just don’t get humans!

Anyway, the two of them keep banging on about something called a new year – apparently it’s a good thing to have, so I hope you all enjoy one.   Woooof  wooof!!

Happy New Year for 2015

Text and images © Paul Shorrock – with a little help from ‘Mist’!

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#190 – Stormy day in Radnorshire, Mid-Wales

Posted on 14/12/2015 by Paul Shorrock
‘Water-break-its-neck’ waterfall in summer

‘Water-break-its-neck’ waterfall in summer

After a month of not getting out on the hills and mountains, something had to be done!    A trip down to friends in Mid-Wales opened up the chance of a hill day, and ambitious plans were made involving either the Elan Valley or Brecon Beacons – however, the weather forecast for the weekend came as something of a reality check, with winds of 40+ mph gusting past 60 mph.     Back to the drawing board then!

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Posted in 6. Mid and South Wales | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

#189 – Snow time in Snowdonia – The Glyderau

Posted on 30/11/2015 by Paul Shorrock

As time in the mountains has been a bit restricted again, here’s another post from the archives – this is from April 2013.  Bring on the snow!
Llyn Bochlwyd frozen, with Glyder Fach behind and to the left (JB)

Llyn Bochlwyd frozen, with Glyder Fach behind and to the left (JB)

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Posted in 5. North Wales | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

#188 – Yet another blast from the past – Winter on Pen yr Ole Wen, North Wales

Posted on 16/11/2015 by Paul Shorrock
Pen yr Ole Wen in summer, seen from Llyn Idwal near Ogwen

Pen yr Ole Wen in summer, seen from Llyn Idwal near Ogwen

For all sorts of reasons I’ve not been able to get out in the mountains over the past couple of weeks, but rather than miss a blog post I thought I  would revive another ‘blast from the past’.    In a week where we have been out in T-shirts, it was interesting to revisit a wintry post from just over three years ago – soon be time to get the ice axes and crampons out!

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#187 – Ynys Môn (Anglesey) – good things come in small packages!

Posted on 02/11/2015 by Paul Shorrock
South Stack lighthouse on Ynys Môn (Anglesey)

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

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#186 – Yr Elen, Carnedd Llewelyn and Carnedd Dafydd

Posted on 19/10/2015 by Paul Shorrock
Carnedd Llewelyn (left) and Carnedd Dafydd (right) seen from Yr Elen

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.

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#185 – Great Gable from Honister Pass

Posted on 05/10/2015 by Paul Shorrock
Heading for Great Gable in the distance

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.

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Posted in 2. Lake District | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

#184 – Blast from the past – Clwydian Hillforts

Posted on 21/09/2015 by Paul Shorrock

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’!

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#183 – Adventures, it’s all relative!

Posted on 07/09/2015 by Paul Shorrock
The track up Moel Famau – a long way for little legs!

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.

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#182 – Coniston Old Man and Swirl How

Posted on 24/08/2015 by Paul Shorrock
Between Coniston Old Man and Swirl How

Between Coniston Old Man and Swirl How

The route

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.

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Posted in 2. Lake District, Aircrash Sites | Tagged , , , , , | 16 Comments