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Archive for the Outdoors Category

Settle Station

28/09/2009 by admin.

Continuing my growing love affair with the Settle Carlisle line, I called into Settle on Friday on the way to the Lakes.

There I watched Northern Rail director Heidi Mottram unveil a plaque to the refurbished station.

The Settle Carlisle Development Company has been working since last November with money from Northern, North Yorkshire County Council, the Railway Heritage Trust, and others to fit bio-mass boilers, lag the loft, fit new windows, and renovate the waiting rooms. It looks like toytown but it is a working station and I actually met a commuter.

In fact, she was more than just a commuter. She was a parish councillor who dropped into the conversation that she and her fellow passengers did Tai Chi while waiting for the 07.35 to Leeds. She didn’t realise what a good story that was and refused to adopt a Tai Chi position on the platform for a picture so I had to get just “waiting for a train”.

Settle won Small Station of the Year at the National Rail Awards last week – such a surprise that Northern didn’t invite the station master to the ceremony.

I’ve offered the whole package to the Yorkshire Post for its Country Week Saturday magazine but I’m still waiting to hear….

Posted in Outdoors, Travels, Journalism, Transport | Print | No Comments »

Two country shows and a traffic jam

17/09/2009 by admin.

Continuing the rural idyll, we went to two shows…very different in nature. To be honest the Westmorland Show at Crooklands was too busy and because we didn’t realise how early it started, we were caught in the most horrendous traffic jam. The sun shone and the crowds broke all records. It took us two hours to get there from Staveley, no more than half a dozen miles away – and ten minutes to get back.

When we enquired at the terrier ring about Lakelands, one winner looked at Roxy and said, with all the snobbery and contempt of a working dog owner: “Oh, the way she’s cut, you want the Kennel Club Show over there by the pylon.”

Over there by the pylon turned out to be in a separate field altogether and I wondered why the two events were kept so separate. It was a small affair and by the time we got there, it was winding up. There wasn’t a Lakeland Terrier in sight.

The highlight was a travelling sheep show introduced by a New Zealander living in Dereham, Norfolk…and awfully long way from the Lake District.

He introduced several different breeds, cracked a few jokes, and then sheered a sheep. Brilliant.

The International Sheep Dog Trial at Lowther Park, near Penrith was an altogether quieter affair. We watched one or two of the competitors, getting a free commentary from an old retired farmer from North Yorkshire who knew everyone and how good they were.

Watch a demonstration at the show by a chap from Cheshire at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElVt-RwNRNc

Posted in Sport, Outdoors, Travels, Society, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

Creative walking and pheasant hens

06/09/2009 by admin.

Ever thought of hiking as a creative activitity?

Today we “invented” a new circular walk direct from our caravan near Staveley in the Lake District up onto Cunswick Scar and back. Only about 6 or 7 miles but along paths which are clearer on the map than they are on the ground at this time of year. It is an immensely satisfying thing to do as you take ownership of a route…even though others probably “invented” it years ago.

And the pheasants?

Remarkably, as soon as the summer holidays are over, the pheasant hens - missing since the Spring - have returned in huge numbers. So we are set for lots of pheasant politics from now until Christmas as they get courted and sorted…

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Via Feratta

23/08/2009 by admin.

Everest no longer beckons quite so powerfully. I may even have reached a bit of a plateau in my mountaineering abilities. But if, in these recession-hit times, you are looking for a cheaper thrill than a trek to Nepal, look no further than the Honister Pass on the way to Buttermere in the English Lakes. There, at what is once again a working slate mine, is Britain‘s first Via Ferrata. After all, £35 for three hours of terror is very reasonable, isn‘t it? Don‘t be kidded, though, by the official claim that Via Ferrata ―is physically de-manding and challenging but does not require a high level of body strength.‖ I remembered reading that as I gasped and trembled my way up metal ladder-type rungs on an overhanging rock face with visions of said strength running out and being left to dangle there by my safety harness until the RAF winch man arrived. As a fairly experienced hill walker in these parts (Jacks Rake, Striding Edge, Sharp Edge) I was taken aback by just how demanding this tourist‘s experience was. Chance found me first in the group behind the fittest of young men who was our guide. That is, until we reached one moment of difficult descent when I confess I stood back and let my daughter show the way. The zip wire, despite my expression above, is, in fact the most straightforward of the hazards, mainly because you don‘t get a lot of choice once launched into the abyss. You end at the top of Fleetwith Pike, one more of Wainwright‘s fells conquered in a way he could never have imagined (and probably would have disapproved of.) But he would have approved of the renaissance of this slate mine which even got a mention from Worsdworth. Apparently, they do this kind of thing all over the Dolomites in Italy but that is in the Eurozone and, judging by the jams on the road back through Keswick, we weren‘t the only ones enjoying domestic pleasures this August.

My knuckles are raw and parts of my body still ache 24 hours after the experience but I have to say—modestly, of course, I think I‘m a bit of a hero on the quiet!

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Cows

24/06/2009 by admin.

The sad death of vet Liz Crowsley, 49,who was walking her dogs along a stretch of the Pennine Way, Gayle in upper Wensleydale, North Yorkshire, calls into question the responsibilities of farmers.

All walkers have a responsibility, of course, to respect the stock in the fields they are crossing but I have come across some pretty angry cattle. The bullocks below (the picture is taken from the style I had escaped over in the Yorkshire Dales last week) were quite craven when faced down…but still pretty alarming.

https://share.acrobat.com/adc/document.do?docid=3f74a462-b1d9-4440-9531-4469b74335ff

Heifers, strangely, can be even bolder and the worst experience I have had involved a group of older cows in Northumberland. They had just been moved in the field by the farmer – by chasing them with a West Highland White Terrier – and that had prepared them nicely for the sight of our two Jack Russells.

They charged, I faced them - which usually does the trick – but there was one which almost didn’t stop. It did… just….and let out the most venomous bellow in my face you could imagine.

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Lakeland wanders (2)

24/03/2009 by admin.

This image should be of daffodils by the side of a minor road leading to Staveley. We beat the rain today, setting off early from the door and walking along the Dales Way to Burneside before striking off uphill towards Longsleddale and then taking the narrow lane back to Staveley for lunch at the Eagle and Child. About 10 miles and back indoors before the rain!!!

A connoiseur’s walk.

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Back in the Lakes

22/03/2009 by admin.

What you should see here is a picture of a 1900 road sign between Kendal and Brigsteer in the English Lake District. I took it on my phone during a pretty special walk across Scout Scar to Sizergh Castle and back. Sadly, the technology to get it into this blog is a bit lacking. Any help would be appreciated.