Path49 Again

Today was the day appointed for me and the Dawg to have a seven (ish) mile trundle on some paths surrounding Crook to see if all was well and to snitch to Durham County Council rights of way peeps if it wasn’t.

We waited till it stopped raining. This involved drinking lots of coffee and watching the telly or , in Bruno’s case, sitting next to the drawer with his lead in it looking a bit forlorn and abandoned for a couple of hours….

Eventually, in warm summer sunshine, we set off to Path 49. Our little patrol took us along FP49 ( hedges need some attention from the hedge clipping chap), Path 51 with it’s new Public Footpath sign, Path 56 – a bit obscure at one point, Path 176 – whoa….  The gate to the farm was locked and there was a new ladder stile over the wall, taking the volunteer and his faithful dog on an unfamiliar route avoiding the farmyard. Now I really don’t like going through farmyards, but was this an official diversion? There wasn’t any waymarks like wot they stick up when a path’s been diverted. This just shows how daft English countryside access legislation is. This wouldn’t matter North of the Border, but down here in pedantic land, an unofficial diversion would be Against the Rules. Anyway, I’ve told the Right of Way peeps and they can do whatever they need to do. Its probably a formality anyway. 

Further along FP176, Bruno was followed uncomfortably closely by six or seven horses, lead by two ringleaders, who eventually went off to bite and kick each other.

…nicely marked out path through the crops…

Bruno detects previous dogs

Crook. You can see our house from here

Other footpaths – 106, 108, 106 and 32 went through fields of crops – nicely marked out by the farmer, Crook Golf course – new waymarks but still a bit obscure in places, and along the little edge overlooking Crook. You can, indeed see our house from up there.

Its quite a nice little walk, really… we’ll be back in the winter

More A-Z Adventure Atlases (says Alan Rayner!!!)

According to Alan Rayner, over on his Blog on the Landscape (link later in this blog post, we don’t want you wandering off on your own, now do we…)   the A-Z peeps have produced some new maps. I wouldn’t have believed this only they sent me the AZ Adventure Atlas to the Coast to Coast path (the Alf (what’s that woman doing in my slippers) Wainwright one which is a de facto LDP.  So, I had a look and, since they sent me a free copy worth nearly eight of your earth pounds, I promised to write about it.

There are seven new titles, mainly but not exclusively based on LDPs (or de facto LDP’s) (for those without Latin O’levels, “de facto” kind of means “in practise, but not really officially…”). These are:

Pennine Way North

Pennine Way South

Coast to Coast route

Cotswold Way

Surrey Hills

Ridgeway

Thames path

What’s in an A-Z Adventure atlas?

Well, the Coast to Coast one has the following: (I expect the other titles are similar)

Handy-size for a map case when open

Ordnance Survey 1:25000 explorer series map key

Overview map key showing the limits of each map.

79 1:25000 OS maps showing the route highlighted, along with all alternative routes. (This is a huge weight and cost saving for backpackers)

Index of place names with grid references – including even quite obscure places. very useful for ad-hoc GPS navigation in particular

Route planner with distances in both directions, including an index of facilities at each place – shops, pubs, accomodation etc)

Notes on safety and security and the countryside code

QR codes with useful contacts/websites etc. relevant to the path.

If you order on line before 31 August 2013 using the discount code GETWALKING, you’ll get £2'.50 discount noff the RRP of £7.95 (thats £5.45!)

Alan’s blog with clickable links (I couldn’t be arsed) is Alan's Blog

 

Pennine Way - Looping the Bowes Loop

Yet another Durham County Council guided walk stewarded by Anne, possibly the only steward able to walk far enough to do the Pennine Way walks.

I did the reccy last week on another steaming hot day with many a probing attack by the Pennine clegs. these all failed, I’m pleased to say, due to more of that Ultrathon lotion.

The reccy was straightforward – I met only one person who marched past whilst I was lunching at the Deepdale shelter and another who’d come up from the battle Hill direction for an old folks ramble (or something..  I could barely understand him as he was from Darlington. 

On the day (yesterday) there was just the six of us, including me and Anne. Apart from me, everybody else was female – although I do have my feminine side, probably somewhere underneath the beard.

And so, in reasonably cool conditions, we set off towards God’s bridge to join the main Pennine Way as it heads North over Cotherstone Moor towards Scotland. A short beak was had here, just long enough to see if I could get under and through the bridge without getting wet or losing any dignity. The answer to this question is “no”.

We passed the haunted Bowes Bus station. I snapped Sheila studying a blank doorway, claiming she could see an evil presence staring back at her, but there was nothing there, as you can see……

There’s a shooting hut in Deepdale which has a room left unlocked as a shelter for walkers and this contains chairs which may be taken outside to allow a small hiking group like us to site outside and eat our butties. There’s a bit of an issue with the door at the moment, which is difficult to close properly and, it would seem that one of the local sheep had discovered this at some point and had spent long enough inside to do a small poo – probably a minute or so. Other, more scummy walkers, I noticed have left litter in there. Honestly….  dhuhh…. they carry full sweetie wrappers but can’t carry empty ones. The estate doesn’t have to leave this place open y’know. If it starts to get trashed and mucky, its likely that they’ll just lock it up. Pennine Wayfarers ought to know better.

We progressed. The clegs came out. We got to Clove Lodge and met the local dogs, who were all friendly and a bit knackered from their walk – and we passed on through the haymeadows, mostly in the process of being cut (if you’re after studying Northern haymeadows, you’re probably too late now – and you’ll have to wait till next summer) – and on up to Goldsborough where we took tea. Here, it is rumoured, that there is a cup and ring marked rock. Its not the one covered in grass halfway down the ridge to the North – oh, no. It’s another one…….. 

We continued, meeting a chap on his way to Hadrian’s Wall. He was too clean to be a long distance walker and, once trussed up, smeared with skin-so-soft and probed with heated walking poles, he admitted to having just left Bowes an hour or so ago. We let him go and wandered past Levy Pool with it’s superbly restored ling-thatched cottages and through the chemical warfare storage site with it’s superbly derelict and polluted storage areas, back to Bowes where it all ended with tired legs and cleg bites (just two for me – it could have been worse).

The walk is 13 miles. Here’s a map.

How to Upset Clegs Ticks and Midgies [Ultrathon insect repellent review]

I got sent a supply of Ultrathon insect repellent ages and ages ago for review and since I received it I have not come across any significant numbers of insect nasties at all. I assumed, for a while, that merely carrying a bottle of the stuff in my rucksack pocket was deterring the little blighters from having a go at my delicate flesh. My recent trip to Wales , however, has proved this theory to be incorrect. they were, in fact, just waiting in ambush for the Right Kind of Weather.

It seems that The Right Kind of Weather has now happened, in particular for yer horsefly or cleg. There are fahsands and fahsands of these on the hills at the moment, as many of you will have already discovered, and they’re all hungry for blood. The problem with yer cleg is that you often don;t notice their presence until after they’ve taken a chunk out of your skin. They take such a big chunk, in fact, that blood is drawn and the resulting bite site can often swell up and require piriton or similar to make it go down again (vinegar seems to work by the way…)

So it was with very mixed feelings that whilst half way up my first Welsh hill, one such cleg took away a piece of my leg. Whilst on the one hand, I was being assaulted by roving nasties, on the other, I had armaments in my pack which ought to put an end to any more of this free lunching. So I used the pump spray. I used it on as much bare skin as I had going and, whilst I still encountered collisions with horseflies for the rest of the day, the only place I got another bite (another two bites, actually) was on an unprotected and untanned part of my gluteus maximus. A couple of the evil little swines had managed to invade my shorts.

The next day, on the Cwm Amarch skyline, I used both sun block and the Ultrathon aerosol spray. The results were similar to the previous day. I didn’t get bitten by another cleg, although there were many collisions with clegs who’d decided I was ripe for a nip. They don’t like it, y’see…

The evening on the campsite was a midgie heaven (heaven for midgies anyway) I used the aerosol again and whilst it didn’t prevent midgie expeditionary forces from circling quite closely, and, occasionally touching down on an ear or a forehead, it soon became apparent that no nibbling was being done.

Finally, on the last of the three walks, I used the lotion. Pretty much the same effects, really.

Yesterday’s paddle/swim/plodge down the North Tyne from Ashgill to Garrigill (you must try this some time!), where I was unprotected and wearing only shorts and hiking boots ( a lovely sight and one reason why there’s no pictures – pic is from a previous trip) resulted in multiple opportunistic clegs having a right good go at my bare skin. They only stopped for the five or ten minutes after a deep bit where my skin was cold. (This must say something about horsefly behaviour and whatever it is that attracts them to you)

So, it seems to work:

Some Ultrathon facts and info:

Ultrathon is manufactured by 3M and is available through Tesco’s or Co-op pharmacy or various on-line suppliers.

The “time release” technology used in Ultrathon means that the evaporation of Deet repellent is slowed down, which in turn means that lower concentrations of Deet can be used and that you don;t need to re-apply so often. Concentrations of the Deet in the Ultrathon products I was sent vary from 25% to 35% and the effect is claimed to last either up to 8 hours, or up to 12 hours, depending on the product.

The lotion has 34% Deet and lasts for up to 12 hours and costs  £8.29

The pump spray gas 35% Deet and lasts for up to 12 hours for  £8.49

The aerosol spray has 25% deet for up to 8 hours protection for around £8.29

You can use sun block in tandem although it may reduce the effectiveness of the sunblock.

The sprays may damage man-made fibres, nylon and plastics but can be used on natural textiles.

The repellent is splash and sweat resistant. (Note that blackfly, which don’t bite, but seem to be attracted to sweat, tears, blood, etc, are repelled but I found that after I suffered a small cut to my shin, I couldn’t use Ultrathon where there was an open wound and it was soon buzzing with blackflies having a good old lick. (eeeyooo!) The answer to this, of course, is elastoplast!

Did it work?  Yes – though, probably not for a full 8 or 12 hours but I did get a full day’s walking out of an application. The evidence seems to be that unprotected bits of my superbly honed [koff] anatomy got chewed whereas places where I’d squirted didn’t. It didn’t prevent optimistic approaches by clegs or midgies, and these can be unnerving, even if they’re not biting. I didn’t see any ticks. I expect there were plenty of ticks, though…

I liked the lotion best – just because it’s the easiest to see exactly where it’s been spread.

Here's a link

 

Four Tops and Lots of Clegs From Bwlch y Groes

Taking advantage of a start at an altitude of 540+ metres at the car park at the top of Bwlch y Groes for the bagging of the four final tops was a bit of a no-brainer. The temperature at nine o’clock at the top of the pass was 20C. It soon rose to “hot” and , it seems that the long extension of the 2012-13 winter into May not only benefitted several species of wild flowers, but also the mighty cleg or horsefly. I’d noticed that on the previous two walks, there was a lot of cleggy activity, but on this one, the clegs were rampant, and I do mean RAMPANT. Along with the clegs were fahsands and fahsands of little white moths. I don’t mind little white moths. I mean ter say, only fur coats hate yer moth.

I covered myself liberally with more Ultrathon from the lotion bottle (easier to put on, I find…) and marched off on an easy track which handrails the fenceline. This disappears into a bog after a bit and then it’s just Pieman, fenceline and bog – a fairly common combination, I find.

After a bit more, I decided to contour along to a little bealach or bwlch which connect to Foel Rhudd – my first top tick of the day. Another walker appeared from my left and scutterred off at some speed up the hill and, by the time I’d reached the top – he was far away on to the next summit. As for me, I was already lathered and dripping and with tired legs from the previous day’s efforts. Foel Rhudd is nothing much to write home about, to be honest. It has a fine population of healthy horseflies who all have huge appetites and an inability to fly into a deet-covered leg with any dignity. Horseflies came from all directions  - and bounced off. The moths ignored me for the most part. I blundered on.

There’s a bit of a path up to top #2 – Esgairiau Gwynion , so I followed that. The horseflies followed me. It was almost reminiscent of a Durham County Council walk in many ways, except that very few of the punters on the Durham walks have evil intentions concerning your legs. Esgairiau Gwynion is a Marilyn, a Hewitt and a Nuttal. Other than that, its has roughly the same level of excitement as Dodd Fell or, maybe, Lovely Seat….

It does have a rather pleasant South ridge, though, which leads the walker and his hungry companions (the clegs) quite suddenly into more scenic territory – with big views of the Aran Fawddwy ridge developing. I stopped here to cool down for a bit. I was taking in vast quantities of water and the opposing slope, up which I would soon have to struggle, looked steep and long and full of contours, all cosily snuggled up together in a lump.

Eventually, I stumbled off down the hill and  sweated and heaved my dripping fly-blown carcase up the other side. It wasn’t quite as steep as I’d thought and soon, or, at least, eventually, I was on the ridge for an easy plod to the top of Hill Tick #3 Foel Hafod-fynnydd. This has a nice, conical top, a little quartzy cairn and a specially good view of Aran Fawddwy and the little tarn Creiglyn Dyfi which looked inviting, and probably wouldn’t have taken much effort to get there and back…. but I just couldn’t be arsed. I opted, instead , for a little snooze. There was a little breeze…and the clegs were still failing to nibble.

Top #4 was, it seemed, a long way away, back up the hill I’d just come down and followed by a long plod beside the fence I’d followed earlier. The heat was now getting quite uncomfortable and I was running out of water. I retraced to the fence and then back down the hill to a stile. From here, there is what appears to be an old track climbing the hill diagonally which was a helpful line through the rough ground. . At one point, I refilled my water bottles from a small stream of icy cold water and hit the fence line which is followed to the top of Llechwedd Du. This is very Pennine – a tiny cairn amongst peat hags and I stayed here for a bit and drank more than half of my beautiful icy beckwater.

The return to the knipemobile aka mobile oven (gas mark 9) was a simple plod through the bog. Tragically, my mars bar was a squishy mess. The lesson here (hill-tip coming up) is to scoff the chocolate before it melts. I  do like to pass on the skills I’ve picked up over the years…..

And so, the next morning, which was forecast to be even hotter, and, having bagged everything on my List of Things to Bag This Week, I went home. I now have only five Hewitts to bag. Two of these are in the same (ish) area – Tarrenhendre and Tarren y Gesail. Another is Pen y Garn, near Devil’s Bridge, there’s High Willhays on Dartmoor and, finally, and, probably the last one, should be Mynydd Mawr in North Wales.

Here’s a map of today’s walk, though. Just 7 toasty miles today and 1600 sultry feet of up. I’m trying not to complain about the heat. I’m glad I didn’t bring the dog, though. This sorta thing isn’t really good for dogs…