Halloween on Carlin Tooth

So, it’s getting quite late. I’ve had me tea and I’ve had a couple of brews and some scotch and put the MP3 player on loud, which always sends me to sleep. And I’m warm in the sleeping bag and I hear the noise of a horse. It’s probably one of those things that happens when you’re mainly asleep. So, I’m awake now, all tucked in and cosy, like , and I hear a kind of jingling noise, away in the distance somewhere, somewhere behind the sound of the little stream I’m camped next to and between that and the wind rusting the tent and, maybe, some faraway traffic.

I do hear something like footsteps and sort of jingling noise somewhere and , there……., I heard a horse giving a little snort somewhere. That can’t be right.  Mr Bladder says that all of those cups of tea and the soup and the scotch need to come out. I stir. I struggle with the zip of the sleeping bag, cursing a bit. I fight my way into my wet boots, cold on my warm feet and tumble out onto frosty grass under a deep black starry sky. The ridge above me is even blacker. Half of my horizon is blacker than black and the other is, well, somehow a bit lighter now. There is no moon. I find a spot and,.. then a horse snorts and a voice whispers “wisht”.  Wisht?  Did I hear “wisht”? On the ridge, in silhouette, something moves. It grows  and sways slowly into a tall shape. I watch and don’t resist the temptation to try to hide a bit.. Its about, maybe , two hundred metres away, and up the hill, on the hilltop. It stops in silhouette. There’s a glint and a jingle and a soft , horsey sigh. I can hear leather creaking. Its a horse rider. Unmistakeable.  In the dark. How dangerous is that? Another rider joins the first, then a third. They seem to have weapons. They seem to have lances and there’s a glint of a steel helmet. I have completely forgotten my mission.

A fourth pony arrives, and a fifth, but there are no riders on these, just an odd shape. They move towards me, directly, and disappear into the blackness of the shadow of the hill. I crouch down a bit more. I can hear them now, but they’re invisible to me. But I know they’re getting closer with every second.

They’re very near now. I can hear the tread of the hooves moving slowly, the breathing of ponies, the creak of leather and the jingle of steel. And I can smell sweat and horse and, something foul. I recognise the smell from my early NHS days. Its the distinctive smell of a busy mortuary. It gives me images that I don’t like to see.

I crouch a bit lower. I am behind some rushes, in the rushes. I can hear my heart beating a bit quicker than it should. I try not to breath, it’s not just the noise, it’s the breath steaming in the cold.

A pony appears close by in the dark and passes by. I see boots with spurs. I can see the rider’s pale face and his sharp little beard. He does have a lance, and a sword and, maybe , a pistol. The second is the same, but a short little man with fair hair around the edge of his steel bonnet. And the third has a wild beard and a creased and wounded face – I’m not sure in the dark. They pass above me, quietly, not looking down, but gazing intently ahead into the dark. The third pulls a rope which tows the fourth pony, There’s something on the saddle, somebody on the saddle, legs sticking stiffly out. Boots and spurs and a foul smell of death and, so it is with the fifth. Something drips off the heel of the boot as it passes within feet of my face. Three riders, five ponies and two cadavers. The smell sticks as they saw off down the hill towards Liddesdale.

Its only now that I remember why I’m out here.

The smell sticks all night. I fact, I can smell it even now.

There’s a lot of darkness at this time of the year.

Border walk Peel Fell and Carlin Tooth

This is day 1 of a three day walk along the Scottish/English Border – the bit that I missed out on another occasion.
Some silly bugger had been playing with all the clocks, so I set off an hour late, or dead on time Greenwich Meantime. It was still dark, but I arrived in a deserted Kielder somewhere around dawn and abandoned the knipemobile.

Forest tracks and a derelict road took me up to Deadwater Fell, upon the summit of which there are “things”. I’ve not much clue as to what they are, but they have CCTV cameras and notices about navigation aids. There’s also an architect-designed too-far-up-his-own arsehole-for-his-own-good shelter which lets the wind in and, through which, if you look through the cracks, you can imagine it’s just like looking through the gaps in the trees. Look, matey boy, architect person, this is Kielder Forest. It has hundreds of millions of trees. You don’t need to imagine what it’s like artistically. cos the real thing is , well, just everywhere.

Deadwater fell is the only English top that sound’s like it’s been named by Cisco Kid by the way.  Eee-har, throw another injun on the fire, Jake….
A boggy path leads to The Riever’s Cross – an ancient cairn with a shelter fashioned in the middle and a small cross. More bogginess takes the already soggy rambler fairly easily to Peel Fell where there’s a little cairn.


Just before the top , there’s the “Kielder Stane Spur”. This is a boggy path (I’m sure you’re getting the picture by now) which leads downhill to the Kielder Stone. The Kielder Stone is a point on the Border which, in less lawful times, people could rush up, leave a message and bugger off before anybody saw – and somebody else would do likewise form the other side and pick it up. So, it’s a significant point.

However (and this is a big however girls and guys) the ground around the Stone is probably the roughest anywhere for about a kilometre in any direction. Any movement is slow and ponderous and teeters between deep heather, badly spaced tussocks and sphagnum bogs. My advice , for those intent on the ridge, is to give it a miss. the walking higher up is much, much easier. The only problem, of course, is for the purist Border follower because the Border doesn’t follow the ridge at this point but ducks down to the Kielder stone and then messes about trying to find an excuse not to go back up to the ridge.

A determined effort and some blasphemy brought me back to the ridge, and what a fine bit of walking this is. On the “Scottish” side of the fence, the grass is short and the views into Scotland are specially fine. There’s a few gritstone outcrops and a trig inside a shelter. This is Carlin Tooth, a fine hill which needs to be transferred to England. A carlin by the way could be a “pea” but it’s more likely to be a wife who has special “powers”, one of which may well be to turn herself into a hare or a crow. A tooth is a tooth is a tooth.

As the sun was yawning, winding up the clock, putting the cat out and getting ready for cocoa and bed, I thought I’d better put the tent up at this point. I found a heathery. sloping spot near to a very small stream of tea-coloured water. And there , I spent the next fifteen hours. You get a lot of rest, backpacking at this time of year. Except that it was halloween, of course and I’m on the witches hill. And it’s dark…. oooer…. its very dark……

10 miles and 2000 feet up uphill……
Cripes…
Another two days of this shortly. What was that  noise?outside..?

Back to the Border

 

Unusually for me, November looks like it’s going to be rather busy in terms of hillwalking and meetings with hillwalkers and trips away and all that kinda stuff.

It starts tomorrow. For tomorrow, I’m off to Kielder again and I’m going to attempt to walk along the Border fence and, where this isn’t on the highest part of the Border ridge, I’ll try to walk along the ridge.

The plan is to visit Peel Fell, which appears to have an Israeli army observation post on the top, the Kielder Stone, which is off-ridge in some of the tussockiest tussocks you’ve ever tripped over, the Carlin Tooth, Carter Fell, Carter Bar and Hungry Law to Byrness. There will be a camp somewhere around half way and I have a bed booked at the Forest View hostel (seeing as they treated me so nicely last time I was there)

I intend to return to see if my car still has all it’s wheels by using the toll road and some footpaths.

In the meantime, there will be another short intermission and, as it’s halloween, I thought I would post up this short musical video which is vaguely relevant.

Its the Bonzo Dog Doo-dah band. Only it isn’t is it?

Beefy Botham Backs Big Bovril Bimbles

Actually, it’s Bovril Rambles, but I like bimbles better.
What’s this all about, I hear you ask…
I got this press release from Claire Hewitt of Splendidcomms.com, who is marketing this joint Bovril/National Trust initiative.  I expect other bloggers may have had a similar approach and, to be fair, I usually bin requests like this except in this case, I quite like a drop of Bovril and this particular project provides money to the National Trust to help restore “special” outdoor areas, so, why not. (Incidentally, Superdawg is still open to offers of doggy bix and/or tins of doggy scoff. He just wanted me to remind marketing execs about that…)

Here’s the text of the press release:
Come and join Sir Ian ‘Beefy’ Botham on the Big Bovril Ramble
6^th November
Outdoor enthusiast and walking legend, Sir Ian Beefy Botham is lending his support to the countryside by leading a Big Bovril Ramble encouraging Brits to get up and out during the winter months and learning more about the famous British countryside.
The ramble, held here at Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal in North Yorkshire on 6^th November 2010, is part of Bovril’s Great Outdoors Revival which is donating £100,000 to the National Trust, helping to restore special outdoor areas across the country with a well deserved makeover. A shortlist of over 70 National Trust sites in need of restoration have been drawn up (listed on www.bovril.co.uk/revival), from across the nation and the makers of the beefy-fuelled drink are inviting the public to choose where the money goes.
Sir Ian is inviting Brits across the nation to take part in the Big Bovril Ramble, so if you and your family want to ramble for a few hours and take in the glorious countryside, then email fountainsabbey@nationaltrust.org.uk or speak to the warden to secure a place.
To see the full list of National Trust projects up for nomination and cast your vote, visit www.bovril.co.uk/revival. Voting closes on 31^st December and the winning projects will be announced in January 2011.


There will also  be Rambles/Bimbles at Quarry Bank Mill and Styal estate  SK9 4LA at Wilmslow : phone 01625 445896 or see http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-quarrybankmillandstyalestate on 22 November 2010 at 1:00 p.m.
and at Dudmaston Estate, Quatt nr Bridgnorth Shropshire WV156QN. Phone 01746 780866 or see http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-dudmaston on 22 November 2010 at 1:00 p.m.
and at Box Hill. The Old Fort Road Box Hill Tadworth Surrey KT207LB Phone 01306 885502 or see http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/mainw-boxhill on 22 November 2010 at 1:00 p.m.
Presumably, Beefy Botham won’t be at all of the locations at the same time…. just the Fountains Abbey walk.
Click all the links, and don’t forget to vote
Gwan, you know you want to…

What Next?

This morning was one of those mornings where you’re pleased to be able to avoid going out on the A68 and driving to Darlington, which is what I used to do. It was dark and wet and windy and, frankly, ‘orrible.

For some reason, this type of driech autumn morning is traditionally the time when I start to plan whatever it is I’m going to be doing, in terms of hillwalking, over the next twelve months. It is, in fact, the end of my walking year.

The new one will begin shortly.

Not-really-coincidentally, I have also just finished a little project to bag all of the Yorkshire Dales 2000 foot tops. Spookily enough, this took about twelve months.

The question is: whatever next?

These are the things done so far:

Twelve months in the Howgills (Appears in Doodlecat)

Hadrian’s Wall in Day walks.

Yorkshire Dales 2000 foot tops.

I also did a couple of TGO challenges, the Peebles-Moffat thing (unfinished business), a walk along the English/Scottish border (more unfinished business) and a walk across Cumbria.

I’ve also done walks along the Settle-Carlisle railway line, from Dent to Garsdale and from Garsdale to Kirkby Stephen and I’m considering doing day walks along the whole length of the railway line, thus providing a long distance route, or a bunch of day walks where the train can be used to get to the start and home again.

And I have 48 Hewitts to do, so another couple of trips to Wales and a trip to Dartmoor will be on the list next year.

I’ve not applied for the TGO Challenge, but instead, I’ve offered myself as a slave or gopher to the ladies at Tarfside. I’m considering a couple of static camps around Ben Alder for the bagging of various Munros during week one of the TGO and, just before or just after Tarfside, I may be able to bag a few Angus Glens Marilyns. I may consider setting up Mike’s cafe in the akto somewhere up the Uisge Labhair doing specialty tea’s and biscuit’s for Challenger’s. (Note the catering apostrophes) There may be other liquids involved, who knows….

Lonewalker has suggested the Yorkshire Dales National park trig points. I’ve visited most of these already, but I may visit the ones I haven’t been to…

Then there’s Moffat to Peebles to do, and, maybe a backpack in the Black Mountains..

So, that’s the kind of thinking so far – but I’m open to ideas for some kind of series of walkies like the YD2000 thing, or a long backpack.

Thoughts?