I’m having trouble with my PC and I’m using a laptop with not much software on it…innit?
So, this is just a test. If it works, some pics taken today on a very snowy and stupidly cold Ireshope Moor will appear below. (Goggles worn cos of driftiing snow and stinging hail/snow)
If it works, I might just post some of my own pics
If it doesn’t I’m going to sit in a corner and sulk.
Last January, during the mildest winter since the ice melted, me and Superdawg (remember him?) walked up Killhope Law via the Carriers Way on a perishing cold day in a dusting of snow – and then we walked down the other side , visited a currick and then walked back along the road to Dirt Pot.
Yesterday, me and Lucky, and Matt, walked up Killhope Law via the Carriers Way on a perishing cold day in a dusting of snow, then walked down the other side and walked back along the road to Dirt Pot.
Neither walk was deeply planned. Deja-Vu, eh? (worra fine album that was by the way)
Soo, I collected Matt from his moorland hideout and we slithered over to Allenheads, abandoned the car on some ice and tottered off, shivering slightly, to the summit of Killhope Law where the mother or all blizzards started.
Matt made for the trig and the big stick thing that adorns Killhope Law’s top whilst me and Lucky cowered behind the currick as huge lumps of hard ice hurtled by horizontally at some significant speed. After Matt had satisfied himself that he’d bagged everything baggable on the summit, we repaired to the derelict shooting hut a bit down the hill for lunch.
Lucky shivered and whinged inside the hut as we scoffed and Matt boiled something spicy in a bag. Lucky seemed happier outside in the storm and sat and watched the flakes go by whilst occasionally running about a bit daft.
Our original plan was to walk along the wide and boggy ridge to Middlehope Moor, but sense prevailed and instead, we walked a bearing to Doctor’s Hush and down to the road which we used to get back to the knipemobile which was still there.
Luckily, road conditions had improved somewhat and an easier drive back resulted.
We did five miles.
Brrrr….
It must be Yule when this walk gets trotted out. This is the third year running we’ve done this Durham County Council guided walk. The idea is to circumnavigate Crook (thereby ensuring the minimum of development or travelling effort from Yours Truly) and have hot refreshments and , maybe a cake or two at St Catherine’s Community Centre in Crook afterwards, thereby boosting their income a bit.
Me and The Pooch did the reccy last Monday in claggy fog and drizzly drizzle so dense that I didn’t take the camera out at all. On the day – Wednesday – it was frosty and bright and sunny and the visibility allowed huge views of the Pennines and North Yorkshire Moors and so on..
23 People had fought their way to the start at St. Caths, plus Compulsory Dave and Neville – and me, of course, despite the efforts of the road resurfacers in Crook City Centre to prevent any access at all to the place. I suspect that several people are still, even now, searching for a parking spot.
The walk initially passes through areas only known to local doggy walkers and people who leave lots of litter everywhere but soon emerges into green countryside at the Western edge of the town using footpath No’ 49 (was my adopt-a-path route till the Council abandoned adopt-a-path) and then to Kitty’s Wood. Now Kitty’s Wood, some people may remember, was the subject of a recent access “misunderstanding” and now has seven brand spanky new public rights of way. Much of the credit for this probably lies with Steven Horner, sometime hillwalker and blogger, who organised the right sort of action particularly from the residents of Roddymoor who were specially irritated by their favourite walks being fenced-off. I must have an explore around here quite soon…
And thence to Billy Row where we lunched in the sun before climbing the 1.5 heart-attack slope up to Dowfold Hill – the 249 metre summit of our trundle – short and struggle against unfriendly contours but which delivers the now heavily panting walker a cracking view of Weardale and beyond.
Dowfold hill provides a brief hill-type experience on it’s Southern edge but soon merges with kale crops and Crook golf club’s new wind turbine (rumours that this is the first of a new grown-up crazy golf installation) – followed by fields to Annapoorna (Yes you read that right)!) where I found bits of clay pipe on Monday and where on Wednesday, the fields were glistening with gossamer and several little black spiders hitched a lift on my specs.
And then pony fields and more crops to the old tramway from Watergate to Bitchburn and back through our small bit of suburbia to the delights and hot coffee at St Cath’s – where Lucky had been brought to greet me.
Its 8 miles. Those who believe that the countryside around Crook can’t be up to much, surely, are wrong. Here’s a map. The new public footpaths don’t appear on it! (And note the OS’s deliberate mistake with the spot heights on Dowfold Hill just South of Stonechester)
The idea was to have a shortish walk quite near to Kendal including what will likely be the last Birkett bag in 2014. And that was basically the plan. We had to invent the rest as we went along. Mainly, The Bro was allowed to do this. He had a map and one of those satmappy things.
We collected Ria and the four of us Me- playing Hank Marvin, The Bro (Bruce Welsh) Ria (Jet Harris) and Lucky (Tony Meehan) and journeyed to the foot of Gummers How which we climbed in lovely bright sunshine. Here. The Shadows made their first appearance on a Wainwright Outlier
Next, was Hill318 – aka Birch Fell – our Birkett of the day. This was found over there ------> after a bit of boggy stuff and lots of trees and bracken.
And then we weren’t sure what to do – so we found a sunny spot for lunch and lunched.
Later, lead away expertly by Bruce Welsh, we located a bridleway which went North towards a lovely little hill called White Moss, which we didn’t climb due to confusing paths and diffidence. Instead we stravaiged to Bowland Bridge, then , through cows puzzled by Tony Meehan’s attitude which involves growling and generally being an arse towards our bovine friends. Around here, somewhere, we cam across a “bridalway”. As it happens, no wedding was taking place (the person who wrote the sign indicating the direction of the Bridalway and where it went probably wouldn’t understand this quip by the way), we headed back over fells and through woodland to back to the start just as the light was beginning to fade.
Sometimes things can be overplanned. Not so on this occasion. We did 8 miles and a fair bit of climbing. Here’s a map of the walk.
