Blogging Mojo Found Inside The Sofa

Its been a while since the last blog post. This does not mean that I've been idle - although I have been a little bit idle. The pictures in this blog post are from some of the expeditions I've not blogged about. But the point of this post, really, is not to dwell on the past but to look forward, once again, to the future. It seems that some of the shackles which have been placed on the hillwalking and backpacking, specially the inability to visit Scotland, which is temptingly close to Pie Towers, are getting ever looser.

Once again, though, pictures in this blog are refusing quite pointedly to behave themselves and are either left or right justified or in the middle. This is a "blogger" thing. Sometimes they won;t go where you want them to ho and sometimes they just like to lean to the left or the right. So apologies if this spoils your entertainment but me and my mouse seem powerless in the face of intransingence.

 
 In the last few weeks, we have re-instated group walks in the Crook and Weardale Ramblers group. We have been limiting the group sizes to six, meaning that so far we have been having two groups of six on a walk. The walks have been fairly local and all around 10 miles. And whilst we're looking forward to having a "propah" walking programme as soon as we can, these have been all Good Clean Fun.

 And me and LTD have had two camping trips: Two days in Lincolnshire for the bagging of the only Lincolnshire Marilyn, Normanby Wold. We got wet. It rained.  
Then, we had a couple of nights by the shores of Sand Tarn , a lovely spot on a little shelf near the summit of Wild Boar Fell. This time it rained and we got wet. Even so, it had to be done. And it was nice to see the cafe/outdoor shop Mad About Mountains open again in a socially distant sort of way. I bought gas and dry bags.

 And I had a walk at Wardle, just outside Rochdale on the occasion of a visit to Halifax. Wardle is not more than 14 miles from Halifax so it can be reached by knipemobile quite quickly, even though it's technically in a foreign part of the country and completely on the Wrong side of the Pennines. Locals were quite friendly though and the cattle on the hill weren't bothered by a small black and white dog.

 And there's been long walks with Li Yang and Diane and David and bagging walks in Northumberland  and North Yorkshire and even a pickernick with Dawn during which I got fatter and browner. But what about the future?

There's some more "interim" quite small group walks to be done with Crook and Weardale Ramblers and a litter-pick and lots of other important stuff.  There's no sign, yet of Wolsingham Wayfarers starting to walk again  or, indeed the Wednesday and Saturday Walking Group (Wednesday Walkers Walking on Saturdays). And, based on the theory that this new freedom and spare time could all go badly wrong at any point, specially, probably in the winter to come, I have a feeling that Things Which Can Be Done Now Really Need To Be Done Now. (Hence Lincolnshire and Sand Tarn) - so , quite soon, I'm intending to do the trip that was cancelled last March - a 3 or 4 day backpacking walk in South Lanarkshire/East Ayrshire. And I'd quite like a couple of nights by Loch Dochart for some remaining Munros and to lay the ghost of the cancelled TGO challenge, which would have seen a camp by the sandy shores of this lovely spot.
And, these things done, plus, maybe a beach bivi, thus clearing my "me time" cache, leaving the space open for some more sociable trips and, perhaps, some more Long Walks.

Long Walks Are Back! Knock Fell - High Cup Nick

 Actually me and Li Yang walled from Willington to Durham, by the Weardale Way, which is mostly on the banks of the River Wear, and back to Willington on the Bishop - Brandon railway walk - just about 20 miles and we didn't meet any Government advisers at all and anybody who says we did is pushing False News.
So, the point is, that this isn't the first long walk since lockdown, technically, it's the second but this time we were joined by Diane, David and Bailey The Dog, thus re-instating the Long Walks team wot did the other long walks back when we were allowed to meet other people. 

 The idea for this one was to approach High Cup Nick from a different direction than the usual ones from Dufton or from Cow Green. Instead of that, from Cow Green we wandered up the track along the flank of Viewing Hill, nipped down to the River Tees above the reservoir and followed it to the locked gate on Moorhouse estate, at the confluence of the Tees with Troutbeck, which we followed up on to Knock Fell.

 This was all pretty straightforward and we met only two people and some very stressed trout who were clearly worrying about the singular lack of water in Trout Beck, although what there was, was probably fairly warm. Up on Knock Fell there was nobody at all apart from us enjoying the views of the Lakes and Solway and South to Penyghent and hills like that there.

 We continued not meeting anybody at all as we bashed the dried-up and tinderbox-like bogs down to Great Rundale Tarn and up the other side to the cairn and ruinous trig on Backstone Edge, where we did see just the one walker and his little dog (or was it a "her" and a little dog?) - at some distance away, it was hard to tell. An easy plod along the edge and we arrived high above High Cup Nick which was well populated but not really overcrowded. It was here on soft dry turf with an ariel view of  the High Cup Nick visitors that we had our second lunch. On long walks, we usually have two lunches, one at about 11:00 and another mid afternoon depending on how hungry we ware and whether or not it's raining. I had my egg custard, a banana and some seriously dark chocolate (my first lunch, by the Troutbeck had been a pork pie, some cashew nuts and some strength 4 Columbian filter coffee and LTD had a Bonio and some of Li Yang's gravy bones)

 To reduce the chances of any more human contact we took the "gorge" route back to the Pennine Way bridge over Maize Beck. This is a little bit longer but more interesting than the straightforward Pennine Way route and is, in fact, a Pennine Way alternative and, probably an older route than the PW. In days when the Pennine Way was a tough and boggy challenge fit only for real he-men with hairy packs and peaty legs and their bearded girlfriends, there was no bridge on the direct PW route from Cauldron Snout to High Cup Nick and, when the Maize Beck was in spate, the gorge route offered a safe alternative with a bridge over the gorge. Unfortunately, the risks of trying to cross a raging Maize Beck weren't always recognised and there were accidents, near misses and fatalities. So another bridge was built.

 We spent a little time poking around the gorge which seems as if it would be a lovely place to camp....   If we ever..er...  And we also found the yellow flowers above. growing in the limestone walls. If anybody can identify these, that would be fab. I can't find them in my books of wild flowers.
The return to Cow Green from the PW bridge is a bit of a plod at the far end of a long walk and isn't improved by the new estate road for the Edwardian pretendees aka grouse shooters who visit Meldon Hill in the autumn but nevertheless eschew walking or  riding ponies up onto the fell in favour of Range Rovers.. In fact, it's a pain in the feet. In a few places the old flagstones, which were some kind of "improvement" on the previous boggy sloppyness which was the state of the PW in these parts back in the day when the Beatles were still publishing songs...
We finished about 7:00 o'clock. It seems that now that we're allowed to be in a group of up to six from different households, and outside and socially distant, we might be doing this kind of thing a bit more in the next few weeks....

Walks Where Covid 19 Shackles Are Loosened A Bit

 In England, the rules about exercise changed last week, so that now, we can travel any distance to exercise i.e. walk (but not to Scotland) and we can meet just the one person from outside the household providing we stay 2 metres apart.  So, taking advantage of this, but bearing in mind the twitchiness of the people living in the more popular places in the North, me and Li Yang traveled all of 6 miles to Wolsingham for the purpose of walking a longish walk of some 17 miles -West on the Weardale Way, Bollihope, Five Pikes, Elephant Trees, Knitsley Fell and back to the start by the riverside path.

 As per all recent walks, I managed to avoid all farmyards and only came near to a couple of houses and, apart from a dozen or so cars and some families with their doggies around Bollihope, we saw only a couple of runners and a couple of other walkers, plus a family on of whom had left their toy plane by the trig on Knitsley Fell, which we managed to return to them. (nobody likes to lose a favourite toy, innit?)  And there was a chap fishing in the Wear. Fishing is now allowed too (I'm not entirely sure why it wasn't allowed before, the social distancing is quite extreme)

 And then, taking things a bit further, a couple of days ago me and LTD went off to Black Middens, on the very edge of Kielder Forest. I thought that nobody would be around. The idea was to bag Earl's Seat, a tussocky Tump on the edge of tussocky moors. It was a hot day. the first hot day of the summer and we saw nobody and met nobody. We saw some deer and that was it. It seems that the foresters aren't working. 

 Black Middens is a "bastle" or peel - a fortified farmhouse with cattle secured downstairs and a family and followers upstairs. And, in August 1583, one Armstrong, Kinmont Willie, from Liddesdale, not too far away over the Border in Scotland, raided Black Middens along with seven or eight neighbouring bastles, stole away with livestock and agricultural goods, killed 6 men and wounded another 11 and took away 30 people to be ransomed. He did it again a few years later. Lord Scrope, who was the Warden of the local bit of the border had Willie captured just after a truce day on the Scottish side of the border and taken to Carlisle Castle. Laird Buccleuch, the local Scottish bigwig and Warden appealed to the Queen for Willie's release, stating that his capture was illegal, being on a truce day. Queen Elizabeth ignored the request, but , apparently fancied the boots off Laird Buccleuch who, with help from English allies, who were opposed to Lord Scrope, arranged for a raid on Carlisle Castle to spring Willie from his gaol. This went well and Willie was freed. Liz, was miffed two knickers about the raid, but since it was Buccleuch wot done it, and trying to be on good terms with King James of Scotland, who may well have to be the very next English monarch didn't do anything. Kim may have had a quiet word with Buccleuch in case he ever considered doing that sort of thing again. Meanwhile, Ooor Wullie continued entering Northumberland and Cumberland, robbing and killing although nothing much was done to stop him since it might well have been that some important English locals were getting a percentage. Then Willie died, so it ended and they all went home and told their mums what had happened. You don't get this from other hillwalking blogs innit?

Covid 19 Walks Get Longer and Plans Get Stronger

Just like most people and their dog, me and LTD have been staying home, except for the "allowed" reasons of shopping for essential supplies of merlot, nipping over to the chemists for my bisoprolol or wandering about having exercise. For this latter activity, the weather has been really very friendly and long, sunny spring days have brought out wild flowers, wild birds, not wild spring lambs and loads and loads of people walking, running and cycling in the countryside. Survivors will be very fit, have clean houses and tidy gardens and some, I expect, will have filled some of their time in other "activities" which may well result in a baby boom around Christmas time. Something to look forward to there....

Me and the dog started out doing circuits of the countryside around Crook. This is quite nice, but limited in it's own way and there was quite a bit of repetition and overlap in the chosen routes. Walks tended to be around 5 or 6 miles and could be undertaken without bananas, coffee, bonios or packs. (bonios are for the dog, I find them quite tasteless unless soaked in onion gravy and/or brown sauce.) (Lucky is not too bothered about brown sauce but he does like a slaver of gravy but without the onions)

And, after a while, and with some encouragement from "somebody else", it became quite apparent that 5 or 6 miles just wasn't hitting the spot. 5 miles is fine for a doggy walk, but to retain fitness and to be ready for when the shackles preventing travel to other places are finally loosed, something more needed to be done. The result was a 13 mile route, from the door and, then 15 miles and then 17 miles.  These things do require bananas, egg butties, coffee and just-in-case rainwear. They're all local routes, but the circles are bigger.

As time went on, Social meejah was reporting that in some places, farmers were closing footpaths and otherwise shouting at people. Some people (not really walkers , I feel) were nipping up to Malham from Kent and Accrington, having barbeque picnics and being very rude to police officers and anybody else who might have remonstrated. This  was not only moronic but unhelpful to say the least. One local farm track had a scribbled notice on a plastic lid stating that the track was closed to everybody. We ignored it and the farmer, who was out on his tractor, ignored us. Local intelligence stated that the said farmer was quite a nice chap anyway and was prone to giving away boxes of eggs to passers-by.

In other places, County Council notices started to appear on footpaths asking people to behave properly, I suspect, to calm the nerves of locals disturbed by the additional weight of people wandering across the fields.
My view is that whilst the risk of passing on a virus from touching a stile is probably very low, and this isn't Foot and Mouth Disease, farmers have some justification for being nervous, specially in view of the daily updating of the latest number of fatalities. And you don't really know who is living in the farm - is a member of the household vulnerable and shielding? (If there are, a notice asking people to avoid the farmyard could be met with a positive response) And farmers, just like everybody else should be washing their hands and not picking their nose or sucking a finger....

But, for pragmatic purposes, and to avoid unnerving anybody, when planning these longer routes, I've managed to avoid going anywhere near farms or farmyards. This has been much easier than I thought it would be - but we're blessed locally with miles and miles of railway paths :- old railway lines closed since the coal industry fell over in the 1960's and now converted to routes suitable for walkers, cyclists and horse-riders. They can get a bit dull after a while, but they get you miles away from home in short order. There's also bridleways, roman roads and miles of quiet lanes, and it's all really very nice. So, it'll do for now. Several pit villages are visited, but locals are generally very friendly (This IS County Durham) although their social distancing is a bit shaky sometimes. Local heathery moors are just about within reach.

And then there's the plans... I've already mentioned these, but I now have a "top 5" which will be the first Things To Be Done" as soon as "Things Can Be Done" There's no order to these because it depends how the unlocking of the lockdown is delivered - some of these are intended to be shared with Dawn, who is shielding just now, and some will depend on the ability to travel. This is the list:

Marilyn bagging:- completion of Section 37. This won't mean much to most people, but to explain that this involves a trip to the very highest parts of the Lincolnshire Wolds. I've found a campsite and the drive from Pietowers is around 150 minutes. Probably a couple of nights might allow the bagging of Normanby Top and, maybe a paddle at the seaside.

A couple of days camping at Ettrick: Gets Dawn out of the house and I can bag a few obscure hills and otherwise laze about a bit. There's a nice, quiet campsite available.

A beach bivi on a quiet Northumberland Beach. I've missed the beach bivvies.......

Do the trip in Lanarkshire that got cancelled at the last minute in March. I almost went. I have the gas and the food and I've given LTD a copy of the route. It was going to be 3 days... I might do it in 4. Three Marilyns are available to be bagged.

I had a route for backpacking from Loch Lomond to Callendar. There's a high level version and a low level version depending on the weather and fitness. Probably four days plus two for travel. The high level route has more than 20 two thousand foot tops. Its a cracker...

In between all this, if I can do this, it's likely that the Ramblers will start walking again and I'll likely be doing some of that, and, maybe Wolsingham Wayfarers, although I suspect that the bits of the walk programme I was involved in will have expired till the Autumn...

Making Lists

The world seems to be having a rest. It was getting a bit frantic, though, and it's been like that for a while, but now, quite suddenly, there's no aircraft, apart from the odd police drone looking for really slow dog walkers and there's still some local traffic, although I understand that motorways and the big trunk roads are spookily quiet. I wouldn't know, I'm not allowed on motorways. The knipemobile has done all of 6 miles in 3 weeks, although I do move it around a bit to save the tyres and stop the brakes rusting on. This is saving me loads of money and, apparently, wildlife is quite quickly exploring the quietened places. The skies are clear, the air is clean(er) and Crook has chiff-chaffs. I've never noticed chiff-chaffs before.

 Another upside is that my reasonably stress-free life pre-Covid 19 is now almost permanently recumbent, probably in a deep snooze, just waiting for a frog to come along to be turned into a prince. I may have got that bit wrong. The downside is that I'm often in the fridge. Grazing. Hot Cross Buns are calorie-loaded.  I've reduced the booze quite a bit, to a genuine Merlot Friday, but it's not helping much, the kilogrammes and wobbly bits are creeping back. The bad news for small businesses and key workers in danger of burning out is, that this could go on for quite a bit longer judging by the international graphs which, more or less, all show similar patterns of a long and slow descent of the graph. 12 weeks or so seems to be optimistic.

 By now, if you've not already dozed off or gone off looking for a more interesting blog, why I am illustrating this post with pictures of tents and LTD from 2016. I chose 2016 because it was a good year for backpacking. And the pictures are chosen because this is really about planning Things To Do When All This Is Over. It came suddenly and everything got cancelled, and, combined with my age and the slowly reducing potential opportunities for a really good, hard, long walk (text stolen from an abandoned Carry On Backpacking script) (Are you going all the way? Oo er, warden) (snigger), its a good illustration why , when you get the chance to do whatever it is you want to do, you really must get on with it. Might do that next year is not good enough. There might not be a next year for you. You'd best just do it now. Or at least in the next few weeks.

 So, in my awake times when I'm not busy with some soap and hot water or helping the dog meet his doggy pals and enemies up the Deerness Valley Railway Walk, I've been making lists. Plans, if you like. The list now has eight backpacking trips on it, plus some other holidays and camping things - mainly aimed at bagging Marilyns and other hills, doing Things That Were Cancelled in March, bivvying on a beach, and , generally, having jollies.

 The pictures are from Mr Sloman's Daunder around Cross Fell and me and Dawn's walk from Buxton to the Lake District visiting the highest pubs in England (with a bit missing in the middle due to my duff planning). This is the stuff. It's not big or clever or expensive, or even all that adventurous. It involves no foreign travel, no vaccinations (apart from Covid 19 if it's available) It might involve a TGO Challenge if the cards fall right. All I have to do is avoid a virus and not run across a busy road. I'm still planning. If this goes on for a long time, there's going to be a huge tick list to tick off.

I've no idea why Blogger does daft stuff like this - all the pics are centred, but some just aren't. It says they are, but they aren't. I also had to start the whole thing again because Blogger decided to underline all the text and colour it blue. It's the work of the devil, that's what it is.