A superb 3-day extended mountain traverse of the Nantlle ridge, including the outliers of Moel Tryfan and Mynydd Mawr to the north and Craig-y-garn to the south. The deeply quarried Moel Tryfan is designated as a SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) for its geological importance and historical significance in the development of Glacial Theory. For walkers the slate quarrying operations have left a striking landscape of rocky cliffs and vividly coloured pools that briefly adds great scenic interest to the route. The isolated rocky dome of Craig-y-garn has often caught my eye whilst perusi ..read more

An experimental trek to test my capabilities for moderate long distance backpacking using the intro section of the Glyndwr’s Way (GW) national trail. I’ve backpacked a few of the trails as “fast-and-light” trips, but they were easy and, apart from my Hadrian's Wall trek, they were quite a long time ago: I wanted to test how I would fare now on a moderate trail maintaining the same pace, or reasonably close to it, and carrying about the same loads. To complicate matters there were impending rail strikes that would determine when decisions had to be made. The GW intro from Knighton was a good te ..read more

A two day trek taking in the high country north of the upper Dee and a new crossing route to a southerly approach to the north eastern Arenigs. The outward section takes a new line to gain the old familiar ground of Mynydd Mynyllod. The crossing explores new territory including the little known Llyn Caer-Euni and ascends the easternmost hills of the Arenigs from the south, including the new summit of Orddu. As is often the case, following little used public footpaths in god forsaken parts of Wales was at times… interesting. On routes such as this, I’m beginning to like GPS based phone mapping ..read more

A few photos from a single day walk of the Delamere Way (DW) waymarked trail that runs south from Frodsham, east through the Delamere Forest and northwards through Cheshire countryside to Stockton Heath on the southern outskirts of Warrington. Inspired by a dry but mediocre forecast with sunshine at a premium, this trail near to home was a fitting choice, a good distance with little ascent save for a short sharp one to Beacon Hill near the start. The route is generally well waymarked with the DW arrow except, surprisingly, in the Delamere Forest itself where you need to keep a careful eye on t ..read more

An almost circular station-to-station route in the western Dark Peak, starting at Hadfield and ending at nearby Glossop. The Longdendale Trail starts at Hadfield station and follows the course of the old Woodhead railway for 6½ miles (10½km) past several reservoirs to the closed Woodhead tunnel entrance where it crosses the bridge to enter the River Etherow valley and ascends to Bleaklow via Near Black Clough. It then takes the very familiar section of the Pennine Way from Bleaklow Head across to Mill Hill and descends via a new line over Chunal Moor to Glossop. Having reluctantly refrained fr ..read more

A local winter stroll around Devisdale Common and Dunham Massey in sub-zero temperatures and a thin covering of snow. The trees had retained a pleasing amount of colour into early winter and the local views were enhanced by the snow, here are a few pictures. Another local walk earlier in the week in similar frigid temperatures had been unpleasantly revealing: following the DVT and pulmonary problem that hospitalized me a few years back, the consultant recommended not to do strenuous activity in winter conditions as we have in the past: deep breathing very cold air is asking for trouble and it ..read more

A linear 4-day trek from Rhydymain to Barmouth, revisiting the southern Arenigs region and crossing the Afon Mawddach valley via the Coed y Brenin forest park to Cwm Camlan for an unusual eastern approach to the ridge of the southern Rhinogydd. Once again the Arenigs were a good escape for the height of the summer season, the high ground was completely deserted until we reached the southern Rhinogydd ridge where the Ultra-X Wales multi-day marathon event was taking place this week. Their route across the headwaters of the Afon Gamlan and southwards along the Rhinogydd ridge coincided with ours ..read more

A 2-day solo trek of the Bollin Valley Way (BVW) route that shadows the River Bollin from Macclesfield to Partington at the Manchester Ship Canal. I extended the route start from Macclesfield rail station and walked directly home from Partington via the track network and disused oil railway trackbed of Carrington Moss, though some improvisation was required to access the network due to the appearance of a huge construction site adjacent to the Ship Canal. A cloudy and uninspiring forecast caused this forgotten route to surface from the bottom drawer of walks, a local low-level leg stretcher ea ..read more

New Year greetings for 2022. After a dismal few weeks, the final daylight minutes of 2021 yielded a pleasant sunset from our terrace, giving a colourful timely photo to brighten up this post. It’s annoying that we missed the recent brief weather window when some excellent inversions were reported from the mountains. Last year finally opened up the pandemic barriers and we enjoyed some excellent backpacks and tent pitches. Unfortunately this year is off to an inauspicious start with infections clocking up record numbers and the trains running to special reduced timetables, requiring careful pla ..read more

A 2-day linear trek in the south-western regions of Bleaklow and the Kinder Scout plateau. The ascent to Bleaklow is via Doctor’s Gate and crossing Glead Hill to the Kinder massif via the Pennine Way to Mill Hill. The south-western edges are followed past Kinder Downfall and Kinder Low to descend via Golden Clough and Ringing Roger. After a long and generally dismal autumn, we were quickly back to the short days of winter. A two-day promising weather window called for a simple nearby route easily accessible via public transport where we could utilize all the available daylight. The first day o ..read more