Cliff makes an offer I won't refuse

09-01-2013

Black Ark - near Litton

On the bridleway 

When you know someone, like Cliff, who has still got Yorkshire Marilyns to do, it is a good incentive to re-visit them. And when it involves a horse head, you know it is an offer I won't refuse.
Birk Fell/Horse Head Moor in Littondale has a lot of history when it comes to Marilyn lore. The designated summit has wandered around the length of the ridge and the measured height has hovered both below and above the crucial (when it comes to defining a mountain in England) 610m/2000ft level .
Although the Tamperers have made a final decision as to where the top lies, we made a point of visiting everything, just in case. And we did them all on a fine cold day, with temperature inversion fog in the valley and clear skies above.

Firth Fell trig point

The ridge has two Ordnance Survey trig points - neither of which is on an actual summit, although that is difficult to tell with the naked eye. The first is on Firth Fell - and once you are up there the day's uphill struggle is over and all is left is the peat bog and fence climbing struggle. Thankfully the frozen conditions lessened some of the extra bogginess after all the recent rain.

Birk Fell

So, we then visited the true summit on Birk Fell, the 608m spot height, the 603m spot height on Moss Top, the various Horse Head tops including the 609m cairn and finally the Horse Head Moor trig point.

View of Buckden Pike

Horse Head 609m spot height

View of Pen y Ghent

Horse Head Moor trig point

We then dropped down to Halton Gill and debated about whether to return along Littondale by walking on the road or by the river. The road won, because it remained in sunlight. And then after a bit of tour looking for somewhere that was still serving food we ended up having a late lunch/early tea at the Old Hall Inn in Threshfield.

Halton Gill, Littondale

Wet west Wales

29-12-2012 - 05-01-2013

New Year's day in the Tarrens

A wet stay in Wales over the new year provided an opportunity to re-complete the tampered Welsh Humps before the end of 2012 and to bag a load of 500 metre plus Deweys in the area around Machynlleth. It did not lead to many photo opportunities though.

One of the striking sights was the number of pink ribbons, in memory of still missing five year old April Jones, in Machynlleth and the surrounding area. I found this both sad and touching - and, in an odd way, reassuring that the majority of people are humane.

For at least a couple of days, the town was cut off by floods on the main roads  to both Aberystwyth and Aberdyfi.

New and wet Hump Tyddynbriddell hill summit 

Carnedd Das Eithin

Pen Trum-Gwr summit

Fford Gefn summit - maybe. Who really knows which sphagnum moss mass is the true top?

Whilst walking on Bryn yr Wyn I spotted strange behaviour from a flock of sheep on a distant hillside. Fairly typically for an animal that flocks together they were following each other. What was odd, was that the front of the flock had joined up with the tail to form a circle with a diameter of about 150 metres and although a few sheep broke the pattern and ran across the middle the circle was maintained for over the ten minutes I had a view. They could still be in a circle now.  Sorry about the poor quality picture.

Weird sheep circle - no sight of UFOs though

Just 88 (out of 428) Deweys left to do - all in Wales. Will I ever finish them?

Because, here be dragons 

My number one non-pillar flush bracket

15-12-2012

It's all very well spending day after day bagging hills, but there are other things to do like help Rob Woodall celebrate his 6000th non-pillar flush bracket (if you have no idea what that means, I wouldn't ask if I were you). It mainly involved having to eat a meal in the pub across the road with a mixed group of trig-pointers and hill-baggers.

If you want to see more, look at Douglas Law's photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/79063372@N04/8274468781/in/photostream

Only 5999 to go, to catch up with Rob (Picture taken by Douglas Law)

Chris Weetson on Wats hill

After the pub lunch, Chris Watson kindly took me to bag a nearby sub-Hump, Weets Hill (397m P90) whilst others dashed off to visit a variety of bumps and brackets.

Go west old man

09/13-12-2012

A laugh of barrels

Good to see farmers acting as custodians of the countryside - Glen Lonan

The volume of snow and the threat of more made me decide that my aim to maximise the number of Marilyns completed for the year would be compromised, if I remained in the eastern Scotland whisky territory. So I headed off to the west and Argyll - section 19a, if you know your Marilyn regions. Turned out to be lovely bright and very cold week - with no snow.
So cold, I had to wear gloves whilst eating my breakfast some mornings.






Amongst the Marilyns bagged, I came upon the following scenes:

Allt Braglenmore

Carn Dearg (437m P172)

Loch Scammadale

Frosty

Loch Tromlee

Meall an Fhithich (294m P169)

Cool modern art

Loch an Losgainn Mor

One particularly cold morning, I set off to bag my 200th Scottish Marilyn of the year, from the outlet of Loch an Losgaihn Mor. Celebrated at the summit with miniature bottle of 21% proof Spitz Vier Kanter. Not sure whether you are supposed to use it to remove old Nikwax from boots or drink it. Took risk and did the latter, then rolled back down.

Cruach na Seilcheig (380m P204)

Dun Leacainn - old top

Beware of the Humps

Cold winter

01/07-12-2012

Carn a'Bhodaich (501m P287)

I think Winter may have arrived in north east Scotland. Having to wear gloves whilst eating breakfast is possibly a giveaway clue. During this first week in December there has been increasing amounts of snow on the hills - and I understand next week there is going to be even more so. I may consider going west. We'll see.

Meall Mor (492m P175)

Snow slows me down  - especially when it is deep and soft and there is deep heather underneath. So it is down to one Marilyn a day, most days.

Picturesque maybe - but...

Here is a picturesque scene alongside the river Findhorn. But just a minute why is the front bumper slightly off track? Because I have skidded into a ditch, that's why. There was no phone signal and in the 90 minutes it took me to dig enough bank away (with a latrine spade) and sprinkle enough grit from a pile 500 metres away, not a single other vehicle came along the road (thankfully or not thankfully depending on whether the vehicle would have had the capacity to give me a tow or not).

 Was it wise to reach the summit of Carn nam Bad (457m P206) as it got dark?

Rest and be Majorful

17-11-12
Even though there are no Ultras in Britain and Ireland (even Ben Nevis fails to muster the necessary 1500m drop, being only 1344m high) there are approximately 120 Majors. Having done a number of Majors in Europe over the summer, it occurred to me that I really ought to get around to completing the few in Scotland and the handful in Ireland left undone. After all, that is what obsessive hillbaggers are trying to do, complete lists of hills. The nearest uncompleted Marilyns to home are a group clustered around Arrochar, including a Major, Beinn an Lochain (901m P640) – every time I go over the Rest and Be Thankful I say to myself I really must get round to doing this lot. So, here came the time, I thought.

Major Ben

The first hill was the Major. The sun was shining, there were bits of snow on the ground and a touch of a breeze – perfect. It’s an easy climb, on a well used path from Easan Dubh (I see that the OS tautologically refer to it as the Easan Dubh fall). In the short time it took me to get to the top, the weather changed to snow, up there, and rain, in the valley. And checking the weather forecast i could see the rain was here to stay for a while. So, I decided to abandon the Rest and be Thankful hills once again and head east to Angus – or regions 7 and 21, if you prefer.
See next posting!

Cracker of a fell - Cracoe fell

13-11-12

Gargoyle

Start - Park Top - SE 03777 55576

So, just like a week ago, I have repeated a hill in the environs of Skipton. Who needs to travel long distances to find new hills in northern Scotland or on the European mainland when Skipton has so much to offer?
My occasional walking companion, Cliff, still has Marilyns to do in Yorkshire - so today's mission was to add another tick to his list.
We started at Park Top and followed a drivable track past lower Barden reservoir and then another track up on to the grouse moors of Barden Moor.

Trig point - Thorpe Fell

We made an unorthodox tramp across unpathed moor to the original Marilyn/Dewey trig summit of Thorpe Fell (506m).
When the Marilyn was revised to be the rock on which the Cracoe war memorial obelisk (507.8m P310) stands I recall a number of people grumbling about having to revisit. What I fail to undrestand is why anyone who visited the trig was not curious enough about the obelisk to pay it a visit anyway - especially as it is better served with a path, than is the trig.

Old and new

War memorial on Cracoe Fell

Admittedly there is not much of a path from the trig across the disused Threapland peat pits down to the dip between the two tops. Once we got to the path by the wall it was a muddy mess.
Cliff got his list tick by standing on the summit rock and then we headed back to the wall and followed it for a while northwards, before turning left at an arbitrary point to walk across grouse moors to pick up another track on Yethersgill Head. This track took us past the Upper Barden Reservoir, over Lump Gill Head and neatly back to the start point. A good 18km circular on a reasonable day.

Rylstone fell

Distant view of Cracoe fell across typical grouse moor