Wanderings, wonderings, Springsteen and The Chicks
This short stretch packs a punch of height gain, 315m in just over 3km. I walked down to Callis Bridge and back from the New Delight, taking some delight in parking in their car park. It started off dry and then got gradually more drizzly and there was thick fog on the tops on the way home.
Felt very tired so only walked from Widdop to Gorple reservoir and back round. I didn’t have enough light to go further plus I’d arranged to do the rest with Babs the next day. Chris and I have walked and cycled here many times. Back to weeping all the time.
We set off from the Pack Horse pub and walked to the New Delight pub and back. The New Delight name always makes me think of the Pure Drop pub in Tess of the D’Urbervilles.
This is a lovely stretch of the walk, we climbed up to 380m which is quite high for this part of the world. Just as we got sight of the New Delight and started thinking about grub, the Mary Towneley Way whisked us away from it and took us a roundabout way to reach it. The pub itself was a bit of a let down and we had to wait ages for a bowl of soup and when it came it was disappointing, plus the staff were borderline rude. So no Delight to be had, won’t be going there again.
We returned via a quicker route. We didn’t get much sun as the day before but at least it didn’t rain on us. 8.4 miles, 13.5km.
This is just a post to catch up for myself on walks I was unable to record at the time because more pressing things were going on. Keeping up with walking helped me to cope with the stresses of Chris’s illness, and she encouraged me to keep at it. Some of these walks I can barely remember, even with the photos as aide memoire.
Stoodley Pike circuit.
Temple Newsam circuit with Carol who was having a 6 week stay in Jimmy’s in Leeds.
And another one round Temple Newsam. Chris was also having a 6 week stay in Morriston, Swansea during this time and I was driving down there as well as to Leeds and going to work.
Widdop reccy with Cath.
Cath and I did a reccy for a walk we led in Barnton. A learning to navigate walk in an industrial landscape which we did in conjunction with Saltscape.
Walsden circuit including Quaker graveyard at Shoebroad Lane, with Babs.
Barnton reccy with Cath.
Cath and I did a day showing people how to navigate using a map and compass. The day was organised by Saltscape and we had a good turnout.
We walked from Barnton along the Weaver in a circuit.
After work I did a quick walk to reccy this for my Brontes by Dark walk. I was attacked by flying ants, and it turned out so was the rest of the entire population of the UK. 9km
Babs and I did this as part of my preparation for my Wuthering Heights (Brontes by Dark) night walk. Good day out with my dear friend.
Good two days with lovely group of volunteer walkers from Bury. The weather held off and we had a grand time sending people off to their destinations and retrieving them once they’d arrived.
The Brontes by night with my 3 participants. We had a fun time drinking mead in the so called Wuthering Heights.
A Heptonstall walk with Babs, lovely weather.
Social media workshop in Hathersage run by MTA.
Reccy for an Edale walk which I handed over to a ML I met at the MTA do.
NNAS (National Navigation Awards Scheme) update training in Brocton. This was a very weird day in between Chris’s death and the funeral. Cath and I had to do the training because it’s a requirement to continue to deliver the scheme. The first person I saw when I walked in was a guy who Chris and I did a winter skills weekend with in the Cairngorms. This was in 2009 and I wasn’t blogging much then. We had a great few days up there.
Blackstone Edge circuit.
Todmorden circuit.
Withins Clough circuit.
Blackstone Edge, up Roman Road.
Hollingworth Lake with Babs.
Hebden Bridge circuit with Cath and pals.
Littleborough with Babs, frozen ground. She made me go to the pub!
Stoodley Pike circuit.
Friday 24th June
Good journey. After taking in enough bags (Carol) for several weeks we had a light supper and walked down to Esthwaite water in the dusk. Lovely.
Saturday 25th June.
Big breakfasts. To Coniston for a look round then up to the Coppermines and then on to Levers water reservoir now part of Coniston hydro electric system. Quite a hard walk for my party (Carol) who did very well. Picnic at Levers water.
Back down we stopped for a cup of tea with the Jetboil at the end of Coniston Water.
Back to Belle Green B&B to get ready to go to the Tower Bank Arms. We managed to be late even though it is only 2 mins walk away. No excuse for us having to wait over an hour for our dinner. Carol had pork fillet with black pudding mash and veg. I had y m2nd choice of ratatouille with sweet potato mash on top and tempura veg. The food was nice but we were hungry tired and cross by the time it came.
Sunday 26th June
More big breakfasts. To Ambleside for the shops! Then to Browfoot just north of Staveley for a flat walk along a river. Very peaceful. Lunch overlooking Kentmere tarn. Back via ferry which now has stupid ticket machine system instead of buying ticket from man on board. Very complicated machine which made me want to hit it. Machine has not resulted in fewer jobs as there is still a man to check tickets and a man to direct cars as to where to go. Meaning the machine is total waste of time and will make people very cross. It seemed to be succeeding well with this aim. Back to B&B to get ready to go out to the Blacksmith’s Arms at Broughton Mills. This is a very nice old pub with good food and the excellent Tirril Brewery’s draught Pennine Pilsner. I had 2 halves. Carol had grilled chicken with and I had pea risotto with a poached egg on top. C then had sticky toffee pudding and I had a sort of lemon mousse with a piece of shortbread. All very nice. Back via lovely quiet lanes.
Monday 27th June
Big breakfasts! Set off to do pub inspections for a possible evening meal:
Cuckoo Brow at Far Sawrey
Red Lion at Hawkshead
Queens Head at Hawkshead
C did the inspections. Asked which she would prefer. None of them! Decided to buy some small snacks instead as both quite well fed now.
Drove to Broughton in Furness. Unfortunately the nice bakers is closed on Mondays but we got some bits in the grocers and the butchers which had various samosas, pakoras etc. We had a drink in a cafe on the square.
Drove back through Broughton Mills passing the Reading Room car park which would be a good place to park when visiting the pub which has only room for 3 cars in front of it and no car park of its own.
Parked on the little road to Torver and walked a short circuit down the road along the beck. Very quiet, saw 3 people. Stopped for lunch at a named hamlet which is just a handful of ruined houses. Started to rain but just a shower. Back up the hill through the forest. My party struggling a bit as quite a while since dialysis on Friday and the cumulative effect of a smaller volume of dialysis since the fistula repair operation. She did well and is expecting to be full of beans once back on the regular regime. I hadn’t really appreciated how this all worked.
Drove back to Near Sawrey stopping for a cup of tea brewed up on the Jetboil.
