Walks

An abbey and a castle

Today's walk has been the longest of the week so far, linking the ruined abbey at Jervaulx with the Middleham and its castle.

Distance: 9.95 miles
Ascent: 303 metres
Duration: 4 hours 7 minutes

Walk 24: Jervaulx Abbey and Middleham

It's been an encapsulation of English clichés: lush meadows, rolling landscape, castles, cottages and churches. The walk concluded with a two mile meander along the River Ure. I still don't understand the appeal of standing in a river all afternoon but I'm sure the fisherman would say the same of my pastimes.

Walks

Choosing to stop

Distance: 8.2 miles
Ascent: 591 metres
Duration: 4 hours 18 minutes

Walk 17: Around Malham

Here's another walk I've done before. Back then we did the route by the book but this time opted to walk around Gordale Scar rather than scale the slippery waterfall.

Although the waterfall itself is smaller than others we've seen this week, the setting of Gordale Scar magnifies its impact. There's a scrambling route up this set of rocks somewhere, but from the foot it was hard to believe it would be possible to get beyond the first stage.

We'll be back I'm sure. Perhaps on a day when the dale's full of other walkers demonstrating how easy it is to climb. In the meantime, scampering across limestone pavement high above Malham Cove was just as impressive a finish to the walk as the depths of the Scar.

Walks

The northern dales

A little further north today for a walk in the northernmost dales.

Distance: 5.68 miles
Ascent: 198 metres
Duration: 3 hours 22 minutes

Walk 9: Reeth, Arkengarthdale and Grinton

From Reeth we walked up Arkengarthdale a couple of miles before heading back to the pastures of Swaledale near Grinton.

Sheep have been a constant feature of these walks. Just east of Reeth we spotted two lambs standing on their mother's back, confirming a long-held suspicion of mine that the front line form little sheepy pyramids in an attempt to intimidate and frighten lonely walkers.

Crossing the Swale west of Reeth was a small footbridge. Emma looked a little puzzled by my behaviour but I maintain that it's morally wrong to pass a suspension bridge without trying to recreate the Tacoma Narrows.

Walks

Conquered despite the mud

Distance: 6.82 miles
Ascent: 308 metres
Duration: 3 hours 18 minutes

Walk 13: Aysgarth Falls and Bolton Castle

As we crossed a field between Hollins House and High Thoresby I realised I'd done this walk before. Or rather, I'd attempted this walk before. Three of us set out from the YHA in Aysgarth ten years ago but turned back after a herd of stubborn cows refused us access to a key stile.

No such trouble this time although yesterday's rain has did its best to turn much of the walk with a sloshy watery bog.

The falls themselves were probably the highlight, so if you're ever in need of being completely bored to tears ask to see my endless pictures of them.

Personal

The abbey

Easter Sunday. A good day to be in church. Unfortunately we missed the morning service in the village so headed over to Fountains Abbey instead.

I was last here for a wedding two years ago. Today the rain kept the place quiet.

The abbey is on the tourist trail, and it's a strange place. The huge formal garden that has since been built around the ruin beautiful but obscures - to me at least - the original purpose of the place.

Walks

The mist

I've got a feeling the whole week will be like this. Somewhere nearby there's supposed to be a beautiful view. All we've seen is sheep filtered through a fine mist.

Distance: 6.47 miles
Ascent: 340 metres
Duration: 2 hours 35 minutes

Walk 6: West Burton

Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed today's walk along one side of the dale, but it would undoubtedly have been better had visibility extended beyond a hundred metres.

Walks

Waterfalls

One week down, one to go. Emma and I will spend the next seven days in Wensleydale, working our way through a book of Dales walks.

First, an easy one that's on our way there.

Distance: 4.30 miles
Ascent: 99 metres
Duration: 2 hours 26 minutes

Walk 4: Ingleton Waterfalls

The book doesn't make out just how much of an industry the Ingleton Waterfalls Walk is. It's a conga-line of coloured cagoules: hundreds of people slowly moving along the narrow path that navigates two deep gorges. Ice-cream vans and over-energetic dogs featured highly.

It's not a walk I'm desperate to repeat - especially not in the high summer season - but fun nevertheless.

Coastwalk

Knott End-on-Sea → Fleetwood

Distance: 14.4 miles
Ascent: 215 metres
Duration: 5 hours

The Wyre Estuary
« Glasson Dock | St Anne's-on-Sea »

The observant will have noticed a gap. On Monday I walked to Knott End; on Tuesday I resumed at Fleetwood. To be honest even this morning I was hoping to find the ferry running so that I could fill in the gap quickly. It wasn't to be; a day's walk both sides of the Wyre estuary was the only alternative.

It's a plesant enough walk. The kilometre on the foreshore either side of Shard Bridge was a little boggy, but the going was easy everywhere else.

When I finally reached Fleetwood I could see the car tantalisingly close just across the water, an hour's bus ride away.

Personal

Lancaster

I've been staying near Lancaster this week. It's a town I don't know at all. I've taken the chance to pop in a couple of times to do some of the tourist trail.

I've been on a guided tour of the castle (now a working court) and can tell you that jurors get to hone their general knowledge with a quick game of Trivial Pursuit when waiting for a trial to commence. I've walked by the river. I've strolled through Williamson park.

In the centre of the park is the Ashton Memorial. You can see it from the M6: a grand domed white building on top of a hill. It was "Erected by Lord Ashton to commemorate his family" and subsequently "donated to the people of Lancaster" in 1907 according to a plaque inside.

Outside the park an old wooden gate hints at some other families' legacies. "Dedicated as an open space, 1951" said the simple notice. The Quaker burial ground is easy to miss; it's not marked on the map and there's not much of a marker on the ground.

The contrast between these two spaces couldn't have been greater. No prizes for guessing which appealed to me the most.

Coastwalk

St Anne's-on-Sea → Preston

Distance: 16.8 miles
Ascent: 250 metres
Duration: 5 hours 24 minutes

Grim
« Fleetwood | Tarleton »

Ah, Lytham St Anne's. I started the day with something close to a pilgrimage: walking through this pair of seaside villages.

Lytham St Anne's. Before today all I knew was you were somewhere in the north. I heard your name on an experimental pop song from the early 90s. There you were, solomly intoned over a bed of road traffic, heavy rain and an industrial dance track.

I expected something grey. I wasn't expecting it to be the residents' hair. Lytham, have you hidden your mills? St Anne's, where are your factories? The eight-lane motorway pumping diesel fumes? Is there no Jerusalem on the Moors?

For the final six miles into Preston I paced the tarmac of the A583/4. It's no M62 but it gave me some of the sounds I'd come to expect. Maybe it is grim up north after all.

Coastwalk

Fleetwood → St Anne's-on-Sea

Distance: 13.8 miles
Ascent: 300 metres
Duration: 4 hours 34 minutes

The twelve-mile prom
« Knott End-on-Sea | Preston »

I'd planned to walk further. I got distracted. (I think that's what Blackpool does to people.)

Blackpool's somewhere I first heard of as a child. I can't say I spent sufficient time today to get the measure of the place, but I saw enough to come to some conclusions.

Chief amongst those is that it's clinging on to its past. While places like Brighton have determined what sort of resort they want to be in the future, Blackpool seems to be "the only one left" - the one place people can go to see tacky seaside resort from the 70s. It's hard to shake that off when you have three piers, the Tower and the Pleasure Beach.

There were moments of beauty - such as the rejuvinated South Beach prom with the world's largest mirror ball - but all in all I've come away disappointed. I may have set my expectations in the 70s but they were the dreams of a child. These days I see right through that.

Coastwalk

Glasson Dock → Knott End-on-Sea

Distance: 13.4 miles
Ascent: 491 metres
Duration: 3 hours 47 minutes

Striking on
« Lancaster | Fleetwood »

The first part of today's walk was the most enjoyable I've had all week. A gentle breeze and thin cloud cover provided just enough defence against the eager sun. South of Glasson Dock the route follows a track along the edge of fields, with wide views across the River Lune to Sunderland Point. I passed a ruined Abbey and a pair of lighthouses.

From Cockerham the route took a turn for the worse. In fact, the ten miles that conclude the walk are entirely on tarmac, first a busy A-road then a minor village street before concluding with a hard path into Knott End.

A seasonal ferry runs from Knott-End across the River Wyre to Fleetwood. Unfortunately no-one seems to know when it'll resume for the summer. Some say Easter but none are able to provide more detail than that. It looks like I have one more long estuary day ahead before I strike out on the prom from Fleetwood south to Blackpool.

Coastwalk

Hest Bank → Morecambe

Distance: 2.07 miles
Ascent: 29 metres
Duration: 38 minutes

Irresitable draw
« Carnforth | Lancaster »

I couldn't shake off the feeling I'd not walked enough today so I sneaked in this short walk. Hopefully I'll not have to walk the coast north of Hest Bank. Instead I'll stride into the village having been guided across the sands of Morecambe Bay - this village is the at the southern end of the ancient byway across the bay.

The death of 20 cocklers on the sands last year doesn't seem to have closed the bay entirely, but a good number of people were sat on the beach looking nervously out as the tide raced in. It'll be a nervous nine mile walk when I come to do it, but it is perhaps the stretch of coastline I'm most looking forward to completing.

Coastwalk

Lancaster → Glasson Dock

Distance: 5.93 miles
Ascent: 76 metres
Duration: 1 hour 48 minutes

The second day
« Morecambe | Knott End-on-Sea »

"You'll be having a short day won't you?" Em asked last night. She's getting to know me rather well. In my book the second day of a week's walking is best taken easy. So a short distance out of Lancaster to the next major village. It's been an estuary walk, and tomorrow I'll find the open sea again.

I'm beginning to see Lancaster as a very athletic town. Yesterday I passed playing fields and a velodrome; today I was overtaken by the four hundred competitors of a 20-mile run. It's enough to make my six miles seem very lazy.

Coastwalk

Morecambe → Lancaster

Distance: 15.7 miles
Ascent: 187 metres
Duration: 4 hours 43 minutes

Things to see, things to miss
« Hest Bank | Glasson Dock »

If you were to walk the Lancashire Coastal Way from Morecambe to Lancaster you'd need just one hour. You'd walk for three miles along a cycle track that follows a disused railway line. You'd not see the nuclear power stations at Heysham, and you'd not see the sea.

Don't do this. Take your own route. Because the official path also omits Sunderland Point, a tiny hamlet accessible only by a two mile tidal causeway. Lower Heysham is another must-see village, at the far south of the Morecambe promenade.

On the other hand, I'd advise against the path around Bazil Point. It too is covered by the daily tide, resulting in a boggy mess that seemingly never dries out.

There's been so much more to see today. Morecambe's prom was a delight, a modern artistic boundary separating the Bay from the decaying town with labyrinth, sculpture and deco architecture.

Further on, cars parked on the sand delimited a make-shift runway for model planes; a long cycle track carried me past full football fields; a disobedient dog tormented a toddler.

It's good to be walking again.

Personal

Drive to work

After the bus and the walk comes the car.

This week I've driven 49.7 miles getting to work. It's been convenient, fast and private. It's cost me £6. In terms of personal gain it's probably been the best of the three modes of transport.

So why am I dissatisfied?

I'd have liked the bus to come out tops. I can live with having to stick to a schedule (that's a good thing in a way), and I'm not fussed about travelling with others. It's the cost that kills it though.

The £6 was for petrol alone. There's also depreciation of the vehicle, tax, insurance and servicing charges to consider but there's no easy way to calculate the 'true cost'.

I tried dividing the annual running cost by the number of weeks, giving a cost of £25. Dividing it insted by mileage gave a more reasonable £8. Using my employer's expenses rate the cost is £13.

The variance is so wide it's hard to use as a deciding factor.

Ultimately it'll be the other reasons that tip the balance. Which just leaves me with the question: how generous do I feel? We'll find out next month.

For now I'm off on another long drive. I'll send postcards from the road.

Website

Without a safety net

Here goes then. I've just wiped my hard disk. The laptop's heading off to hospital tomorrow and having made a final back-up of the data I scrubbed it clean.

I'm now left with just one copy of everything. It was like that for a long time as I carried around the laptop without backing it up. But for the past two or three years I've regularly transferred everything to an external device. My safety net. And now I'm left with just that disk. There's no third parachute. It's making me nervous.

Updates will be erratic while I have to rely on borrowed computers; hopefully soon I'll back back on a shiny PowerBook.

Arts

Film: The Sea Inside

I'd thought this would be a difficult film to watch. (I'm not good with illness and death.) I was wrong.

Some would say it's a film about euthanasia, about the bold decision to die with dignity rather than struggle on. But I'm coming to think there's no such thing as a dignified death, and the film rather than glorifying suicide instead celebrates life in an enthusiastic, contagious way.

Of those films nominated for this year's Foreign Language Film Academy Award, this is the only one I've seen. Even so it's clear to see why it won.

Having said that, I can see how the film could be tough on an audience; don't consider this a blanket recommendation.

Personal

Walk to work

After the success of the bus I thought I'd try walking to work last week. It's a little under four miles so takes about an hour. I've walked the route before, but never day in day out.

I lasted 'till Wednesday.

Yes, it was free. Yes, it was relaxing to a degree. But it's just not going to work as a long term means of getting to the office. Even at this time of year part of the walk is in the dark which meant diving for the hedgerow as cars bombed down the narrow lanes. (I discovered the importance of a torch on Tuesday.)

Ultimately though I couldn't get over the feeling that walking was a drag. Given the amount of walking I do at the weekends this surprised me. Work and play don't always mix.

Greenbelt

Preempt

You know how annoying it is when someone proudly declares they know something you don't?

Well, I'd love to tell you but I don't want to pre-empt the April publicity. So keep an eye on your doormats or greenbelt.org.uk. Two things are getting me very excited about Greenbelt 2005 Tree of Life.

Come to the festival and you'll see the band I've been listening to more than any other this month (thanks Em!), and an almost unclassifiable artist I've been following with fascination, anger and surprise since 1987.

You know you don't want to miss it.

Walks

Bearded Lake

Distance: 3.31 miles
Ascent: 297 metres
Duration: 1 hour 48 minutes

Walk 3: Llyn Barfog, The Bearded Lake

That there is Llyn Barfog, the Bearded Lake. It's the summit of a short but rewarding walk from Cwm Maethlon (Happy Valley) on the north bank of the Dyfi estuary.

On its name our guide speculates about water-lilies, monsters and King Arthur's foster father. Further on along the Panorama Walk we see the hoof-print of Arthur's horse at Carn March Arthur and we read of how it was left as they lept across the wide river towards the mountains in the south.

If it was OK to enjoy the stories aged seven, surely I'm allowed to revisit them twenty-five years later.

Walks

Plynlimon / Pumlumon

I remembered one of the legends. It tells of the daughters of Pumlumon - Gwy, Hafren and Rheidol - racing to the sea. Gwy (heading south) and Hafren (east) raced long and hard, finally reaching the sea simultaneously at the same point. But Rheidol flew west and beat them both as it emptied into Cardigan Bay.

Distance: 3.14 miles
Ascent: 452 metres
Duration: 2 hours 43 minutes

The highest mountain in mid-Wales

Mid-week Emma suggested we climb Plynlimon today. Every site I found online recommended avoiding the "tourist route" from Eisteddfa-Gurig (the only route Em knew) in favour of the route from Nant-y-moch. Unfortunately those websites don't provide details of the way, or even mention where to park. Since the OS map doesn't show a path we forged our own way across the peaty flanks of the hill towards the summit.

On the way back down we found the path. So, if you're ever inclined to try this route, I suggest the following:

1. Take the Nant-y-moch road from Ponterwyd. Turn right just before the reservoir and park on the verge just before the road ends at Maesnant.
2. From the passing place at SN 773878 take the feint path on the western side of a stream heading south up the hill.
3. The path meets a track at SN 774875. Follow the track north-east through the gate until it crosses the stream called Maesnant. (The stream is easy to identify; it passes through a concrete sluice on the right of the track.)
4. Just after the Maesnant at SN 777876 follow the path up the hill on the right of the track.
5. This path heads south-east then east, between the Maesnsant on the right and the rising form of Pumlumon Fach on the left.
6. Follow the path further east until it reaches the pass between Pumlumon Fach and Pumlumon Fawr.
7. From here, the summit is a short distance - albeit over rather steep ground - to the south south-west.

Some years ago when trying to decide where to holiday, Dad suggested I walk the "mountains of mid-Wales". I scoffed - are there really any hills worthy of that title? - but today find myself acknowledging that there is at least one.

Personal

Land of my grandmothers

Another afternoon on the A14 heading west.

I'm not Welsh. My mother and father were born in England. But their mothers were both from south Wales. I'm not so much heading home to the land of my fathers as the land of my grandmothers.

I've got some affinity with the place though. I remembered today the book I had when I was young, "Welsh Myths and Legends". Mum said I knew it inside out, but now not a single story comes to mind.

Every time I hear someone talk in Welsh I always think of Grandma. I don't remember her telling these stories but I can imagine it. However wrong or stereotypical it may be, Wales to me is a land of Grandmothers handing down legend and myth.

Personal

The bench

At lunch with the Big Boss a fortnight ago. "That's interesting," he said as I pointed out maybe we'd been told once or twice too many that we shouldn't be afraid of being allocated to "the bench" (essentially, not working on a specific project).

I was referring to the way each communication from a senior manager these days includes the phrases "I'm looking forward to my time on the bench" and "you know, it's nothing to be scared of". Combine that with recent leaflet-bombing of the offices and you start to wonder if there isn't something to be worried about all along.

But Big Boss's comments clearly hid what he knew of the near future. Last week posters started cropping up everywhere with positive, encouraging slogans. None mentioned The Bench explicitly, but all featured smiley employees sitting on a variety of benches.

Then today an actual bench appeared outside the canteen. It's surrounded by pictures of happy people but it began to draw a crowd as people prodded it like the monolith in 2001.

Time for me to go on that 'Communicating bad news' course. See if I can separate the news from the story.

Personal

Melt

Here's a pair of pictures taken on Monday as I walked to and from work. The snow has gone as swiftly as it had come. By evening, the snowman I'd seen that morning had melted into a small pile of ice.

Back at home something else has been melting. Here's a snap of my PowerBook screen this evening. It's got progressively worse over the course of the week. Still just about usable, but I can no longer ignore it - I'll have to get it repaired soon.

Arts

Film: Ray

I seem to be watching more and more biographical films these days. With each there's one measure that comes to mind: does the portrayal get me closer to the person?

While Ray shows some of the grittier aspects of Ray Charles' life, I came away feeling slightly manipulated. The film follows the familiar curve of fame, soaring high before a fall then back to 'unprecedented' stratospheric success. Maybe we only ever see this arc because we need the happily-ever-after.

This is a minor point though. The latter part of the film is packed with such turbulent emotion I defy anyone to watch it without a lump in their throat.

Whether or not I know Ray Charles better now, through the telling I know more of our world and my place in it. Maybe that's the better metric.

Personal

Bus to work

On Saturday I drove my car for the first time in a week. Partly because I didn't much fancy sliding around in the snow again, and partly because I like the environmental benefits of public transport, I took the bus to work.

There's only one bus a day that runs from my town to my place of work but its timing is perfect: it gets me to work at half eight and makes me leave my desk at five. Running to a schedule has been good for me. The surprising thing is that out of the four thousand people who work at my office, only one other caught this bus.

By Friday I was feeling quite settled in the routine. The total cost was £15 - somewhat more expensive than driving - but not so much to put me off.

Little car: you might have to learn to amuse yourself during the week.

Personal

Mothers

Mother's Day.

Having spent yesterday with my mum (when for once most of the gardening was rained off; we had to find other things to do), today the latest mother in my family came to visit. It was good to have Ruth and Abigail here; the first time there's been someone younger than twenty in this house for many years.

Personal

My history

Into the Woods arrived today. It sounds as wonderful as ever, the slow build of the opening track and the way that first side of the album is almost flawless. Memories...

Another memory which came in the same parcel is the first album from Shakespear's Sister. This is my history, late 80s rock and late 80s pop.

There's something terribly identifiable about 80s pop, but if you find the right track you can forgive the overbearing synths and drum tracks. You're History may be that track.

It's great to re-listen to these moments in my past, to understand lyrics that washed over me then, to wonder what difference it all made to who I am. Ultimately it made this: someone who now can't get Marcella Detroit's high vocals out of his head.

Personal

Being neighbourly

Seven years I've lived here, in a cottage at one end of a terrace of three. Tonight, for the first time, the owners of all three cottages got together for a chat and a drink.

I know I'm beginning to sound like a stuck record, but I can't help myself: I like my neighbours.

We should do this more often.

Tech

Excuse found

I tell you: it was an accident. I've no idea why I got a static shock from my PowerBook as I picked it up out of its bag just now, but the sequence of events that followed were inevitable. (For those too tired to guess: shock → drop → crack.)

Was it really only yesterday I was looking for an excuse to buy a new one?

Tech

Salivate

Apple came to work today. They set up their market stall in the canteen, neatly laid with tempting products. And although I dropped by to admire, I managed to resist handing over any money.

OK I'll admit: more than anything else, the reason I didn't buy is because they weren't selling. They were just promoting their online store and products.

They're not crazy. There may be a few thousand geeks here who'd readily part with cash for shiny new toys, but imagine the scene at home. Rather than turn up with a new and impossible to justify gadget we're all now going home trying to figure out the justification so that in six months time we'll be ready to answer any critics.

Things taste so much better when you've had to wait for them.

Arts

Double

Here's a first.

Emma was up this weekend so at the cinema on Saturday and Sunday nights I didn't take up my usual seat.

No, for the first time in my life I sat in the back row, in a double-seat. Granted the film we saw on Sunday wasn't exactly a good date-flick but sitting there through Saturday's film was lovely.

Somebody remind me why multiplexes are so popular when this is the alternative.