The last walk of our Lake District break before we were due to head off to Liverpool, for a couple of days sightseeing. The weather was still superb but we were still feeling the effects of two longer walks, earlier that week. We’d also got used to being a little lazy in the morning, so…
So the main reason we were away in late September, was a birthday for myself, one with an 0 in it (yes you are all correct I don’t look 40 do I? 😁). After two big walks around Coledale and Newlands, we were a bit knackered. Our legs knew what they should be doing but…
You wait all year for a horseshoe and two come along in consecutive days!! After completing the Coledale Horseshoe the day before, we headed out again on another glorious day to complete the Newlands version. We were taking advantage of the stunning weather, despite some stiff legs and we figured we could take our time…
After our drizzly walk over Ling Fell the previous day, we’d looked closely at the weather. Unbelievably it was forecast to clear, not just for one day but the rest of the week, bingo! Being in the northwest corner of the Lakes, gave us great access to the fells around Braithwaite and it was there…
So the first proper day of our holiday in the Lakes, done to celebrate a birthday with an 0 in it for myself. Unfortunately the drizzly weather had followed us to the Lakes, and as you saw, from the fields around our previous walk to Scout Scar, they’d had rain up here as well (that…
It had been 13 months since our last visit to the Lake District, when I completed my 214 Wainwright mission. This time we had the advantage of picking walks that we wanted to do, revisits to good places, seeing some summits that I’d had no views from previously and taking our time. The weather for…
This post was something that I had thought about when I got that 10 year anniversary message earlier this year, I’d also passed 750,000 hits on the site as well, so I thought that I should do a celebration post to mark the event. Its true that I started in 2015, mainly out of a…
So I’ve completed a few walks over the years that have had plenty of insects, mainly butterflies, in the pictures. I make no excuses for the next three or four walks, where they will be inundated with butterfly pictures. This walk on the Dorset coast extends my coastal path efforts further east, pushing it towards…
So we’d stayed overnight in Barnstaple and as a result we were able to make an early start without the need for a 90 minute drive. We started again from the Long Bridge in Barnstaple, this time on the northern side of the estuary, heading for Saunton, hopefully. The route hugs the estuary again for…
And now for something completely different as Monty Python once said. The Erme Plym trail is a track which runs from Ivybridge down to Wembury/or on to Hooe and runs for around 15-16miles. The trail links to the Two Moors way, and effectively completes the Devon coast to coast. This isn’t my usual coastal walking…
It had been a couple of years since we had been to Holwell at bluebell time and we were due a revisit. The display we had seen in 2023 was truly superb, and probably difficult to beat (you can see that walk here), but we thought a loop over the tors to the west before…
So the good weather continues, dry, sunny and warm seems to be the order of the day and no doubt these words will be added to, soon, with mentions of drought, hosepipe bans and leaky pipes! Whilst the weather is good, we look to head off into areas which can be pretty wet in normal…
After 6 weeks without any rain at all through March and into April, the Easter period brought a few showers and some cloudy weather. In the main it was still dry, but the ground, and particularly Dartmoor, needed some rain. This walk was after a rainy night, and walked in improving weather as the morning…
So we were looking for a walk which would take advantage of the lighter evenings, plus somewhere we hadn’t been for a while. Haytor is always good for a short walk and visiting at this time means it is far quieter than in the day. We’d also checked the weather, with a small chance of…
I’ll start this post with a bit of a warning, those with a squeamish disposition scroll down to picture four below the map, after reading this, and miss out the knee x-ray pictures! So to explain what happened, we’d been to South Wales and had three lovely walks, visited Linda’s daughter and seen lots of…
So this was the weekend before our trip to the Brecon Beacons and the good weather of March is still with us. Its been a superb month for blue skies, with barely any rain, no doubt the water companies will have hosepipe bans in force by the end of April. But I’m happy, as it…
A settles spell of weather had meant sunshine, and a fair bit of it. Not that it was warm, far from it, but the easterly winds usually means good things for us in the South West of England, as the eastern side sees more of the cloud. We probably saw two weeks of dry sunny…
So I have an apology to you all, I’m sorry that I said I was fed up with the grey cold dank overcast weather we’d had for the last few weeks. From the minute I hit publish on that walk the weather has clearly gone, right Steve, your wish is my command. Lots of rain…
So again the forecast was for cloudy skies and not much sign of sunshine. Up until the Saturday the weather had looked decent, with sunny spells, but on waking up this clearly wasn’t the case. The last 3 or 4 weeks seem to have been some sort of groundhog weather day, with a biting easterly…
A fine weather day and a chance to get out, walking plans were made and forecasts checked. The forecast had blue skies in the morning, with cloud building from the east as the day went on, so we were planning on a trip to the west around Lynch Tor and Stannon Hill. A really poor…
So a walk to pick off a couple of tors for Linda, one that I needed for my round 2, plus a new Dartmoor 365 square and a couple that we’d been to before, alongside a pub to finish. Chagford is one of the best villages on Dartmoor, there’s plenty of interest to see and…
So we had decided on a visit to the north moor and a quieter corner of a much visited area. Sandwiched between the Okehampton Camp/Yes Tor area and the Belstone Tor ridge the East Okement River winds its way down from Okement Hill between these two areas of higher ground. As it nears Winter Tor…
So the country was covered in snow and all the talk was of the weather, how cold it was and that “back in my day it was always like this in winter”! Plymouth got nothing, zero, nowt but Dartmoor got a decent covering of the white stuff, on a Tuesday and Wednesday, which is of…
I said at this point last year that 2023 had “passed in the blink of an eye”, well I’m not sure I even managed to get a blink in, and 2024 was gone. So here I am typing up what happened throughout last year. As with previous years I’ll start with the review and look…
So it was time for our first walk in 2025 and the weather was playing ball. Clear blue skies and cold, perfect winter walking weather. This walk was done before the snows hit most of Britain, with even Dartmoor getting a fair bit, closing the road where we parked on this walk, for a few…
So this was our last walk of 2024, which meant we’d walked 3 times between Christmas and New Year, which was a good walking end to the year. We decided to head to the coast and Bolt Head as the weather showed promise of maybe a bit of sunshine, rather than the low cloud misty…
This year we were pretty active between Christmas and New Year, heading out for a walk on 3 days, one day in work, one day a party and one day lying around lazing (New Year’s Eve). This was the second walk of the three and the boys joined us for one of my favourite walks,…
So we were into the middle of December and wanted to keep a little run going, were we had walked each weekend for a few now. Our efforts in October and November had revolved around moving house, so it was nice to be back in a bit of a normal routine. This would be walk…
A walk which is more about bagging tors and having a good nosy around a village than anything else. We decided to head over to Lustleigh to grab the tors in Castor woods, to tick them off Linda’s list, and to tick them off a second time for myself. We would then right a wrong…
We jumped forward a few weeks now, the last walk was at the end of October around Stalldown Barrow and Cornwood. Now its the middle of November, we’ve moved house, wrestled putting up curtain poles, blinds and toilet roll holders and we are in need of a break, and a walk. We decided on the…
Late October, and when the weather is as good as this, it would have been a serious error not to head out and walk on Dartmoor. This despite us being in the middle of packing ready to move house a few days after this (the results of the packing can be seen on the previous…
Firstly a bit of an apology, I’ve been moving house over the past 3 weeks, which has meant very little activity on the site recently, plus I haven’t read the normal websites that I would, so have plenty to catch up on there. I have internet up and running now and most of the boxes…
Into October now and the weather turns a bit, September, and to be fair the rest of October was very good weatherwise. As a result we got out for some very good walks in some decent weather. This weekend, in early October, turned to be a bit drab, with plenty of rain. We managed to…
So it had been around 5 weeks since our last walk in the Lake District, and we’d taken a bit of a sabbatical away from walking. Not for any specific reason, although we did start packing the house up, in preparation for our upcoming house move. Finally in mid-September we decided to head out again,…
I wanted to write something about my Lake District journey, sharing what I’ve enjoyed and some bits that I’d preferred to have missed. This might be a long post but then again I am cramming 14 years and 92 walks into one post. This would include my favourite walks and fells, some of the underrated…
So when you’ve completed a list of something, what do you do next. Well I suppose you look to do it all over again. I’m not one of those people that has to wait until list one is finished, before you can start counting list two summits. So I’ve already been up Helvellyn a couple…
So this was it, 14 years, 30 visits to the Lakes, around 24,000 miles driven and 91 walks. It all boiled down to this final walk, which would be number 92 and would take me to almost 540 miles of walking to bag all of them. Lots of people leave an easier fell to finish…
So our second evening walk this year and another really good sunset. This wasn’t the normal walk for our sunset, as we normally head out to Pew Tor/Pork Hill/Cox Tor area to catch the sun setting beside Brent Tor. This walk however would be number 57 of my Round 2, but only one square this…
Back to Dartmoor after our mammoth coastal walk last time out and an area on the eastern side of the moor, not too far from Widecombe. The walk would pick up a number of Dartmoor 365 squares and was walk number 56 on my second round, this one grabs squares Q16, L14, L16, M14, M15…
It was well into spring and we hadn’t been out for an evening walk yet, so time to put that right. The plan on any evening walk is to keep the driving and walking distance down, find somewhere that is interesting or looks good in different light and might have a sunset. With a mainly…
So this was our last walk on this visit to the Lakes, picking off 3 fells that I needed. The awkward Hartsop Above How, which I like that Wainwright included, as it makes you think about “how to get it”, then St Sunday Crag and Birks. The only way to to do these three together…
After a day around Ambleside we headed off to bag my last Southern fell, in Grey Friar. I’d looked at various routes up to Grey Friar and done a couple of walks of the Coniston Fells that could have taken it in, but in the end it was left as a solo fell, needing to…
Between the four walks we did on this visit to the Lakes, we had a look around and visited a few places that I’ve never been to before, and always thought it would be good to see. Considering we were near to Skelwith Bridge you’d have though that Skelwith Force would be on the agenda,…
So with ticking off Catstycam and Birkhouse Moor, I’d completed Wainwrights 204 and 205. Now for numbers 206 and 207. This started with a drive over Wrynose Pass, not so bad in drying weather and along the valley to Cockley Beck, before a left turn to Birks Bridge. The car park was fairly empty as…
Well this would be my penultimate drive to the Lakes, in order to bag the Wainwrights, on my way to the ultimate 214 total. Around 400 miles of driving before a step was taken. You’d think that sort of drive would put me off walking when I got there, errr no, it didn’t and doesn’t!…
A walk before we headed to the Lake District and I’m not quite so sure why I picked this area. When you head to the Lakes you will need your fell walking legs, this area around the centre of Dartmoor is reasonably flat and involves a bit of road walking. So perhaps not the best…
Birthday time for Linda and I’d decided to take her away for her pressie to a nice hotel in the middle of North Devon, Northcote Manor. Known for its good food, it has a spa, nice grounds and some good views to Exmoor. We’d headed up on the Saturday and spent a fun and relaxing…
So the day before Christmas Eve and we were scouring the weather reports, to decide on the best day to walk over the festive period. Both myself and Linda were in work between Christmas and New Year, meaning we had a 4 day window to plan at least one walk. Looking at the weather, we…
treksandtors 