Porthleven to Lizard Point

Monday 23rd July 2001 

With no new walks until Christmas I am going to look back at some of my older walks. The last time I did this I went back to September 2000, but the following spring I was unable to do any walks due to the Foot & Mouth outbreak so it wasn’t until the summer when I was finally able to get some walking done. However, since vast stretches of the countryside were still off-bounds I picked an area that was open: South Devon and Cornwall. Looking back at this holiday my one abiding memory is that it was badly planned, mainly through leaving booking the hostels until it was too late. The first week of the two week holiday was spent in South Devon, but even though I did a fair bit of walking around the stunning coastal scenery I didn’t do a full day’s walk at any point during the week. It wasn’t until I moved to Cornwall the following week that I did my first all-day walk and, as I wrote in my diary, I was “looking forward to finally getting some solid walking in. I’m disappointed that it’s taken until now.” 

The walk was along the South West Coast Path between Porthleven and Lizard Point, the most southerly point in Britain. My memory of this walk is unfortunately poor and I didn’t say much about it in my diary, which might be interpreted as saying that it wasn’t a particularly great walk, but I did say it was “a good day, a nice walk.” I caught a bus from the town of Penzance to the small, quiet port of Porthleven. At this point in the day it was overcast with no sign of the sun coming out so I didn’t bother putting on any sun cream. This would have disastrous consequences. Looking at a map of the walk now brings back some memories as it began with a stroll along Porthleven Sands for several miles all the way to Gunwalloe Fishing Cove. From this point the walk started to get interesting as I passed some spectacular coves including Poldhu Cove above which Marconi sent the first radio transmissions across the Atlantic. It is a pity that it would be many years before I started taking pictures of my walks. The one above is from the excellent website of the tragically departed John Butler, and judging by his other pictures this was a fabulous walk. The scenery gets better and better with stunning cliffs combined with gorgeous beaches. I am gutted that my memory of this walk is not any better as it must have been a stunner. Maybe it was the later events that spoilt my memory. After the cloudy start to the day the clouds cleared to reveal a wonderfully sunny day for this great walk. However I failed to put any sun cream on, so by the time I reached the lighthouse at Lizard Point I was red raw and I suffered for the rest of the week as a result. Ever since I have been particularly careful to not only pack plenty of sun cream but to also apply it, at least once during the day. 

My problems on this walk continued after I got to Lizard Point. I had anticipated being able to catch a mid-afternoon bus but after waiting ages for it I realised that, unlike the rest of the country, the schools in this area were still open so the bus was not running at that time and I had to wait an hour for another one. This ruined all my other connections so I had an hour’s wait for another bus in the town of Helston and half an hour in Redruth for a train back to Penzance. I said at the start of this post that I felt this holiday was badly planned, but I think a large component of that was a poorly kept public transport network. Looking back through my diary of this holiday it is littered with missed connections for various reasons. In today’s world of extensive websites of timetables it is easy to ensure you have the right timetable for your holiday but ten years ago Councils and bus companies were too slow to put their public transport information on the internet. This holiday proves to me the value of spending countless hours poring over maps and timetables planning holidays. So I'd better get started on next year’s holidays!

Snowdon with a crowd

Saturday 11th June 2011 

Last June I helped organise a walk up Snowdon for a group of guys from my church. There were twenty of us but we had decided to offer two different routes up the mountain. The easier route, up the Llanberis Path following the railway, was taken by seven of the group, mostly men in their fifties. The rest of us went up what is probably the best route up Snowdon, the Pyg Track. I led this group and had chosen to start at the Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel, (possibly where the Pyg Track gets its name). This is not the usual start for the Pyg Track, but I knew that Pen-y-pass fills up very quickly and charges £10 a day to park. The parking near the hotel used to be an informal side-of-the-road affair but last year the Park Authority formalised it with proper surfacing and started charging (£4 a day, however when we got there we found the pay machines had been removed). For me the main attraction of starting at the hotel was a new path that had just been built linking the hotel with Pen-y-pass. 

After good weather during our drive to Snowdonia the previous evening it was disappointing to wake up to grey cloud-covered skies, and even more so when it rained heavily on the short drive to our starting points. As the Llanberis group left to head over Pen-y-pass to their starting point the three cars in my group parked beside the road just after the hotel. Once we were ready to set off my co-leader asked if I had my map. I replied affirmatively, quickly whipping out my map from behind my back. The map then went back into my rucksack and never came out again throughout the rest of the day, such is my familiarity with the surroundings after thirteen previous walks up Snowdon. With the weather clearing up we started the walk along that new section of path from the road near the Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel and across the southern slopes Moel Berfedd. It is a good little path, and I particularly enjoyed a small zigzag near a point that is marked on OS maps as Bwlch y Gwyddel. This involved a short scramble that was a foretaste of what was to come.

From there the path drops slightly to join the old path from Nant Gwynant. Beyond the junction the path deteriorates as the muddy, old path is unable to cope with the added traffic. We soon passed the worst of the mud and climbed steeply up to the crowds at Pen-y-pass. After a breather beside the car park we set off along the Pyg Track across the rocky terrain with excellent views north into Nant Peris. This is a particularly tricky section of the path, but my thirteen keen explorers coped admirably even when the heavens opened briefly once more. Despite climbing up the damp rocks we all safely made it to Bwlch y Moch (the pass of the pigs – another possible reason for the name of the Pyg Track). The path levels off after the pass with stunning views across Llyn Llydaw towards Snowdon giving an added boost to the easier walking. The pace of the group throughout was much slower than I’m used to, but I had to put in some much quicker walking on the occasions when I had try and catch up with the leading group who were leaving the others behind. I have hardly done any walking group leading and I found that the hardest thing to do is keeping the whole group together. After passing a second lake, Glaslyn, we climbed steeply up the hillside to the top of Bwlch Glas, the pass between Snowdon and its neighbour, Garnedd Ugain. It is at that point that the Llanberis Path joins the Pyg Track, and as if on cue the rest of our party appeared along the path, except it was only half the Llanberis group as unlike my group, they had split in two. I sent my co-leader off to walk down the Llanberis Path to check on the other half while I took the rest of us up the final half a kilometre to the crowded summit of Snowdon. The rest of our party turned out to be not far behind so after we had all been to the ridiculously crowded summit and café we descended partly down the ridge to a suitably quiet point where we could have lunch. 

Despite the cold weather at the summit everyone was thrilled to have made it to the top of the highest point in either England or Wales, but of course now we had to get back down again. After the Llanberis group headed back down the Llanberis Path I led my group down the Pyg Track to the point where the Miners' Track diverges. After a tricky, steep descent to the shore of Glaslyn the remainder of our walk was relatively easy as we dropped gradually besides the lakes to Pen-y-pass, and ended with the short walk along the new path to the Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel. After the rain at the start of the walk we were blessed with good, warm, sunny weather except on the cold and windy summit. Everyone had a great time and I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of leading a group up a mountain. 

The next day it rained all morning, but despite this we did the short walk around Capel Curig that had been planned. I had never done this walk before but had not brought the instructions with me from the website where we’d found it (and is no longer available). Consequently I was frequently looking at the map and, with hindsight, didn’t follow the prescribed route, and in the end we actually got lost. At one point we had reached a junction of paths and I had no idea where we were or which way we were supposed to be going. With a couple of the other walking leaders crowding around me in the pouring rain, I got out my compass and determined where we were and where we needed to go (along a very boggy path!). After all we had achieved the previous day I can’t believe I got us all lost; please don’t tell anyone, I don’t think I’d ever live it down!

Pennine Way, part five

Saturday 24th September 2011

Ickornshaw Moor and Pinhaw Beacon 

This was my final stage on the Pennine Way and it was the most tedious, as well as being the longest. I left Haworth first thing in the morning in order to get to Gargrave in time to catch a train, though in the end, due to easy walking in the later stages, I arrived in Gargrave with an hour to spare. I started by climbing back through Haworth, past the Brontë Parsonage Museum, across the dam of Lower Laithe Reservoir and through the village of Stanbury all in order to return to the Pennine Way near Buckley Farm. The Pennine Way from there goes around Ponden Reservoir before climbing the steep hillside opposite. At this point the sun was out and it looked like I was going to have the best weather of my walk so far, however as I climbed up to Crag Bottom in the narrow Dean Clough ravine it started to rain. So, donning waterproofs I climbed onto the bleak Ickenshaw Moor, which although it didn’t feel like it at the time was probably the best bit of the walk. After passing near the trig point of Wolf Stones the rain eased and the path started to slowly lose height and became rather boggy as I passed some people preparing to shoot grouse (I wish they wouldn’t). Eventually I descended into farmland and from then on the walk was rather dull, but tiring with tricky route-finding across the many fields. There was little of any interest to the proceedings except at a lovely little place just outside Cowling where there seemed to be a mini-farm or wildlife sanctuary that was full of ducks, geese and chickens around a small pond. Continuing on from there, after several ups and downs, I reached the edge of the village of Lothersdale on a steep hillside looking down almost straight into an old mill chimney with a really steep descent on an overgrown path down into the charming little village. With nowhere in the village to sit and have lunch I climbed up the hillside beyond the village to a road that had a bench beside it. With relief I collapsed onto the seat and had my lunch looking out over the farmland that I had just walked across. 

A short climb from there took me onto another moor, Elslack, topped by a trig point at Pinhaw Beacon. A long descent through brown heather-coloured moor and grassy livestock fields took me to the village of Thornton (one-time home of the Brontë’s). During the descent I passed a sign saying “To YH”. If I had been doing the whole of the Pennine Way I would have left the route at this point and dropped down to Earby Youth Hostel, which I had considered doing at one point in my planning. In the event I had decided to cover the additional 6½ miles to the railway station at Gargrave. From this point the walking was actually very easy and I was able to make up such a lot of time that I slowed to a stroll over hills that were low and rolling, much like home, with terrain that was all grass covered livestock fields, which is not so much like home where there are many arable fields. The only highlight was a section beside the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, but that section was sadly short lived. Eventually I reached Gargrave where I had plenty of time to get something to eat before catching a train back home. This was an enjoyable week spent walking along the Pennine Way, but it did nothing to satisfy my mountain craving. That will unfortunately have to wait until next spring unless I can find somewhere to go at Christmas.

Pennine Way, part four

Friday 23rd September 2011

Stoodley Pike Monument and Wuthering Heights 

Another day spent walking along the Pennine Way saw me doing a rather tedious section before reaching the literary-filled area around the town of Haworth. Climbing steeply out of Mankinholes brought me back onto the moor that I had left the previous evening before I made my way to the Stoodley Pike Monument. This pinnacle commemorates victory in the Napoleonic wars and has a viewing platform up a short, dark staircase. Unfortunately the views around the Calder Valley were not great as the day had started rather grey and misty (fortunately the weather gradually got better). Descending from there I crossed several fields and met up with a bloke who was also doing the Pennine Way, but it had not been going well for him. He had started a day before me but through poor navigation he had frequently got lost and was generally finding the Pennine Way a lot harder than he’d anticipated. After he’d marvelled at my ability to instantly point at our location on his map I directed him towards Hebdon Bridge railway station. It is a good idea for anyone to do the Pennine Way, but you do need to prepare in advance, and that includes making sure you know how to read a map. Continuing down a wooded track I dropped all the way down to the bottom of the lovely Calder Valley where a canal, a railway and a main road is crammed into the narrow valley. A steep walk past quaint little houses perched on the side of the hill along simply divine footpaths took me back out of the valley and onto farmers’ tracks. Part of the way up, beside the ruins and graveyard of Mount Olivet Baptist Chapel, I saw a sign that said ‘Pennine Way Official Route’ that way, ‘Wainwright Route’ this way. Without a moment’s hesitation I climbed the steep path of the Wainwright route onto a farmers’ track. Was it better than the new route? Probably not, so I’ll have to try the official route next time I do the Pennine Way. The onward route over the farmland on Pry Hill was rather dull with the only respite being the delectable wooded dell of Colden Water, which is a pleasant place to relax. This narrow, shallow valley has a little bit of a pasture in the middle but is surrounded by trees and was full of scent-filled flowers (probably balsam). It was simply divine. 

Shortly after climbing out of the small valley I actually got lost. After all my comments about my fellow Pennine Way walker earlier who was constantly getting lost, I went the wrong way myself! Just before reaching the small development of Colden I turned right instead of left. The route I took through an orchard was very nice, but it wasn’t the Pennine Way so a short walk along the road through Colden was necessary to bring me back onto the Pennine Way. No need to panic. Continuing to climb the hill I eventually reached Heptonstall Moor where a long, dull moorland crossing ensued. I was really disappointed during my walk this week on the Pennine Way that the heather on the moors was no longer in flower as it would have made the moorland walks much more interesting. Last year at this time I walked across the North York Moors when the moors were covered in the purple flowered heather. At the far end of the moor I passed by Gorple Lower Reservoir, climbing into and out of the narrow valley that issues from the reservoir up to a series of more reservoirs. These were the Walshaw Reservoirs and frankly this bit was a bit dull except it was interesting to see how little water was in the reservoirs, except for the top one. 

Eventually leaving these reservoirs behind I climbed out on the wiley, windy moors to the ruins of Top Withins, the setting of which was the inspiration for Wuthering Heights. Leaving the Pennine Way at this point I took a path beside the South Dean Beck to the Brontë waterfall, the significance of which escapes me, but I don’t think I saw it at its best as there wasn’t much water in it and the hillside was choked with bracken. Further progress along the track took me over Penistone Hill and eventually brought me into the tourist filled village of Haworth. A quick look around the various Railway Children film-locations in the area, from Oakworth Railway Station to the Three Chimneys house, brought an interesting end to the day. With steadily improving weather this was not a bad literary-filled day, even though the scenery was variable.