A common man marvels at uncommon things. A wise man marvels at the commonplace. CONFUCIUS
Saturday 30 June 2007
Changing Attitudes
Friday 29 June 2007
Another Post
I walked the Pennine Way in late April and early May and loved every single mile. Springtime is a good time to do it - it was so enjoyable this year when there was lots of sunshine and very little rain. Birdlife was abundant - plenty of curlews, skylarks, golden plovers, peewits, meadow pipits, wheatears and stonechats on the moorlands; and dippers, common sandpipers, and grey wagtails in the river valleys. I saw a peregrine being harried by a raven near the Hen Hole cliffs in the Cheviots, and a ring ouzel at Widdy Bank Farm in Upper Teesdale. I came across very few other end-to-enders. Most people seemed to be walking the Way in 2 or 3 day chunks. One couple I met had been knocking off bits of it for years with their two dogs. They were having a great time. We should be very proud of this grand long distance footpath, Britain's first official National Trail, which runs for 260 miles from Edale in Derbyshire to Kirk Yetholm just over the Scottish border. It was the brainchild of journalist and rambler, Tom Stephenson, who'd been inspired by the USA's Appalachian Trail. Opened in a ceremony on Malham Moor in April 1965, it was much more of a challenge for those early walkers than it is now - before the worst boggy sections had been overlaid with flagstones (slabs or "setts" taken from the redundant Northern cotton mills and imaginatively recycled). Highlights for me were Swaledale, Teesdale, Hadrian's Wall and the Cheviots. Not to mention the super-friendly Harlequin Pub/Restaurant in Cowling. But it's all terrific. There's very little road walking, and it's very civilised to be able to drop into a country inn most evenings. Though it's surprising and exciting how far away from civilisation one can get - especially on the Yorkshire moors and in the Cheviots - while walking up England's backbone. Some think of the Pennine Way as Britain's longest pub crawl. Others may remember it as a very long conversation with sheep. Of course it's both these things and much, much more. It's whatever you want to make of it. It's a wonderful walk and one of our national assets - right up there along with microbreweries and morris dancing.
Thursday 28 June 2007
Post-Pennine Way Blues
Wednesday 27 June 2007
Out With The Old
As Tony Blair makes way for Gordon Brown today, it got me thinking how many of our MPs are genuine hill-goers and wilderness walkers. I couldn't think of many. But three names came to mind: first, the late John Smith, leader of the Labour Party from July 1992 to May 1994, who took up Munro-bagging after a coronary in October 1988. By the time of his fatal second heart attack he'd climbed 108 Munros. Then there's the late Robin Cook, who never really fit into the Blair spinning machine and resigned from the Cabinet over the Iraq war debacle - and who also died of a heart attack, descending from Ben Stack in Sutherland in August 2005. Finally there's the most dedicated hill walker of them all - Chris Smith, now Lord Smith of Finsbury, former Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and current President of the Ramblers' Association, who was the first MP to climb all the Munros. He's also completed the Pennine Way and walked abroad extensively. Apparently his favourite walk is the circuit of Beinn Alligin. Somehow this all seems a bit more authentic than fox-hunting-friendly David Cameron's self-conscious posturing and image-making when you see him cycling home to his so-called "eco-friendly" house. Perhaps he should escape the suffocating corridors of Westminster for a while and spend a long weekend back in Scotland with tent and backpack - and experience the true meaning of wilderness (instead of the wilderness that is the Conservative Party?) and the importance of preserving it. And, for the sake of balance, Gordon Brown too, for that matter...
Labels:
Chris Smith,
David Cameron,
Gordon Brown,
John Smith,
Robin Cook
Tuesday 26 June 2007
Listmania
Monday 25 June 2007
Industrial Heritage
This was a 7 mile walk I did a week ago, starting and finishing at the Lea Bridge car park by the river Derwent just east of Cromford in Derbyshire (OS Outdoor Leisure Map 24, Grid Reference 315561). The whole area is fascinating for those interested in canals, railways and industrial archaeology. Just a short walk from the car park is High Peak Junction, where the Cromford and High Peak Railway meets the Cromford Canal. This railway (now a leisure trail) is an engineering masterpiece. It was originally planned as a canal linking the Cromford Canal with the Peak Forest Canal at Whaley Bridge 33 miles away. But due to severe engineering difficulties and problems with water supply over the high-level limestone route, it eventually opened in 1830 as a railway. Engineered by Josiah Jessop (son of the canal engineer, William Jessop, who constructed the Cromford Canal - and also the Grand Union Canal which connected Birmingham with London), it's perhaps not surprising - considering canals were in the Jessops' blood - that the stations were called wharves, and that steam-powered beam engines hauled wagons (filled with minerals, grain or coal) up gradients, these inclines being the rail equivalent of a flight of locks. My walk took me up the first incline to Sheep Pasture, where the sun came out, and the view north towards Cromford and Matlock was very pretty indeed. The centrepoint of this view is the little symmetrical hill of High Tor, positioned on the eastern side of the river Derwent just beyond Matlock Bath. This made me nostalgic as it was this tiny, insignificant peak that sparked my imagination many years ago, and impelled me to go walking seriously for the first time. I've climbed much higher hills since then, but this one holds a special place in the memory. Then a flat section led to Black Rocks where some young climbers were roped-up and practising. The final incline eased me up to Middleton Top, where there's a very fine beam engine preserved in the Engine House (see photo), and where there's also a Visitor and Cycle Hire Centre. It seemed like a good time for a break and some lunch. But I didn't stop long as the clouds were closing in. Heading over Middleton Moor and down into the rather unexceptional village of Middleton, I found a path which skirted the rim of the noisy, working Middleton Quarry and then descended via an old green way to Cromford, where Richard Arkwright famously built his water-powered cotton mill in 1771. The rain began to fall steadily as I passed that excellent second-hand bookshop, Scarthin Books; so I put on my waterproofs and strode quickly towards Cromford Wharf, from where I took the canal towpath back to the car. This was an enjoyable half-hour stroll with wild flowers bordering the path and sheep sheltering under trees from the rain...
Sunday 24 June 2007
Genius Loci
Saturday 23 June 2007
First Post, First Step
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