Sunday May 6 - Mirfield
AKA Perigee Moon. It's amazing what 14% bigger looks like. Even if a picture doesn't really capture the impact. Too bad I didn't get home to my camera & tripod 30 minutes sooner, when it was lower, pinker and looked even bigger as it popped up over the horizon.
| | | |
| | |
Saturday April 21 - Bempton Cliffs, North Yorkshire
I'm expecting the cliffs at Bempton to be teaming with Puffins, this being the breeding season and me being a bit of an ornithological ignoramus. But the cliffs are teaming mainly with Gannets and Guillemots. It takes several hours of moseying up and down the muddy clifftop path and scouring the spits with binoculars to find a small group. Well worth the hunt, though. We find them, in the end, far away from any of the observation platforms that are helpfully labeled as Puffin-friendly vantage points. Which is good, because we don't have to share our Puffin experience with anyone else.
| | | |
| | |
Saturday April 7 - around Levens, Cumbria
Introducing cousin Mike to his own back yard.
Meadow Ant Hills. These are apparently only found in 'well managed' pasture, which has not been damaged by the overuse of pesticides or artificial fertiliser.
Neolithic burial mound. A place to commune with the ancestors.
Hungry Kestrel.
| | | |
| | |
Saturday March 3 - aircraft wreck hunting above Crowden
I'm always in 2 minds about searching for any of the many air crash sites in these hills. There is definite satisfaction in finding one and having a clear objective to the day does make a change from just walking. But, when all's said and done, people have generally died in these places. And in terrible ways. In this instance all 7 crew were killed when the Avro Lancaster PA411 flew into the barren peat and rock of Tintwistle Knarr on the night of December 21 1948. Then there is the looting. Selfish, ignorant people have taken so much debris from all of these sites that there's almost nothing left in some cases. I always say a 'prayer', of my own atheist construction, simply to acknowledge that I recognise the human loss with which these places are forever soaked.
It's a beautiful day, aside from that sadness. The walk from east to west along the edge above Coombes Clough is new to me and offers spectacular views over the Longdendale valley and it's reservoirs and out across Stockport and Manchester. On this occasion I have blown my timing, though. So absorbed in the hunt for the Lancaster I have left myself too little time to complete my intended circuit or double back before losing daylight. So I bail straight off the hill - pausing at the memorial for 3 pilots who also died in their Hurricanes on February 22 1945 - and walk back to Crowden along the A628 until I can rejoin the Pennine Way for the last mile or so. Not so pleasant, but a damn sight safer than staying on the hill when I've forgotten to bring my headtorch too.
| | | |
| | |
| | | |
| | |
Saturday January 14 - a walk just north of Helmsley
I'm 50 years and 1 day old. But the pill is greatly sweetened by being on the surprise birthday treat of a weekend break at the Black Swan hotel, in Helmsley, North Yorkshire. Our celebrations are blessed with perfect weather and the only brief fly in the ointment turns out to be a bunch of trigger-happy hunters. They spoil our lunch break somewhat by shooting into the trees we're sitting under so we're showered with shot intended for the hapless local pheasants. But it would take a lot more than that to spoil a perfect day like this.
| | | |
| | |
Thursday January 5 - strolling north of Levens, Cumbria
After days of rain it feels good to step out into a classic winter sunshine afternoon, complete with near full moon. Just a few lovely hours of random strolling and just what days like this are made for. The Lyth Valley floor glitters with receding flood water. And the views across to Whitbarrow in the west and, further toward the north, The Old Man of Coniston, Great Gable and Scafell Pike are an inspiration for future days.
| | | |
| | |
