Country Walking?

[graham56]

Try the walk up to Windy Gyle from Upper Coquetdale Gary, great for clearing your head, as the name suggests.

 

[Crackle]

Don't do much anymore, used to do a lot. Progressed from walking to rock climbing and some winter climbing but apart from going to the climbing wall with the kids I don't do much anymore. Might start doing some hill walking again.

Went on a tour of a Mountain Rescue post recently. Quite astonishing how trained up and technically well equipped these bods are. It's not the kind of thing you could just volunteer to do for a wee while, you have to be dedicated and prepared to go out in all weathers. They were explaining, in a lighthearted way, how they encourage a fast response from people - basically the first one's in get the lighter kit and the last one gets large bits of stretcher and large bags of ropes! And how many people do they need to stretcher one person off a mountain? Answer 30/35 people They also explained what they did with broken femurs. I won't go into that it'll make mens eyes water

 

[User482]

I've done a fair amount - we tend to take holidays where there's good walking, plus my folks live in the pennines. I've done some terrific mountains in Scotland - Skye & the Cairngorms. Nearer to home there's the Mendips, which are close enough for a sunday afternoon stroll.

 

[ColinJ]

I'm back from my bike ride! Brrr, it was a bit chilly on the hilltops as the sun started to go down...

In your location you maybe you have been to that hidden jem of the high pennines High cup nick colin?
For those unfamilar this is a spectacular glacial valley in the high pennines-no pictures can do it justice- its like something out of the alps
One of our longest, toughest walks Appleby-Dufton high-cup and back a few years ago...ahhhhh

I haven't actually, but funnily enough I was looking at those pictures a couple of months ago! I've never been to that part of the Pennines before so I've been plotting a cycling route round those parts to put that right. I want to take in Great Dun Fell so I was checking out the area on my Memory Map software. I spotted High Cup Nick and thought "Oooh, that looks interesting...!" I Googled for info and found that visitcumbria webpage.

I'm afraid if my trip goes ahead next summer it will be a 1-day cycling visit only so I won't get to see the Nick first hand. Maybe one day though - it certainly looks worth another trip up there!

 

[Cathryn]

We go walking too - we live near the Dales (ish) so do a fair amount of stuff up there. The husband seems to have a fascination with the three peaks - I've been dragged up each one THREE times this year.

The only downside of walking is that it makes my thighs ENORMOUS. I look like Fatima Whitbread for a week afterwards!!

 

[Pete]

Love it - been walking most of my life. We're well blessed here in Zarzzex but might seem a bit tame to you northerners - and doing the South Downs Way you tend to get a bit penned in by fences, and a lot of cyclists (which can be a nuisance). One of the best - the Seven* Sisters clifftop job**, from Cuckmere Haven (destination of one of Simon's FNRTTC's this year) to Beachy Head. With a return leg through Friston Forest. Lovely walk, lovely views, with a fair bit of up and down!

We also try to get some stuff in when we visit our lad in Scotland, but it's some years since I 'bagged a Munro'. The years draw on....

*actually eight - or nine if you count Beachy Head itself.
**from which cyclists are banned!

 

[Fab Foodie]

We go walking too - we live near the Dales (ish) so do a fair amount of stuff up there. The husband seems to have a fascination with the three peaks - I've been dragged up each one THREE times this year.

The only downside of walking is that it makes my thighs ENORMOUS. I look like Fatima Whitbread for a week afterwards!!

Photos?

 

[Dayvo]

Love it - been walking most of my life.

Me too! Started when I was about 18-months old!

 

[Fab Foodie]

I love walking as well. We live at the foot of the Mendips and we often go to Dartmoor for a weekend. The kids are both of an age now where they can manage longer distances. We are quite into "Letterboxing" when we walk with the kids. It's like old-fashioned Geo-caching. It's a very useful way of keeping the kids interest up though.

I am constantly amazed though, at how many people we meet who have not the slightest clue as to how to read the map properly and are ill-prepared for weather changes etc. I may be a bit anal about the kit we take, but my 45l rucksack ALWAYS has a 1st Aid Kit, a thermos of hot squash, some food, a 6 man survival shelter, the relevant map, compass, headtorch, waterproofs, water, a small stove, tea-coffee, whitener, a pencil, waterproof notepaper, a knife, gaffa tape and a phone. Come to think of it, maybe I am a bit obssessed as this sits in the car boot all winter Having said that, I have needed some or all of the contents quite a few times.

I started my Walking on Dartmoor, and I loved letterboxing...Fox Tor Mires, Childes Tomb I seem to recall. Maggot, where do you get the clues and references these days, I'd like to do one when I'm down with the kids over the New Year.
As for Kit, I agree, many go unprepared, especially on Dartmoor where the sudden fogs, sink-pools, lack of shelter and lack of features often to gewt good bearings makes it a far more dangerous place than it looks. It's beautiful though.

 

[Dayvo]

Photos?

You asked for it!

http://www.olympics.org.uk/athleteimages.aspx?at=3180

 

[Pete]

...makes it a far more dangerous place than it looks.

That at least you won't get in Sussex, pretty well sheltered from the exposure (unless you deliberately stroll over the cliff edge ... ). A former colleague of mine used to be a Scout leader, he told me he wasn't allowed to take the younger ones up on the Downs because the Scouting organisation deemed it 'dangerous'. Dangerous?

 

[Fab Foodie]

You asked for it!

http://www.olympics.org.uk/athleteimages.aspx?at=3180

Oh, I REALLY asked for that...

 

[Chris James]

Yeah, walking scrambling and climbing is my main passion (not sure if you are supposed to admit this on a cycling website).

Getting RIGHT off the beaten track like Scottish mountains in winter really makes you keep your wits about you. Navigating with no paths on the map, or visible on the ground through snow, in bad weather conditions really gives you a feeling of tackling wilderness. And sometimes a feeling of your own mortality!

I DO have a GPS and it has come in very useful navving off Bleaklow in thick fog for example. But for the vast majority of the time I prefer to use a map (and always have a map and compass too).

 

[Chris James]

By the way, my avatar is Doug Scott, one of this country's greatest mountaineer. I have the same birthday as him and my son is named Doug after him.

He is a great bloke and now spends most of his time raising money for his charity Community Action Nepal.

 

[longers]

I DO have a GPS and it has come in very useful navving off Bleaklow in thick fog for example. But for the vast majority of the time I prefer to use a map (and always have a map and compass too).

My GPS is a German Panting Shepherd . Last time up Bleaklow in thick fog I could just follow her down - she knows the way home. I could have got myself down just as easily but out of interest I just let her lead the way.