Your walk today...

[ColinJ]

I went for a stroll today. It wasn't a long distance walk, and it wasn't over some of the more testing and scenic terrain that we have round here. It was actually one of my regular short, flat walks with @Littgull to the RSPCA cafe near Hollingworth Lake, Littleborough. Brian was one of the regulars on my local weekend forum rides, and we also often used to do mid-week rides together. Unfortunately, he developed health problems 6 months ago which have kept him off his bike ever since. He can still walk to the cafe and back from home though so I go to Littleborough every few weeks and join him for a walk and a chat. We took our time and caught up on each others news.

A few pictures...

Rochdale canal towpath

Two trees on Cleggsworth Hill

The path towards the RSPCA cafe

I completely forgot to take pictures of Brian himself! He was standing behind me each time...

 

[Windle]

Another short walk and picnic on Cockfield Fell on Wednesday evening, much cooler than last time and started to rain after about an hour so it was a short look out. Walked past the cemetery and over to the north end of the fell where there's a deep gully (as mentioned in my tiny ride from Sunday). We perched ourselves on the edge and had our picnic tea. Looking down into the gully.

It goes almost up to the cottages to the west and is pretty deep by then. Not sure what it was but I'm pretty sure an old mineral tramway ran up there a long time ago, possibly to some sort of drift mine?

A very dull view east with.... I'm not totally sure, but maybe Westerton (on the hill above Bishop Auckland) in the far distance.

It was about now that the rain started so it was time to scarper, but not before an idea to have a look back to that area on the bike and see if I could get up the gully that time forgot........

 

[PeteXXX]

Pleasant 5 mile early morning walk, today, from Hollowell to Cottesbrook and back via Creaton.

It's slightly hillier than it looks, but not too bad.

I think it was 'live' but I wasn't going to test it ⚡ 😂

Cottesbrook Hall entrance, closed to visitors this morning.

Plenty of fields without sheep for Bonnie to unsuccessfully chase rabbits & squirrels (plus several fields of sheep where i kept her on a short leash!)
Back to the car to give Bonnie a drink and for me to drink my coffee.

I got the Brommie out if the boot and did a few miles on that, too..

This mud wall used to be absolutely full of bees but i didn't see or hear any today.

Back home on about 2½ hours & ready for breakfast!

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Pleasant 5 mile early morning walk, today, from Hollowell to Cottesbrook and back via Creaton.
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It's slightly hillier than it looks, but not too bad.

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I think it was 'live' but I wasn't going to test it ⚡ 😂

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Cottesbrook Hall entrance, closed to visitors this morning.

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Plenty of fields without sheep for Bonnie to unsuccessfully chase rabbits & squirrels (plus several fields of sheep where i kept her on a short leash!)
Back to the car to give Bonnie a drink and for me to drink my coffee.

I got the Brommie out if the boot and did a few miles on that, too..

View attachment 706811

This mud wall used to be absolutely full of bees but i didn't see or hear any today.

Back home on about 2½ hours & ready for breakfast!

Interesting pic's!

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

A little walk from the house this morning. Said hello to the University Exmoor ponies at Swanston.

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

Today’s lunchtime stroll after the wetness of this morning and before the forecast wetness of this evening.

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

Today’s wander over Harbour Hill, very mild, still a few swallows and house martins about.

 

[PeteXXX]

Thursday's walk, now I have a chance to post it!

A lovely, but tough, 6 miles along some of the Dragon's Back in the Peak District.
I started in Earl Sterndale, with easy parking by the church, then a diverted footpath around the Quiet Woman pub due to building works.

Initially, the route was across sheep filled fields before dropping down into the valley where i first saw the two planned hills..

Parkhouse Hill with Chrome Hill in the background. Parkhouse is particularly steep, rockier than it looks here, with slippery limestone. The climb to the peak is steeper than a steep thing!
The descent was decidedly dodgy and I'm so glad I had propet boots on! Some of it was step by slippery step, a*se on the rocks and finding handholds.. 😲
I wonder how many people have actually fallen off into the valley below.. I didn't, though, but I'll not be going there again!! 😂

The really tricky part is the descent from the summit to where you see the path start.

Chrome Hill looking back at Parkhouse Hill.

Chrome hill is not as steep, but still quite a climb. Beautiful panoramic views from the top that won't show the splendour in a photograph, sadly.

Once down to the valley, there's another smaller one climb & descent before walking around the other side of Hollins Hill to Hollinsclough where there's an Honesty Shop where I bought a coffee & an ice cream.

No one manning the shop, you just put the money in the tin (or use the card thingie) there's a pot of coins so there's change if you need it.. Wonderful idea!! I had a chat with a chap doing some gardening around the seating area for 10 minutes or so and he said there doesn't seem to be many who don't pay for the drinks (there's jars of local jams & stuff, too)

Anyway, the tough part of the walk was done so it just left the 2 or 3 miles back to the car.

Once back at the car, I drove to Waterhouses for a few miles on the Brommie along the Manifold Trail to use a few different muscles.

Altogether a lovely day in the Peak District, though my aching thighs, yesterday, might say otherwise 😂

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Thursday's walk, now I have a chance to post it!

A lovely, but tough, 6 miles along some of the Dragon's Back in the Peak District.
I started in Earl Sterndale, with easy parking by the church, then a diverted footpath around the Quiet Woman pub due to building works.

View attachment 708140

View attachment 708141
Initially, the route was across sheep filled fields before dropping down into the valley where i first saw the two planned hills..

View attachment 708143

Parkhouse Hill with Chrome Hill in the background. Parkhouse is particularly steep, rockier than it looks here, with slippery limestone. The climb to the peak is steeper than a steep thing!
The descent was decidedly dodgy and I'm so glad I had proped boots on! Some of it was step by slippery step, a*se on the rocks and finding handholds.. 😲
I wonder how many people have actually fallen off into the valley below.. I didn't, though, but I'll not be going there again!! 😂

View attachment 708144
The really tricky part is the descent from the summit to where you see the path start.

View attachment 708145
Chrome Hill looking back at Parkhouse Hill.

View attachment 708146

Chrome hill is not as steep, but still quite a climb. Beautiful panoramic views from the top that won't show the splendour in a photograph, sadly.

Once down to the valley, there's another smaller one climb & descent before walking around the other side of Hollins Hill to Hollinsclough where there's an Honesty Shop where I bought a coffee & an ice cream.

View attachment 708147

No one manning the shop, you just put the money in the tin (or use the card thingie) there's a pot of coins so there's change if you need it.. Wonderful idea!! I had a chat with a chap doing some gardening around the seating area for 10 minutes or so and he said there doesn't seem to be many whi don't pay for the drinks (there's jars of local jams & stuff, too)

Anyway, the tough part of tge walk was done so it just left the 2 or 3 miles back to the car.

View attachment 708149

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Once back at the car, I drove to Waterhouses for a few miles on the Brommie along the Manifold Trail to use a few different muscles.

Altogether a lovely day in the Peak District, though my aching thighs, yesterday, might say otherwise 😂

Good write-up.

 

[PeteXXX]

Good write-up.

Thank you. 👍

 

[biggs682]

Done our large block walk for the first time in quite a few weeks today took about an hour which is normal .

 

[PeteXXX]

Just an easy, leisurely stroll, 3½ miles with the dog, (Bonnie did an exrta mile or so trying to chase squirrels. No luck for her as I kept her in check on her wander lead) around Abby Park this morning.

 

[ColinJ]

I have just been for a mini-break to Scarborough with a friend.

On Monday we caught the bus to Whitby. I got chatting to a local man in his early 60s who had overheard me saying that I was enjoying getting free bus rides now. He wanted to know when he would get his bus pass. He had a dry sense of humour and a distinctive voice.

We said goodbye to our fellow passenger and had a stroll round Whitby then a snack and coffee in a cafe there. Then we headed off up the steep steps towards the abbey. We had decided to walk the Cleveland Way from Whitby to Robin Hood's Bay and catch the bus back from there. It is not a super-long walk - about 11 km (7 miles) but there is a fair amount of climbing and descending along the tops of the cliffs. Let's call it 'moderate' in difficulty. Anybody with reasonable fitness and mobility could do it, but you would know that you had done a decent walk by the end of it.

There is quite a lot of coastal erosion going on. The path gets close to the cliff edge in many places. It was a bit alarming in one section to see that the ground had disappeared from below the fence keeping us from the cliff edge with the now redundant fence stretched over a gaping void! Unfortunately, I neglected to take a picture of that.

I did take a few elsewhere though...

I don't know if the foghorn and lighthouse are still used today - I imagine that all shipping uses GPS so they should be redundant? I wouldn't like to be anywhere near that foghorn when it sounded - instant deafness!

One of the many little steep dips that we descended into and then had to climb back up from...

Robin Hood's Bay with the tide out. They are currently busy building up the sea defences down there.

I was thinking to myself that calling a village in Robin Hood's Bay "Robin Hood's Bay" was a bit odd! When we got to the village I saw a tourist sign that said that many locals call it Bay Town.

We went down a VERY steep lane to the beautiful older part of the village. I reckon that the road must be very close to 30% in gradient. I don't think that I would even attempt to cycle up it these days! As usual, the photo doesn't give a true indication of how steep the road actually is...

We had time to kill until our bus came so we went for coffee and very yummy ice cream.

After that, a nice bus journey back to Scarborough.

We were coming back yesterday but decided not to rush home when we saw what a nice day it was turning out to be so we headed off down the South Bay for a look around...

We called in at another busy cafe and I heard a very distinctive voice cutting through the chit-chat - I was sure that it was our fellow bus passenger from Monday... I scanned the room and spotted him! I went and said hello and he accused me of stalking him. Jokingly... He asked if we had enjoyed our walk the previous day. We told him that we had and asked how his day had gone. He said that he really likes Whitby so he'd had a nice day too. Now looking forward to getting his bus pass and being able to do the journeys free.

PS I didn't have any walking boots before going away and didn't want to tackle the potentially muddy (it was, in places) and slippery (it was, in places) Cleveland Way path in trainers so I had been looking at walking boots on Amazon. It soon became obvious that all of the boots under £100 got mixed reviews, and even some of the ones costing a lot more than that. I am a frugal pensioner and I don't do that much walking so I definitely didn't want to spend £80-£100+ on boots that might disappoint. Then I went to my local Aldi and spotted some very cheap 'trekking boots'. They were only £17.99 and looked pretty well made. I'm sure that they will not last anywhere near as long as quality boots, will not be properly waterproof and so on, but for that price and my modest requirements I decided that I would give them a go...

Verdict? So far - pleasantly surprised! They fit my feet well. I was worried that the cheap soles might slip at the first sign of damp/muddy stone, but no scares yet. If they last 6 months then I will feel like I have got my money's worth out of them. Anything over a year and I would be laughing! If you like the sound of them, dash down to Aldi before they sell out.

 

[PeteXXX]

@ColinJ I haven't been to that area for years! You've piqued my interest with that post 👌

 

[SpokeyDokey]

I have just been for a mini-break to Scarborough with a friend.

On Monday we caught the bus to Whitby. I got chatting to a local man in his early 60s who had overheard me saying that I was enjoying getting free bus rides now. He wanted to know when he would get his bus pass. He had a dry sense of humour and a distinctive voice.

We said goodbye to our fellow passenger and had a stroll round Whitby then a snack and coffee in a cafe there. Then we headed off up the steep steps towards the abbey. We had decided to walk the Cleveland Way from Whitby to Robin Hood's Bay and catch the bus back from there. It is not a super-long walk - about 11 km (7 miles) but there is a fair amount of climbing and descending along the tops of the cliffs. Let's call it 'moderate' in difficulty. Anybody with reasonable fitness and mobility could do it, but you would know that you had done a decent walk by the end of it.

There is quite a lot of coastal erosion going on. The path gets close to the cliff edge in many places. It was a bit alarming in one section to see that the ground had disappeared from below the fence keeping us from the cliff edge with the now redundant fence stretched over a gaping void! Unfortunately, I neglected to take a picture of that.

I did take a few elsewhere though...

I don't know if the foghorn and lighthouse are still used today - I imagine that all shipping uses GPS so they should be redundant? I wouldn't like to be anywhere near that foghorn when it sounded - instant deafness!

View attachment 708780

One of the many little steep dips that we descended into and then had to climb back up from...

View attachment 708779

Robin Hood's Bay with the tide out. They are currently busy building up the sea defences down there.

View attachment 708778

I was thinking to myself that calling a village in Robin Hood's Bay "Robin Hood's Bay" was a bit odd! When we got to the village I saw a tourist sign that said that many locals call it Bay Town.

We went down a VERY steep lane to the beautiful older part of the village. I reckon that the road must be very close to 30% in gradient. I don't think that I would even attempt to cycle up it these days! As usual, the photo doesn't give a true indication of how steep the road actually is...

View attachment 708777

We had time to kill until our bus came so we went for coffee and very yummy ice cream.

After that, a nice bus journey back to Scarborough.

We were coming back yesterday but decided not to rush home when we saw what a nice day it was turning out to be so we headed off down the South Bay for a look around...

View attachment 708776

We called in at another busy cafe and I heard a very distinctive voice cutting through the chit-chat - I was sure that it was our fellow bus passenger from Monday... I scanned the room and spotted him! I went and said hello and he accused me of stalking him. Jokingly... He asked if we had enjoyed our walk the previous day. We told him that we had and asked how his day had gone. He said that he really likes Whitby so he'd had a nice day too. Now looking forward to getting his bus pass and being able to do the journeys free.

PS I didn't have any walking boots before going away and didn't want to tackle the potentially muddy (it was, in places) and slippery (it was, in places) Cleveland Way path in trainers so I had been looking at walking boots on Amazon. It soon became obvious that all of the boots under £100 got mixed reviews, and even some of the ones costing a lot more than that. I am a frugal pensioner and I don't do that much walking so I definitely didn't want to spend £80-£100+ on boots that might disappoint. Then I went to my local Aldi and spotted some very cheap 'trekking boots'. They were only £17.99 and looked pretty well made. I'm sure that they will not last anywhere near as long as quality boots, will not be properly waterproof and so on, but for that price and my modest requirements I decided that I would give them a go...

View attachment 708775

View attachment 708774

Verdict? So far - pleasantly surprised! They fit my feet well. I was worried that the cheap soles might slip at the first sign of damp/muddy stone, but no scares yet. If they last 6 months then I will feel like I have got my money's worth out of them. Anything over a year and I would be laughing! If you like the sound of them, dash down to Aldi before they sell out.

Good stuff Colin.

Nice walk that - we did it back in 2009 when a builder was installing a patio for us and we wanted to get away from the noise and mess. Banging hot it was too, but still a lovely day.