routes

Slovenia Again

Saturday 1st September 2018

Yet another trip to Slovenia, and once again, back to Kranjska Gora.

An afternoon flight seemed great initially. No bleary eyed driving to Manchester Airport in the early hours.

The motorways flowed well and I got to the Jetpark Ringway car park in good time. Check in for my FlyBe flight was quick, I’ve been in some very long queues at Manchester in the past.

As I was early, I left the terminal building and sat in a little garden between terminals 1 and 3. Just as well, I discovered a can of pop in my carry on bag from the walk earlier in the week!

Gone are the days of the package companies using Adria Airways and their Airbus aircraft. I was boarding a Bombardier Q400 Dash 8. A turboprop with a ceiling of around 25,000 feet and a top speed a little over 400mph.

I had the two seats to myself which resulted in a decent amount of leg room and a fairly comfortable flight. I was lucky, all other seats appeared to be taken.

The low altitude and decent weather resulted in some nice views as we headed over the Netherlands and Germany towards Salzburg….

…then a three hour minibus journey with a 45 stop at a service station. Argh!! I was soon cursing the later start as we drove along the dark roads, arriving at my hotel at around 11pm.

The Ramada Resort hotel room was lovely. Despite being a single room there was a lot of space inside and, outside the glass patio doors, I had a balcony overlooking the centre of the village.

A plate of meat, cheese and fruit was waiting for me in the room and, surprisingly, there was a kettle with a collection of tea and coffee. A pleasant unexpected meal before I settled down for the night.

Sunday 2nd September

After a very good sleep, I wandered down to the large restaurant. It was quiet and I could sit where I wanted, I took a seat by the window overlooking the mountains.

The weather forecast was poor so I thought I’d do a route that was easy to navigate, I didn’t want to soak my map on the first day.

I headed out on the D2 cycle path towards Italy.

The weather in the morning wasn’t too bad, I hoped it would at least stay dry at least until I reached the lakes. As I crossed the border, there were a few spots of drizzle, nothing too bad. I stopped at a picnic bench and put on my waterproof jacket and trousers.

Resembling a failed model from an Arc’teryx catalogue, I followed a small road from the cycle path towards the lakes. The road came out at a T-junction on Via del Laghi. I took a left, initially staying on the road before joining the pleasant path following a steam.

The last time I came here was at the end of a very long walk, the sun was shining and the view was beautiful. Last time I only got as far as the cafe by the side of the lower lake but knew I would return to investigate further if I was ever in Kranjska Gora again.

Today, in the gloom, the view wasn’t as dramatic and, as I passed the cafe, the rain became torrential. I found shelter by crouching under an overhanging rock . I stayed for a few minutes but it was obvious it wasn’t going to dry up any time soon.

I continued around the lower lake then through the woods to the upper lake. I didn’t go completely around the second lake, maybe in retrospect I should have. Instead I went around the East shore towards the car park. After a quick visit to the toilets, I made my way back to the lower lake, through the woods.

It had stopped raining as a left the lakes and followed the stream to the road junction. As it was still quite early in the afternoon, rather than take the right hand track back to Slovenia, I stayed on the road a while longer, joining the cycle track again further West.

I pressed on for a bit but soon realised that this strip of tarmac just went on and on and on. I retraced my steps back to a sign pointing to a castle and church. I do like a good castle, so left the cycle track and took the quiet road to the village of Fusine in Valromana.

I walked as far as the church which was situated at the far end of the village but no sign of the castle. I circled a few times but no castle or any more signs so I turned around and went the same way back to the hotel, following the cycle track to Kranjska Gora.

Download the route as a GPX.

Back at the hotel I found the village on Google maps and Street View. I could not see a castle or the signs to it. Surely I didn’t imagine it!?

Monday 3rd September

I took a stroll to the local Mercator supermarket for supplies With the surprise addition of tea and coffee in the room, I picked up some milk along with some other drinks, there was plenty of room to store them in hotel room’s minibar fridge.

For just over €2 I had a litre of milk and enough soft drinks for the week.

My waterproofs were needed straight away today. The constant rain was forecast to stay for most of the day.

I was heading north out of Kranjska Gora, following path 2 to Srednji Vrh.

I walked up the road and took shelter in some sort of building I assumed was used by farmers. Needless to say, views were minimal as the clouds hung low over the hills.

Leaving the road, I took the path through woods, the trees offering little protection from the rain. From the woods, the route continued through a farming village. I passed an old farm house with an interesting toilet!

Speaking of toilets, I knew there was a compost toilet near Srednji Vrh. Welcome relief from the rain if nothing else!

From Gozd Martuljek I joined the D2 cycle route to the railway bridge. Here, I took a track to the right which soon became a footpath.

This was uncharted waters. The recognised walking routes in the area are extremely well marked, but there were no red and white painted blobs or big yellow arrows here. Initially the route was easy to follow with clearly defined paths, however, I reached a junction various options. I tried to keep going West as much as I could.

At one point I stumbled upon an area were new electricity pylons were being installed. I wasn’t entirely sure I should be there but pressed on regardless. In the back of my mind was the river crossing at the end of this section. On an ‘official’ path, there would be a nice, sturdy, well built bridge but here, who knows? The map showed a crossing of some sort. There may be a bridge or I may have to wade through water or, worst case, I may have to retrace my steps.

I reached the river at the point I intended. There was a bridge, of sorts. Two logs spanned the river. My Mamut Trovat boots grip to most things…..

…..except wet logs.

To add to the problems I have no balance what so ever. I could risk falling in (highly likely) or find the shallowest area to wade through. Thinking wet feet is better than wet everything, I went for the second option and zig-zagged my way over the water.

I managed to cross with only my shins getting wetter, I was still quite damp after the earlier rain.

It was a short walk from here, up the track to the road in to Gozd Martuljek.

The return trip passed through the large hotel and campsite complex Spik. The easy to follow path passed through the site and along side a stream. It was quite pleasant, apart from the constant drizzle.

The path moved away from the water and up though woodland before dropping back down to the side of the river Sava Dolinka. I walked around the back of the large sport complex and in to Kranjska Gora.

The route is available on ViewRanger as a GPX

Tuesday 4th September

After a very quiet period at the hotel, a couple of coach loads of guests had arrived overnight. Bizarrely, one of the new arrivals came to breakfast with a can of WD40!

I had planned a long walk so smuggled a banana out of the breakfast room, that would do for lunch!

My boots were still very wet. My waterproof trousers had been on the balcony overnight and I concluded they were just cold rather than wet, I needn’t have worried, an hour in to the walk, it was t-shirt weather.

I had left the hotel early and took D2 to the east towards Mojstrana. The walking and navigation was simple which is one reason I did this route last year when the weather was bad. I decided then it was a good walk to come back and do again.

There were three plans; walk to the waterfall then get the bus back, press on to the North Face of Triglav and get the bus back or, see the waterfall and walk back. The Alpine museum in Mojstrana had an information board describing the Triglav walk. As it was a 6 hour round trip from Mojstrana. I decided I’d come back by bus to do that walk. Today, I would visit the Peričnik waterfall.

Mojstrana has a number of via ferrata routes, I stood and watched three people making their way up Grančišče before continuing. There is a footpath I could have taken me towards the falls but, given the distances I was covering today, I thought I would take the easy, direct route and followed the fairly quiet road.

The views were beautiful and at one point, I got a peek at the mighty Triglav.

The waterfall itself is impressive. I viewed it from the road then noticed a path up through the trees. I decided to follow it. I was glad I did!

The fairly steep and uneven path heads up through the trees to a flat-ish area with great views of the cascade. A rather ‘interesting’ path went behind the fall itself. It was narrow, quite slippery and very impressive! I ended up getting as wet as I had in the previous rainy days!

After a few photos, I took the same path back down from the falls to the road. I continued up the road a bit to find a spot by the river for a drink and lunch (the smuggled banana!).

Suitably feed and watered, I took the road back down to Mojstrana and decided to walk back taking the full distance walked to 24 miles! The route was flat so I made decent progress although my legs did feel the last mile. A drink on the balcony was very welcome!

The full route is available as a GPX file but can be shortened, using the reliable buses between Kranjska Gora and Mojstrana.

After dinner ( cottage cheese souffle, roast veal and veg), I took a walk up to Lake Jasna. Just after passing the Best Western hotel, two deer crossed over the road. I’m often lucky spotting animals on holidays (although I didn’t think it lucky when I was face to face with a bear in Italy!)

That evening stroll completed my marathon for the day.

Part 2…

December 24, 2018 1

Two days off, two trips to Wales

I was swearing at my Satnav.
There was several gig worth of unused SD card sitting in the slot but it refused to use it and refused to accept the car park I’d selected on my laptop route planner.
I muttered to myself as I scrolled through the settings on the satnav and typed in the ridiculously long Welsh road name. There were three potential car parks, the one I wanted, one quite close to the one I wanted and one quite a distance away. The latter was easier to enter in to the satnav as it sat in the middle of a distinctive junction.
Press the screen. Navigate to here. Sorted.

I headed down the same familiar route, down the A55 towards Conwy, however, I experienced my first drive through the centre of town and on to the parking spot in the hills just off Sychnant Pass Road.
The weather was lovely as I got out the car, perused the walking route and left the car park. It was about a mile to the car park I planned to start the walk from. In retrospect it would have been easy to find if I’d have persevered driving down the road. Oh well, hindsight and all that.

When I reached the third car park, just past a large country house, I crossed to the left hand side of the road, walked through the gate posts and on to the footpath.
The path was very easy to follow and plenty of signs along the way ensured I was heading in the right direction, South (ish) initially.
The views over the bay towards Anglesey and Puffin Island were beautiful.
As usual in this part of the world, there’s always plenty of sheep but I also had a bit of a Rolling Stones moment passing several wild Carneddau horses.

The path changed direction, crossing a stream to my right before hitting a crossroads where a number of paths joined. I took the path to my left.
The map below may provide some useful inspiration for other walks in the future!

As I stopped to take a swig from my water bottle I began to wonder if I should change my route as I was not parked where I’d planned the walks started and ended. I dug out the map and decided to take the next (and only) path to my left. This should eventually bring my out right at the car park I was using.
Unlike the paths previously, this was not signed and not easy to follow. It was difficult to stay on the right path across the wet, muddy terrain. I knew I wanted to be heading South East so using a combination of GPS and compass, I headed in roughly the right direction.
At one point the ground dropped away steeply to a stream below, but despite a jiggle to take the less steep slope, I stayed on course and it wasn’t too long before I’d rejoined a more obvious path.
Again, the views were great and I saw a great opportunity to get the Jetboil out for a coffee break. I’ve marked the point with a beer glass on my downloadable route (well, it’s the best icon I could find!)

After my brew, I continued to Craigyfedwen and on towards the road where I’d left the car, however, rather than head straight back, I looped around Crow’s Nest Hall and Farm, meeting a couple of llamas along the way.
All in all and enjoyable 8 mile walk with some great views…..I even forgave the satnav….but how do you move content to the SD card….hmmmmm….

A week later, another Monday off work and another walk.
Again, I was planning to try somewhere new. I had two ideas, both were in North Wales, one 40 minutes drive, the other 70 minutes away.
Looking at the weather forecast, rain was due to hit the furthest location at around 3 pm, the closer location would be dry all day, so, a 40 minute drive it was!
I’d driven through the village of Trelawnyd on my way to Dyserth on previous walks so no swearing at the satnav today!
I left the car in the free car park near the church at the centre of the village. I changed in to my boots and walked back to the main road, crossed over and down the one way road opposite.
This soon became slightly muddy path through field, the theme for the day.
Initially I was following the North Wales Pilgrims Way, a 130 mile route which links ancient churches dedicated to saints of the 6th century. I had followed part of this route on the walk 30 miles down the road the week before.

As I wandered through farm land towards I started to sense I was being followed.
One sheep initially, then two, three…
….eventually there were about 20 sheep extremely close to me, following me across the field bleating very loudly.
It was like a scene from ‘The Walking Dead’…..if ‘The Walking Dead’ featured zombie sheep.

At Graig Arthur, I left my woolly tormentors and headed South towards Glanllyn.
Here, I joined the Offas Dyke path, following a road.
The path left the road to the right, passing through a hedge and over more fields towards Marian Cwm.

I remained on the very easy to follow Offas Dyke path until I reached a junction at Marian Mill Farm.
Here I took a right and found a great spot to pick some wild garlic.
It’s quite easy to spot with it’s wide green leaves, however, you will smell it before you see it!

I love this stuff, it makes a particularly good pesto when whizzed up with olive oil and Parmesan cheese
It’s a shame the growing season is quite short. It is really worth tracking some down in the Spring months.
After filling my now rather garlicy rucksack, I continued to Cwm Road (stop sniggering!) then back to the main road then over to the car park It was still early afternoon, I still hadn’t made a coffee and I still had a lot of energy left so I passed the car park and went on the path up Gop Hill.
The views from the peak were pleasant. I found a decent, sheltered spot to get the Jetboil going and make a cuppa.

Two very nice walks, but, if I’m honest, I preferred the first and suspect I will be back around there very soon.

As usual, this 8 mile route and the Conwy route are both available as downloadable GPX files on Viewranger.

April 29, 2018 0

Llanfair Talhaiarn

This post should have the subheading, ‘I’ve made the mistakes so you don’t have to’
I had some time off work, no time constraints and the weather forecast was good. I had a number of routes planned and I wanted to go somewhere different, somewhere new.
I opened up the OS map, looking for places with plenty of paths then looked on Google Maps to see if there was anywhere to park up.

Llanfair Talhaiarn seemed to tick the boxes. A pleasant little village 5 miles south of Abergele, it has a good size car park with toilets, a couple of pubs for refreshments and it is easy to get to, just off the A548.
After leaving the car at the School Lane car park, I headed to the river Elwy, taking the bridge on the A544 to get to the footpath on the other side.
This was a pleasant start to the day.
Easy to follow, well maintained footpaths, a nice river, a waterfall and a little ‘beach’ which if I’d come across it later in the walk, would have made a great spot to brew up a coffee.
The route followed the river, along the edges of a field and through woodland…
then came the overgrowth.

The path seemed to go on forever through this mass of wet plants. I’m quite tall but plants where taller. It was difficult to see the path on many occasions.
Despite being a warm, summer day with no clouds to be seen, I was drenched.
My trousers stuck to me and my feet squelched with every footstep.
Just when I thought I’d reached the end, there was more. These plants were almost goading me.
No mater how well you plan a walk, there are somethings you don’t expect and this was one such thing.
Sadly, I suspect that unless something is done to clear this path it may well become unwalkable soon
There was eventually a light at the end of this fern covered tunnel…..it came in the way of a muddy track covered in cow manure.
At the end of the track, through a gate I hit a road. This would give me a chance to dry off if nothing else. I followed the road south for a while, crossing over a bridge. At a second bridge I had a choice, assume that that the track to the right of the cottage with the barking dogs was the way to a path on my planned route or continue to the signposted bridle way. Not wanting to argue with the dogs, I took the second option.
This was more like it, a good path and nice views.
I carried on until I reached a farm house. According to the maps, there was a footpath running behind the house. I couldn’t see it. There were a number of signs, none pointing to where the path should be so I continued along the bridleway which brought me out on to a road.
I spotted another track on the map which would lead me back the route I had planned, however, the ‘access forbidden’ signs on the gate made it clear this was no footpath! Once more I went back to the road and continued up hill.
Not to worry, there were another two footpaths up by a farm, one of those would lead back on track. I walked up the farm track and opened the gate. According to my GPS I was right where the path should but there was nothing. No path, no signs. I really didn’t want to go trudging through the farmers land looking for the route so, again, I returned to the road.
To be fair, the walk along the road wasn’t too bad, I’d only seen the one car and the views were good. I’d come to the conclusion that if all else failed, I had an ‘escape route’ . I could follow this road to the main road then back to where I had parked the car.
There was one last route I could take, crossing over the sheep fields towards Llyn Du. The path was easy to find from the road and the lake was a good reference point. A little voice in my head kept telling me that this part may be easily navigable but at any point the path and signs could disappear and I wouldn’t have the road to fall back on. I put these thoughts to the back of my mind, I wasn’t to be defeated!
Things were going well until I reached the farm at Cefn-treflech. There were a number of signs between the road and the farm then nothing. Well, not quite nothing, a post lay on the floor in front of the gate. I wondered if this once had the route labelled on it. To make matters worse, the owner of the property had come outside. I didn’t want to go marching through his property, he might get angry, he might have a shotgun or worse, he may ask if I needed directions!
Once I was through the rusty gate, walked round the back of the house and on past another farm, I started to enjoy the views.
This seemed like a good spot to fire up the JetBoil and make myself a coffee.
I consulted my map. Perhaps I should have braved looking for the path at the side of the house near the second bridge. Not too worry, this coffee stop was enjoyable and I could see clearly where to head next. I confirmed the route on my map and with my GPS – all was good!
Nope, this was the calm before the next storm!
From the coffee stop, I headed towards the woods. A sign confirmed I was heading in the right direction. Splendid. I then ended up in more tall, wet foliage but, to make matters worse, there were also two meter high prickly blackberry bushes. At times the only way I could get through was to turn my back, duck down and let my rucksack push the worst of the branches out of the way. I couldn’t see the path at all but, amazingly, one I reached a crossroads with a track I was right on course. I crossed the track and followed the sign. Again, the plants made the path impossible to see so I checked the GPS and compass and headed in what seemed to be the right direction, unfortunately, although I achieved the objective of reaching the woods without being ripped to shreds, I was in the middle of a mountain bike track.
I couldn’t find any information about this track, only finding this one YouTube video. Luckily for me there were no bikes around as I weaved my way as best I could through the woods in roughly the right direction.
I could see the track I needed but a barbed wire fence stood between it and me. It seems that I’m not the only person to have made a mess of navigation, at one point the painful bits of the fence had been removed. I managed to step over and follow the track down to the road to Llanfair Talhaiarn.

In conclusion, this wasn’t one of my favourite walks! Llanfair Talhaiarn is a lovely village and a great base for walking, it’s shame the navigation is made awkward.
I can understand why landowners don’t want people trudging through their land, their home, their place of work but, put up a few signs, make the paths obvious and you won’t have people climbing over fences and being in places they shouldn’t be.
As a crude analogy, my office has signs to the training rooms, the toilets and the reception. Visitors find where they need to be and we don’t have people wandering past our desks looking lost.
I’m sure I’ll revisit Llanfair Talhaiarn in the future, perhaps trying some of the paths to the other side of the village.
In the meantime, my route is available to download as a GPX file.…good luck!

August 9, 2017 0

JetBoil Flash Review

I’ve a new toy – the JetBoil Flash basically, a portable device for boiling water.

In the past, my rucksack contained a couple of flasks of juice and I would march along my route, hardly breaking stride as I reached round for a swig.
More recently I started to fill a flask. I would make up a coffee before I left home/base and it would be there when I needed it. Trouble was, I often ended up drinking cold coffee, especially in winter and much of the drink would spill or leak.
I progressed on to a meths burner. It wasn’t the easiest thing to use but it was cheap, light and usually/eventually provided enough boiling water for a drink – just add instant coffee and milk.
I did, however, have problems in winter, in the wet and when I forgot my lighter – the most likely problem!

Step forward the JetBoil Flash cooking system. It is self contained (at least it would be if I had the smaller gas canister!) and boils water in around two minutes.
Every thing except the a screw top gas canister comes straight out the box.

I packed my rucksack and headed to my usual playground – the Clwydian Range.
Initially, I noticed the sack did feel a bit heavier but after a few minutes climb didn’t notice the extra load. Needless to say, not only would the smaller gas fit in the mug, it would also reduce the weight considerably.

I had followed the first part of the walk many times before but today seemed so much more picturesque. Spring was in full force leaving a technicolour vista punctuated by the imposing, snow capped Snowdon in the distance.

I took the Offa’s Dyke path up Moel Famau and continued to the west passing Moel Dywyll before dropping down towards the road. I’d often been around this area and wondered where the track to the left hand side of the road went….so I followed it.
The path soon moved away from the road and I found a spot with lovely views to christen my JetBoil.

Setting it up was easy.
I took the orange ‘feet’ out from the mug, unfolded them then clamped on the gas canister.
Next out was the stove itself. Flip out the gas regulator on the site and screw the stove on to the gas canister.
Covering the bottom of the mug is a measuring pot which is handy for keeping dry ingredients – coffee in my case. Popping the bottom off reveals the flux ring heat exchanger. This does the clever stuff which enables the JetBoil to work so well.
Little lugs can be found on the bottom of the mug, line these up with the stove and give it a small turn to lock in place. No chance of accidentally knocking the cup over, something that happened a few times with the slightly top heavy meths burner and mug.

I removed the top from the mug and poured in enough water to reach the ‘2 cup’ mark.
I put the lid back on, turned the regulator to start the gas flow, clicked the lighter on the opposite side and it started to boil up the water.
Simple!
It sounded vicious but in less than two minutes, the water had boiled.
A handy feature is the marking on the side of the mug which turns orange when the water has boiled. This takes the guess work out of the boiling and stops the urge to pop the lid to see how hot the water is getting.
The neoprene ‘cozy’ covering the mug ensures the mug is safe to lift up. Incidentally, the side strap of the ‘cozy’ can be used to store teaspoons.
Once boiled, stop the gas flow, twist the mug to unlock and brew some coffee……or tea, or cook noodles, make up dried food….there are a whole load of things you can create and JetBoil have posted some recipes on their website

After my cuppa, I continued on my walk.
I could have remained on this path right around the ‘base’ of Moel Famau, however, keen to increase my mileage for the ViewRanger challenge, I turned off on to a road to my right.
At a junction, I took another right towards the small village of Llangynhafal.
A footpath passes to the left of the Golden Lion Inn and through the campsite behind. The views from this campsite are spectacular, however (at the moment at least) the only ‘facility’ is a tap in the corner of the field.

The path crosses a road before following the base of Moel Famau, at one point I got cracking view of the Airbus Beluga aircraft taking wings from the nearby factory in Hawarden.
Near a farm, the path joins a concrete ‘road’. There is a path which continues South, however, it was impossible to tell what was the route and what was a gate in to their garden even checking against my GPS and paper OS map. I wasn’t brave enough to risk trespassing so continued along the road to a junction in Hirwaen where I took a left.
There are a number of ways back on to the original route, I took a left at Pen-y-waen, from there I headed East back to the car park.

All in all, a very enjoyable walk and I can definitely see the JetBoil getting a lot of use!

Download this route as a GPX file

April 30, 2017 6

Misty Minera Mines

I was nearing the end of my week off work.
The first walk I had done during my annual leave was lovely. Blue skies, sunshine and fantastic views. This walk however was a complete contrast.

I parked up for free at the Minera Mines car park, an interesting open access site containing an the remains of the old mine. Amazingly, despite being about 35 minutes drive from my house, I’ve never been here before and only discovered it by accident looking at an OS Map on my laptop.

It was very misty when I got out of the car and headed up towards the old mine which had stood on this site since 1845.
The remains looked imposing in the mist which suited the scene.
The first written record of lead mining at Minera dates back to 1296, however it wasn’t until 1845, when a steam engine was built, that the Minera Mining Company was created.
Sadly, by 1900, the price of lead had fallen while the costs of running the steam engine rose and by 1914 the mine had closed.

Another piece of history around here is the old disused railway line which now forms a pleasant footpath but was once part of the line between Wrexham and Brymbo.
Funnily enough, like my last walk, this path also took me past a disused quarry, once once the largest lime workings in the north of Wales.
The path skirted along the northern side of the quarry before I turned right to join the quiet, narrow road to Llandegla Forest.
Although primarily geared up for cyclists, a number of footpaths criss-cross the forest and it’s well worth downloading the walking map from their website.

I took the Reservoir trail initially, up to and around part of the Pendinas Reservoir. From there, I joined the Black Grouse trail. The end of this trail was easy to spot!

The paths through Llandegla are well marked and easy to follow, however, I was about to leave the dense woodland and onto the misty moor beyond.
All went well initially, two finger pointers marked where two routes split and I headed off to the right along a clearly defined (albeit narrow) path . Soon, however, this path disappeared. In front of me was water and boggy ground. I put my left foot down in to a stream nothing too deep….then my right leg plunged in to knee high icy water. It soaked through my boots, gaiters and trousers. As I backtracked, my left leg went in to deeper water.
I returned to dry land and checked my map, compass and GPS. Yes this was the route I wanted but I couldn’t see a way through that wouldn’t require a flotation device!
Consulting the map, this path followed parallel to the water course for some distance – that would not be pleasant on a cold, misty January day!
There was another possible route about 200 metres to the East.
I made my way over the boggy ground until I hit another obvious path going in the right direction. I followed before it too disappeared.
There is nowhere as lonely as a misty, featureless moor with no obvious path and little viability. I knew I wanted to head south towards the road. I was armed with map and compass but (sorry purists ) I was very grateful for my GPS as a picked my way through.

Eventually, I hit the road, it was nice to feel tarmac under my extremely wet feet.
I took a left, following the road until a crossroads of paths and roads. I had a route back whichever way I went but continued on the path straight on.
This also followed moorland but the path was slightly easier to follow. Again, there were a couple of routes further along; one down Minera Mountain or the one I took to Esclusham Mountain.

Rubbish From the trig point, I descended Esclusham to the road, where I walked East along the back towards where I had parked the car.
The weather was still very misty and there was little in the way of views…apart from litter. Surprising considering it was a quiet, single track there was a lot of rubbish, even more surprising was the car radio I found left on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.

I soon grew bored of walking along the road, so turned off to my right following a footpath through a farm. I reached a muddy area containing a feeder surrounded by sheep and a lama!

Cows blocking the path — The stile is behind her bum!

Their field led to another far, far, far muddier field. I assumed that this field contained cows, however, I couldn’t see any.
I made extremely slow progress through this quagmire before discovering the cows.
They were standing in a group, in the corner, right opposite the stile…a sneaky climb over the fence was required!

From here, it was an easy walk back to the Country Park where I had left my car.
I trudged the final stretch. I was cold, wet and extremely muddy.
This walk came at the end of a week off walk and was in complete contrast to the first walk of the holiday. I really like the country park and will be returning and I’m sure this route would be nice in the summer but, I definitely don’t recommend it on a cold, wet, misty day!

Download the route as a GPX file

February 12, 2017 0

Black Pudding Gaiters

Hiking, travelling, gear

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