JANUARY 2016
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BURY ◆ THE BRECKS ◆ DARTMOOR ◆ LLYN PENINSULA ◆ FILM LANDSCAPES ◆ MORECAMBE ◆ FLEECES ISSUE 349 BLACK SAIL HOSTEL ◆ WEEKEND IN SALISBURY
January 2016 £4.20
Britain’s best-selling walking magazine
Walk all
winter
63 brilliant walk ideas just made for cold days
27 ROUTE CARDS
Walk Dartmoor at its wildest and best The coastal kingdom in Snowdon’s shadow Discover East Anglia’s best-kept secret Walk the landscapes Hollywood fell for
Local walks you’ll love – made easy
10 BEST PUBS TO WALK TO
BEST FLEECES FOR WINTER AND BEYOND WALKING WEEKEND The best walks from Salisbury
www.livefortheoutdoors.com
Plus: Plan a budget winter break in the Lakes
30 COUNTRY WALKING JANUARY 2016
DISCOVER Lake District
Loving a cold climate Gather friends and book out a hostel in the hills or by the sea for frosty walks, cosy evenings and warm memories (and all from just ÂŁ3.55 pp/pn). W O R D S : J E N N Y WA LT E R S
PHOTOS: TOM BAILEY
JANUARY 2016 COUNTRY WALKING 31
FALLEN HILL You’ll find almost 100 pingos in the Brecks, all of them relics e cs of o the t e ice ce age. age
BROKEN LAND Low winter sun brings out the best in the raw heathland of the of t e Brecks. ec s
DISCOVER The Brecks
‘It fascinates but few, but those who have come under its spell… are its slaves’ Ice age ponds, Neolithic craters and ancient, mysterious heathland: come and walk in the wonderful winter world of the Brecks. WORDS: NICK HALLISSEY
cultivated for a few years and then allowed to revert to heathland once the soil was exhausted. This was hard land to agronomise: dry and dusty, and prone to sandstorms such as the one which engulfed the village of Santon Downham in 1668. Only in the last century did humanity finally tame the Brecks, by planting the profitable pine X forests of Thetford and Elveden, and ploughing p Swaffham Coldharbour Wood
THETFORD FOREST
Brandon
Watton
MoD Stanford Training Area (restricted access)
ILLUSTRATION: STEVEN HALL
HE WHICH? THE BRECKS. Breckland. The land of the brakes. It’s quite likely that for a lot of walkers, these words draw a blank look. Fewer still could point to the Brecks on a map. But as our headline quote from the naturalist W G Clarke makes clear, those who do come to walk in the Brecks find something very special – rarely more so than in winter, for reasons which will become clear. But where are these Brecks? You’ll find them on the Norfolk-Suffolk border; little pockets of forest and heath bordered by the towns of Thetford, Thetfo Swaffham, Watton and Brandon. They are named name on the OS map but there is no official definition of their boundaries, nor is there a helpful green splodge on the road atlas to show you precisely where they are. They aren’t a national park, nor even an AONB. That’s because, although the Brecks used to be something huge, now only precious pockets remain; shards and fragments, surviving only where modern man has not tilled, tilled planted, built homes or tested ammunition. The Brecks are broken, living on in echoes. Breck terrain is essentially heathland, which iis what we’re left with when man leaves the landscape landsc alone. Walk the heathery scrub of Mundford or the woodlands of Thompson Carr and you could be forgiven for thinking you’re in the New Forest: Forest chalky, wind-blasted heath, lone pines standing tall against the elements; sandy ridges where the odd wild pony gallops across the horizon. But although they look like untouched heathla heathland, the Brecks are different. A breck (meaning brake) brake is a prehistoric ‘temporary field’, one that was
PHOTOS: TOM BAILEY
Great Eastern Pingo Trail
Grime’s Graves
Thetford
Elveden Forest
The King’s Forest ANCIENT BRECKS BOUNDARY
Sou
ern
exposure There are no winter blues that can’t be blasted away by a walk in the wildest place in the south. Come on, supercharge your season! W O R D S : J E N N Y WA LT E R S
GETTING HIGHER Feel your mood lift as you walk to Higher Tor, with the snow-dusted tops of High Willhays Willhays ays and a d Yes es Tor o beyond. beyo d
PHOTOS: TOM BAILEY
DISCOVER Dartmoor
JANUARY 2016 COUNTRY WALKING 49
Between the mountains and the sea at the top of Wales there’s a peninsula of low hills topped by ancient forts and striking views, its shores trodden by pilgrims and rarely troubled by snow… WORDS: MARK SUTCLIFFE
58 COUNTRY WALKING JANUARY 2016
PHOTOS: TOM BAILEY
^n Peninsula DISCOVER Lly
ANGLESEY
N THE PERFECT DAY, the views from the summit of Snowdon are some of the most spectacular in Britain. But there are days, particularly in the icy grip of winter, when this trophy peak is best admired from afar. But if you turn your eyes to the southwest of Snowdon, you’ll see a narrow tongue of land extending into the Irish Sea, dotted with alluring little hills. This is the Llŷn Peninsula, reaching like an outstretched arm for almost 20 miles, index finger extended and pointing towards Ireland. Surrounded by sea on three sides, this narrow promontory has its own microclimate meaning snow is rare. And the lofty eyrie of Aberdaron Head, far away from the popular holiday resorts clustered along its fringes, is one of the wildest places in North Wales, with more in common with the rugged west coast of Ireland than the sandy beaches of South Wales. It’s perhaps not surprising given that, as the crow flies, the tip of the Llŷn is closer to Dublin than Cardiff and on a clear day, the Wicklow Mountains are clearly visible on the horizon. Like many remote outposts at the fringes of the British Isles, the Llŷn has traditionally been a magnet for pilgrims, who would walk the length of the peninsula and gaze across the sound to the enigmatic hump-backed island of Bardsey floating off its westernmost tip. Pilgrims would then make the often perilous crossing of these treacherous tide-ripped waters to make landfall. A significant proportion chose to spend their last days here before being buried on the island. Looking back inland, Snowdon and her acolytes crowd the eastern horizon while to the south, the
unmistakeable profile of Cadair Idris glowers above the Mawddach Estuary and the hills of Caernarfon Mid Wales embroider the edge of Cardigan Bay, stretching away like a line of sand dunes to the Preseli Hills in Pembrokeshire. At the eastern end of the Llŷn, stand Yr Eifl – the dramatic coastal peaks whose name la means the Trident. This trio of 1,500-footers su n i Porthmadoc is popular with walkers, as are the similarly en P proportioned summits of Gyrn Ddu, Gyrn n ŷ Ll Goch and Bwlch Mawr away to the Abersoch northeast, which are often confused with Yr Eifl – an evocative name that Bardsey Island is sometimes anglicised to the Rivals. The increasingly popular Llŷn Coastal Path skirts both these ranges before striking out for q OVER THERE & OVERLOOKED the tip of the Peninsula, where the hills are Only in a country as smaller, but the scenery more rugged. Also known, rich in great walking fittingly, as the Edge of Wales Walk, this 84-mile as Wales could coastal path makes for a challenging week on foot, a spectacularly combining demanding hill climbs with some of beautiful peninsula go relatively the most spectacular clifftop walking in Wales. overlooked. And it’s the western tip of the Llŷn, where the snow seldom amounts to more than a light dusting, that offers safe yet spectacular winter hill-walking. The most prominent peaks here are the enigmatic scree-strewn cone of Carn Fadryn and the long coastal ridges of Mynydd Rhiw and Mynydd y Graig – none of which trouble the 400-metre contour – yet all of which muster amazing views of mountains and sea. The Llŷn is littered with prehistoric remains and like Yr Eifl to the north, Carn Fadryn is topped by the ramparts of an iron age hillfort while Mynydd Rhiw boasts hut circles, another hillfort, the odd standing stone and a Neolithic axe factory. u
TO DAI FOR The Llyn’s outflung arm offers views of hill and coast, the wild and domestic at once grand grand a d and a d intimate. t ate
Fantasy ďŹ lms,
PHOTO: JOE DANIEL PRICE/GETTYIMAGES
real landscapes
Walk the far-away galaxies of the new Star Wars film, discover the real landscapes behind fantasy classics from Harry Potter to The Princess Bride, and find out why British landscapes prove so spellbinding. WORDS: JAMES CLARKE
64 COUNTRY WALKING JANUARY 2016
DISCOVER Fantasy landscapes
Star Wars: The Force Awakens 2015 THE FOREST OF DEAN WELL KNOWN FOR Symond’s Yat, towering like a sentinel over a glorious loop of the River Wye, the Forest of Dean nestles in the borderland between England and Wales. Millions of people are about to be spellbound by a small part of it – although it’s uncertain how many viewers of the new Star Wars movie will know The Force Awakens uses Puzzlewood in the Forest of Dean as a key location. The new film brings back familiar faces like Han Solo and Princess Leia, but it’s the villain of the piece, Kylo Ren, who appears to be lurking in Puzzlewood in the flashes we’ve seen so far. This is a storybook forest that has been mined for iron and coal since the Iron Age. It’s a place of striking moss-covered outcrops, ancient trees and deep limestone gullies – remnants of collapsed caves that are known locally as scowles. In her book, Gossip from the Forest, Sara Maitland makes an intriguing connection between the human history of the Forest of Dean and the tradition of fairy tales, and Puzzlewood does indeed emanate an otherworldly quality. You walk into the wood through an archway of branches to explore mini-canyons, stepping stumps through muddy dips and a tangle of wooden walkways and bridges. It feels mesmerising and primordial, with its wood sorrel and anemones, oak trees, beech, lime, ash and yew. JRR Tolkien was a fan. Secrecy around the new film is tight but we’ve glimpsed the Lake District in the trailers – principally Thirlmere and Derwent Water – and we hear that Greenham Common will feature too. So there will be a very British feel to that galaxy far, far away. WALK HERE: Puzzlewood is a mile south of Coleford, Gloucestershire. Admission is £6.50 for adults (open weekends in Dec, closed Jan, reopens Feb). For a gorgeous ten-mile walk through the Forest of Dean, download Christchurch at www.lfto.com/cwroutes. u
p DEEP, DARK WOOD
Puzzlewood’s maze of paths and primordial atmosphere were one of JRR Tolkien’s inspirations for Middle-earth. u DEEP, DARTH WOOD
Darth Vader’s 21st century successor Kylo Ren wields his cruciform lightsabre in the heart of Puzzlewood. JANUARY 2016 COUNTRY WALKING 65
Testing the
SANDS
At Morecambe Bay water and sand intertwine in a landscape both beguiling and treacherous. Karen Lloyd spends a day on the shifting shore with the Queen’s Guide, charting a route for a cross-bay walk… 74 COUNTRY WALKING JANUARY 2016
DISCOVER Morecambe Bay
PHOTO: © DARRYL GILL/ALAMY
and the rivers that shift their route through the sands – sometimes by a mile or more in one night – is unsurpassed. In his 80s, he has the physique of a man half his age; he’s tall, tanned, (or weathered), big-chested and upright, a man in his element and comfortable in his own skin. I joined Cedric as he tested the sands and the state of the River Kent ahead of a weekend cross-bay walk. Any crossing depends on the weather, but more than that on the amount of rain that’s fallen on higher ground. In a bad year, more walks are cancelled than take place. We met at Humphrey Head, a limestone outcrop projecting into the bay from the low-lying fields of the Cartmel peninsula. A spindly, aged tractor bounced into view with Cedric at the driver’s seat, pulling an eccentric-looking jalopy, part Child Catcher’s wagon from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and part ancient farm wagon. I climbed up into the
PHOTO: © MARCO SECCHI/ALAMY
HE RIVER KENT looked nothing like a river. How different its character from the clear, voluble stretches that tumbled and splashed down from the Kentmere hills, passing through the valley and woods and close to our house in Kendal. It was the same element and there the comparison stopped. Here the river was wide and glossy, more a shallow, sky-reflecting lake than a flowing body of water as it arced towards the south on a lazy journey, passing Silverdale, Carnforth and Morecambe. I’ve spent time walking alone in the mountains. I’ve been lost and disorientated in mists, but this was something new, this sense of flat space where distances are difficult. We were about four miles out on the bay, halfway between Humphrey Head and White Creek at Arnside. I wasn’t alone and of course I couldn’t have been in safer hands, but there was something about this landscape and our remoteness from land that made me uneasy. Cedric Robinson is the nation’s only Queen’s Guide to the Sands and his status in the Morecambe Bay area is legendary. He’s been Queen’s Guide for more than 50 years and his knowledge of the tides
p STAY SAFE
Queen’s Guide Cedric studies the riverbeds, weather and tide times to guide walkers safely across the bay’s dangerous sands.
u
JANUARY 2016 COUNTRY WALKING 75
Expert advice on the kit that makes a difference YOUR COMPLETE BUYING GUIDE TO
OUR TESTERS
J
UST AS STEPHEN FRY and Miranda Hart have an obsession with the word ‘moist’, CW feels the same about ‘snug’. Isn’t it just one of the best words in the English language? And if you’re a walker, no other item of outdoor gear does ‘snug’ as well as fleece. It’s quite simply the warmest, cosiest and most huggy fabric you can wear when you’re out – and at this snappy, bitey, chilly time of year, that’s priceless. That’s why fleece is still incredibly popular, despite the fact that its rival fabric of soft shell tends to be lighter, more packable, more versatile and more rain-resistant. Soft shell’s good, but it isn’t often snug. And many fleece styles are now adaptable enough to give soft shell a good run for its money – especially those that use specialist fabrics such as Polartec. So in this celebration of snugness, we’ve looked at a broad range of jackets and hoodies from simple throw-ons to enormous duffel coats. They all use fleece in slightly different thicknesses, densities and styles, so they will have different uses as the seasons change, from summer outer garment to winter mid-layer. Here’s to snug, then. Hopefully in this lot, you'll find an outdoor jacket that makes you fall in love with that word all over again.
80 COUNTRY WALKING JANUARY 2016
About this review We have tested five fleeces for men and five for women across a broad price range. We’ll explain what to expect at different price-points, and what the different features and functions mean. We don’t pick an overall winner as no single option will suit every walker; instead we focus on what kind of walking each product suits best.
qBREATHABLE BREATHABLE A good fleece traps warmth where you want it, while letting unwanted heat and moisture out.
NB: WE ALWAY SPECIFY THE RECOMMENDED RETAIL PRICE (RRP) FOR CONSISTENCY. YOU MAY SEE THESE ITEMS SOLD FOR CONSIDERABLY LESS IN STORES AND ONLINE.
Country Walking always tests products for both men and women. Our reviewers Nick Hallissey and Sarah Ryan have notched up thousands of miles on foot, so they know the value of good kit at the right price. This test took them to Snowdonia, Glen Coe and the Buttermere fells of Cumbria.
FLEECES for winter & beyond
Buying Guide Fleeces FABRIC
FIT
WEIGHT
Though the name sounds like it should be natural (see ‘What is fleece?’ over page), fleece is a polyester-based synthetic. Its warmth will depend on the density of the knit. Many brands get their fabric made for them by external partners such as Gore Windstopper or Polartec, as they are specialists in creating fabrics that mix warmth, breathability and stretch.
Your fleece needs to be snug (that word again). Too tight and it will trap unwanted heat and possibly restrict your arm movements. Too baggy and it won't lock out icy winds. Look for points of adjustment, like drawcords on the hem, that will help you fit it perfectly.
You’ll see a huge variation in weights between the items in our review. Lighter fleeces work best as summer throw-ons and mid-layers, or for those who want to move fast without heating up. Heavier fleeces tend to be warmer, but are less good at moderating your body heat.
CUFFS Most fleece tops use simple cinch cuffs rather than Velcro tabs or buttons. Some may have clever internal barriers which help keep the cold out.
POCKETS ZIP Half-zip tops are very adaptable, and like a jumper it’s usually easier to roll the sleeves up to vent heat than it is on a full-zip jacket. A fullzip is more resilient. Just ensure the zip is windproof: an internal stomflap beneath the zip will help keep draughts out.
Torso pockets often have cosy handwarmer linings. But ideally, look for large torso pockets and a chest pocket, as torso pockets often become inaccessible once a rucksack belt goes across them. A ‘chestie’ (or sometimes, less convincingly, an ‘armie’) is good for storing a slimline phone or GPS.
Turn over to read the tests… JANUARY 2016 COUNTRY WALKING 81
27 ROUTES with Ordnance Survey Maps
Britain’s best
WALKS JANUARY 2016
There’ one ne s you! ar
SOUTH WEST
SOUTH EAST
MIDLANDS
PHOTO: © REDSHIFT PHOTOGRAPHY / ALAMY
EAST
NORTH WEST
BEST SERVED COLD Chilled to perfection, Panniers Pool lies at Three Shire Heads. Wa 12 ta Walk takes es you here. ee
Walks for winter See jumbo lookalikes in Weardale l Quickmarch to a battleground in Warwickshire l Step foot onto pristine Scottish sands... and more great walks!
NORTH EAST
WALES
SCOTLAND
IRELAND
Britain’s est
WALKS
SOUTH WEST SOUTH EAST
Find a great walk near you...
MIDLANDS EAST
01 Cornwall Draynes
26
02 Devon Belstone
NORTH WEST
03 Dorset St Aldhelm’s Head
NORTH EAST
04 Wiltshire Wilton
WALES
05 Wiltshire Old Sarum
SCOTLAND
06 Surrey Sutton Green
25
07 East Sussex Burwash
IRELAND 27
08 Oxfordshire Bladon 09 Hertfordshire Bishop’s Stortford
19
10 Herefordshire Golden Valley
21 18
11 Warwickshire Edgehill 12 Derbyshire Axe Edge Moor
17 20
13 Nottinghamshire Eastwood
16
14 Norfolk The Brecks
24
12 13
23
15 Lincolnshire Osbournby
15 14
16 Cheshire Disley 17 Lancashire Crown Point to Cribden Moor
22
18 Cumbria Aye Gill Pike 19 Cumbria Great Calva
CHALLENGE WALK
11
10
08 05 04
20 West Yorkshire Ilkley Moor
02
21 County Durham Elephant Trees
01
22 Carmarthenshire Garreg Lwyd
09 06 07
03
23 Gwynedd Carn Fadryn 24 Flintshire Whitford 25 West Lothian Torpichen 26 Moray/A’deenshire Sandend to Findochty
WALK INFORMATION An estimate of how long the route will take, based on a pace of about two miles per hour, with allowances made for slower, hilly routes.
A B
NAVIGATION: Good map-reading and compass skills required in places. DISTANCE: Route is between 8-12 miles from start to finish. TERRAIN: 3,000ft+ with sustained steep ascent/descent; possible scrambling.
W
N
S
E
92 COUNTRY WALKING JANUARY 2016
E
TRAILZILLA ID (on reverse of card) We upload all our walks to Trailzilla.com so subscribers can use the unique code displayed on the back of each route card to download and print the route.
S
GRADIENT PROFILE Check the ascent and descent (hilliness) of the route with a quick glance at this profile.
TERRAIN: Min 2,000ft ascent, sustained steepness and rocky or boggy ground. W
ABBREVIATIONS We have abbreviated left to L and right to R.
GRADE Our routes are graded easy, moderate, challenging or occasionally extreme, depending on distance, terrain, elevation and ease of navigation. Easy and moderate walks are usually less than 8 miles with relatively gentle gradients. The table below shows how we grade our more challenging walks:
N
OUR EXPERTS All our routes are written by experienced and knowledgeable walkers who are experts at finding the best walks in their area and describing them clearly.
If you spot a route which needs updating, email cwroutes@bauermedia.co.uk
challenging
How to use your routes
CLASSIC ROUTE
extreme
27 Northumberland Bamburgh
A B
NAVIGATION: Sound navigation skills required; route may be trackless. DISTANCE: Route is more than 12 miles from start to finish.
MAPS (on reverse of route card) Follow the red route marked clearly on the map. It’s essential to take the relevant Ordnance Survey map with you in case you get lost and inadvertently leave the area covered by our map.
ff th! o s k mon c i K xt ne
#walk alk
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