October 2015 £4.20
PATAGONIA ◆ NIDDERDALE ◆ BASE LAYERS ISSUE 346 THE DART ESTUARY ◆ SURREY HILLS ◆ LINCOLNSHIRE CLIFF ◆ THE BREIDDEN HILLS ◆ PATAG
Britain’s best-selling walking magazine HEAD OUT INTO HISTORY:
BRITAIN IN 12 WALKS
◆ The home of the Dambusters ◆ The Vikings of Lakeland ◆ Primeval mystery on Arran ◆ Roman homes in Hampshire ◆ The cradle of Welsh rebellion ◆ Victorian engineering genius
Journeys on foot from the Stone Age to WWII
www.livefortheoutdoors.com
OCTOBER 2015
WALK WALESÕ LOST VOLCANO THIS WEEKEND
WEEKEND ESCAPE: The beautiful dale Yorkshire wants to keep for itself PLUS: Wildlife walks on the River Dart ◆ Baselayers for comfier winter walking ◆ Patagonia: don’t dream it, do it
27 ROUTE CARDS Easy to follow walks near you
BRITAIN IN 12 WALKS
Join us for an incredible journey through fi millennia of human history in 12 classic five walks across these ancient isles.
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HE SEAMS OF history run deep across Britain. From the earliest stirrings of neolithic civilisation to the tectonic wars of the last century, these isles have a vivid tale to tell. Taking a tourist coach from the Tower of London to Stonehenge, from Shakespeare’s Stratford to Edinburgh castle, is one way to experience the rich pageant of British history. But there is another way to soak up the tale of these islands, and that is on foot. Imagine walking the walls of a Roman town and into its amphitheatre; tracing the steps of William from Pevensey to the battlefield where he conquered the Saxons; marching across quiet hills where border wars once roiled; exploring the magnitude of one king’s lust for power at a ruined monastery; climbing high above a gorge on an iconic piece of Victorian engineering; or strolling peaceful wolds where the skies once roared with Lancaster bombers. Over the following pages, we reveal a dozen walks where history lies close to the surface. We begin with the stones of prehistory and tread through the epochs of Britain’s life to World War II. Some locations will be familiar from lessons at school; others are far from the beaten track. But each one has three vital elements: gripping history, striking landscapes and great walking.
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Myth & Mystery
Waves of Invasion
RIDDLE OF THE STONES 3000BC – 43AD Walk to the atmospheric remnants of our earliest ancestors at the fringes of the British Isles Walk 1: page 28
FOREIGN RAIDERS 43AD – 1150 Find out how a thousand years of invasion – Roman, Saxon, Viking, Norman – shaped the nation. Walks 2-5: pages 30 & 34
Neighbours from Hell
Struggle for Power
BORDER WARS 1303 – 1412 Hike to hills and forts where the English, Scots and Welsh battled for land and power. Walks 6 & 7: page 36
TUDORS & STUARTS 1412 – 1714 Explore the battlefields and monasteries where dynasties fought for the crown and supreme power. Walks 8 & 9: page 38
Age of Empire
War and Peace
GEORGIANS & VICTORIANS 1714 – 1901 Discover how British sea power and engineering genius conquered the world. Walks 10 & 11: pages 41 & 42
FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL 1901 – 2001 Walk the tranquil fields where Bomber Command and the Dambusters took to the skies in World War II. Walk 12: page 46
Begin your journey
OCTOBER 2015 COUNTRY WALKING 27
ILLUSTRATION: STEVEN HALL
Turn the page to walk into a history of Britain...
BRITAIN IN 12 WALKS
WAVES OF INVASION
The Romans 43 – 410AD
The ghost of an empire In 43AD the Roman Empire began its march north across Britannia and you can walk back through time and into their lives at the town of Calleva Atrebatum. W O R D S : J E N N Y WA LT E R S
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PHOTOS: TOM BAILEY
F THE SUMMER is long and hot, a ghost town appears in the English hills. As the sun dries the earth, a grid of Roman streets can be seen once more in the Hampshire turf, inside the great walls of Calleva Atrebatum. Also known as Silchester Roman Town, this is one of the best-preserved settlements in Britain, a place where a five-mile walk transports you back 2,000 years. Think Roman and you probably think of the great walls of the north: Hadrian’s and the Antonine, both part of UNESCO’s World Heritage Frontiers of the Roman Empire. But if you want to know how Romans lived when they weren’t battling the Picts on a frozen escarpment, then step into Calleva, a few miles south-west of Reading. An arrowstraight track walks you into the heart of the 40-hectare site, on an east-west line that traces
the course of the high street through the town. Workshops, stalls and storefronts would have crowded along each side; the road itself would have been jammed with locals, traders and travellers on this main highway between Londinium and the West Country. Archaeological digs from 1890 to 1909 revealed the structure of this ancient town, built soon after the Romans invaded Britain in 43AD. A grid of streets partitioned the land into blocks or insulae, and outlines of small homes, mosaicked town houses, temples, churches, and public baths were uncovered, with a grand forum basilica at its centre. The excavations have long been reburied so today you’ll see green fields grazed by cows, unless you arrive after a dry spell to see those phantom street-lines reappearing. u
u ROMAN
PHANTOM
As the fields of Silchester dry out, the streets of the Roman town reappear in the grass – this illustrates how it would appear in a long, hot summer.
PHOTO: © ENGLISH HERITAGE
t WALK THE WALL
The outer layer of flint and stone has fallen away from the town wall, but its core still makes a formidable loop around Calleva Atrebatum. t ebatu OCTOBER 2015 COUNTRY WALKING 31
�
�
ITAI BRITAIN
PHOTO: © JAMES OSMOND PHOTOGRAPHY/ALAMY
IN 12 WALKS
SHEER AUDACIT Y Brunel had no idea what an HGV was, but his bridge carries thousands of them high over the Avon vo Go Gorge ge every eve y day. day
AGE OF EMPIRE
Victorians 1837 – 1901
Nature and genius aligned
The Victorians believed that human endeavour could make the natural world even more beautiful. And in Clifton Suspension Bridge, they kind of proved it. WORDS: NICK HALLISSEY
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PHOTOS: TOM BAILEY
ALKING ACROSS THE Clifton Suspension Bridge, it’s hard not to feel a swell in the chest; the surge of pomp and pride that only comes when a walker taps into the spirit of those bold, brazen and occasionally bonkers pioneers, the Victorians. For many, the bridge is the ultimate expression of Victorian hubris. Work began on it just as Good Queen Vic was taking the throne in 1837, and the finished product symbolises everything the Victorians held dear: endeavour on a massive scale; the bending of nature to man’s will; doing the impossible just to prove it wasn’t impossible. But in fact the dream of the bridge wasn’t Victorian at all: it all started back in 1753 with a man named William Vick. Vick was a wealthy Bristolian merchant who dreamed of a bridge that would form a gateway to the city and make commerce easier. Bristol was thriving, yet its western side was cut off by
the Avon Gorge, which could only be crossed by ferry. So Vick left £1,000 in his will for the building of a bridge across the gorge when the interest reached £10,000. As it turned out, even when that happened in the 1830s, £10,000 (though well over £1 million in today’s money) was nowhere near enough to build such a thing. But Vick had dreamed something – and in this brave new era, Victoria’s subjects were determined to make it a reality. After several competitions for a design, it was Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the epitome of Victorian genius, who came up with the winning plan. But he never saw it built, and his design had to be adapted by two other engineers, William Barlow and John Hawkshaw – to such an extent that many scholars reckon they should get the credit for it, rather than Brunel. But whoever’s name is on it, the bridge is a dream made real – one that puts natural beauty u and human genius into a perfect partnership. OCTOBER 2015 COUNTRY WALKING 43
Southern beauty ✘
Treasure
MAPS GREAT WALKS EVERYWHERE
There are incredible walks all over Britain and each issue we pick a map at random to go exploring on foot. This month, we find five beautiful routes among the busy towns of OS Explorer 145: Guildford & Farnham. W O R D S : J E N N Y WA LT E R S
DISCOVER Great walks everywhere
Hawley
Wisley
WOKING
Ripley Pirbright
FARNBOROUGH
2
ALDERSHOT
Ash GUILDFORD
1
4
FARNHAM
Gomshall
Compton R. Wa y
Godalming
3 Frensham
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KEY ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Recreational Paths
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
North Downs Way National Trail Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB)
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Featured walks (see next page)
U PHOTO: © GREG BALFOUR EVANS / ALAMY
“The map doesn’t show how far and free the views spread”
NFOLD EXPLORER 145, the last in our series about maps chosen entirely at random, and you’ll notice three things: the grey of conurbations – Guildford, Woking, Farnham, Farnborough – sprawl over much of the sheet; the pink and blue of A-roads and motorways tangle across it; and red triangles show much of it is military land. At first glance, it doesn’t look like a hot destination for walkers. But take a closer look and you’ll see a mosaic of green shading, of broadleaf and conifer woodlands, growing between the roads. You’ll spot the River Wey spooling a line of blue across the map, winding through the handsome towns and the quiet land in between, and a sprinkling of pools at Frensham, Fleet, and Frimley. You’ll see the contour lines draw close in whirls that promise pretty ridges and valleys, and that the southern half of the map is part of the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. And you’ll spot six longdistance paths, including the North Downs Way National Trail, treading tempting routes into the countryside. And as you explore, you’ll discover the map doesn’t tell the full story of what you see on foot. It doesn’t show how well those patches of woodland shelter the towns, how far and free the views spread, or how wild the uplands feel. As you climb through the trees, on the cusp of firing into autumn colour, it is the natural world that fills your senses, not the teeming commuter belt of Surrey and Hampshire beyond. Turn the page to discover five of the finest walks on this map, from a peaceful riverside path to a trail up high on the chalk downs, from a venture onto the army ranges to a hidden work of art. u t UP ON THE DOWNS
Enjoy rural views across the Surrey cou t ys de from countryside o Newlands ew a ds Corner. Co e OCTOBER 2015 COUNTRY WALKING 53
EAST
WEST
FLEET
SHEFFIELD
DURHAM
UNIVERSITY
Country Walking’s alternative university guide
ABERYSTWYTH
BANGOR
DISCOVER University Challenge
PHOTOS: © EYE35.PIX / ALAMY; © TRAVELLINGLIGHT / ALAMY; © JON SPARKS / ALAMY; © ANDREW DUNN / ALAMY; © MH COAST / ALAMY; © JAMES OSMOND / ALAMY; © ALL CANADA PHOTOS / ALAMY; © SLAWEK STASZCZUK / ALAMY
SUSSEX
STIRLING
EAST ANGLIA LANCASTER
CHALLENGE ...for walkers – Philip Thomas picks the 8 best
Estuary English
Explore the unique landscape and incredible wildlife of Devon’s Dart Estuary, where the freshwater river meets the saltwater sea WORDS: MARTIN SWEENEY
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DISCOVER Estuary walks
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extraordinary, ever-changing environments provide rich pickings for walkers. The Dart Estuary is a ria – a drowned river valley, swamped by rising sea levels following the last ice age. On the western bank of the estuary, close to its mouth, sits Dartmouth, a bustling town steeped in the maritime history that made its fortune. Naval officers have been trained in Dartmouth for over 150 years; the maritime history of the area goes back further still though, having been a naval base for centuries. Crossing the estuary to Kingswear by the Lower Ferry, you may be fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of a porpoise or even the occasional dolphin. Other highlights of the local wildlife include a colony of grey seals living just outside the mouth of the estuary. These large, mottled mammals can often be seen venturing upriver in search of food. Man-made ‘haul out u
OCTOBER 2015 COUNTRY WALKING 65
PHOTO: © CHRIS PANCEWICZ / ALAMY
TEEP HILLSIDES HARBOUR ancient oak woodlands, high above the constant ebb and flow of the tide. Pretty towns with character-filled winding lanes inhabit the sheltered inlets and harbours close to the river’s mouth. Pleasure boats, ferries and fishing vessels slice gracefully across the flow, much as they have done for centuries here at one of the most picturesque estuaries in the country. This is the Dart in south Devon: bustling with people yet teeming with wildlife, ringed by peaceful countryside walks where the views stretch across centuries into the nation’s naval past. It is a fascinating example of the vibrant estuary landscapes found all around our coastline. They rarely draw the same crowds as hills and mountains, but millions of us live close to one of these watery wonderlands and their
The little e
Vesuvius
On the Anglo-Welsh border stand a trio of hills which few w walkers know about, where stunning n autumn colours hide a violentt secret history… WOR DS : N ICK HALLI SS E Y PHOTOS : TOM BAI LE Y
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HE BREIDDEN HILLS are, without wishing to sound rude, a bit odd. They should be national treasures, loved by walkers of all treasur ages and spoken of in the sam same breath as the Malverns. They share the same architecture; an array of humps and domes and forest, but arranged in a splendid V-shape rather than a long line. They’re accessible. They’re not too high. And in autumn, they look simply stunning. And yet… Ask people if they’ve ever heard of the Breidden Hills and you’ll be lucky to find a yes. Walk them even on a weekend and you’ll find a fraction of the foot-fall that is enjoyed/ endured by the Malverns or the Shropshire Hills. Walking them feels a bit like you’ve made a mistake. That something wonderful or terrible has just been announced on the radio and everyone who should be strolling the Breiddens has gone to listen to it. Even the internet has very little information about them; their Wikipedia entry is a dismal stub and a Google search reveals only a few affectionate paeans from the discerning souls who’ve climbed and photographed them. So why? Maybe they’re a victim of geography. They lie just on the Welsh side of the Powys/Shropshire border, just far enough away from Welshpool and Shrewsbury to put them out of obvious visible range. And they are on the way to other places. You may see them from the A5 as you barrel towards Offa’s Dyke, the u
“Many hills around Britain gain mystique by looking slightly like volcanoes, but the Breidden Hills actually are one.” 72 COUNTRY WALKING OCTOBER 2015
DISCOVER The Breidden Hills
MAGMA- NIFICENT Middletown Hill is the magma outflow from the ancient volcanic cone of Moel oe y Golfa Go a beyond. beyo d
Restless World Propping up the bottom of the southern hemisphere, Patagonia is the closest hikers can get to the ends of the earth without a dog sled, and it’s a place guaranteed to turn your walking world upside down. WORDS & PHOTOS: RACHEL BROOMHEAD
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DISCOVER Patagonia
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HERE IS NOTHING ordinary about Patagonia. If ever there is the faintest whiff of mediocrity in the air, it’s hurried away with a flourish of madness. It makes great fun for walkers. As an example, I’m currently inching backwards up a hill with my eyes closed. Up ahead, there is one of the greatest views in all of Patagonia, probably in all of South America, but something usually known as wind – in Patagonia more closely resembling a vortex, or a tornado maybe – is thumping its way down the trail, challenging me to a head-on duel. Right now, I’d say it has the upper hand. Patagonia and its extreme ways are best understood by looking at its place on the world map. Where every other land mass in the southern hemisphere stops, Patagonia keeps going. Shared by Chile and Argentina, it occupies the southern third of South America: that twisted, curling finger which reaches obstinately towards Antarctica where every other continent has the good sense to leave it well
alone. In times past, those who made it this far south were breaking the limits of human discovery: Magellan, Darwin, Shackleton. “Patagonia is the farthest place to which man walked from his place of origins,” reads the introduction to Bruce Chatwin’s travel literature classic, In Patagonia. “It is therefore a symbol of his restlessness.” The restless and itchy-footed now arrive more and more frequently, though with backpacks and walking boots rather than dog sleds and snow shoes, and what they find is a place as restless as themselves. The landscape always errs on the side of sensation: if there’s water, it’s a torrent; if there’s ice, it’s a 20km-long glacier. On the west side, the spur-end of the Andes kicks out into sawing, outlandish peaks, while in the east, the mountains simply stop. There are no foothills, no middle ground. Just hundreds of miles of Patagonian Steppe, a desert-like plain where merino sheep and Argentine gauchos suddenly disappear into swirling clouds of dust and earth. Because when the wind blows here, it really blows.
q BLOWN AWAY
If the wind doesn’t knock you off your feet, the views will. Here, the blacktopped ‘Horns’ protrude from behind Lake Pehoe in Torres del Paine National Park.
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Expert advice on the kit that makes a difference YOUR COMPLETE BUYING GUIDE TO
OUR TESTERS
B
ASE LAYERS might be a phrase that no-one actually uses in the real world (use it in a conversation today, we dare you) but until someone invents a better phrase for ‘technical walking top’, we’re stuck with it. But it doesn’t take long to understand why base-layers are so much better for walking in than regular cotton shirts: they wick away moisture, adapt to temperature changes (both yours and the surrounding air’s) and are stretchy enough to respond to every movement
of your arms and torso. Hail the baselayer, then: horrible phrase, but one of the best buys a walker can make.
About our reviews We’ve chosen five long-sleeve tops for men and five for women across a broad price range, focusing on what you get for your money at each price-point. We don’t pick an overall winner as no single option will suit every walker’s needs, but we’ll tell you what kind of walking and conditions each one is best suited to. t VERSATILE
A long-sleeved top can work as your outer layer on all but the warmest days – and then it becomes your nextto-skin insulator when the colder months arrive.
PHOTO: TOM BAILEY
Country Walking always tests products for both men and women. Our reviewers Nick Hallissey and Rachel Broomhead cover thousands of miles on foot, so they know the value of good kit at the right price. This test took them to the Derbyshire Dales, the North York Moors and the upper Esk valley.
BASE LAYERS
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NB: WE ALWAY SPECIFY THE RECOMMENDED RETAIL PRICE (RRP) FOR CONSISTENCY. YOU MAY SEE THESE ITEMS SOLD FOR CONSIDERABLY LESS IN STORES AND ONLINE.
Buying Guide Base layers STYLE With an eye on the colder months, these are all longsleeve tops, but there’s a mix of crew-neck and half-zip. Crew tops look more casual and tend to be cheaper; half-zips will keep your neck and chest warm when you need them to and allow ventilation when unzipped.
BREATHABILITY Here’s the key virtue of the base-layer. Whether synthetic or natural, the fabric in a baselayer uses a process of diffusion (or ‘wicking’) to conduct heat and moisture (or ‘sweat’) away from the skin, either to the open air or to the next layer out. You may also find extra-breathable panels on core hot zones such as the underarm and small of the back.
COLOUR Not just a matter of taste, this. If you’re wearing the top as your outer layer, a darker colour will retain heat, while lighter colours cool more quickly. Hence the majority of tops designed for autumn and winter use darker tones.
FABRIC Most base-layers are either made from natural merino wool, a synthetic fabric (usually polyester) or a mix of both. For more on the merits of each, see page 88.
FIT
WARMTH
Most soft shells are hoodless, like this one. This is great if you mainly wear the jacket as a mid-layer, as a hood would get in the way and be rendered superfluous by the stronger hood on your waterproof. Hoods work best if you want the jacket to be your main outer layer; just ensure that the hood closes tightly and is water-repellent.
A base-layer responds to changes in temperature around you. So don’t just go for the thickest, toastiest top. Like Goldilocks, look for something that’s in the middle, and let your mid and outer layers take care of the heat.
BACK LENGTH Most base-layers have a longer back than front (often called a ‘scooped’ back). This means it covers your whole lower back and some of the bottom, so that it your skin isn’t exposed if you’re hunched over.
Turn over to read the tests… OCTOBER 2015 COUNTRY WALKING 87
27 ROUTES with Ordnance Survey Maps
Britain’s best
WALKS OCTOBER 2015
s ThereeÕar one nu! yo
SOUTH WEST
SOUTH EAST
MIDLANDS
PHOTO: © STEWART SMITH / ALAMY
EAST
NORTH WEST
DUSK IN THE FELLS The distant shapes of Great Dodd and Clough Head seen from Great Mell Fell – turn to Wa 17 for Walk o your you route oute here. ee
Autumn’s afoot Discover an Iron Age fort in Wiltshire l Take a day out on the South Downs l Wander through the Wolds of Yorkshire... and many more great walks!
NORTH EAST
WALES
SCOTLAND
IRELAND
Britain’s est
WALKS
SOUTH WEST SOUTH EAST MIDLANDS
Find a great walk near you...
EAST
01 Devon Dartmouth & Kingswear
NORTH WEST
02 Wiltshire Figsbury Ring
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NORTH EAST
03 Somerset/Bristol Clifton Suspension Bridge
WALES
04 Gloucestershire Old Sodbury
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05 Hampshire Silchester
SCOTLAND IRELAND
06 East Sussex Falmer 07 Surrey Shalford 08 Bedfordshire Ampthill 10 Herefordshire Welsh Newton 11 Staffordshire The Cloud
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09 Nottinghamshire Idle Valley
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CHALLENGE WALK
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12 Lincolnshire Tattershall 13 Lincolnshire Wellingore
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14 Norfolk Earlham Park 16 Cheshire Garstang & Nicky Nook 17 Cumbria Great Mell Fell
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19 North Yorkshire Greenhow Hill 21 County Durham Old Durham
Route updates
24 Powys The Breidden Hills 25 Fife Hill of Tarvit Mansion 26 Aberdeenshire Loch Muick
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TERRAIN: Min 2,000ft ascent, sustained steepness and rocky or boggy ground. S
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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.
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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:
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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.
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If you spot a route which needs updating, email cwroutes@bauermedia.co.uk
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GRADIENT PROFILE Check the ascent and descent (hilliness) of the route with a quick glance at this profile.
CLASSIC ROUTE
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u The Torrs, New Mills September 2015, Walk 11 – Where ‘Broadbottom’ is referred to, it should read ‘Brook Bottom.’ u Stonehenge, August 2015, Walk 4 – Figheldean Working Men’s Club have asked walkers not use their car park. On street parking is available on the main street, but please avoid parking directly outside the primary school.
challenging
23 Gwent Newport Wetlands
ABBREVIATIONS We have abbreviated left to L and right to R.
04 03
01
extreme
22 Pembrokeshire Canaston Bridge
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.
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02
20 North Yorkshire Brimham Rocks
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.
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10
22
18 East Yorkshire Fridaythorpe
How to use your routes
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24
15 Cheshire Helsby Hill
27 Cumbria Greenburn Horseshoe
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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.