FEBRUARY 2013
25 FREE STEP-BY-STEP WALKS WITH MAPS www.livefortheoutdoors.com
Your best year ever!
12
INSPIRING WALKING IDEAS FOR 2013
INCLUDING Walk the Malverns: the best of Britain in a day Try out Wainwright's lost Lake District epic Get fit to conquer the Yorkshire Three Peaks Discover Exmoor: our quietest national park AND MUCH MORE...
FREE!
WALKS OF A LIFETIME MUST-DO WALKS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
PLUS: Snowdrop walks l Mountain Rescue skills l Genius trousers!
FEBRUARY 2013 £3.99
ISSUE 311 IDEAS FOR 2013 | MALVERN HILLS | LOST LAKE DISTRICT EPIC | YORKSHIRE THREE PEAKS | CAMEL TRAIL | MOUNTAIN RESCUE SKILLS | SOFT SHELL TROUSERS
BRITAIN’S BEST-SELLING WALKING MAGAZINE
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Photo: FLPA/Alamy
Miles of ideas for a brilliant month outdoors
The Offa's Dyke national trail on the towpath of the Montgomery Canal near Llanymynech in Powys. Towpaths like this are at the heart of the Canal & River Trust's work.
NEWS
Big year ahead for our canals I
t's possible you missed it, but in 2012, British Waterways ceased to exist. The black-and-white signs that welcomed us to towpaths, lock-gates and basins full of history and heritage vanished, and in their place came new ones from the Canal & River Trust. This exciting new charitable body has taken on the management of Britain's 2,000 miles of canals and rivers, with a remit to involve the public as deeply as possible in the preservation of the waterways and their towpaths. Already, the Trust has put the UK's towpaths on Google Maps: the canalside tracks now appear as dashed black lines, with access points, crossings, locks and tunnels also shown, to help you use the canal network on your walks. Actor and comedian Hugh Dennis has fronted a UK-wide appeal for volunteers to help look after the towpath network, while he and other stars such as David Suchet and John Craven have led an appeal for ‘Friends’ to invest in the Trust. With a successful start under its belt, the Trust has big plans for 2013. Towpath Taskforce events will take place across the country on a localised basis, with volunteer groups planting, painting, weeding and removing graffiti. The Trust has launched a free app called eNatureWatch (via App Store and iTunes) which helps you identify and record waterside wildlife, with the data feeding back to the Trust to help it keep tabs on what is thriving where. And it has appointed the first-ever Poet Laureate of the Canals, and it's none other than Peak District guru and friend of Country Walking, Jo Bell (belljarblog.wordpress.com). We'll be doing more with the Trust later this year. For now, visit canalrivertrust.org.uk and see what's happening on a towpath near you. FEBRUARY 2013 COUNTRY WALKING 7
theview
8 COUNTRY WALKING FEBRUARY 2013
WILD THING S
Snowdrops Adored as the first tentative sign of spring, the snowdrop's simple beauty also allows you to play detective when you're on a walk…
O
n the wide, wooded lawns of Anglesey Abbey, people are down on their knees, eyes lowered and lips pursed in rapt contemplation. But this has nothing to do with the Cambridgeshire abbey’s history as an Augustinian retreat. These men and women are galanthophiles, worshipping the cult of the snowdrop. They shuffle along a snaking dell, its pearly flowers illuminating the banks like footlights. The galanthus flower has a long association with spiritual places. February 2nd is Candlemas, a Christian feast day, when a handful of snowdrops – or ‘Candlemas bells’ – would traditionally be sprinkled through church naves. The flower’s natural grace made it a favourite of clergymen, and that’s why you’re also guaranteed a snowdrop spectacle on February walks at places like Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire, Mount Grace Priory in Yorkshire and the shrine at Walsingham in Norfolk. Wild snowdrops are mostly garden escapees, and it’s said that if you come across a cluster on a woodland walk you can follow their trail, Hansel and
Gretel style, back to its ancestral source – perhaps a cottage flowerbed or abandoned graveyard. And even if you’re not swayed by the religious symbolism, Tennyson’s “solitary firstling” always seems like a harbinger of hope in the greyness of winter. It is spring’s missionary on every February walk, sent to cheer us up. And yet beneath the virginal-looking exterior, there's promiscuity. The snowdrop’s urge to crosspollinate has created a storm of subtly different varieties. Each has the same familiar teardrop petals dripping onto a nest of sharp blue leaves, but you need to look closer, at the intricate inner flower, with its mint-tipped markings. At Anglesey these come in 200 enigmatic variations – a star, a goblet, an inverted horseshoe. What also appeals is the flower’s sturdy underdog spirit. They are able to suspend ice crystals in tiny leaf pores during a frost, so that it can’t damage the plant. They can play dead for days, then spring back to attention when the mercury rises.
3 2
THREE SNOWDROP WALKS FOR FEBRUARY
1
ANGLESEY ABBEY, CAMBRIDGESHIRE
Anglesey Abbey’s snowdrop story began 25 years ago, when ditch-clearing unearthed 15 forgotten varieties, including one unique hybrid, Lode Star, stamped with a tiny upturned heart. These days more than 20,000 visitors flock to the annual ‘Snowdrop Festival’, to marvel at the flakes of white that sprinkle the 100-acre park and tour the ornamental winter garden with its startling colours. The grounds are arranged around a romantic Elizabethan manor house six miles north of Cambridge, and open daily, 10.30-4.30pm (£6.55/£3.25; 01223 810080, nationaltrust.org.uk).
2
MOUNT GRACE PRIORY, NORTH YORKSHIRE
Bang on the Cleveland Way and close to the Coast to Coast walk, Mount Grace is ripe for a country walking pilgrimage. Hunkering under the western flank of the North York Moors, the best-preserved Carthusian Priory in Britain is 600 years old and complete with furnished monk’s cell, arts-and-crafts mansion and friendly colony of stoats, who wriggle along the passageways. But come February, its snowdrops are the stars, millions of them drifting in blankets across the banks and ditches and spilling into the surrounding woodland. The priory is open at weekends all winter, from 10am-4pm (£5.20/£3.10; 01609 883494, english-heritage.org.uk).
A 4½-mile circuit takes you
WALK HERE! beyond the abbey bounds
CALLY WOODS, GALLOWAY
1
They are proud of their snowdrops down at Cally Woods. A couple of years back, a signboard was erected at the Murray Centre car park mapping the best pools of petally white, and volunteers have been known to spend whole weekends spreading out the delicate snowdrop bulbs even more widely among the beeches, sycamores and oaks. Spreading south from Gatehouse of Fleet village, the woods virtually guarantee you a snowdrop spectacle in February. The woods are always open (01671 402420, forestry.gov.uk). The yellow-waymarked
Our 8-mile circular walk titled WALK HERE! 'Osmotherly' passes close to the priory: download it for free at lfto.com/countrywalking
WALK HERE! Coronation Trail offers a 3-mile
circuit. For an 8-mile loop, keep going to Sandgreen, with its views across the Fleet Estuary (walk directions at sandgreen.org.uk).
FEBRUARY 2013 COUNTRY WALKING 9
Photo: imagebroker/Alamy
through winding fenland waterways to picturesque Lode Mill. Download directions at nationaltrust. org.uk/walks
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YOUR BEST YEAR EVER! To celebrate the dawn of 2013 we've packed the following pages with 12 fantastic ideas for the year ahead. So read on, go walking, and by December 31st we guarantee you'll have a head full of magic memories. Happy New Year to you all!
38 PAGES OF INSPIRING WALKING IDEAS! YOUR BEST EVER
BE INSPIRED BY BRITAIN
Kick-start your year in the Malvern Hills p26
CREATE YOUR OWN TICK LIST Forget Munros and go name-bagging p32
24 COUNTRY WALKING DECEMBER 2012
GO LONG IN THE LAKES
Wainwright's amazing 102-mile route p34
ENJOY THE ISLAND LIFE
Spectacular walks on the Isle of Arran p38
ESCAPE THE CROWDS
Discover our quietest national park p40
SEE A WILDLIFE SPECTACLE
Witness one of nature's wonders p46
YO PLA WA UR N O LK PE UT IN RF G Y EC EA T R!
YEAR ON FOOT STARTS RIGHT HERE...
HELP THE COUNTRYSIDE
Volunteer in the great outdoors p47
GET YOURSELF IN SHAPE...
... to tackle Yorkshire's Three Peaks p48
GO WITH THE FLOW
Explore the River Dee from source to sea p50
STAY IN THE WILD FOR FREE Spend a wild night in a Welsh bothy p56
WALK A RAILWAY LINE
Enjoy Cornwall's 18mile Camel Trail p58
STRETCH YOURSELF
Conquer new heights in Snowdonia p60
DECEMBER 2012 COUNTRY WALKING 25
Photo: Tom Bailey
This could be you! These brilliant ideas will give you the feelgood buzz you only get from walking.
YOUR BEST YEAR EVER!
1 BE INSPIRED BY GREAT BRITAIN Britain’s love affair with its green and pleasant land has brought about some great works of art over the years, but what does it take to inspire genius? Country Walking visits Elgar’s Malvern Hills to find out. Words: Rachel Broomhead; photos: Tom Bailey
I
F YOUR COUNTRY is going on show to the whole world, what would you put on display? That was the question facing Danny Boyle as he pondered the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games last summer. His answer? Glastonbury Tor and some sheep. Real ones. There was quite a lot else going on of course, but the one thing that remained throughout the whole phantasmagorical four hours was that lovely, Walnut Whip-shaped hill. A slice of idyllic countryside slap bang in the middle of East London might have been a bit disorientating, but with it Boyle captured Britishness perfectly. The sight of our ‘green and pleasant land’ has filled countless books and acres of canvas with brilliance
– think Turner, Constable, Wordsworth, Brontë and Hockney to name but a few. But when it comes to translating landscape into art, one name was at the top of Danny Boyle’s list this summer: Edward Elgar. It was his music that opened the opening ceremony itself, and that music came from the hills. To put it simply, to listen to Elgar is to listen to the very fabric of Britain’s hills and mountains. But although Elgar would undoubtedly have been chuffed to have his music played in a celebration of Britain’s countryside, I reckon he might have made one slight alteration if he were running the show: Glastonbury Tor would have been wheeled off in favour of his beloved Malvern Hills. »
The view north across the Malvern Hills from the Iron Age hillfort of British Camp.
YOUR BEST YEAR EVER!
3 TACKLE A LONG-DISTANCE PATH
There’s little better than hiking through the great British countryside day after day and we’ve found a trek in the Lake District that may well be the most beautiful 100 miles you’ll ever walk…
Just one of the hundreds of classic Lakeland panoramas you'll see: across Cat Bells and Derwent Water to the Skiddaw range.
Photo: Stephen Spraggon/Alamy
FEBRUARY 2013 COUNTRY WALKING 35
YOUR BEST YEAR EVER!
8 GET FIT FOR CHARITY
There’s no better way to shape up this year than setting youself a goal – and there’s no better goal than a sponsored hike of the Yorkshire Three Peaks… Words: Damian Hall
I
“You’ll be so fit that you’ll love every step of the long day’s walk”
Photo: Adam Atkins
OUR EXPERT Dr Andy Walling coaches Salomon’s allconquering trail running team and is a qualified physiotherapist who has worked with numerous athletes, including Paula Radcliffe. He is a former Welsh international track and cross country runner.
48 COUNTRY WALKING FEBRUARY 2013
STRENGTHEN UP These simple, do-anywhere exercises all help strengthen your quads (thighs), glutes (bottom), hamstrings (back of thighs), hips and calves, and prepare you for the challenge ahead. The best time to do them is at the end of a walk, but they can also be done independently. Start with 10 of each exercise and increase gradually with each session.
Photos: Tom Bailey
T’S MUCH EASIER to shake off that Christmas excess and get fit if you’ve got a target event written in your calendar. Tell a few people about it and ask them for a few pennies sponsorship for a good cause – and then there’s no backing out. Not that you’d want to back out of the Yorkshire Three Peaks. The hattrick of Yorkshire Dales heffalumps – Pen-y-ghent (694m), Whernside (736m) and Ingleborough (723m) – takes in some of the finest upland scenery in the Yorkshire Dales. It also provides a leg-testing, lungstretching challenge: 38km (24 miles), 1,400m of ascent, and a 12hour time limit. Our expert, Dr Andy Walling, has devised a fitness plan to get averagely active walkers like you and me – folk who enjoy an eightmile walk every week or two – ready for the Y3P in just eight weeks. In fact, you’ll be so fit that you’ll love every step of the long day’s walk – soaking up the scenery, posing heroically for summit photos, and lifting your victory pint when you return, triumphant, back at Horton in Ribblesdale.
STEP UPS
FORWARD LUNGES
AIR SQUATS
Simply find a step and take it in turns to move each leg from the floor to the step, then bring the rest of your body up with it. Then step back to where you were and change feet. One rep is two steps (one with each foot).
Step forward so your front knee reaches a 90-degree angle and your back knee is just touching the floor behind you. Push yourself back up and step back to original position. Repeat action with your other leg leading.
Stand with feet shoulder width apart and drop into a squat, throwing your arms outwards and upwards for balance and letting your knees drive outwards. Keep your weight over your heels and chest upright, then stand back up.
YOUR Y3P TRAINING PLAN Here’s your week by week plan: it might seem daunting but think about where you can fit more walking into your day. Could you get off the bus at a different stop and walk to work? Take a stroll at lunch? Squeeze in a hearty yomp before work? Try to simulate the conditions of the Yorkshire Dales – walking on grass and mixed terrain, and seeking out hills. It’s also important to mix walking speeds and distances; some shorter, faster walks and longer, slower strolls make a good combination. And always increase distance gradually – sudden bouts of exercise increase the risk of injury. Swimming, cycling or any other aerobic exercise (often referred to as
cross-training) will be beneficial too. Don’t worry too much about sticking strictly to each daily activity – it’s the weekly total, and progressively accumulating those miles, that’s important. Rest is crucial after the bigger workouts and in the week before Y3P remember to rest, sleep and in the last couple of days, stock up on carbs – the fuel for the challenge.
Crossing the limestone scars on the way to Ingleborough, third and final peak on the trail. Photo: Tom Bailey
WEEK 1-2
WEEK 3-4
WEEK 5-6
WEEK 7-8
MON
Rest
Rest
Rest
Rest
TUES
Walk 3-4 miles & 10 reps of each exercise
Rest
Walk 8-10 miles & 20 reps
Walk 4-5 miles & 20 reps
WED
Rest
Walk 4-6 miles on hills/ mixed terrain & 14 reps
Rest
Rest
Walk 3-4 miles on hills & 12 reps
Rest
Cross-train
Walk 3-4 miles (exercises optional)
FRI
Rest
Walk 7-9 miles & 18 reps
Walk 6-8 miles on hills & 20 reps
Rest
SAT
Rest (or cross-train – eg swim or cycle)
Rest (or cross-train)
Rest
Walk the Y3P (in record time)!
SUN
Walk 8-10 miles on mixed terrain & 16 reps
Walk 10-12 miles on hills (exercises optional)
Walk 14-16 miles (exercises optional)
Rest!
THURS
TIPS FOR THE BIG DAY The right food and drink is key. Chocolate and sweets provide an energy boost, but it’s short-lived, so mix them with dried fruit, flapjacks and peanut butter sandwiches for slower-burning energy. Bananas, too, are excellent. And keep drinking too – a hydration bladder is useful for keeping liquid to hand, and consider hydration tablets and isotonic sports drinks. WALK For a step-by-step guide and map HERE!
for the whole 38km/24-mile route, turn to Walk 17 in this issue.
FEBRUARY 2013 COUNTRY WALKING 49
YOUR BEST YEAR EVER!
9 GO WITH THE FLOW
Following a river from source to sea isn’t just a walk – it’s a story. And on its journey from the Cairngorms to the North Sea, the River Dee might just be the greatest storyteller of them all… Words: Keith Fergus
River Dee, mountain high: the royal river on its journey through the Mar Lodge Estate, with the giants of the Cairngorms beyond.
“A bite-size epic, telling the story of one of our greatest rivers in one wonderful weekend – and minus the padding.”
T
Photo: Mar Photographics/Alamy
HE STORY OF a river is the story of the landscape it passes through. Rivers create, shape and define their surroundings, and are themselves shaped by it. They are excellent navigators, finding the best path through mountains and forests and leading the walker to an even greater understanding of how the planet works. There are many wonderful rivers in Britain that tell great stories to a walker. That said, it can be an arduous task to follow them all the way from source to sea – even the greatest waterways pass through dull bits, and the full story can be a very long undertaking. So this year, we thought we would suggest a bite-size source-to-sea trail, telling you the whole story of one of our greatest rivers in one wonderful weekend – and minus the padding. So we’ve condensed an 87-mile epic novel into a weekend of three distinct circular walks, an abridged story that will pull you through and leave you gasping. The story of the River Dee. We took our inspiration from no less an authority than Queen Victoria. Her name has become synonymous with Deeside ever since she first visited in 1842. “Every year my heart becomes more fixed on this paradise,” she said of it. Almost single-handedly, she placed this magnificent landscape on the international map, for where she went, the world would follow. It’s through her influence that we now know the heartland of this amazing river as “Royal Deeside”. I am just one of these many followers who have come to adore this place. I have walked the footpaths of the Dee many times, but the three day-walks I have chosen take in the Linn of Dee and the Mar Estate, close to the source, the beautiful valleys around Ballater, and the city of Aberdeen, where the Dee reaches journey’s end. The Linn of Dee, six miles west of Braemar, is my first port of call – and it » FEBRUARY 2013 COUNTRY WALKING 51
YOUR BEST YEAR EVER!
12 CONQUER NEW HEIGHTS
Always had an itch to climb some of Britain's spikier hills? Why not scratch it in 2013? Scaling biggies like the Snowdonian Glyder range might be easier than you think‌ Words: Andy Cremin
60 COUNTRY WALKING FEBRUARY 2013
Magnificent Glyder Fawr from the shore of Llyn Idwal. We can help you climb it without having to put fingers to rock.
Photo: Superstock
Welcome to the
COUNTRY WALKING GEAR REVIEWS This month we have been experimenting with the genius and limits of soft shell trousers. It’s a tricky game: wrong choice on the wrong day and you get cold, wet legs. But right choice on the right day – cold, possibly showery or drizzly or even snow – and the waterproofs can stay in the pack as you stride out warm and comfy, knowing your legs will dry quickly too. The verdict: we love them and they are definitely first choice legwear over the winter months. Read on to see our findings in detail. Also this month: a range of beautiful, functional and offthe-wall winter walking hats to suit every need and taste.
Soft shell trousers Just defining ‘soft shell fabric’ is difficult. Describing it as “anything that isn’t hard shell” might be reasonably accurate but it isn’t exactly helpful. So for this test, what we are looking for is more weatherresistance than traditional walking pants and more breathability than waterproof trousers. And the emphasis is on a single pair that can be worn most of the time, rather than a combination of trousersplus-overtrousers. Of course, there are days when soft shell will be overwhelmed and only waterproof trousers will do. But for most walking, in most conditions, a good pair of soft shell pants will trump all – if you’ve not tried them yet, make this your year.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR... FIT A snug fit is best for performance and as the fabric is stretchy, it shouldn’t impede movement. Belt loops and elasticated panels in the waist will help make sure they don’t ride down. And drawcords or zips at the hems will assist in getting a close fit over boots.
Tom Hutton & Steph Duits Country Walking gear testers
FABRIC
CONTENTS Men’s soft shell trousers ............page 68 Women’s soft shell trousers ....page 70 Six of the best hats ........................page 72 CW recommends ................................page 74
66 COUNTRY WALKING FEBRUARY 2013
We’re looking for a stretchy, wind-resistant fabric with excellent breathability and some water-resistance. It should also feel reasonably warm when it does wet out and dry quickly afterwards. Some fabrics actually offer some insulation and these are great for colder days or higher hills but may be a little too warm in the summer months.
POCKETS Hip pockets are more secure when zipped and it’s also handy to have at least one secure pocket for valuables, eg keys. Cargo pockets on the leg are also useful for maps and larger items, but these aren’t used quite as much on soft shell trousers as on traditional pairs.
VENTS Zipped vents help to release heat around the thighs when things get a bit too balmy.
DURABILITY The knees and the seat should be reinforced with a tougher fabric, and reinforced inner ankle patches will prevent crampon tears in winter.
Photo: Tom Hutton
KNOWLEDGE | SAFETY ADVICE
How to…
Stay safe
Walking is mostly a safe, easy pastime where common sense is golden. But it’s wise to be prepared. We asked Mountain Rescuers to tell us what they’d really love you to know… Words: Nick Hallissey Photography: Tom Bailey
»
THE EXPERTS Peter Mounsey and Neil Hopkins are members of the Cleveland Mountain Rescue Team, based in Great Ayton and covering the northern area of the North York Moors and the Cleveland Hills. Their patch includes sections of the Lyke Wake and the Coast to Coast walk. For more on their work (and to make the all-important donation), visit clevelandmrt.org.uk
76 COUNTRY WALKING FEBRUARY 2013
FULLY LOADED
A Mountain Rescue Land Rover carries everything in an ambulance and more. Car and contents cost a mere £65,000.
“
Y
OU KNOW THAT fella Felix Baumgartner? Chap who jumped out of a balloon in space? He’s our hero. The first time he went for it, he stopped. He knew when to change the plan.” Peter Mounsey’s first lesson in staying safe on a walk is summed up by this neat comparison with the record-breaking orbital skydiver. And it works. How tempted would Baumgartner have been on that first morning, millions of dollars spent, the capsule ready for launch, the record there for the taking, and no certainty that the chance would ever come again? And yet safety prevailed over passion.
On perhaps a slightly less dramatic scale, we walkers can relate to that. If we’ve spent a lot of money on a walking break, we’ve been looking forward to it for weeks or months, and the goal is staring at us from those gorgeous hills up there, it can be hard to step back and say “not today”. But for Peter Mounsey and Neil Hopkins, that strength of will is crucial. For us lot, there will always be another day. “Knowing when your plans need to change – that’s really the most we can ask for,” says Peter. “If more people thought the way Baumgartner did that day, there’d be a lot less need for us.” »
UNPAID & UNFLAPPABLE
Peter Mounsey, left, and Neil Hopkins: a teacher and a paramedic with a nice sideline in rescuing people from the mountains.
FEBRUARY 2013 COUNTRY WALKING 77