Solo Walking

I went for my first solo walk in Tod since we moved here. In the Southern Shire I regularly walked along the lanes and in the woods one my own and enjoyed the solitude.  Since moving here I haven't found a walk that I felt I could do, I wanted somewhere that I could walk to from the house, without much equipment and one that was long enough to make me feel that I had accomplished something.  I bought guides, joined forums on the web, one day I had a chat with a neighbour who suggested a walk up the lane across the road. I tried it and I was blown away by the route.  It was a circular route of about 2 miles with an elevation of 230 feet, compared with my Wheatley walks which were about 2.5 miles with an elevation of about 80 feet, I felt I had worked very hard.  Some points I was unable to walk up in one go and would have to pause, but  I never gave up and the views at the top were spectacular.  I will walk it again, perhaps varying the route I take and the length of time I spend out walking, until I reach my pre move fitness level, but for now I am happy I did it.

A Walk On The Wild Side

What to do when the weather is grotty and you are penniless?

Go for a walk, a damp, squishy walk.

We stoppe of at Gorpley woods and went in search of nature.

The initial path from the car park is very sloppy and quite treacherous, as always I'm okay going uphill, it's downhill I struggle with.

It was worth the slipping, sliding and midgies when we got to the first waterfall.

As Dirk said it was very similar to Ricketts Glenn in Pennsylvania.

Sculpture Trail - Fat Girl Walking

I'm really getting into the hill walking round here.  I was saying to GO just the other day, I remember complaining about how steep Ladder Hill in Wheatley was, but compared to some of the "mountains" round here it was a "molehill".  I find that I can walk for miles and miles on the flat but the minute the gradient goes up I start to struggle.    This is why I have tried to incorporate lots of hill walking into my repertoire.  They are difficult, they are killers but they are always worth it.  None more so then the Pendle Sculpture trail we went on this past weekend.  It was a warmish, sunny day.  I had picked up a few walking books and leaflets from the Tourist information Centre in the middle of Tod and had seen the Sculpture trail leaflet, I had seen it a few weeks before and I decided to check it out.

http://letswalkinpendle.btck.co.uk/thependlesculpturetrail

"The Pendle Sculpture Trail has ten ceramic plaques. Each has its own unique symbols which represent each of the Pendle people who were hanged 400 years ago in the biggest witchcraft trial in this country."  

We downloaded the guide, parked at the suggested car park in the village of Barley and set off, the get to the trail its about a mile through the village, past the green and two very full pubs.  I did feel sorry for the villagers having all of these ignorant tourists descending on the weekend of the bank holiday.  I have to admit that I did feel slightly smug, as I have just left Oxford where the bank holidays mean that you, a local/resident, can not do anything with out having to queue or barge through groups of tourists.  We carried towards the trail passing by the two reservoirs, over looked the entire time by the Pendle Hill.  "One day..."  I muttered to myself.  I have decided that one day I will ascend that hill, not by car, by foot.  I know it won't be a quick journey but I am determined that it will be under my own steam.  Just got to do a bit of research on the walk first.  For warned it fore armed and all that.

As we walked through the village and then off towards the trail, I thought I'd better phone home, just in case I didn't get back in time to Skype.  "The guide book says it takes three hours to complete the trail, we'll probably take four hours, if you don't hear from us by then we're lost".  We all laughed, (it turned out it only took us just over two hours and we stopped for a snack break)  only the day before I had heard in the news about a lady who had gone of the path on the Appalachian trail to pee and got so lost, that she wasn't seen alive again.  It made me think, its never a bad thing to let people know where you are.

We made it the start of the sculpture trail, we both knew it was in the woods on the hill, but neither of us had thought about what that would mean to two slightly unfit walkers.  I strode off at speed, I am obviously the more experienced walker, I made it  about 100 yards when I had to stop and catch my breath.  In my defense.....  It was a hot day, in fact the hottest I have ever experienced north of the M25.  I gathered myself and set off at more of a leisurely pace, and soon we have made it to the summit and so began the treasure trail.  The sculptures were clearly plotted on the guide, but what they looked like in 2D and what they looked like in real life made quite difficult to determine whether we were looking at a sculpture or a dead tree, some were obvious, others were so well hidden we couldn't find them.


Quaker Tree

Witch Finder

Ceramic Column

Reconnected 1

Reconnected 2

The Gate Way

Life Circle

Living wall

Two bats (look up)

Tree Roots

Spirits of the Wood

Spider on the Web (couldn't find)

Sleeping bat (look up)

Three Bats in Flight  (look up)

Owl

Then the

Top of the World Ma - Fat Girl Walking

One thing I've wanted to do since I started walking last year was to walk up a mountain.  I'm not deluded I know I need to work up to it and until now my only bit of practise was Ladder Hill in Wheatley.  Today GO and I did out first moor walk, it wasn't a long one.  We had no equipment (it was all in the car), we just wanted to get out and blow away the cobwebs.   

We walked along the canal that led to the reservoir, Saddle worth Moor.  I wanted to walk to the highest peak, but soon realised that would require a longer walk and I needed to get back to Skype the familam.

GO and I decided to walk for thirty minutes as far as we could get and then turn back.  It would be an hours walk, we wouldn't get lost if we kept the canal on our right hand side.

This was really useful for keeping a track of where we were but I spent most of the walk needing a pee.  It was ok for GO who took a "hedge ticket" when his bladder got to full I just had to hold it.

We're planning to walk the moor again, this time preparing for a longer hike, bringing food and perhaps shelter, and making a day of it.

Getting some fresh air - fat girl walking

Saturday morning, first day of the half term break and I woke up full of cold, feeling yucky.  I had the lurgy that everyone had recently had, including GO.  I thought I was immune, how wrong could I be!  

I took a couple of days to recover, I needed it.  The clocks going back were helpful, without trying I got extra sleep and still felt like I hadn't wasted my day.  

By Monday I was beginning to feel a little stir crazy, so I went for a walk.  I visited Waddeson manor (my favourite manor), rather than walking around the rose garden and aviary, which is the route I normally take I veered off to the right and had a fabulous time.  

The carpark was rammed, there was almost no room on the shuttle bus but on my walk I only met two people.  It was a chilly but sunny day, it hasn't rained in a while so the leaves were all crispy.  It was a perfect autumn day.  

I missed GO, but I needed the exercise and when I got home I was very grateful for it.  I even found a cave.  

I decided to walk back to the car which was a pleasant downhill stroll, I jumped through and rolled around in the leaves.  

On a side note, there is a huge bird that "lives" by the aviary, when I passed by the statue was gone. It must be away for the winter, I thought, it's only made of plants after all.  As I drove home I took a detour to the dairy,  when I arrived it felt like I shouldn't really be there so I pulled into the gardening workshop to turn around.  There standing proud amongst tractors and lawnmowers stood the bird! Not as glamourous a winter retreat as I had imagined!