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2012 Archive Stories and pics from |
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2012 Archive Stories and pics from |
February Day Trip to Galloway
Much to my surprise the number of e-mails and texts continued to rise leading up to the day walk to the Galloway Hills. I was expecting the usual 8 to 10 walkers and ended up with a list of 19 ! It might have had something to do with Willie planning to knock off his penultimate Corbett ..? I had arranged to meet the direct travellers at the tea room in Carsphairn, which was situated in the local shop. Steven had notified the owners to expect 8 walkers, but when I arrived it was standing room only and the coffee and cakes were flying out of the kitchen. With everyone fed and watered, arrangements were made to leave a couple of cars in St John's Town of Dalry .. thanks to James .. and we all congregated at Forrest Lodge below the Rhinns of Kells.
The low level walkers set off for a southerly walk through the forest to meet up with the Southern Upland Way, which would then take them into Dalry .. a fine walk by all accounts (see below .. Ed). The high level group set off in a westerly direction and headed for Loch Harrow. Signposts guided us through the forest to open ground and a snowy path led up onto Polmaddy Gairy. At this point we were overtaken by a young skier heading for the summit of Corserine. On nearing the summit, he sped by us at great speed on his way down the hill. After a summit photo, the decision was made to head back the way we had come, as there was little point in walking along the ridge in the clag. Time would also have been quite tight due to the surprising amount of snow underfoot. It didn't seem to take long to retrace our steps back to the cars.
Once the walk was over we headed into Dalry for some refreshment. The Clachan Inn was very welcome with its open fire and the added bonus of some 'Old Speckled Hen' on draught. A perfect end to a good day in the hills.
Mark Setford
The low level group of seven, in addition to enjoying a great route in quite pleasant weather conditions, encountered or took part in various other sports ...
... none of which, unfortunately, were photographed!
AMcG
February Weekend to Ravenstonedale
On Friday, 15 of us made our way to Ravenstonedale in the Yorkshire Dales at various times of the day depending on walking aspirations and available time. Bob and Allan were to pick Willie up at Moffat at 9am, but possibly due to still being slightly asleep at that time, missed the turnoff, resulting in a little later start from Middleton-in-Teesdale. They walked a circular route from there returning along the Pennine Way past High Force and Low Force waterfalls. Chris, Kate, Iris and I travelled down together, arriving at the King’s Head at about 1pm. My brother Jim and wife Jill arrived from Milton Keynes a few minutes later and after a brief lunch we all set off on foot from the hotel, following the west bank of Scandal Beck north then crossing the spectacular Smardale Viaduct and making our way back to Ravenstonedale over Smardale Fell. The route didn’t quite go to plan and a few fences and dykes had to be negotiated before we made it back. We stopped off at the Black Swan for a beer to find that John and Diane had arrived and Bob, Allan and Willie had returned from their walk but were at the King’s Head, probably looking for us. Debbie and Susan and Mark and Miriam arrived a short time later. Accommodation for the group was split between the King’s Head and the Black Swan and it was at this stage we discovered that the tentative arrangement of all eating at the King’s Head on Friday and the Black Swan on Saturday would not work out as both hotels were very busy on both nights at popular eating times. This caused no real problems with both groups eating in their own hotels and meeting up for drinks later.
Saturday started very wet but the forecast was for an improvement by mid to late morning, so the main group set off for Keld to do a circular walk taking in part of the Pennine Way and the village of Muker. Susan and Debbie headed for the Howgill Fells and started their walk at the Cross Keys at Cautley and climbed up to the Cautely Spout Waterfall which has a huge drop of 200 metres. They then continued over Bram Rigg Top, Calders at almost 700m and Arant Haw before descending to Sedbergh to catch a local bus back to their car. Kate, Jill and Iris had a trip to Kendal where they did some shopping and walked along the river up to the Castle. By the time the main group arrived at Keld the sun was out and we had an excellent walk along part of the Pennine Way to Muker where refreshments were taken at the Farmers Arms before returning along the east side of the River Swale back to Keld. There were a few showers of snow and hail on the return trip which affected the girls, high on the Howgills, more than us on our lower level route. After evening meals we all met up in the Black Swan for a few drinks and to exchange stories of the day.
Sunday dawned a tremendous day with not a cloud in the sky. With the exception of Debbie and Susan, who had a short visit to Kirkby Stephen before driving home, the rest of us parked at Kirkby Stephen and set off for Nine Standards Rigg, about 4 miles south east of the town. A good single track road and path leads all the way to the top at 662m. We had lunch sheltering in some ruins, out of the icy wind very close to the nine substantial cairns which give the area a couple of hundred yards to the north of the top its name.
On the return to Kirkby Stephen everyone headed off home except for Chris, Kate, Iris and I. We had decided to linger at the King’s Head for another night before having a more leisurely drive home on Monday. Unfortunately Monday’s weather was not so good but Chris and I did manage out for rather wet, windswept walk around Ravenstonedale while the ladies read the papers by the fire. We finished off with a visit to the chocolate factory in Orton for a snack before driving home.
Everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy the weekend and both hotels were excellent with great accommodation, food and staff. Well worth a return visit.
Ian Moffatt
