You are viewing ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=91.6){kind=small}
andyexplores's journal
You are viewing andyexplores's journal
|
|||||||
 |
|
|
|||||
|
Norwich to Ipswich (The long way round)  Parking up in the small forest car park in Blair Atholl I was excited, I knew there was a reason I had brought all my camping gear with me! I've always loved a bit of hiking/camping, and the oppertunity to do it now in the middle of nowhere rural Scotland was amazing! And whats more, that rain had stopped! Okay, everything was still soaked, but that wasn't important! I had no real plans, I had my map and compass, a tent on my back, a few clothes, a stove and food, which is what made it so exciting! I could be gone for an hour, a few days, or weeks if I wanted to! and it is that sense of freedom and adventure which fuels my love for the outdoors (although I appreciate a number of you reading this now will disagree with me, and the idea of heading out into the rain soaked mountains with a rucksack is both stupid and odd! - if this is that case, then please just accept me for my stupid, odd self so we can carry on!) So that was it, my bag was packed, and I was heading in the rough direction of Carn Liath the largest mountain in the area.  I left the car at 6pm, but being the summer I still had a good few hours left before the sun would disappear, so I set a good pace aiming to get as far into my route as possible before I had to pitch my tent, hopefully saving me time the next day. The walk from the car park into the hills was beautiful. Walking through the glistening woodland with the sound of birds being drowned out by the thundering rapids of the river in the valley bellow made for a gr4eat intorduction to this rugged yet picturesque landscape. My route took me through an estate and onto a long distance rifle range! Luckily after checking the shedule I was safe to walk though the rifle range, but walking so close to life size deer targets was a little un-nerving, particuarly as it was the middle of deer stalking season - which leads me to the next encounter.... Stopping on a bridge for a dribble of water and a consult of the map, I happened to notice a scrap of paper pinned to the footpath sign up ahead, so I went to investigate. Ill save you the full details, but essentially, the route up the mountain had been closed due to the deer stalk which was due to be taking place the next day! Annoying yes, but I wasn't going to turn round now and sleep in the car agin, not when I was out here in such beautiful countryside, so I unfolded the map and began to consider my options. Other than the mountain, the only other feature nearby was the river I was currently sat above, a closer inspection on the map reveled some waterfalls called the Falls of Tarf about 12 miles away, so I had somewhere to walk to! Energised by my deciiosn I sprung back into action and headed off following the river upstream.  Now obviously I wasn't going to walk the 12 miles now, but I still had some daylight left, so I walked for another hour or so taking in the fresh post rain air of the mountains and grinning like a cheshire cat with the excitment of being out having an adventure. I had reached my 8pm deadline, and by coincidence had also just stumbled upon a perfect campsite in a flat square of grass above the river by accessable to get water for cooking/drinking, so with no time to loose I headed down to the grass and began setting up camp.  After pitching my tent and collecting water for dinner I began to notice something, I had the funny feeling I wasn't alone at this campsite, and after a bit of searching around I realised what it was, I was COVERED in midges! Vicious things, not like the soft southern midges, these were hardy Scottish midges, with tattoos, a can of tennants, and and angry accent! They were literally eating me alive, and of course the one thing I didn't have with me - insect repelant. First things first was to cover up, so the long sleeves and hat came out, as did the aftersun which was applied liberally which seemed to help in the battle against the mosquittos in France, but proved unsuccessful here! There was only one thing for it, I needed a fire! So I set about gathering kindling, wood, and stones to build a fire. The wood was all soaked from the rain, but fortunatly (being a good boy scout and all) I had some dry tinder in my bag, and with a little encouragement in the form of methylated spirits I got it burning well enough to defeat the midges! Andy 1 - 0 Midges! Proud of my achievment over nature I ate a healthy dinner of noodles and cashew nuts (Pure Energy) and folled up by washing my stove in the river and eating some jelly next to the fire whilst watching the last of the sun disappear over the mountain - beautiful.  The next morning I woke up fully rested and raring to go! A quick power breakfast of poridge and wild rasberries picked the evening before whilst walking though the forest, gave me the energy to pack up the camp, get my bag sorted, check the bearing and carry on walking! I had about 8 miles to cover to get to the falls, and then I would decide what to do! As I was up early the dew was still on the gorund, and the temperature was low enough to keep my hat on, but it son heated by, and by 10 o clock I was back in the shorts and tshirt which I prefer! If the walk yesterday was rugged, then the walk today was basically Chuck Norris! Nothing was well rounded or smooth, every rock was jagged, the river was turbulent, the clouds were spikey and pointed, even the plants were tough being predominantly thistles, gorzes, and pines, but far from being intimidating, I was strangly calmed by it, it was a beautifully peacful valley, and I felt so far away from anywhere it was a great oppertunity to sort things out in my head, and get some prespective on things - I'll save you from all the self reflective mumbo jumbo, but it was a very cathartic expereince! Getting to the waterfalls, was technically easy, but the distance was considerable enough over rough ground to provide a challenge, but it was certainly worth it when I turned the corner and heard the power of water tumbling from above. Not the biggest waterfalls in the world, but a perfect example of the power of nature and the harshness of the environment met me as I turned the final corner and crossed a little bridge revealing the whole picture!  Settling down for lunch I was glad I wasn't a cat, because curiosity got the better of me, and I headed off around the rocks to try and get a better view of the upper waterfall! If my mother could have seen me at that point I doubt she would have been very happy with me, as I was dangling off the edge of effectivly a cliff, the deep cold water bellow me, and no real way back, but I made the traverse, and got up close and personal with the waterfall - beautiful! (Sorry mum!)  By the time I had stopped mucking around getting my geography on it was 2pm, and I considered my options. I was planning to head to Aberdeen the next day, so it was either a case of heading back towards my campsite tonight, staying there and getting up early to walk the last few miles back to the car, or try and get back to the car tonight and head back into town to a campsite there. I looked at the map, and considered some of the distances. To get back to my campsite would be about 10 miles, and the ontop of that would be another 8 miles or so to get back to the car - walking at a good fast pace of 4 mph, I could be back at the car at 6.30ish I roughly calculated - a reasonable enough time to head back into the village and find a campsite, so the personal challenge had been set! Off I went, no time to loose! The going was fast, and save for the odd water stop and food session I didnt really stop for about 4 hours, I was on shedule, but I was begining to ache! I had the beginings of a blister on my right heel, and had surcumb to what can only be described as chronic chafing (gents you'll understand if you've ever made the wrong underwear choice when doing some exercise) it got to the stage where the underwear simply had to go, but that wasn't a problem as the only person I had seen for the duration of my time in the mountains had been a lone mountain biker on my walk up from the car park the previous day! Sans underhousen my pace and gait certainly improved and I managed to get back to the car park at 6.40! Not bad going really, having covered a distance of about 26 miles! Literally a marathon of a walk! Luckily finding a campsite was easy, and it was even pub adjacent!, which proved a very popular choice after a shower! My time in the mountains had been amazing! A beautiful place I would love to return to and explore further, there honestly is nothing more relaxing and empowering than heading out into the wilderness with everything you need in a bag on your back! There was only one just thing to do, a bit of self surgury - bye bye blister! 
So as you may have gathered from my last couple of posts I really do love the Lakes, but the adventure must continue, and so I was up early for a hearty breakfast before I set off for the border! I had been to Scotland a couple of times before, but it is always somwhere I have wanted to return to and explore a bit more thoroughly! The drive out of the lakes and up to the border was easy going, and the weather was stunning, that was until I crossed the border where in some meteorological cliche it started to hammer it down! Not to be detoured by rain which by now had taken on apocolyptic proportions I carried on until I was forced by hunger to stop at a little out of the way petrol station/cafe just outside Glasgow. The 3 second walk from my car to the cafe ensured I was soaked through, so it was a comfort to see how much fried food was on the menu for lunch! I settled for the chicken in a bun and engaged the man behind the till in a conversation to that effect. Now being a geography teacher I like to think I have a certain grasp on geographical information including a country's flag, capital city, perhaps even its currency, and of course the language they speak. Now previous to this encounter I had always assumed that in Scotland they spoke English, to further confirm this I have actually met Scottish people before, and have had lengthy conversations with them in what I can only described as English. This conversation however was something else....the man behind the till was sporting a t-shirt which proclaimed proudly (if not a tad aggressivly) that he was indeed Scottish, but the language coming out of his mouth was indecipherable! I came to conclusion he was either speaking in tounges or was very, very drunk, and decided either way saying "sorry can you say that again" for the 4th time wouldn't be wise, so I just smiled and nodded, gave out a little laugh as if to aknowledge that I had understood every word, and took my bottle of irn-bru to my table and awaited my chicken in a bun! The chicken wasn't actually too bad, and even had a side salad (coleslaw with such a low vegetable content it was basically mayonaise!) so satisfied I headed back out into the rain to continue my journey, but not before mumbling towards the fiercly patriotic Scotsman in aknowledgment that the food was edible, to which he seemed pleased - or perhaps he was still drunk! Back in the car I had a decision to make.....originally I had planned to head up to Fort William in order to climb Ben Nevis, but I had heard good things about the Grampians and this was the fork in the road.... I chose the right hand fork justifying that I could come back to Ben Nevis and climb it another day, and if I chose to do it I would be doing it for the sake of it being the highest peak in the UK, so instead I head off into the unknown and left the motorway for the now semi-flooded A-Roads of central Scotland. Hours passed, and the roads began to meander more as the relief increased (spot the geography terms!) I didn't really have a plan, and by the time I reached the small town of Pitlochry on the outskirts of the Grampian Mountains national park it was getting quite late, a decision had to be made, so I walked into one of the ubiquitous outdoor shops and grabbed a map - opening it, my eyes were assulted by a sea of orange contours, punctuated by commas of forest, and semi colons of rock out crops (an analogy too far?) The decision had been made, and my start point was in the next village, so I spent the next half an hour stocking up for the days ahead, and headed for the small village of Blair Atholl where mercifully the rain stopped! Sleeping in the car for the whole night was actually quite comfortable! Definitely more comfortable than I expected! So feeling refreshed and energised from my home made banana and poridge breakfast I headed into town to meet the others. I decided to drive us to Scafell as I didn't have a parking space at the B&B, and plus the roads are awesome! The road from Windemere towards Scarell includes Wrynose Pass and Hardknock Pass, probably two of the craziest roads I have ever encountered! The fiesta did a stirling job, and coped with the switchbacks, intense gradients, rain, towering hedges and impossible corners with ease, and after about an hour of intense driveing we were parked at the base of the mountain ready to start out ascent! (Unfortunatly due to the intensity of the drive I dont have any pictures of the pass, but hopefully Nick will so I can steal some!) The last time I climbed Scafell Pike was last Easter when myself and Tommy had an epic 9 hour day climbing Scafel, and Scafell Pike with some scrambling and beautiful views acompanied by warming sunshine at the top! Today however, was slightly different. Lower down the slopes the weather ahd all the promise of an English summer day, but higher up the dark grey clouds told another story and the ending didn't look good as we left the car park and began the walk to the sumit.  The actual walk up itself was easy going and walking along a bubbling stream tumbling over a series of small waterfalls afforded a good enough distraction to the gradient and looming weather. Soon enough though we vered away from the river, and instead started pearing through the mist for the next cairn which would lead us to the top!  3 Hours later, and we were on the final climb, wet not from the rain, but from the cloud we were now surrounded in, visibility was poor, and we slowed our pace down to ensure we didn't loose anoyone by spreading out. We reached the top almost without noticing! If it wasn't for the cairn, and triangulation point at the top we wouldn't have known, the weather by this stage was pretty poor, so it was a case of taking a few photos, and then munching a pie or two brought from the butchers this morning (yum!) before heading back off the summit into the thick grey 'pea soup' fog!  Coming down proved slightly more eventful when the visibility became so bad we were unable to make out the next cairn marking the path way, so we turned to the good old compass reading which kept us heading in the right direction. I won't lie there was one stage where it appeared we were in the middle of nowhere, with no discernable features anywhere in our panorama, with only the map and compass to guide us, it was a bit of a shaky moment especially as the gradient had become much stepper and every now and then we would see the jagged outline of a drop or overhang - fortunatly mother nature decided we had been through enough today, and a gap appeared in the fog revealing a stunning picture of the sun pouring down onto the lake bellow! We had seen the light, and we followed the gap in the cloud all the way down the mountain until we were once again on the sunny lower slopes of the mountain, full once again with the enthusiasm we had had at the begining of our trek.  We took our time comign down, and made the most of the waterfalls and shade to chill out and take pictures, even deciding to go for a swim until we realised it was actually bloody freezing which was when we decided to head for the the local pub and a well deserved lamb shank and pint of ale! (How quintesentially northern!) Dinner was spectacular, but the adventure wasn't over yet, driving home I made the decision to avoid the passes as the sun had long set, so instead we too the cross country route driving down tiny lanes and tracks in the pitch black whilst telling horror stories! The atmosphere was certainly edgy, and the sporadic appearance of suicidal sheep in the road didnt do much to calm the nerves either, but the warm glow of Windemere beconed on the horizon, and the promise of a shopwer and a camp bed on the floor of the guys room at the B&B made the jounrey home more comprtable, and soon after a long and tiring day I was showered, dry, and lying in a comfy bed drinking a well earned beer! I really do love the lakes! 
When Belinda Carlisle was writing her timeless classic "Heaven is a place on Earth" I can only imagine she had the lake district in mind!
It was almost time for the big event, so I headed back towards Windemere in the hope of finding a small patch of grass to camp on....this is where the problems started! Turns out the Lakes are a pretty popular place in the middle of the summer, and after driving around like a madman it turns out every lite square of grass had been booked up! So I resigned myself to some illegal camping, and headed back into Windemere to meet Mr Nick Colwill, Miss Emma Walker, and Miss Emma Kennard! In the lakes for some mountain walking and canoeing, we all met up and had a massive chinese! Was great to see them all again and catch up and swap stories! Over crispy duck and satay squid, we agreed we would all climb Scafell Pike the next day, and with our stomachs full, and the rain pouring we went our seperate ways, unfortunatly for me that meant a night in the car after deciding the rain was far too heavy to even atempt pitching my tent!
Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone. I'm getting pretty good at this sleeping on a ferry business now, and I recon I managed a solid 2 hours on the way back to Holyhead! Back on terra firma, it was back to the car, and onto the roads. I didn't really have a plan other than head in the general direction of the lake district, so I set out at 1am promising myself that I would get as far as I could by 3am or until I got too tired then I would pull over! Well by 3am I was way past Chester and basically on the M6 north! The roads were absolutly empty, and the combination of the tunes I had bought in Dublin and the cold night air made sure that I was more than awake when I tried to get some sleep in a layby! Fortunatly with the front seat all the way back I was able to stretch out and with the help of my sleeping bag managed a couple more hours, only to be woken up by the noise of lorries driving past me - 7am a reasonable time to carry on my journey to the lakes! Tally Ho! (what does that actually mean?) Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone. Well I managed 3 episodes of Dawson's Creek before I fell asleep, which was a shame because it was all about to kick off in the next episode I recon! It was awesome to be able to have a lie in, especially in what I think was the comfiest matress EVER! Honestly it was womb like it was so comfy! Lie in and breakfast dealt with, and it was time to pack my bag up and head into the big city again! We had three items in the adgenda: buy a County Antrim hurling shirt, buy as many moros as I could fit into my pockets, and find a suitable pub to watch the GAA hurling semi finals!
If you've been to Africa you will be familiar with the fact you can buy wierd and wonderful chocolate bars almost everywhere you go, bars with weird names, or completely new concoctions entirly! Well I discovered moros in deepest darkest Uganda and my life changed forever! What a chocolate bar incredible! I couldn't stop raving about them, and would tell everyone we knew! This was before I found out you could get them in Ireland! Well imagine! To be so close to such a beautiful thing my whole life and not realise it! So I was going to make up for lost time! Straight to the nearest tescos and I was the proud owner of 5 moros! 30 seconds later I was down to 4! We still had a couple of hours before adgenda item 3 was going to kick off, so we headed towards Trinity College where Ruth and Laura had studied medicine. I had been to Trinity the last time I was in Dublin, but once again being with someone who actually went there made the experience much more interesting! Trinity is a proper university, with old buildings and the 'hogwarts factor' I could definitely see myself studying here, although I did think it was strange to have loads of tourists walking around (can't really imagine hordes of tourists wandering around the square at UEA taking pictures!) Trinity also houses the book of Kells - no, not an index of Essex wanabe wags, but an ancient book writen by monks, and the oldest evidence of christianity in Ireland! The book itself is small and dimly lit, but the workmanship and man hours gone into producing it are as evident today as they ever were! Incredible to think how much work went into producing it, worth going to see, but go with a Trinity student because it's free!
Saying goodbye to everyone was pretty sad, I had only been in Dublin for 2 days, but I felt so at home there, everyone was so chilled out and friendly, and the atmosphere around the city was awesome! (ill be back in sept/oct for some surfing!) But the adventure had to continue, so after saying goodbye to Ruth I checked onto my ferry again and as we pulled out of the harbour was treated to an incredible sunset! The pictures really don't to it justice! A heartfelt goodbye to Ireland then, and a return to Wales for the next leg!
Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone. My morning was most certainly not top! 3 hours of broken sleep on the floor of the ferry had made me feel worse than if I had stayed up! Our bus was one of the last to leave the ferry, and when we did finally emerge into the greyish light of early morning, it was hardly a warm welcome! The greeting from Ruth was a hundred times better though, especially as she had stayed up from her night out to come and meet me! Legend! We were both pretty desperate for sleep, so we headed back through the empty streets of Dublin with the morning light promising us a good day, until we reached Ruth's house in the suburbs where we crashed out and got a much needed powernap! Powernap over, and it was off the the shops to buy the ingredients for a full Irish breakfast, suprisingly similar to the English kind, but with more Celtic flair and a better accent! It was the perfect breakfast for a day of sight seeing and adventure! First stop was to Dublin's Phoneix park which can lay claim to being the biggest park in Europe, and on such a beautiful day, it was, as you can probably imagine, packed! We faught for a parking space, and headed over to watch one of the cricket matches whilst we waited for laura. The last time I had seen either Ruth or Laura was in Malawi this time last year, so whilst we waited we had a proper catch up and reminised about our African adventures! Turned out that Laura was waiting at a different cricket match! (and there's me thinking cricket wasn't popular in Ireland!) so we headed in that direction and finally caught up with her!
Other sites on the tour (expertly guided by Laura!) were the Irish presidents house, the American ambassadors house (complete with American football pitch in the back garden!), the Pope's cross, and an obelix advertising the location of all the drug dealers, rent boys, and tranvestites in Dublin! (if you believe the tour guide!)
Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone. Just left Wales - shattared by excited about the adventure! Just realiaed the last time I did this journeu was 2 years ago on lacrosse tour! Slightly different atmosphere on the boat this time! Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone. So now we're slap bang upto date with the blogging! And I am currently sitting in the ferry port at Holyhead waiting for my ferry to Dublin whiche leaves at 2.30am! Originally I had hoped to take the car and drive from Dublib to Belfast via Galway, and then another ferry over to Scotland, but at a price of £350 thats a tad too much for my budget! So i have parked the car (she deserves a rest too!) and I am now on foot for the weekend in Dublin! My friends Ruth and Laura who Tommy and I met in Africa almost exactly a year ago, have very kindly said they will put me up and show me around! So bring on the craic! Well in 3 hours anyway! Oh and this happened on the way to Holyhead! Good times! Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone. Phew so I have almost caught up with myself! Sorry for the multitude of blogs but I've finally got a bit of time to sit down and right them, and I don't want you to miss out on anything! :) So the day started with a mountain climbing breakfast of poridge (thanks Joe!) before a whistle stop tour of Aber (check me out talking like a local!) and then off to Snowdonia for a bit of walking! First stop on the Aber tour was the picturesque sea front! Although appealing today, apparently in the winter months the sea can throw pebbles as far as the windows across the road! Insurance nightmare! Next on the tour was the Welsh national library, an imposing structure built high up on the hill overlooking the town, I tried to get a picture of the car with the view behind, but all I suceeded in doing was ruining their manicured lawns, so we left pretty sharpish after that! It was another beautifully sunny day in Wales, and as we drove north towards snowdonia the terrain got more rugged, and the roads (if at all possible) got even more fun to drive on! Pulling up the the base of the mountain was pretty intimidating! Not the highest in Wales, but a definite challenge! This mountain doesn't do things by halves, and rather than a gentle series of switchbacks to get you up the gradient it prefers the stright up option! Mental! But once we had started the initial discomfort had disappeared, and it was so good to be back trekking in the mountains again! Especially after being in a car all week! A perfect way to stretch the legs! Emerging through the forest we were met by an incredible waterfall which was fed by a crystal clear lake further up the mountain which was guarded and look over be the intimidatingly jagged peak! As you can imagine I took quite a few pictures, but rather than put them all up here, I've tried to pick the best ones! After our brief stop it was back to the punishing incline to the base of the final ascent where we decided would be a good place to re-fuel, and I had just the thing....Jonny's lasagne! Lovingly wrapped in clingfilm it was the perfect food for the job at hand! And it was bloody delicious too! Full of energy we raced to the top practically running at the end, and we reached the summit with 10 minutes to spare after peering over the perilously steep edges! The views from the top were stunning, and I hope you'll forgive a few more pictures!
I said my goodbyes and watched Zoe get on the train, saying goodbye as I did to an awesome mountain climbing machine! Back in the car I had a decision to make, so i grabbed my road map and started to ponder...should I stay in Wales and climb some more mountains, should I head eastward towards Chester and behind my journey north, or should I take the 3rd option which until now had been nothing more than a crazy idea? Which one do you think I went for....the crazy idea of course! So I put my key in the ignition, checked my mirror and headed towards Holyhead to see a man about a ferry! Vrooooom! Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone. |
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
The reason for the rush was firstly to get Zoe back to the train station on time (they only come once every 3 weeks or something in this part of the world!) and secondly to avoid getting soaked, and the rain was coming in fast! So we got a pace on the military would be proud of, and got back to the station in time without getting wet! Brilliant!