Friday, May 25, 2007

Too much ... too little ...

'To do', and 'Time' that is.

Did anyone see where May went? I remember it starting a day or two ago, and now it seems to almost be over.

No blog updates for two weeks - unfortunately that kept getting dropped to the end of my list of things to do. Two new software releases recently at work have kept me far too busy. Evenings seem to have been spent planning more holidays for later this year, and packing ready for next weeks trip to North Wales.

We are staying in a cottage for a week in Nefyn on the Lleyn Peninsula. As a change we won't be walking every day. It's a bit of a family holiday so plenty of days on the beach and being touristy.

Then at the end of the week we will go and stay with my parents in Abergele for a couple of days. We have chartered a boat trip for the Sunday to go out fishing. Last time we did this the sea was a little too rough making us rather seasick. This time we shall be prepared!

So it will be into June before any further updates. Expect pictures of Welsh scenery next time.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

A long weekend in the Langdales

One bonus of my working 4 day weeks is that when a Bank Holiday Monday arrives, I get the Tuesday off in place of it. So last weekend I also booked off the Friday before and got 5 days away for 1 day of holiday.

We went camping in the Lake District, staying at the National Trust campsite at Great Langdale.


Getting there took us 5 and a half hours, and we set off at 5 in the morning! You can't book a pitch at the site, so it's first come first served. By getting there early on Friday we felt we had a better chance of getting on, and this proved to be true. They expected that by the afternoon they would be full.

After pitching the tent (spending ages hammering in pegs that seemed to know just where the stones / tree roots were) we went out for our first walk. This was up to Stickle Tarn, then around over Harrison Stickle. From up here we could look down on the site, and see it filling up.


(Campsite is in the trees in the middle of the picture)

Mountains are something we are sorely lacking in Suffolk. Walking in the Lakes is a completely different experience. We were puffed out after just a couple of miles, though to be fair we had climbed up 2000 feet.

Saturday was a great day to walk, there was a little cloud on the tops of the hills, but it was warm and forecast to stay dry. We did a long day, walking from the campsite up to the top of Bowfell (2960ft), along to Esk Pike (2903ft), then onwards to the highest point in England, Scafell Pike (3210ft).


(Bowfell Summit)

Back at the campsite that evening we watched a mountain rescue team assisting an injured walker on the hillside above the campsite. Someone had been struck by falling rock, and had to be lifted off by helicopter.

Sunday's walk started out as a plan to go up Pike o Blisco, but as we climbed the wind and rain got up. Abandoning that idea, we went on a circular walk around the hill, getting thoroughly soaked in the process. Fortunately the campsite had a tumble drier available, so all our gear went into that when we got back.

By Monday morning the campsite was getting much emptier - many people left on Sunday night either to beat the Bank Holiday traffic, or just giving up due to the weather. We set out on a lower level walk for the day, which of course then turned out to be fine and dry. We did manage to get to the top of another Wainwright fell - Loughrigg. From there we had great views down Lake Windermere, back up the Langdale valley and also over to Conniston. We then dropped down into Grasmere and picked up a bottle of wine to have with our camp stove cooked meal that night.

After finishing that up we settled in to the tent, then didn't get much of a restful night due to gales and downpours. The next morning we did a full cooked breakfast in the rain! By 11am there was no sign of it stopping so we had to pack the tent up wet. By the time we left, some of the streams around the site were looking rather full so we didn't mind too much that we had to go.


The view from our tent after everyone had gone home

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Waking up outdoors

Last weekend R and I completed our Sandlings Walk camping trip. Starting from Ipswich on Saturday morning, we made it all the way up to Southwold at 7pm on Monday.

We made a strange site walking across Rushmere golf course just before 9am on Saturday. Two people with large backpacks on mustn't be all that common on the fairways! Not too long later and we had left behind the built up areas and made it on to Martlesham Heath. The path then follows up the River Deben into Woodbridge. By this point it was a little after 11 and we were ready for a break. The smell of bacon from the riverside cafe was too tempting so we stopped for some mugs of tea and a bacon sandwich. Refreshed from that we continued on passing through the village of Bromeswell then down on to Sutton Common. Eventually we got into Tangham forest and set up camp at the forestry site. First days mileage - 17.5 so we were ready for the showers, food and bed.

Sunday morning was then a great feeling. It's so nice to wake up, open the tent door and just be outdoors. We boiled up the kettle and had tea, followed by bowls of porridge. We packed up and were on our way again just after 9. Starting right from the middle of the forest meant that it was really quiet. We saw plenty of birds and also a few deer. We also passed by the campsite that wouldn't allow us to book. He had just 2 caravans on the site so we couldn't understand why they wouldn't accept us for Saturday night. Still it would have meant walking an extra 4 miles the day before so we didn't mind.

It was a different story towards the end of the day of course - we then had the extra 4 miles to do! So Sunday turned into a 22 mile day. Highlights for the day included Wantisden church in the middle of nowhere, lunch at Snape Maltings and a weel earned pint of Adnams at our campsite near Sizewell at the end of the day. The biggest disappointment was planning on stopping off for a mid walk drink at the pub in Friston, but finding it closed when we got there.

The final day was 19 miles to Southwold, passing through Minsmere and Dunwich. From the very start point on the beach at Sizewell we could see Southwold lighthouse along the coast, but our route would be more winding inland. Dunwich forest was lovely. We've always walked along the coast before, this was the first time we had been on the inland route. I highly recommend a visit there. At long last Southwold came into sight again. We crossed the old railway bridge from Walberswick side and walked along past the fishing huts down to Southwold harbour. We finished just below Gun Hill, finding the final sculpture of the 11 that were placed along the trail.

Pictures to follow once I get them off the camera

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

That's where

So those photo's of Bury...

Top left is the framework around Specsavers. Top right is one of the door posts at Collis & Sons jewellers on Abbeygate Street. Finally the doorways belong to the Greene King brewery cottages.

My "Where in BSE" post at the flickr group hasn't been found yet. Closest guess has been the walls of the Abbey Gardens, but that covers quite a large area!


Have you seen this curious little statue embedded anywhere?


Update - 10th May 2007
The location has now been correctly guessed - it's in the outside of the Abbey Garden wall on Mustow Street (near Drive Vauxhall).