Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2023 i Country Walking

This month I've been… ONE OF THE things I love best about walking is the appetite it builds for the simple and good things in life. Fresh air to breathe. A sun-warmed tree trunk to sit against. The virtuoso scored-on-the-wing song of a lark. A silly joke. A squelchy noise. A calorific snack (pure joy in, pure virtuous energy out). I don't think my body contains more capacity for pleasure than is contained in such things. Food is the fuel of all our adventures, our rightful reward and the focus of so much of our musings and our energies. Its production has shaped much of our countryside; its shifting specialities and nuances have given us a country we can navigate by our tastebuds as well as our compass. The smell…

'Walking kept me going' ‘It gave me focus and a goal, and the physical act of walking created endorphins that lifted my mood. I still walk when I'm feeling down, and always come home feeling better for it.’ Jill Hobbs 'It was and is my saviour' ‘My husband suddenly died seven years ago, leaving me a widow at 50 with two small children and an older one. Our life was torn apart, but walking was and is my saviour. It helps me breathe and keep sane.’ Alison Green '#walk1000 miles got me through' ‘My husband and I were both keen walkers, but sadly he took his own life. I continued walking with family and friends, but then came the pandemic. It was being committed to #walk1000miles that got me through,…

SEEN YOU'VE WON? Email walk1000miles@countrywalking.co.uk with your address and a pic of you holding this edition to claim your precious! #minichallenge16 Spot something in a tree #minichallenge17 Find an interesting manhole cover #minichallenge18 Share something lost or found It's never too late to start: www.walk1000miles.co.uk/signup #minichallenge19 Walk a shape #minichallenge20 Collect a rainbow…

Kes the conker-colour Cocker is an inveterate explorer, often finding his way into the unlikeliest of places when we're busy putting the magazine together. In fact he's hiding out in this issue for you to find! Spot him (not on this page) and you could win over £47 worth of Mountain Paws goodies –just email the page number where you found Kes, along with your address, to: ifoundkes@LFTO.com by 16 June 2023 putting ‘Kes June’ in the subject line. Congrats to Maurice Burton from Darlington, who spotted Kes on p34 of the April issue, and wins this month's prize! GREAT PRIZES WORTH OVER £47…

DISCOVER Bakewell pudding LOCAL FOODS MORE MYTHS, MISDIRECTIONS and mistruths exist about the origin of Bakewell pudding than almost any other dessert on Earth. Almost no element of the ‘history’ is undisputed, but the most common version is that, some time in the early 19th century, a cook at the White Horse Inn (on the site of today's Rutland Arms in the centre of Bakewell) mixed up the instructions for a jam tart and spread a paste of egg and almond on top of the jam, causing the paste to set like an egg custard. The accidental creation went down a treat, and a legend was born. (But just as many accounts will tell you the hotel got the recipe from an Italian nobleman who stayed as a guest.) To…

WALK HERE Isaac's Tea Trail is waymarked, and shown on OS maps: you need Explorer OL31 & OL43. Detailed information at isaacs-tea-trail.co.uk GETTING THERE Join the trail at Allendale Town or Alston: bus 681 runs from Haltwhistle train station to Alston; 688 runs Hexham to Allendale. WHERE TO STAY Brilliant hostels at Alston (beds from £24) and Ninebanks (beds from £10) – both yha.org.uk,private rooms available. Allendale Bunkhouse is good for groups (allendalebunkhouse.co.uk), or there's a choice of B&Bs and pubs. The gorgeous bijou (six-bed) Mill Cottage Bunkhouse (millcottagebunkhouse.com) is close to the trail in Nenthead (beds from £18). WHERE TO EAT Top tea and bakes at The Nook Farm Shop and Cafe near Kirkhaugh (thenookfarmshop.com). BYO to Ninebanks hostel or book a meal pack. Range of pubs and cafés in Allendale,…

THE ABERFFRAW BISCUIT (or cake) goes by a number of names, but whatever you call it, with a tradition dating back to the 13th century, it's often held up as the oldest recognised biscuit in Britain. Abasic shortbread, moulded into the shape of a scallop shell, the Aberffraw might not be the best known of all biscuits these days, but boy does it have serious heritage. In Welsh it's the teisen Berffro –teisen meaning cake and Berffro being a colloquial rendering of Aberffraw, the coastal village on Anglesey from which they are said to hail. The story goes that the wife of a 13thcentury Welsh king who kept court at Aberffraw was walking on the beach while her husband was busy doing kingly stuff in the town. Spying a scallop…

PRESSING BUSINESS Much Marcle, Herefordshire Ciders are to Herefordshire what Pinot Noirs are to Burgundy. One of the county's largest producers is Weston's of Much Marcle, makers of Stowford Press and Old Rosie, founded by Henry Weston in 1880. The apples in its cloudy scrumpy and full-bodied vintage ciders are all grown within 50 miles of the firm's historic mill, where you can look forward to a tour and tasting after a thirsty 9½-mile walk (see westons-cider.co.uk/tour to book). We recommend a ramble through cider orchards to the neighbouring village of Putley before looping back along the bosky ridge of Marcle Hill. WALK HERE: Download a Much Marcle route guide at walk1000miles.co.uk/bonusroutes ONE TOWN, TWO BREWERS Masham, North Yorkshire Every family has its black sheep. For the Theakstons of Masham…

The number of CW readers in dire need of a water filter system is likely to be small. We either take enough water to see us through the average day, or stop off at a shop, café or pub if we need extra. Filter systems are favoured by wild campers spending days on end in the wilderness, when topping up from streams becomes a necessity. Streams might taste fresh, but they can contain harmful bacteria, viruses and cysts, and possibly microplastics and waterborne parasites (such as the dreaded cryptosporidium) too. A filter simply takes them out. Most filter systems come with a bag which you fill from the stream, then attach the filter unit and pour steadily into your bottle or reservoir. The main considerations are compactness, flow rate and…

1 Think about, visualise and discuss food 2 Pat the pocket where the car key was 3 Hold the same portion of the same song in their head all day long 4 Feel serene about the many problems of weekday-me 5 Put off putting on waterproof trousers 6 Wonder about the right moment for eyecontact with passersby 7 Eat sweets not at Christmas 8 Look forward to doing nothing later 9 Wonder if it would be more or less awkward to say: ‘It's nice we don't always have to say something’ 10 Say hello to animals…

CUT-OUT AND-KEEP ROUTES OUR POCKET-SIZED ROUTE CARDS START ON PAGE 91 SOUTH WEST Hope Cove, Cornwall Enjoy fine cliff-top views and sandy beaches before refuelling at one (or both!) of two popular pubs on the way. TURN TO WALK 2 EAST Freston, Suffolk Fill your rucksack with local produce from Suffolk Food Hall, then explore ancient woods and a scenic estuary. TURN TO WALK 14 WALES Barmouth, Gwynedd Escape the summer crowds for ocean, estuary and mountain views, then tuck in to a street food wrap by the sea. TURN TO WALK 22 SOUTH EAST Sturry to Upstreet, Kent This fruitful corner of the country provides many ingredients found on the menus of the excellent pubs en route. TURN TO WALK 7 NORTH WEST Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria A gentle riverside…

Peter Ross is a wonderful writer who has done a magical thing with this book: bringing back to vivid life the treasure-houses of cultural history that are our churches – so abundant we hardly notice them, yet each of which have so many stories to tell. It's a book of people as much as buildings – an odyssey in the company of a rapt, engaging narrator as he steers a course through history with churches as his time-travel devices. From an unassuming Norfolk church which contains a disturbing secret, to London's mighty cathedrals with their histories of fire and love, it's an engrossing journey of cats, bats, monks, druids, demons, angels and effigies, as singular and unforgettable as that unmistakable church smell.…

AMBERGRIS If you find a smelly, rubbery rock while walking on the beach, hold your nose and hope: it could be something coughed up from a sperm whale's intestine and worth a fortune. Sticky, stinky ambergris (its name means ‘grey amber’) has long been prized as a flavour for sweet dishes (including the first recorded recipe for ice cream) and is still a sought-after base for perfumes. A lump the size of a grapefruit found on Morecambe Bay yM,. fetched £50,000. CASTOREUM 400 years after being hunted to extinction, beavers are back in Scotland, and you might see them on a walk in Knapdale scenic area. They won't thank you for reminding them of an earlier brush with humanity: we used to harvest a vanillatasting goo from their anal glands.…

ONE OF WALKING'S many lessons is that life is better when you realise you can take it a bit less seriously than it insists. And how do we learn this lesson? From the perspective and jolliness walking brings for sure – but also because we just keep doing the most ridiculous things… Table for none ‘I walked into someone's private house front room and sat down, thinking it was a tea shop. The lady emerged from a back room and asked, “Can I help you?” very calmly. I explained, apologised profusely (twice) and scuttled out quickly. No police were called.’ Keith Spicer I'll show you ‘Overtaking a group of walkers who were contemplating how to cross a stream, I jumped confidently over with no problem – only to slip on…

Spice up your miles with one of our quests, post the result in the Facebook group and our favourite 20 will win a Golden Badge! You have until 22 June for this crop. Got a suggestion for a challenge? Email us! walk1000miles@countrywalking.co.uk 26 MAKE YOURSELF VERY BIG OR SMALL Turn yourself into a soaring giant or tiny Lillipution on your next walk, using natural props, perspective and ingenuity. Mammoths or midgets, people, no in-betweens. 27 START A COLLECTION Start putting a small amount of money aside for every mile you walk. Show us your collection jar, pot or tin and tell us what you intend to spend all these hard-won pennies on. 28 PUT SOMETHING IN A HOLE IN A TREE Is there a more mysterious environ than a hole in…

The View LAST WEEK I went Ambient Crown Green Bowling. You may think, taking that phrase literally, that this would involve playing a few ends of Crown Green Bowls whilst listening to Ambient music, and you'd be absolutely right. We played a few gentle ‘ends’ of thumb and finger peg in the dappled sunlight of a spring afternoon while men in hipster attire played vinyl copies of atmospheric experimental music over huge speakers. There are, I think, only about three places in England where this could have happened, namely Brighton, Shoreditch and Hebden Bridge, and this took place in the latter, that corner of the Lancashire-Yorkshire border that is now forever Happy Valley. Beer was involved naturally and it was enormous fun. But it was more than that, I realised…

DISCOVER Arbroath smokies LOCAL FOODS ABIT LIKE BAKEWELL pudding, the Arbroath smokie was invented by accident. The story goes that one night in the late 1800s, a fire consumed a storage shed on the harbour in the tiny fishing village of Auchmithie, a few miles north-east of Arbroath on the rugged Angus coast. In the shed were barrels of haddock, preserved in salt. As the villagers combed through the wreckage, they discovered that the heat had cooked the haddock inside the barrels. All credit to the brave soul who decided that the best thing to do would be to see how they tasted, because they created a legend. So why don't we call them Auchmithie smokies? Well, in the early 20th century, as Arbroath's fishing industry struggled, the townsfolk called…

It has to be D-shaped. It has to be sealed at the side, and crimped to create a tough edge. The pastry must be golden, and it has to be tough enough to survive being thrown down a mine shaft (allegedly). And it has to be eaten end to end. There are many requirements to the traditional Cornish pasty, before we've even started on the ingredients (nominally skirt steak, swede – known as turnip in Cornwall – potato and onion, with a light seasoning of salt and pepper). But if you get all this right, you're entitled to call it a Cornish pasty, which in 2011 earned its PGI stripes from the EU. The ‘oggy’ provided sustenance to the tin miners of Cornwall for generations. The idea was simple: with…

WALK HERE Turn to Walk 6 in this issue. GETTING THERE Hambledon is 15 minutes’ drive from the A3 at Clanfield. No car park in village; park considerately on West Street. Fancy a drink? Bus D1 from Waterlooville runs to Flambledon (six daily Mon-Fri; five on Sat, firstbus.co.uk/portsmouth); frequent connections to Waterlooville from Portsmouth, as well as nearest train stations in Havant and Cosham. WHERE TO DRINK (& EAT) Pre-booked tours and tastings at Hambledon Vineyard (02392 632 358, hambledonvineyard.co.uk), £25pp, Wed-Sun. £60 to include a sumptuous afternoon tea. The vineyard also hosts a pop-up restaurant serving gourmet lunches and dinners. In the village, the dog-friendly Old Forge Tea Room serves breakfasts, cakes and cream teas (9:30-4, daily). Or try the local, The Vine, for hearty pub grub (02392 632799),…

OUR TESTERS Based in the Lake District, James Forrest is an avid hiker and adventurer who holds the record for climbing all 1001 mountains in the UK and Ireland in the fastest time (and for constructing ‘the UK's rudest walk’ from Cockermouth to Lickey End last year). You can read about James’ exploits in his book Mountain Man and find out more about his work at jamesmforrest.co.uk Additional reviews by CW writer Nick Hallissey, who hasn't been to quite as many rude places but did take one of his water bottles to Wet Sleddale. WE ALL NEED WATER. It regulates body temperature, lubricates joints and helps transport nutrients and energy so your body can perform at its best. Conversely, dehydration leaves you fatigued and light-headed, with reduced strength for the…

If you're truly in love with hydration systems, why not consider a rucksack whose entire design ethos is built around them – and which includes a system as standard? Hydration packs are pricier than standard packs because of the added component, but it can work out cheaper than buying a pack and reservoir separately. Here are three good options… REGATTA Blackfell III 20L Hydropack • £68 A straightforward adaptation of Regatta's popular Blackfell rucksack, sold with a simple reservoir system which lacks the sophistication of the name brands but will do the trick if you only occasionally do the kind of longer, tougher walks where a hydration system makes most sense. regatta.com OSPREY Manta 24 • / Mira 22 • £160 The Manta and Mira packs come in a range…

VIEWFINDER Come on, dig in There can't be many pieces of public art which meet with so uniform a reaction: a fond, if faintly surprised, smile. A 15-foot dessert spoon tip-deep in fertile English farmland just seems right. Titled Eat for England, it's the 2006 work of artist Bob Budd, and is installed on a path between two fields outside the Northumbrian town of Cramlington. It's part of the 4½-mile Wildspace Art Trail, linking Cramlington and the villages of Seghill and Seaton Delaval via five works of art accessible only on foot. The giant stainless steel spoon draws attention to the rural origins of our food, while giving a frisson of absurdity and capturing something of how walkers feel about the countryside: a moreish treat to be savoured. Only the…

You're never short of a nibble in the British countryside, with a Great Fryup (Yorkshire) to Guzzle Down (Devon), and one of at least eight Pudding Hills for afters. There are three Sugar Loafs in Wales alone, including one in Powys with its own railway halt (one of the least-used stations in Britain – find it at grid reference SN845439). There's Fudge Copse in Dorset, Pie Corner in Wiltshire, Beer in Devon, Pork Hill on Dartmoor and the splendid Bacon Hole in Dorset (SS560868) where remains of brown bear, cave bear, badger, polecat, fox, wolf, hyena, reindeer, red deer, roe deer, wild ox, bison, pig, soft-nosed rhinoceros, straight-tusked elephant and water vole were found. What a barbecue that was. DID YOU KNOW? The mountain on a Toblerone is no longer…

A MIRA PATEL IS a whirlwind. In her life, in her speech, in her passion for the richness of life in the outdoors; she speaks (and posts) as though she's desperate to communicate her message before she's overcome by the beauty and urgency of it all. “I want to reach as many women as possible and show them that this is here and it's open to them,” she says at softly-spoken lightspeed, as we walk the Great Ridge in the Peak District on one of her Wanderlust Women hikes. “For me there is no greater joy than taking someone out into the hills and seeing the way they react, and the realisation that it's accessible to them. It makes my heart full. I want to cry with joy.” ‘Whirlwind’ applies…

WRITE TO US AT: Country Walking Media House, Lynch Wood, Peterborough PE2 6EA EMAIL: editorial@countrywalking.co.uk ⏺ FACEBOOK: facebook.com/countrywalking  ⏺ TWITTER: twitter.com/countrywalking LETTER OF THE MONTH The hiking life for me I'm a single mum of two teens and I work for the NHS in Dorset. I love the magazine and it's been an inspiration to me since I made the decision to walk my first 1000 miles this year, after losing someone very close to me. The idea came on a damp day in early February: I would walk a long way and raise money for the Ogwen Valley mountain rescue team in Snowdonia and for the staff support fund for the NHS Trust I work for. Twelve weeks later and almost 450 miles covered, I had a momentary conversation that…

If you were going to design a habitat perfect for apples, you'd basically copy that of County Armagh. Protected from the cooling breezes of the sea by the Mourne Mountains and the Ring of Gullion to the east, and the Sperrin Mountains to the west, this beautiful county also benefits from the moderating influence of nearby Lough Neagh. As a result, it gets fewer late frosts than most other areas, while well-maintained traditional hedgerows act as careful windbreaks for the county's legion of orchards. No specimen thrives better here than the cooking apple – and the Bramley in particular. Armagh's mild climate means the apples grow slowly, allowing their flavour and texture to mature perfectly, and it keeps out invasive insects, too. Add in perfect soil (fertile loam above well-drained…

IT'S ALWAYS FUN to watch someone bite into Grasmere gingerbread for the first time. It's not like your run-of-the-mill gingerbread, which means you can watch a delightful sequence unfold on the face of the taster. Surprise at the hardness; the adjustment as the jaw compensates; the tentative nibble; the wide eyes as the flavour releases; and finally, the joy as the whole sweet-andspicy confection comes together. Grasmere gingerbread was first made by Sarah Nelson in 1854. Sarah's story is extraordinary: born into a poor family in Bowness-on-Windermere in 1815, she learned domestic skills from her mother and put them to use in the ‘big houses’ of the district, rising to become a cook whose skills were sought by the wealthy gentry. Moving with her young family to a little cottage…

WALK HERE Download your free Llangollen route guide and map at walkl000miles.co.uk/bonusroutes GETTING THERE Llangollen is on the A5,10 miles south-west of Wrexham. Buses Arriva 5 and TrawsCymru T3 run regularly from Wrexham and Ruabon, both of which have train stations (T3 continues west to Snowdonia). See traveline.cymru WHERE TO EAT Tuck into soup, sandwiches and scrumptious bakes at Sian's Cafe in the Garden by the canal in Froncysyllte: seasonal and weather-dependent so check first at facebook.com/sianscafeinthegarden. In Llangollen, The Com Mill (brunningandprice.co.uk/cornmill) serves dishes like pea and mint tortellini and crispy buttermilk chicken burgers (£16) in an historic building with a deck above the Dee, while The Llangollen Oggie Shop & Fine Foods (llangollenoggieshop.com) is a good spot for picnic supplies like sandwiches, sausage rolls and of course oggies (aka…

How to clean a reservoir If they aren't carefully cleaned, hydration system reservoirs (and their hoses) can fall victim to bacterial growth and mould – or at the very least, develop an even more unusual taste than is customary. So to keep them healthy and make them last longer, try to clean them after every use. Opinions vary, but the consensus option is as follows… 1) Fill the bladder halfway with hot water. 2) Add a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda and a teaspoon of white vinegar. 3) Holding the hose downward, open the valve, allowing the hose to fill with liquid, then close the valve. 4) Leave to soak for 20 minutes, then rinse thoroughly. 5) Let it dry out fully by turning it inside out, wedging the mouth open with a clothes…