Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2023 i Country Walking

This month I've been… LAST MONTH WE ran a poll asking what unexpected happening you’d most relish on a walk. I was heartened to see ‘bumping into a celebrity’ come in a resounding last – far below seeing a red squirrel or bird of prey and I dare say, had we asked, beneath finding an unforeseen Jelly Baby in your waterproof jacket pocket. For me it was symptomatic of one of the best things about walking – that it’s a great leveller, restoring a proper perspective on the world and everyone and everything in it. Whatever else we are, we’re all wide-eyed creatures struggling with gates and looking ungainly on stiles while riding a beautiful blue marble through an enormous universe to who the heck knows where. Next to that,…

The Fort St George is like a country pub in the middle of the city. The 16th-century building sits in Midsummer Common on the banks of the River Cam, and is a great place to sit outside on a fine day (01223 354327). Punting on the River Cam is the second most enjoyable way to see the city (behind walking, of course!). Try Let’s Go Punting (01223 651659). We all learnt as children that it’s never too cold for ice cream, and Jack’s Gelato (Bene’t St and All Saints Passage) handmakes some of the finest (jacksgelato.com). Famous for its incredible Chelsea buns, Fitzbillies (Bridge St and Trumpington St) also does picnic lunches and afternoon teas to take away (fitzbillies.com). Cheap accommodation doesn’t really exist in Cambridge, so you may as…

WE’RE DELIGHTED TO present the fourth edition of Walk 1000 Miles’ Secret Santa – which we’re pretty sure is the biggest gift exchange in the whole of walking. Each year it sees over 500 participants sending a surprise gift to a randomlyassigned recipient, and receiving one from another still. It’s trust based and works brilliantly. It’s free to sign up, and pre-owned or handmade gifts are just as acceptable as bought. It’s great fun choosing a gift for your randomlyassigned giftee, and waiting to see what you get from another. You can research your giftee via their posts in the Walk 1000 Miles Facebook group, and use the likes and dislikes you’ll be sent at the same time as their details. There are answers to any questions you may have…

SEEN YOU’VE WON? Email walk1000miles@countrywalking.co.uk with your address and a pic of you holding this edition to claim your precious! #minichallenge46 Wind up at a windmill #minichallenge48 Go on a guided walk #minichallenge47 Take a sky portrait www.walk1000miles.co.uk #minichallenge49 Hike to a hill fort #minichallenge50 Take a teddy bear on a picnic BROUGHT TO YOU IN PARTNERSHIP WITH…

The View AS CAPTAIN MAINWARING might have demanded: ‘Don’t you know there’s a war on?’ Except apparently, it’s a war on motorists. Well, now you come to mention it, no, I hadn’t picked up on that actually, as I make my way through city streets choked with exhaust fumes, along pavements strewn and blocked with badly parked Range Rovers, and as I see yet another glossy, aspirational ad for a gas-guzzling extravagance. To be honest with you, if there really was a war on cars, I’d be very tempted to join up, even if only in the catering corps. Although this is a magazine for walkers, I fear the above sentiments will annoy some, so let me clarify. Of course, I understand that, to a degree, modern life would be…

DISCOVER Classic movie locations The 39 Steps, Highland Directed by Alfred Hitchcock and (loosely) based on a novel by John Buchan, this 1935 thriller of murder and spies sees Richard Hannay (Robert Donat) on the run across Scotland. The map he finds in a victim’s hand draws him to a village called Killin, but filming – after a nail-biting scene on the Forth Bridge – took place 30 miles to the north-west of there in Glen Coe. You can spot King’s House Hotel, Buachaille Etive Mor and the Black Mount, but the Three Sisters are the stars, looming over Hannay as he hotfoots through the glen chased by police. The sisterly trio are tough, scrambly peaks, but there are spectacular walks to the corries beneath, including Coire Gabhail – the…

Pensthorpe, Norfolk After spending its first three seasons in Devon, Springwatch moved to East Anglia and to a reserve that was created by digging out a million tonnes of gravel to form lakes and other wildlife habitats. Today there are 700 acres to explore, including gardens and adventure play areas. Entry £14.95. RSPB Minsmere, Suffolk Home of Springwatch 2014-2016, this north Suffolk reserve has lowland heath, reedbeds and wet grassland, which provide habitat for avocets, bitterns and nightingales. It’s close to the sea, so there’s great walking along the coast path and through nearby Dunwich Heath. Entry £9. WALK HERE: Download a Minsmere & Dunwich Heath route at walk1000miles.co.uk/bonusroutes Sherborne Park Estate, Gloucestershire This Cotswold estate owned by the National Trust took the Springwatch reins from Minsmere for 2017 and…

The Repair Shop That striking thatched barn that’s home to the often miraculous repair jobs seen on the BBC series is called Court Barn and is part of Weald & Downland Living Museum. The West Sussex-based museum has more than 50 relocated historic houses and is situated in the heart of the South Downs, by the West Sussex Literary Trail and New Lipchis Way, and a shortish detour from the Monarch’s Way. Bake Off Ah, those beautiful lawns that surround the Great British Bake Offtent. These can be found in Welford Park, in Newbury, Berkshire. A monastery once stood at the site, until Henry VIII did his thing. Today, it opens for special events, such as its annual Snowdrop displays in February, and The Lambourn Valley Way passes close by.…

CUT-OUT AND-KEEP ROUTES OUR POCKET-SIZED ROUTE CARDS START ON PAGE 91 SOUTH WEST The Erme Estuary, Devon Visit at low tide to spot wading birds, then overlook rocks that have destroyed no fewer than 14 ships. TURN TO WALK 1 MIDLANDS Mitchell’s Fold, Shropshire History comes with views on this scenic yomp, featuring a stone circle and an ancient hillfort. TURN TO WALK 13 WALES Craig yr Allor, Gwynedd Enjoy panoramic vistas of the largest natural lake in Wales on this walk in Snowdonia’s far east. TURN TO WALK 23 SOUTH EAST Finmere, Oxfordshire Venture down this kilometre-long avenue of lime trees after visiting the ‘fortification near a dung-heap’. TURN TO WALK 9 NORTH WEST High Pike, Cumbria This achievable hill in northern Lakeland has views from the central Lake…

ANY ENCOUNTER WITH an owl is unforgettable. Owls are so elusive, so enigmatic – and just so hard to find – that whenever we chance upon one, the moment always stays in our memory. They are, by a long way, the most mysterious of all the world’s birds. Much of this mystery is down to the fact that many of them only emerge at night – or at dawn and dusk – and so live in an ethereal, unknowable world far removed from our own, day-bound existence. Encounters with owls have given rise to more superstitions, myths and legends than any other group of birds. Owls are associated with wisdom (‘the wise old owl’), and are considered to hoot to ward off evil. There are close to 250 different species…

BROUGHT TO YOU IN PARTNERSHIP WITH 2.74 × 365 = walk1000miles.co.uk GET YOUR MEDAL Behold a hunk of well-earned metal few are entitled to wear! walk1000miles.co.uk/shop Weed and feed “Weeding around trees on the public path helps it get the rain and makes everything look better,” says Sue Andrew. Rescue wildlife “Whether it’s a snail or frog heading towards a busy road or a sheep caught on a fence -feels great, does good,” says Karen Ley. Share the joy “Share your walks and how good they make you feel -you never know who needs to hear it and give themselves that extra push,” says William Young. Samantha Hambling posts a weekly WhatsApp group message to friends and family with photos from her walks. “Some probably just think I’m barmy, but…

Sign up for 2024: www.walk1000miles.co.uk/signup ‘Our days are long and challenging -but walking is my therapy, and doing Walk 1000 Miles really spurs me on. Now we walk every day, rain or shine and when Bonnie goes for respite at our local young people’s hospice I walk some more. It does me so much good – my health and energy improved and Bonnie’s health too, and we’ve made so many new friends. Now I walk every day I’m always in training for something. I’ve done the 24-mile Clarendon Way Walk twice and a 50k for Alzheimer’s through the Chilterns. One of my best experiences was when one of my new friends and I raised £1000 between us walking the 26-mile Winchester to Salisbury Classic. We finished the walk feeling great…

56 FIND AN INTERESTING DOOR Big, small, unconventional, unexpected – keep an eye out for doors which are worth a chin-stroke on your walks this month. We’re in the mood for interesting apertures. 57 TAKE A PHOTO AND TELL A LIE Take a photo on one of your walks and give a persuasive but false description of what we’re looking at. Someone who doesn’t know should be left bemused. 58 WALK UNDER A DARK SKY Find a dark sky area near you using cpre.org.uk/light-pollution-dark-skies-map/, go for a walk in there and capture an image of the starry sky. What can you see? 59 WEAR AN UNFLATTERING HAT Woolly hat that makes you look like a kiwi fruit? Stetson that really doesn’t suit? Wear a hat on a walk which quite…

WALK HERE Follow Walk 6 in this issue. GETTING THERE The commons sit just south of Farnham, between the A3 and the A31. The main car parks adjoin Frensham Great Pond and Frensham Little Pond. WHERE TO EAT, DRINK AND STAY There are two fine pubs either on or close to our route. The Duke of Cambridge near Tilford (01252 792236, dukeofcambridgetilford.co.uk) is passed on the route, and offers great mains like venison cottage pie for £16.50. Bel & the Dragon at Churt is one of a series of upper-crust gastropubs across Surrey with the same name (01428 605799, belandthedragon-churt.co.uk). This one has accommodation, offering doubles with breakfast from £107 and mains such as linguine of Devon crab for £21. And don’t forget the lovely Tern café on the shore…

IF YOU’VE EVER seen an image from the first public demonstration of television, you might wonder how anyone had the courage to keep working on the idea. A pale mask looms out of the darkness, like the slasher in John Carpenter’s Halloween – and then it winks one of its hollow black eyes. The terrifying vision was the work of Scottish inventor John Logie Baird, at a showcase at Selfridges in 1925. The next year he demonstrated his ‘mechanical televisor’ to 40 members of the Royal Institution, transmitting an image of a human face across the Soho garret he used as a laboratory. This picture was more detailed, although Baird found a ventriloquist’s dummy could better withstand the blistering heat of his device’s lights than a person. He called the…

WALK HERE Turn to Walk 22 in this issue for a turn-by-turn guide with map GETTING THERE RSPB Ynys-hir is west of the A487 between Machynlleth and Aberystwyth. Car park is free, but entry to reserve is £6 adults, £3 children or free for RSPB members. Buses X28 Machynlleth– Aberystwyth and T2 Bangor– Aberystwyth both stop at Furnace, less than a mile from the visitor centre. See bustimes.org WHERE TO EAT The nearest pubs are The Black Lion Inn in Derwenlas (01654 703913) and The Wildflower in Tre’r Ddol (01970 832000). At the Black Lion you can pick up a main of Welsh lamb cutlets for £18.50 or sea bass fillets for £14.95, while at The Wildflower a bacon rarebit burger costs £16.25 and a boozy half roast duck is £18.95.…

1 Which British director of Women In Love and The Who’s Tommy lived in this cottage in the Lake District? 2 In which 1973 folk-horror classic do locations including the Isle of Whithorn, Culzean Castle and Plockton portray the island of Summerisle? 3 What famous landmark in the Aberdeenshire coastal village of Pennan was saved from decommissioning in 2021, partly due to its starring role in the 1983 film Local Hero? 4 Which singer-turned-actor played the lead role in The River, a gentle 1988 sitcom about a lock-keeper which was filmed on the Kennet & Avon Canal? 5 Holmfirth was the setting for the classic comedy series Last of the Summer Wine (that would be too easy). The series always featured three lead rascals who wandered the hills around the…

VIEWFINDER Time… AND SPACE Doctor Who, the world’s longest-running science-fiction series, turns 60 this month, making it the perfect curtain-raiser for an issue devoted to TV and film favourites. The original 1963-1989 series might get a lot of stick for wobbly sets and alien planets that were usually quarries, but there were plenty of stories where the Time Lord found himself in more pleasant surroundings. Patrick Troughton met The Highlanders in Surrey (more on that later); Jon Pertwee fought The Daemons at Aldbourne in Wiltshire; the Tom Baker story The Sontaran Experiment was filmed almost entirely at Hound Tor on Dartmoor; and The Five Doctors met in the Rhinogs in Snowdonia (doubling as The Death Zone of Gallifrey!). Since 2005, the revived series has taken us to many gorgeous places.…

The power of walking to make life better in small ways and large is dramatically underestimated by most. Help us change that by sharing your experience with Walk 1000 Miles. Complete our survey and we’ll send you a 25% off voucher code for your next order in the Walk 1000 Miles shop, in case you need a calendar or a medal, or if you want to save it for your 2024 stuff. Reflecting on your experience taking part in Walk 1000 Miles can make your miles go much further, and you might help nudge someone to take a step that might change their life. walk1000miles.co.uk/survey…

Lynsey Gallant spotted these mysterious tags…. VERDICT: “It’s a BT defect tag. There will be some equipment in need of service or replacement within the bushes, as per the note in the bag,” explained Paul Ferguson. Paula Rhodes spotted something tiny moving like a caterpillar… VERDICT: “Ladybird nymph,” revealed Mark Rowles. Margaret Botterill wondered if these gaps in walls have a name… VERDICT: “Squeeze stiles – a very apt name!” Linda Stevens enlightened. Have you spotted something you wonder about? Post it in the Facebook group!…

WRITE TO US AT: Country Walking, Media House, Lynch Wood, Peterborough PE2 6EA EMAIL: editorial@countrywalking.co.uk FACEBOOK: facebook.com/countrywalking TWITTER/X: x.com/countrywalking The 35-year beach trip Your write up on Sandwood Bay reminded me of my fixation on the place many years ago. Channel 4 was in its infancy when they ran a series showing various walks around the UK. Being a teenager with nothing else to do, I happened on the episode about Sandwood Bay and it just stuck that it was somewhere I felt the need to go to. I duly sent off for the accompanying leaflet, only to put it away in a drawer. Fast-forward 35 years and I found the leaflet just before heading off to explore the north-west coast of Scotland – so it seems it was destined.…

WALK HERE Turn to Walk 16 in this issue for a linear route from Carnforth to Arnside. Trains run back roughly hourly, journey time 11 minutes, see northernrailway.co.uk GETTING THERE Carnforth is just west of junction 35 of the M6. The West Coast Mainline runs through town but trains don’t stop; change at Lancaster or Oxenholme for local services to Carnforth. WHERE TO EAT The Refreshment Room Bistro & Bar (01524 923282, refreshmentroom.com) at Carnforth has been built to look just like the set of Brief Encounter, so you can sip tea like a star, and tuck into breakfast or lunch. Licensed as well in case you, like Laura, need a stiff brandy. The Silverdale Hotel (thesilverdalehotel.co.uk) or The Blossom Bird Cafe (facebook.com/TheBlossomBird) are good spots for a halfway pitstop. WHERE…