Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2024 i Country Walking

This month I’ve been… YOU RARELY GO wrong in life trying to simplify it – to see through the blizzard of complexity to the solid ground of things we can all agree are true and good. Like the fact we’re lucky, on the whole, to find ourselves here in this obscure but highly livable corner of the universe, when the odds were stacked sky-high against it; that you don’t have to understand how a piano works, babies grow or a bird knows what to sing to swoon at the sounds they make; that there’s good in all of us and beauty all around, and what you look for in life is what you tend to find; that it’s important to be kind to people, starting with yourself; that the world,…

You’ll have seen battery-boosted bicycles and wondered if that’s a great idea or cheating – well get ready to look sideways at some suspiciously spry-looking walkers. They might be wearing a Dnsys X1, an AI-powered harness that boosts their weight-carrying and fast walking abilities dramatically. It weighs 1.6kg but makes weightless up to 38kg of load in your rucksack. It doesn’t turn you into a goosestepping robot – instead clever processing allows it to interpret each step’s intention and supply just the right amount of assistance to half your walking effort. It lasts between 15.5-18.6 miles and can even short-term boost you to a rapid 16.7mph getaway speed. It costs from $499 (£400) via Kickstarter.kck.st/44bptwf ‘You’ll find out it’s little savours and little things that count more than big ones.…

Cider with Roise by Laurie Lee Since it was published in 1959, Lee’s autobiographical novel has transported millions of readers to the Cotswolds, dropping us into the ‘jungly, bird-crammed, insecthopping sun-trap’ of the Slad Valley near Stroud. It opens with Lee sitting in the grass aged three, and goes on to detail life in this tiny village at the end of the Great War. It’s full of beauty, and humour like the ‘rival ancients’ of Granny Trill and Granny Wallon, but Lee writes too of hardship, madness and murder. Walk the valley today and you’ll recognise many of the places he described, and you can drink at his local, The Woolpack, and visit his grave at the village church. Cider with Rosie was the first in a trilogy. In the second,…

WALK 500 MILES THIS SUMMER Turbocharge your 1000 miles or complete it as a standalone challenge. There’s a Progress Chart inside the back cover, or printable at walk1000miles.co.uk/charts Do it from 1 June to 31 August (5.43 miles/day average) or if it’s your first time doing a challenge like this, do it from 1 June to the end of the year (2.34 miles/day). You can check how your daily target changes with the instant calculator walk1000miles.co.uk/charts too.…

“The hardest physical challenge I’ve ever given myself,” says Helen Smith of her solo walk from home in Lincoln to Skegness in two days. 56 miles covered in total! “I was walking for SANE Mental Health Charity in memory of my dad who I lost 13 years ago. I’ve never really walked more than 13 miles in a day so 26 and then 30 was quite something! So many closed/diverted/overgrown public footpaths added a bit of an extra adventure, but I only got drenched once!” she says. Such a great example of what we’re capable of when we put our mind to it and even the biggest adventures start at our door!…

EMAIL: editorial@countrywalking.co.uk • FACEBOOK: facebook.com/countrywalking • TWITTER/X: x.com/countrywalking WRITE TO US AT: Country Walking, Media House, Lynch Wood, Peterborough PE2 6EA Lost in good book How wonderful it is to find new tracks or pathways when out walking. To discover new routes and scenery is one of life’s simple pleasures. Discovering new literary pathways can be equally rewarding. Lockdown provided the opportunity to explore our local area and beyond, and so I discovered nature writing. From reading Roger Deacon’s Waterlog, I found my way to Edward Thomas, W M Hudson, then Tristan Gooley, Robert Macfarlane and so on. The Edward Thomas Way near Petersfield is well worth a visit. The book In Praise of Walking by Shane O’Mara is my most recent find (in a charity shop). Not that CW…

DO YOU EVER get the feeling when you’re walking ‘Oh I could just keep doing this forever’? And have you considered, as you heft the first post-walk drink to your lips and swallow, that the human body doesn’t contain much greater capacity for pleasure than this? Walkers are great simplifiers of life. When you’re walking you’re treading a narrow path through the infinite thicket of complexity that life comprises and arriving at a kind of wisdom. This – being alive, being here, being you – is rather good. The world looks beautiful from here. And won’t a quenching well-earned pint be just a wonderful usher into an evening of rest, repast and reflection? Such glimpses of perfect contentment are precious and privileged, but they’re afforded to walkers routinely. Money might…

WALK HERE It’s 3 miles along the beach between Shell Bay and Redland Point; return the same way or trace paths through the heath inland. GETTING HERE Studland is on the B3351, 5 miles east of Corfe Castle. National Trust car parks (free to members) at South Beach, Middle Beach, Knoll Beach and Shell Bay. Purbeck Breezer 50 bus runs regularly from Bournemouth, including ferry from Sandbanks to Shell Bay (morebus.co.uk/purbeck-breezer-50). WHERE TO EAT Seaside pit-stops at Studland’s Sandy Salt Pig (thesaltpig.co.uk) and at the National Trust’s Knoll Beach Cafe (nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/dorset/studland-bay) a bit further north. In the evening, Old Harry Bar (oldharrybar.co.uk) in Studland serves tasty stone-baked pizzas, from £11 for a 12-inch margherita. WHERE TO STAY A few options in Studland including the very popular Longmead Cottage (01929 450472,…

WALK HERE Turn to Walk 16 in this issue. GETTING HERE Ilkley Moor is easily accessible from all its surrounding towns, but Ilkley is the closest and has the best access to the really interesting bits. WHERE TO EAT, DRINK AND STAY The Cow and Calf (01943 607335, vintageinn.co.uk) sits beneath its namesake rocks and has pies for £17. The Flying Duck (01943 609587, theflyingduck.co.uk) is housed in one of Ilkley’s oldest buildings and is now home to the Wharfedale Brewery. Mains include Whitby scampi for £13. The Ilkley Riverside Hotel (01943 607338, ilkley-riversidehotel.com) sits beside the River Wharfe and has doubles from £95. MORE INFORMATION Ilkley Literature Festival (ilkleyliteraturefestival.org.uk) takes place every October. The website is also home to the Stanza Stones project; you can download leaflets detailing walks to…

SLEEPING THERMAREST Vesper 32 UL Down Quilt £360 Even in summer, the nights can get nippy, especially if you’re camping in the hills. Therefore, it’s a good idea to get a sleeping bag with a cooler comfort limit than you might expect to need. Down quilts generally offer the best weightwarmth ratio, and none more so than this - weighing just 440g and with a comfort limit of 0°C. It might be pricey, but it would serve you well (ultralightoutdoorgear.co.uk). COOKING SOTO Thermolite Pot Set £42 If you like a brew or a hot lunch on a walk, there are lots of great lightweight options out there. This cooking set is designed for the likes of hot drinks, pasta and soup and includes a 750ml aluminium pot, a lid that…

Sara Herbert-Mattick, Senior Editorial Assistant Miles walked this month: 25 It’s funny how some of the things we love might not seem to have anything in common. My favourite place is the Isle of Wight, where I was born and where I return to given half a chance and a ferry ticket. My favourite musician is a Canadian metal guitarist called Devin Townsend. At first glance, his records (with titles like Deadhead, Call of the Void and, er, Bastard) might not connect naturally with Tennyson Down and Brighstone Bay. But they do have something in common, which is their ability to lift me up. I was back home on the island earlier this month, wandering around Blackgang Chine with my family (there’s nowhere like it on Earth, trust me on…

The View SIGHTS | SOUNDS | WONDERS | IDEAS | COOL STUFF VIEWFINDER Electric blue, shimmering cyan, burnt orange: alcedo atthis is Britain’s most exotically plumed bird. Despite its dazzling colours, it’s a rare thrill to spot one on a walk; in fact, lore tells that ‘only the righteous see the kingfisher’. Now, as they raise multiple broods, is a top time to look, and you can better your odds by listening out for the high piping call they give in flight, or by lingering on bridges over slow-moving water to see if one comes to perch on a branch in search of lunch. Give a sniff too. The birds tunnel into soft riverbanks to nest and as the home fills with fish bones it begins to pong. The kingfishers agree,…

The safest advice is think twice! If water’s fast or more than knee-deep, it’s worth a long detour to find a bridge or safe stepping rocks. If you’re splashing in, scout both ways for a crossing point: upstream the river will get smaller; downstream it may widen into a shallower section. Avoid bends, check there are no obstacles downstream in case you do fall in, and make sure there’s an easy out on the opposite bank. Boots are best kept on for grip and foot protection, but undo your pack’s waist/chest straps so you can ditch if needed. Poles helps you balance and scope out the riverbed, and only move one anchor point – pole or foot – at a time. If the current is strong, face upstream so it…

BROUGHT TO YOU IN PARTNERSHIP WITH 2.74 x 365 = walk1000miles.co.uk Have you ordered your medal yet? 500, 1000 MILES & BEYOND! Delivery now or on completion: www.walk1000miles.co.uk/shop IT’S ONE OF walking’s greatest gifts – its ability to kindle conversation, unlock difficult subjects, foster unexpected encounters, and make us feel shoulder to shoulder solidarity with our fellow humans. As a 1000 miler you’ll probably have scope for a lot of conversation this year. We hope some of them are as meaningful, memorable or enjoyable as these ones… Don’t talk to strangers? I’m glad I did! ‘In May 1988 I was solo-walking the West Highland Way. I’d reached Drymen after the first day and my next stop was to be the YHA at Rowardennan, on the banks of Loch Lomond. I…

Stuff for superheroes: www.walk1000miles.co.uk/shop Get these plus stickers, caps and t-shirts at walk1000miles.co.uk/shop The new patch You know it, let the world know too: everywhere’s in walking distance when you’re a 1000-miler. Gina Crees agrees! £4.99 The medal Gorgeous 3D designs for 500, 1000, 1500 and 2000 miles, each with a certificate of completion. This one in the packet is Sue Collins’. Not opening it til she’s earned it, the urge eggs her on! £12.99 The badge The iconic travel companion and statement of solidarity and intent. Available in ageless enamelled silver (£3.99) or every-mark-tells-a-story plastic. These are Nick Yates’: “They were on my rucksack, now it’s art”. The mini-medal It makes a great key ring or medal for your dog. This one is Stanley’s, who with owner Lucy PursgloveJones recent…

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 Walk to a tin tabernacle One of Britain’s flatplacked places of worship. #minichallenge17 Photograph a reflection A readymade work of art. #minichallenge18 Get as far inside a wood as possible And savour the sheer Red Riding Hoodness of it. Join the friendliest group: facebook.com/groups/walk1000miles #minichallenge19 Find a packhorse bridge Low-sided and lovely, for heavily loaded horses (and walkers). #minichallenge20 Find frogspawn Only one in 600 will grow up to be a frog! BROUGHT TO YOU IN PARTNERSHIP WITH…

The wooden postcard said ‘send beer’. It was written nearly 2000 years ago at the Roman fort of Vindolanda; today, just over a mile away they brew their own. The Twice Brewed Inn lies a stone’s throw from Emperor Hadrian’s famous wall, which was built in 122AD to defend against the Caledonian tribes to the north. It ran coast to coast, but the 6½ miles past this pub hit many of the surviving highs: quite literally at Winshield Crags, the summit of the wall at 1132ft. There’s also Housesteads Fort, the silvery mirror of Crag Lough, Sycamore Gap (now sadly without sycamore) and next to the pub, The Sill Discovery Centre. After sating your appetite for history, you can tuck into classics like steak pie or sausage and mash, or…

The Somerset village of Winsford is often given the mantle ‘Prettiest village in Exmoor’. It has plenty to back this up ancient packhorse bridges, a cobbled ford, historic colourwashed houses. Yet no building is photographed more than its glorious 500-year-old pub, The Royal Oak, with its vanilla walls and thatched roof making it something of a surprise Snow White doesn’t pop her head out the front door. We’re lucky the pub’s there at all. It has caught fire three times in the past 40 years, but was repaired and restored on each occasion. Luckier still for walkers, Winsford and its sublime pub sit among classic Exmoor landscapes. Deep wooded valleys, green fields on rounded hillsides, and moorland plateaus famously grazed by Exmoor ponies. Ancient monuments adorn Winsford Hill, including the…

Walking wordsearch The 10 least-populous National Parks in England and Wales (and a bonus 11th!) JUST FOR FUN • NEW FOREST (34,166 RESIDENTS) • BANNAU BRYCHEINIOG (33,485) • DARTMOOR (34,124) • ERYRI (24,416) • NORTH YORK MOORS (22,935) • YORKSHIRE DALES (22,798) • PEMBROKESHIRE COAST (20,922) • EXMOOR (10,192) • THE BROADS (6275) • NORTHUMBERLAND (1848) Where is this? JUST FOR FUN Last month's answers WHERE IS THIS? Nine Standards Rigg, North Pennines, Cumbria…

Stonehenge is famed for its ancient summer solstice celebrations, but Milton Keynes was also built with midsummer in mind. The new town’s grid layout was rotated slightly off a north-south axis so the sun would rise at the eastern end of Midsummer Boulevard on the solstice, and shine all the way along it to reflect off the windows of the railway station. The architects consulted Greenwich Observatory to get the angle just right and, it’s said, partied midsummer night away by smoking weed around a bonfire to the sound of Pink Floyd. A shopping centre now blocks the rays along the road, but a Light Pyramid by Liliane Lijn marks its eastern end, on a belvedere above the wide green spaces of Campbell Park.…

If you could go for a walk with anyone, alive or dead, real or fictional, who would it be and why? Jon: Possibly Alfred Wainwright, because we’ve almost completed the Wainwrights. But he was kind of grumpy. Jay: So actually, the Hobbits of the Shire. If nothing else, you know you’ll hear great walking songs and you’ll get two or three breakfasts per day. We never ask ‘what’s your favourite walk?’ but is there a special place where you always pause and think, ‘yep, I’m happy here’? Jay: There’s a place near Worth Matravers called Heaven’s Gate. It’s just a gate that’s got ‘Heaven’s Gate’ written on it. But the view next to it is amazing: Kimmeridge Bay, Clavell Tower, Tyneham… all the way over to Portland. I realised recently…

THIRTY-YEAR-OLD FORKLIFT driver Carla from Eggborough in Yorkshire lives in her campervan and is en route to her 1000 miles via mountain, moor and bothy – all in the enthusiastic company of her moggy mate. Trained to wear a harness since nine-weeks old, Laszlo is a fan of river walks, peak-bagging and forest hikes, and he even loves water. The pair have wildcamped, hammocked and bothied in the Lake District and Wales – ‘Anything with mountains for me,” says Carla; “Laszlo loves waterfalls, climbing trees and he has a fascination for where the sounds of running water are coming from”. Curious dogs see Laszlo take refuge in Carla’s rucksack. Soon the pair intend on scrambling up Tryfan. “He’s obviously a better climber than me,” says Carla. She’s equipped him with…

‘I FOUND SOLACE FROM walking back since I was in a very abusive relationship. My mum was dying and I was given an ultimatum – either stay with the abuser or go and spend the last two weeks of my mum’s life looking after her. I chose to be with my mum, but it meant I ended up becoming homeless and living in a tent in Bristol. After a while I reached out to the Compass Centre, a charity who helped me get accommodation. I started walking along Bristol harbourside, learning to listen to my heartbeat and footsteps. Sometimes it could take me three miles or more to just forget the hurt and pains going on in my life. I’ve been doing Walk 1000 Miles for the last four years…

Take part in one of our mini-challenges this month and if we publish your entry, you’ll win a money-can’t-buy Golden Badger! This month’s entry deadline: 20 June. Good luck! Literally priceless! 26 LAY DOWN THE LORE Tell us a myth, yarn, suspicion or historical fact about a place that’s lent it interest or notoriety on your patch. ‘Apparently…’, ‘I heard that…’, ‘You’ll never guess what…’ #minichallenge26 27 ADOPT A POSTURE YOU WOULD HATE TO BE TRAPPED IN LAVA IN Spoil a lovely view with a silly pose, in tribute to that man in Pompeii, who famously enjoyed some ‘me time’ at an inopportune moment. #minichallenge27 28 FIND AN INTERESTING BLUE PLAQUE Tell us who it commemorates, what their achievement was, and what a blue plaque on your house with your name…

The View WHEN AT THE end of this year I’ve completed my Walk 1000 Miles and am thus called into a strip-lit interrogation room by the editor’s office in the forbidding underground HQ of Country Walking to have my year’s walking reviewed (I’m JOKING! They don’t do this! Hardly.) they will notice a strange lacuna in the month of April. ‘And what were you doing then?’ will bark sinister top brass Procter and Hallissey as they indicate (I’M JOKING AGAIN) the distinctly sedentary nature of the first 10 days of that month, when suddenly my usually fairly decent weekly totals dropped by several score. I wasn’t being lazy, honestly. But I did spend aweek in a city where no one walks; Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon in the south…

WALK HERE Turn to Walk 22 in this issue for your full route guide. GETTING HERE Brig o’Turk is an hour north of Glasgow, between Aberfoyle and Callander on the A821. The nearest railway station is Dunblane, 30 minutes drive away. Buses run to Callander from where Brig o‘Turk is a 15-minute taxi ride away. WHERE TO STAY The Ridings (01877 376330); trossaschsridings.com) are the only accommodation option in Brig o’Turk – self-catering properties. Contact hannah.theridings@gmail.com There are numerous options in nearby Callander or you can stay at the Byre Inn in your campervan for £25pppn with breakfast. WHERE TO EAT The Byre Inn in Brig o’Turk (01877 701601, byreinn.co.uk) offers great pizza, cold beer, eclectic music, outdoor fire and a double decker bus in the woods. MAPS AND GUIDEBOOKS…

What’s not to love about the Warren House? At 1425ft it’s reckoned to be the highest pub in southern England, and the third highest overall. It also boasts a fire which allegedly has not gone out since 1845 and ‘the world's largest beer garden’ which consists of a few benches and the entirety of Dartmoor. It sits alone on the B3212 between Moretonhampstead and Postbridge, and formerly served the communities of tin miners and rabbit warreners (hence the name) who once trudged these lonely heights. There are myriad walks from the pub door, but we recommend the classic nine-miler heading north over Chagford Common on the Two Moors Way, which then loops back in over Hookney Down and Birch Tor. Splendid isolation indeed. WALK HERE: Download Warren House at walk1000miles.co.uk/bonusroutes…

YORKSHIRE DALES There’s something about top Dales’ inns and big waterfalls. The Green Dragon at Hardraw in Wensleydale has England’s highest single-drop cataract (above ground) diving 100ft in its backyard. Here at the Cross Keys Inn, views - and paths - run to Cautley Spout, the tallest cascade in England, where water hurtles off the plump Howgill Fells and tumbles 650 feet in a series of leaps. The climb up beside the spout is exhilaratingly steep; up top, things round off as you reach the summit of the range at The Calf (676m/2218ft). Post-walk quenchers include sarsaparilla, or dandelion and burdock, for the Cross Keys is one of Britain’s last temperance inns. The food is hearty; Wainwr ight was a big fan of the ham and eggs. See cautleyspout.co.uk (Fri-Mon,…

TO GET ANY closer I would need a machete. Barbed vines tangle into a thick barricade, behind which I can glimpse a single orchid. Magenta flowers cluster vividly to afoot-high stalk which changes colour from green to purple as it rises from the forest floor. Beyond, set even deeper in the lush foliage, I spot a second, paler spike of blooms. But I’m not walking in the jungles of Ecuador or Borneo. I’m in an ancient woodland in Northamptonshire, looking at early-purple orchids. Each stem of orchis mascula can grow up to 50 cm tall and carry up to 50 flowers, usually pink-purple, but sometimes delicate blush, or even white. The fragrance of its fresh blooms has been likened to lily- of-the-valley with ahint ofblackcurrant; once fertilised it’s more the…

On 1st December 1987, a retired police officer was crossing Ilkley Moor when he saw – and photographed – a figure he believed to be an alien. He followed the creature, only to lose it in mist before seeing a spacecraft ascending into the sky moments later. He headed down off the moor, and was startled to discover that the time was two hours later than his watch claimed. He went public with the story, using the pseudonym Philip Spencer. It became an obsession for the media and UFOlogists, at one point being hailed as the most credible alien sighting in British history. Poet Rob Cowen, who grew up in Ilkley and wrote about the moor in his anthology The Heeding, recalls UFO aficionados knocking on the door of his…

Email your picture, along with a few words about the walk and your contact details to cwroutes@bauermedia. co.uk SPEETON SANDS, Route 18, Spring 2024 I’m usually a swimmer but I’ve just had surgery for skin cancer so the doc says I have to stick to ‘gentle’ walking. Decided to ease myself in with this six-miler. We walked the route in reverse due to tide times - but the recent rainfall meant the first 1½ miles were spent jumping down ‘steps’ that were really just muddy puddles. Then when we got to the beach, the last bit of the path was completely eroded so we had to jump over a stream and slide down a muddy bank to access the beach. The rest of the route was pretty straightforward, and I…