Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2024 i Country Walking

This month I've been… WE MAY NOT consider ourselves particularly knowledgeable or even interested in art, but that would be to think of it as an academic subject, rather than everything above and beyond merely functional know-how. Doing things that aren't directed by brute urge or practical purpose, but rather exercising skill or wit simply to stimulate pleasure, enlightenment or consolation seems to me what lifts us from the rest of the organic morass. And that's art really. Another word for it might be play. And what walk isn't also at least in part an act of art creation – the walk you plan, the conversation you kindle – and art appreciation – the maps we follow, the world so full of things we have largely shaped; and in large…

DEAR COUNTRY WALKING, We first met a couple years back at a WH Smith bookshop at Gatwick Airport. There you were, a glossy, large format magazine. What a find! We have been steady friends ever since. My wife and I were returning to our home in California from an enjoyable inn to inn walking excursion through the Cotswolds. On the flight home it was fun to pore through all the articles, readers' experiences, reviews, and route descriptions. I subscribed and now look forward to the monthly edition arriving, scouring the pages for inspiration. Last year we used a company advertised for a fantastic inn to inn walk through the entrancing Yorkshire Dales. My wife loved the idea of #walk1000miles, so she signed up and started tracking her miles on 1…

The View WHO REALLY CARES for the countryside? For centuries, we've been told that it's landowners and farmers who are the rightful stewards of the land – that they can be trusted to be ‘custodians of the countryside'. Yet this idea is the greatest lie we tell about our land. The truth is that a small number of landowners are disproportionately responsible for destroying some of Britain's most precious ecosystems. Take our upland peat bogs. Peat soils contain some 3 billion tonnes of carbon. You would've thought that carefully stewarding this vital asset should be a priority for the landowners who possess it. But the 150 or so massive estates that own England's upland peat bogs have burned, drained and degraded it to such an extent that upland peat now…

WALK HERE To climb Deadwater Fell and take in the sights from Specere, follow Walk 19 in this issue. The other installations are all easily walkable from either Kielder Dam, Kielder Castle or the Waterside visitor centre; download routecards at visitkielder.com/play/explore/walking WHERE TO EAT, DRINK & STAY Kielder's visitor centres are all well equipped with cafés; find details at visitkielder.com. The handiest accommodation options are in Bellingham, nine miles south-east of Kielder Water. The Cheviot Hotel (01434 211130, curioustaverns.uk) has doubles with breakfast from £79 and good traditional pub grub, while Lyndale B&B has doubles from £90. MORE INFORMATION Kielder is replete with tourist information sites. The best are visitkielder.com (which includes walking routes and details of the April-Oct Osprey ferry), visitnorthumberland.com (search ‘Kielder') and forestryengland.uk/kielder-forest. To book a visit…

VIEWFINDER The light fantastic With a frost in the air and the sun low on the sea, the Cornish coast is a spectacular place to walk in winter. And as you approach Mousehole at dusk, you may feel like Jack tumbling into Christmas Town in The Nightmare Before Christmas. Each December the harbour is decked with 7000 festive lights, including a serpent floating in the sea, which all twinkle again in the rippling reflection. And it's not just Christmas that's celebrated here; two days earlier is Tom Bawcock's Eve, when lanterns are paraded through the cobbled streets in honour of the fisherman who saved the village. One winter, the legend goes, storms battered the coast for weeks on end, trapping boats in harbour and starving the villagers. On the 23rd December,…

‘Hi. I used to post on here pretty regularly and walking was a big part of my life. I could do 10 miles a day and often did. I've faced some pretty challenging times in both my personal life and with my health this year and I feel I've just lost sight of who I am. I've put on weight, stopped walking and been miserable. I want to get back to it but I just don't know where to start. I now get tired and out of breath easily whereas I used to love steep hills and even mountains. It seems like an impossible dream now. I'm struggling with this horrible fear. I'm scared to walk up hills. I'm scared to go for daily walks. I want to but I…

I was interested to read Stuart Maconie's column on placename pronunciation in the October edition. As a resident of Sussex, we also have tricky names. We too have a Berwick that's Berrick not Burr Wick. Glynde has the Y pronounced as I, as in nearby Glyndebourne opera house. Herstmonceux is Hurst Mon Soo. Lewes is said as Lewis not Loos. Then there's Horsted Keynes to rhyme with canes not with Milton Keynes. Steyning is Stenning not Staining. Also, Southwick, but said as it's spelt, two syllables, South and Wick. Arundel, on the River Arun, has the emphasis on the initial letter. Please don't call it A Run Dell. Finally, Bosham is not Bosh Ham but Bozzum! David Stevenson, by email Where's Kes? Every month our favourite spaniel Kes goes walkies somewhere…

DISCOVER Kielder Forest art These are two companion pieces which sit on opposite shores of Kielder Water. Freya's Cabin stands on the Bull Crag peninsula on the south shore (a short walk from the Kielder Waterside visitor centre). Robin's Hut is diagonally opposite, in a remote position almost equidistant from the two ends of the north shore path. Together they tell a fairy story concocted by conceptual artists Studio Weave in 2009. As Peter Sharpe explains: “Freya and Robin are fairytale characters. Freya builds a beautiful building from branches and leaves and foxgloves gathered from the forest to entice Robin to come across and find her. When that doesn't work, she cries golden tears which fall on the building and shine like the sun – and Robin sees that and…

WALK HERE Find an annotated map of our street art walk around the city at bit.ly/BristolStreetArt GETTING HERE Get the train to Bristol Temple Meads and you can pay homage to the city's Isambard Kingdom Brunel who was chief engineer for Great Western Railways. It's easy to pick up our walking route from here. WHERE TO STAY Bristol Youth Hostel (yha.org.uk) is located in the centre of the city and is a great place to base yourself for a weekend of art and food. WHERE TO EAT The Star and Garter (starandgarterbristol.co.uk) is where Banksy supposedly used to drink, and has inspired other greats in the city from the band Massive Attack to DJ Derek. It's not far from Stokes Croft and our walking tour route. MORE INFORMATION Spend a…

IT WAS THE best of times, it was the worst of times. So said Charles Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities. Okay, he was talking about Revolution-era France, but it can also apply to the life of a Country Walking gear tester. We spend a fair bit of the year actively seeking out ‘the worst of times' – tracking the rain and the cold weather fronts to give those showroom-new boots, jackets and warm layers the battering you demand. ‘Cold, wet and windy in mid-Wales next week, you say? BRING IT ON!' But of course, very often, these rotten-on-paper days turn out to be the very best of times, because we discover that this jacket, or that rucksack, really really works. And that can turn any hard times into…

27 ROUTES with Ordnance Survey Maps Country Walking DECEMBER 2024 SOUTH WEST SOUTH EAST EAST MIDLANDS NORTH WEST NORTH EAST WALES SCOTLAND IRELAND…

Jenny Walters, Features Editor Miles walked this month: 87 Anne of Green Gables is one of my favourite books and ever since I first read it, I've longed to see Canada's Prince Edward Island where the story is set – and where author Lucy Maud Montgomery was born 150 years ago this November 30th. But reading her journals, I was thrilled to discover Montgomery once came to Britain. In 1911, she toured here on honeymoon, making her own literary pilgrimages to places including Burns' Country, Wordsworth's grave, and Loch Katrine for Walter Scott's The Lady of the Lake. Montgomery also visited the house at Dunwich in Suffolk where her grandmother was born, and experienced ‘the strangest sensation of coming home'. And two places reminded her vividly of PEI. The pink…

2.74 x 365 = walk1000miles.co.uk ‘Priceless' ‘I climbed Tryfan and I am NOT good with heights! I've been trying to organise this for two years – several dates were cancelled due to weather and life stuff getting in the way but last month we made it on a fabulous clear day. The best ever in fact! We went up the North Ridge led by a friend who'd been a mountain leader which gave us the confidence to do this priceless thing. Highly recommended.' Anna Dann ‘Better every year' ‘Walking a marathon (26.35 miles) in 7 hours 33 minutes in one go on July 17th. Could never have managed that a few years ago and it's all down to Walk 1000 Miles. I started the challenge in January 2017 and 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 Take a football to new heights Help fill the post-summer-of-sport void #minichallenge47 Eat a field mushroom Because free food! #minichallenge48 Gives us your Smith & Jones Because we don't look into each other's eyes often enough Get your 2025 calendar: www.walk1000miles.co.uk/shop #minichallenge49 Show your oldest bit of walking kit #minichallenge50 Take a forcedperspective photo Because it's never not amusing! What'll you do for gold? Spice up your miles with one of our quests this month, post the result in the Facebook group and our favourite 20 completers will win a Golden Badge! You have until 11 December for this crop 56 PHOTOGRAPH THING OUT OF PLACE A tree growing…

The View MIDDLE ENGLAND. THE phrase didn't get used much before the late 20th century, but the notion has been around for decades. It's surely the place Orwell was thinking of when he wrote of those old maids cycling to church and the one John Major meant when he rhapsodised to his party faithful about warm beer and long shadows on cricket pitches and ‘invincible green summers'. The summer just gone could hardly be called ‘invincible' but one late September day it did stop raining long enough for me to take a stroll through the heart of Middle England. And it turned out to have a heart of darkness. The Chilterns are for me about as Middle English as you can get. Thomas Gray composed his beautiful Elegy Written in…

Walks of ART DISCOVER Classic landscapes Snowdon from Llyn Nantlle (c.1766) What a view. A mountain needles the clouds, shadows darken precipitous crags, sunlight highlights a small knoll, and it all reflects in a still lake. If you walk at the western end of Llyn Nantlle Uchaf – close to where these three figures are fishing – and look east, you can see the peaks forged by volcanoes line up with those painted in oil by Richard Wilson. He accentuated the angles, but Snowdon is readily identifiable, with the little pyramid of Clogwynygarreg below, and the steep rock of Craig y Bera on Mynydd Mawr and Clogwyn y Barcut under Y Garn soaring to left and right. Wilson is known as the ‘father of British landscape painting' and his fascination with…

EAT FOR ENGLAND A 15ft dessert spoon lodged into a field just outside the Northumberland town of Cramlington (grid ref NZ277749) by artist Bob Budd, asking us to reflect on the bounty of our countryside via the farming industry. TAKING A WALL FOR A WALK Andy Goldsworthy's work can be found all over our countryside, usually playing with traditional stone structures like sheep-pens and barns. This one is part of the sculpture park at Grizedale Forest in the Lake District (similar to Kielder in that it's a Forestry England estate), and features a traditional drystone wall snaking its way, dysfunctionally but most engagingly, between the trees. THE PANOPTICONS A series of installations on hilltops across the Lancashire Pennines. Our favourites are Singing Ringing Tree at Crown Point south of Burnley…