Innholdsfortegnelse for Spring 2021 i Trail

So, where are you going on holiday? Lockdown roadmap permitting, by late spring we could all be ramming our cars full of outdoor kit and charging Wacky Races-style to all corners of the country in search of adventure. Personally, I can’t wait to go camping somewhere that isn’t my own back garden. Whether that’s on a mountain summit, in a wild valley at the bottom of a mountain, or on a campsite where I can wake up and stare at a mountain, I’m not overly fussed. You get the picture — I just want to grab a tent and sleep somewhere mountainous, as I’m sure you do too. And that’s why this issue comes with Trail’s 32-page guide to what we believe are the most exciting staycations you can plan…

Bowfell Lake District “Got in one snowy hike — the Scafells from Bow Fell — before the lockdown, and Yvette’s first in the winter.” Paul Bradford, Liverpool Loughrigg Fell Lake District “Here I am on top of Loughrigg Fell in the Lake District. Grasmere and the central fells make up the beautiful backdrop. I can’t wait to be able to grab myself some more Grasmere Gingerbread!” Samantha Ree, Cumbria Fairfield Lake District “Our cockapoo Bob comes everywhere with me and my partner, Louise — here we are on Fairfield.” Lee Wilde, Cheshire Manshead End Yorkshire “This is Thomas Needham and I on the winter summit of Manshead End (417m). We are both very much missing The Lakes at the moment, so we met up for a socially-distanced walk to climb…

“There seemed no escape from the atmosphere of gloom and despondency… things were getting worse day by day. But I was fortunate in having a fortnight’s holiday due, and I fled the familiar scene.” So wrote Alfred Wainwright just before WWII, as the rise of Nazism led Europe into a period of untold bloodshed and devastation. I’m doing something similar over 80 years later in 2020. Gloom and despondency are in the air, fuelled by lockdown boredom and fear of the deadly coronavirus. News reports of economic disaster, ventilator shortages and inevitable second waves seem to get worse day by day. But, like Alfred, I have a fortnight’s break to flee the familiar scene – and I’m heading for the hills. In 1938 Wainwright fled a climate of despair (“Everybody…

In the year 2000, thousands of miles of countryside were opened up for people to roam over as they pleased. At that same moment, a clock started ticking. A requirement of the Countryside Rights of Way Act, which had just been passed and gave everyone the right to roam over open access land and rights of way, was that all rights of way were to be logged and mapped by 2026. Any not registered by that date would be extinguished. The path might still be there but your legal right to walk on it would not. You might think that doesn’t matter very much because 1) we’ve already got loads of paths, 2) 2026 is ages away, and 3) the mountains are open access anyway. Although all of those things…

YOUR TESTER James Forrest A prolific peak bagger and wild camper who’s climbed hundreds of mountains in the UK and abroad, James gives his gear a serious thrashing on every trip. I feel like I’m walking on air”, I proclaim, as my girlfriend Nic and I tramp up Sale Fell, a dinky 359m Wainwright near our home in Cockermouth. On my feet are a pair of ultra-light, uber-comfy, sneaker-inspired hiking boots. “Well, I feel as if I’ve got anvils strapped to my ankles,” says Nic. On her feet are a pair of super-traditional, extra-sturdy, full-grain leather boots. Five minutes later, however, I tiptoe cautiously around a muddy quagmire and over a rushing beck, while Nic marches straight through the bog and icy stream without a second’s thought. “Are your socks…

The Rhinogydd massif has a reputation for tough walking, and it’s definitely well-earned. In some places, the tricky combo of jumbled boulders and knee-high heather can reduce even the strongest walker to a standstill, plummeting average speeds well below Naismith’s. But if you have to work hard for something, it always feels good when you get it, and these summits are no exception. Moel Ysgyfarnogod is rare among its peers, with a grassy summit rather than the usual gritstone, but its neighbour, Moel Penolau, more than compensates for this with an almost impenetrable defence of lofty turrets crowned by a sloping slab. Diffwys is also hard won but worth it, and the final summit of Moel Gyrafolen, keeps the bar high. The final retreat down Cwm Moch has a wonderfully…

At 645m, cairn-topped Drygarn Fawr is the tallest of the Cwmdeuddwr Hills. It’s not the shapeliest summit in Wales but it’s definitely distinctive, rising high above a vast expanse of rolling moorland and reigning supreme over some stunning deep-gouged cwms, many dotted with mining ruins, that are well worth exploring. The Cwmdeuddwr Hills themselves stretch between two of the great rivers of mid Wales – the Afon Elan and the Afon Ystwyth (Cwmdeuddwr translates to the valley of two waters), forming what is arguably the wildest tract of upland in the whole of the country. The Afon Ystwyth runs north and west from here, eventually spilling into the Afon Rheidol and the ocean at Aberystwyth. The Afon Elan goes the other way and shortly joins forces with the Afon Gwy…

ULTIMATE WEEKEND ▲ 3 ROUTES Book yourself a few days off work, pack the car and drive north. Keep going and don’t stop until you get to Assynt. When you arrive, you’ll find something special. Three days is barely enough to whet the whistle, so we best make it special. How about bagging three Trail 100 peaks? It’s a big old drive, that’s for sure, so Stac Pollaidh is a gentle warm-up. Short, sweet and surprisingly satisfying. If it’s your first time in Assynt, you have to do the classic - Suilven. It’s an icon of Scottish hillwalking. For the third and final day, nip a little bit further north to Quinag - a day of rolling ridges and views to die for. ROUTE 10 Stac Pollaidh ROUTE 11 Suilven…

“A MUCH MORE NATURAL EXPERIENCE THAN HIDING YOURSELF IN A TENT” It can seem intimidating at first, but those who go out and give tarping a go are typically surprised at how easy and straightforward making your own shelter can be. Your average tarp will come as a single sheet of waterproof material with attachment points running along its sides… and that’s it. In most cases you’ll even have to provide your own cord for set-up and attachment. Now you’ll ideally be looking for a vegetated spot with plenty of trunks and branches to tie your new outdoor roof to. However, if you’re in more of a sparse moorland environment then walking poles can act as equally effective supports once adequately tensioned up and combined with pegging points. Once done…

For a fairly small collection of islands, we’re surprisingly spoilt for choice in the British Isles in terms of long-distance footpaths. Whether you want to tough it out over 200 miles of Scottish mountains and wilderness on the Cape Wrath Trail, or opt for something more low-level like the 100-mile South Downs Way, there’s a multi-day challenge out there for walkers of all ages and abilities. If you’re tempted to give it a try but don’t know where to start, check out the National Trails website (nationaltrail.co.uk). This is the home of the 16 official National Trails, including hillwalking classics like the Pennine Way and Hadrian’s Wall, but also some excellent options further south including the Thames Path, and the monstrous South West Coast Path which traverses the weather-beaten cliffs…

“WATCH SUNSET FROM YOUR FAVOURITE PEAK, MARVEL AT THE STARS OVERHEAD AND BREATHE THE CLEAREST AIR” Summits cut right to the heart of why walkers and scramblers love mountains: they’re the ultimate goal of all the most exciting routes. They’re not just the apex of whatever hill you’re on; they represent the culmination of all the work, effort and guile it’s taken you to get out enjoying the outdoors in the first place. It’s on the summit that the feeling of satisfaction and achievement flows through you and – some of the time, at least – where you’ll be rewarded with unforgettable views. So with that in mind: why leave? Settle down for a night on the top and you’ll be able to watch the sunset from your favourite peak,…

CENTRAL HIGHLANDS BEN NEVIS This is one of those places where the possibilities seem endless. The type of mountain you could visit season after season, year after year, and never run out of new ways to explore it. The fact Ben Nevis is Britain’s highest peak is what will draw you there, but the scale of the thing will keep you coming back. This picture was taken in early spring, clambering over a particularly exciting section of the Grade 2 Ledge Route scramble, which twists and turns its way through a series of tight gullies and exposed ridges towards The Ben’s vast, weather-beaten summit plateau. The snow patches you see in the background can linger long into the year on this side of the mountain, which is defined by the…

“WE DONT STOP PLAYING BECAUSE WE GROW OLD, WE GROW OLD BECAUSE WE STOP PLAYING” To connect with nature Having a connection with nature means spending some time amongst it. As a human being, I’m also part of that natural construct, even if I choose to live in Birmingham! For me it’s so important to build this connection not just to particular places but to all places… that’s my excuse to my wife anyway. It gives one an understanding and even empathy towards natural places, which leads to an unfathomable care of these places. This is why I’m adamant about teaching this care of the environment to others and try to get involved in projects to protect nature. For spiritual connection As a Muslim I’m taught to go and explore…

“I was looking at him, and then he looked at me, and waved!” The staff in Farquharson’s Bar and Kitchen talked excitedly to a couple about the time they saw Prince Charles in the village. Although they’re thrilled to tell the tale, such an occurrence is not entirely rare. Braemar, a place so quintessentially Scottish (it has a sporran shop and a butcher’s advertising ‘wild caught haggis’) that it might have been built by Disney to sell shortbread to tourists, sits just outside the Balmoral Estate. The estate was bought by Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria, in 1852 and remains the private property of the reigning monarch. Royalty hangs over the area like a velvet. “A FROTHING CHURN OF WATER CASCADES OVER THE GRANITE AS THE GLAS ALLT…

EXPERT ROB JOHNSON, MOUNTAIN INSTRUCTOR Scrambling is a uniquely British term for what the rest of the world would call mountaineering and many of our favourite hill walks include short scrambling sections. I often describe it as the sort of ground your parents would have told you to come down from as a kid. Another description is ground that you can fall from, where there are likely to be consequences. Scrambles are graded in terms of difficulty, from 1 to 3. Grade 1 scrambles are generally the domain of the confident hillwalker, while grades 2 and 3 tend to involve more specialist equipment usually associated with rock climbing, such as ropes, helmets and harnesses, and the know-how to use them. Classic Grade 1 scrambles include the North Ridge of Tryfan…

SIZE Some GPS watches are particularly chunky, while others are more slimline, and some others are available in a range of sizes. Consider how the watch will sit on your wrist, particularly if you intend to use it as an everyday watch too. BATTERY LIFE Battery performance has increased dramatically over the past few years. Check the watch’s spec for battery life, paying attention to the times stated with GPS turned on and any battery-saver modes that might reduce features. MAPPING Some watches can show detailed mapping on their screens. Although not great for route-planning (even the largest watches have relatively small screens), it can be a helpful extra navigational tool. SENSORS In addition to GPS, these little watches can contain a range of sensors, including an altimeter, barometer, accelerometer,…

As a nondescript hump surrounded by much finer mountains, Rhobell Fawr isn’t the most obvious or appealing destination for hillwalkers. Its attractions, however, are myriad to those that seek solitude and revel in big views. This particular route is the most rewarding and varied way to climb this neglected old fella, and rewards the walker with scenery that ranges from bucolic to wild and woolly via a long-deserted industrial wasteland. Starting as a lazy ramble from the sequestered village of Llanfachreth, country lanes propels you into a landscape which soothes nerves jangled by the existential angst of life in the 2020s. As if stepping through a portal you are transported back in time to a simpler existence where cares are few and the sun always shines. Then, quite imperceptibly, the…

A walk for the lover of Tryfan that doesn’t actually visit it. Seem strange? Well, to get to know a mountain, I like to visit it at different times of the year, and walk (scramble!) different routes and see it in different lights. Even just looking at it from a different angle can help you notice things you’ve never seen, and give you a push to try something new. You might spend a fair amount of this walk gazing over at and falling in love with Tryfan all over again as it looms in and out of view, as if it were playing hide and seek. Aside from drooling over Tryfan, the route itself is a lovely, mellow mountain walk, heading up the broad ridge of Braich y Ddeugwm to…

Hostels are synonymous with mountain regions, usually offering good basic accommodation at good prices. The days of doing chores and mucking in to cook a communal dinner for random guests are thankfully a distant memory, but hostels are still vibrant places with a wonderful community feel. Pandemic lockdowns have made the past year an uncertain time for mountain hostels, with rules changing quickly in terms of what kind of accommodation you can book. However, during the restrictions many of the smaller hostels have been made available for exclusive hire, allowing you to get full use of the location and facilities with your own group. Often set in stunning locations with famous hillwalks directly from the door, this is a great way to really immerse yourself in a mountain region and…

Translating as a ‘meeting place’ or ‘haunt’, in a hill and mountain context this Scots word refers to a natural shelter that walkers and mountaineers have adopted for their own use. Perhaps the finest and most famous example is the hollowed-out space beneath a great Cairngorm boulder on the shore of Loch Avon (see Shelter Stone, below), which for hundreds of years has provided a strange and unusual retreat for wanderers in that remote part of the Highlands. While some may be in the form of caves, these go beyond mere spaces to sleep for the night. They are rich in tradition and history, and most likely have their own narrative to study and enjoy, and even add to with your own night inside them. WHERE TO DO IT As…

With over 200,000 followers on social media, therapy dog Max is the first pet to receive the PDSA Order of Merit award, which has previously been limited to police and search & rescue animals. Max, fellow doggie companions Paddy and Harry, and owner Kerry Irving have been providing a much-needed feelgood factor during lockdown to those of us who haven’t been able to get to mountains, raising money for charity, and supplying a daily dose of the Lake District to thousands of walkers through their daily Facebook live videos. For Kerry, walking in the mountains with his three furry friends has been his salvation from debilitating depression and anxiety following a serious car accident in 2009, which left him unable to walk and with chronic pain. Since then, the team…

So, what’s so great about the rather small group of rather low hills in the north-west corner of England? You may suggest that the Scottish Highlands are a whole lot wilder. To that I simply shrug my shoulders. You might indicate that Yosemite has trees that are taller than 290m Castle Crag in Borrowdale. To that I just raise one of my eyebrows and nod my head sideways. You can tell me that Lake Baikal in Siberia isn’t just larger than all the lakes of Lakeland put together, it’s larger than Lakeland (13 times larger, to be precise). I roll my eyes upwards and point the palms of my hands at the sky. Firing off these ‘mine’s bigger than yours’ stats at this particular national park is like the end…

[SEE THE LIGHT] 8 WAYS TO PLAN WALKS FOR LONGER DAYS 1 Go out for dinner Chuck a stove, some good food and a puffy jacket in your bag, and head out for dinner under the stars. 2 Get into nature With trees coming into leaf, migratory birds returning and wildlife in general getting more active, this is a good time to brush up on your ID skills. Learn one thing on every walk. 3 12x12 challenge Pick one thing to do every month for the next 12 months. It could be a wild swim, wild camp, solo walk or night out with your mates. Spring, when temperatures and energy levels are rising, is a brilliant time to start the challenge. 4 Climb the highest point near you Your county…

THE LATEST INNOVATIONS IN OUTDOOR KIT Apparently, the average weight of a hamster is 210g. This may not seem like a particularly critical piece of information in a stove review, but it’s a figure that Jetboil clearly feels is relevant. The reason? Its new stove system, the Jetboil Stash, weighs just 201g which, Jetboil’s PR is excited to point out, is less than an average hamster. More importantly perhaps, it’s now the lightest stove system in the Jetboil range, usurping the Zip and the MicroMo (both of which weight 340g - significantly more than an average hamster). Like the other Jetboil stove systems, the Stash includes a burner, a pot with a lid, and a gas canister support (although the latter adds 24g to the system, tipping it over hamster…

Wild, steep and rugged; the Black Mountain is one of the most picturesque and captivating landscapes in the Brecon Beacons. A circuit of the steep escarpments on its northern fringe offers the chance to get up close and personal with gorgeous lakes and mini cascades. There’s plenty to explore in the area, from the incredible vanishing river at Sinc Giedd to the sombre plane crash sites dotted across the desolate moors. This route skirts the fringes of the range, taking in some of the most outstanding views in South Wales. The 99-mile Beacons Way, traversing the national park from east to west, has two alternative routes across the Black Mountain, in recognition of the serious nature of this wild terrain. The spectacular high-level route along the top of Fan Hir,…

This moorland landscape is special. The Berwyn National Nature Reserve offers space, seclusion and a mix of gently rolling shoulders and stiff, limestone escarpments. This range of heather-topped hills, lying to the east of Snowdonia National Park, and forming a backbone of high ground between Bala and the border of England, gives rise to a windswept and wild feeling of isolation. Distinct areas of this high moorland are also given status as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) due to their near-natural blanket bog coverage – the largest in Wales. And bird lovers will delight in knowing that this swathe of upland is the most important for breeding birds in Wales. Please do take note of this when walking with dogs at certain times of year. Tread lightly in this…

ULTIMATE WEEKEND ▲ 3-DAY ROUTE If you love the Lake District, but hate crawling up the M6 stuck in the bumper-to-bumper weekend gridlock, then this adventure is for you – a Wainwright-bagging expedition by train and bus, rather than car. It’s simple. Hop on a train to Penrith North Lakes station, then sit back, relax and read about the peaks awaiting you in Wainwright’s north-western fells book. Once in Penrith, simply hop on a Stagecoach X4/X5 bus to Keswick and let the hillwalking commence. The plan is to tick off 16 Wainwrights over three days, completing two classic horseshoes – the Newlands and Coledale rounds – and linking Keswick with Buttermere. It’s a bespoke wild camping adventure that samples some of the best walking in all of Lakeland. ROUTE 7…

1 NY187168 Head north-east from your camp to reach a path junction. Continue north-east and descend steeply on the good path down to the car park at the top of Newlands Pass, next to Moss Force waterfall. Take the wide grassy path heading north-north-east. Climb an initial hump, continue over a brief flat section and then ascend a very steep, grassy slope to gain the ridge at the 470m contour line. Continue north-north-east, sticking to the narrow trod along the apex of the ridge. As the gradient lessens, veer north over the plateau before ascending gently to Knott Rigg’s summit. 2 NY197188 Continue north-east along the undulating ridge and over a subsidiary top. Veer slightly right and descend easily to a col. Climb north-east on a well-trodden path up heather-clad…

1 GLENBRITTLE ISLE OF SKYE Miles away from the tourist hordes that flock to Skye’s famous beauty spots, the multi award-winning Glenbrittle Campsite is all about location. Right on the shore of Loch Brittle, a sea loch on the south-west coast of the island, with direct access to the iconic Black Cuillin mountains, you’ll feel like you’ve left Britain behind for another world when you pitch your tent by the beach. The site is open on a first come, first served basis from the end of lockdown until October with the Cuillin Coffee Café open daily. It’s a fairly big site too, with space for 120 tents, which is a good because it is getting popular! Tel: 01478 640404 2 GREAT LANGDALE LAKE DISTRICT Nestled deep in the Lake District’s…

If you think climbing a mountain sounds adventurous, just wait until you add a wild camp into the mix. And if you think a mountain-wild camping combo sounds adventurous, just wait until you do them both after approaching by water carrying all of your kit for the night in the footwell of a canoe. Canoe camping is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. You hire a canoe (or buy one, but they aren’t cheap!), fill it with everything you need for the next day or two (food, camping gear, hiking kit), then set off into the wild for a few days. If you’re new to canoeing, hiring or seeking the advice of a guide certainly isn’t a bad idea, particularly if you’re thinking of heading into remote or wild…