Wednesday, 26 January 2011

Just a test:

Some people have asked for routes I've done over the last couple of years so I thought I'd add .gpx files to my posts that relate to a walk, so you can download them and add to your GPS.
They will always belong to me (unless specifically stated) and I'm giving them to you for free.
As a taster and a test I'm including the route taken in last years winter walk (entitled The Slog).
Most GPS unit's (including GPS enabled mobile phones) will accept the format. When you click the link it will take it to a page where my files will be stored.
Copy them from there to your PC and then on to your GPS or mobile phone.
Finally, don't panic, the file sizes are very small, typically only a few kb.

Enjoy..
Winter walk 2010 - Ladybower to Edale.

Tuesday, 16 November 2010

Clearing the house (mobile blog)


This week has seen me create a mountain instead of climbing one..
We've had the house insulated, but it's meant clearing the loft...
Most of the crap was kindly left to us by the previous owners.. God knows how long it's been there cos we've lived here for nine years!
It's taken two weekends of hard graft to empty the loft, sort out what we want to keep and get rid of the rest. I was going to get a skip for it, but a standard six ton skip is now £115!!!
I offered forty quid to my sister's fella to come over with his minivan and help me tip it instead.

If you ever have to use the tip at Ravenfield, then save your self some time. Walk in and lamp the mustashioed tit and save yourself an argument with a bureacratic idiot.. Sort it into fourteen different containers - fine. Get a 'permit' to get rid of your rubbish. Fine..
Do all this and then get told you can't throw away your rubbish because someone filed the permit (he know's you have) to the wrong site?.. I was not happy....

Sunday, 31 October 2010

Sunday dinner.


Daisy just deciding what she wants for sunday lunch....

Monday, 25 October 2010

Old photo, circa 1962-ish..


This is my mum, her mum and her friend going for a weekend away in edale... 
Check out the mountain of kit my gran is sat on!

Thursday, 7 October 2010

A quick trip to Kinder.

A couple of weeks ago my good lady was going to her parents for the day and instead of taking me, she asked if I wanted to go out walking..
Not needing to be asked twice, I gave my sister a call to see if she wanted to go for a walk. She was happy to go out, but was wasn't keen about going up Kinder.
You see when my mum was young, she had gone up Kinder and she had hated every minute.. She had inadvertantly filled my sisters head with visions of a dready (wo)man-eating-bog trudge that should be avoided at all costs.

I eventually talked her round (but I'd trimmed the trip down to a simple scramble up Crowden Clough, around the edge of Kinder to avoid the boggy ground and down Jacobs ladder.

Setting off she put on a brave face Soon after she settle in and was having fun. We'd talked on the way and she'd reminiced about the fun she'd had doing her DoE. She had been over the great ridge, but not on Kinder before. As we passed into the bottom of the Clough itself, a pretty waterfall presented itself to us and she came to life, noticing more around her, becoming more animated about her surroundings. We chatted about what she could expect on the top and as the climb became steeper, I slowly built her confidence on the rocks, crossing the stream more than was needed and going over tricker sections, rather than round them. At one point, Trina said that if it got much more difficult, she'd need to turn back. I helped her build pride in what she had already done, as she had heard the bad stories of kinder and we were soon back on our way. As we neared the top and we came up to the scramble itself, She was ready. With the exception of one section that required something more technical than she had done before, she did brilliantly and once at the top, we followed the stream up the river bed to get a look around, and then followed another fork of the stream to find a sheltered spot to have lunch.
About this point it started to rain a little, but it didn't last long.
We followed the path around the edge of kinder taking in the view Which is always one of the strong points of kinder. We crossed through the blasted rock formations, and soon came to the head of the path that leads down to Jacobs Ladder.
I always forget just how steep this path is, or at least, appears to be. We carefully picked our way down, passed by a group of mountain bikers going the other way (If this was you, or you have done this - you are mad).
Soon after, we were off the hill and in the Nag's for a quick one before going home.

Did my sister end up enjoying her day out on Kinder? Have a look for yourself.