Defining your moments.

Think back over your life and I’m sure you’ll have lots of memories you can call on. Your first girlfriend (or boyfriend), The first time you bought beer in a pub, your children being born and the first time you.. umm.. Well, you get the idea.

How often do you know in that instant that you’ll remember it forever?

When you think about it, your defining moments were usually chaotic, emotional times and you were so busy doing whatever it was, you just didn’t realise it for what it was.

 

I know what you’re gonna say… But just think about it for a moment.

When my first was born, people said beforehand that I would never forget seeing him for the first time and that’s true… But I didn’t think “I’m gonna remember this forever” at the time.. I was too busy counting toes, checking the missus was ok and generally worrying, to have the realisation right then and there..

It’s a bit like realising you are dreaming, while you are dreaming.. Or knowing, just as the ball leaves your foot, that it’s going to be a goal.. It just doesn’t happen very often.

 

I’ve had a few of these moments though.

I was on the top of Bleaklow one one such occasion almost a year ago. I can still feel the wind rushing past my face, through my hair and whipping my clothes. At the time, the clean feeling I had bordered on the spiritual. I can’t describe what I felt inside, but right there, at that exact moment, I knew I’d never forget it.. I knew that I’d have that memory for the rest of my life.

Later, that same day, I was sat round a fire with two of my closest friends, drinking wine and swapping stories. Not the normal, down the pub, guess what happened today stuff, but genuinely interesting stories (and I’m aware I sound slightly vomit-worthy).

I hear the music coming from one of the phones, the crackle of the fire, the colour of the wine and the gentle smell of pine as strongly as if it were happening now. It wasn’t just me either. One of my friends commented later on this exact same thing.  (original post here)

 

So why am I telling you this?..

These are not all moments that just happen. Some were created and shaped with planning, foresight and a little luck. A favourite trick of mine is to work out roughly how long the walk will take and set off at a time that means you’ll hit one of the tops at sunset. It won’t happen every time, but when it does fall right, it’ll hit you like a freight train.

(TIP: A GPS is a help here, because it will show your ETA, you can see if you need to pick up the pace a bit, or stop and chill out for a while before carrying on. My Garmin also displays sunrise and set times for your geographical location as well).

So. Boldly go and stretch yourself. Being slightly out of your comfort zone makes normal memories slightly sweeter anyway. With a bit of luck, you’ll realise that you’ve just scored a goal, even while you’re still kicking the ball.

From a big bit of water, to a small one.

Last Friday I went out with a couple of friends to Alport Castles. I’ve been meaning to get here for some time, not having made it when I was in Alport valley last time.

I’ve been promising to take my boy out for a while as well, so I took ben, my friends and their little girl. To make things easier for them, I cut the route down as much as possible and took a simple way up and off the hill.

When I arrived at Ladybower Reservoir, the water was completely calm, like a mirror. It was cool, but not cold. I had made the decision that I would (hold breath for effect)… Wear trainers and jeans! It was the way to go. The weather forecast was perfect, the weather had been dry for a while and the really peaty bits were paved.

The start is a gravel track that runs from the back of the ‘Bridge end’ car park. It’s quite steep, but was manageable for the kids. It quickly runs up into a picturesque pine wood.

Then, my son started to flag.. I was, to say the least, surprised. This kid never stops. I mean it. He is permanently running around, jumping about and generally creating havoc. Soon he moved from ‘I’m tired’ to ‘I can’t go any further’. We might have covered maybe half a mile. I on the other hand, sit on my ass at work all day, don’t get out anywhere as often as I’d like and I’m full of cold. What was going on?

After some brief cajoling he picked up the pace very slightly and we got underway again with me explaining that when we got out of the forest, the path would get much easier.

When we did get out of the forest, the first thing that struck, was the view. It was outstanding. Clear blue sky on a (now quite hot) spring day. The route followed the top of a field, rutted with land rover tracks. It was not so high that the grass had given way to heather, so it was a lush green carpet for quite some way. The view didn’t seem to change much but as it was spectacular, that didn’t matter much.

There was a brief moment of drama when My mate’s girl had a bit of a stumble, but after we confirmed the was no damage, just a bit of (dry and therefore brush-off-able) dirt she was fine. This was in the top of some smaller valley. Just after this we had to negotiate an incredibly high ladder stile.

After a fairly a couple of short breaks, we came to Alport castles. From above it’s impressive, then as you walk down the track, you realise just how big this place is. It is HUGE. I knew it was caused by one of the biggest landslides in the UK, but it really is massive. I had already mentally planned a spot for us to stop and eat. There’s a small tarn just west of the tower. What Google Earth didn’t show was that this spot was sheltered and picture perfect.

There are the remains of a fire pit here, so people have been wild camping here. It maybe a great spot, apart from a couple of issues. The ground is currently so parched that any fire could easily start a big wildfire. I’m not convinced that it’d be a good spot for a fire, even when it’s not as dry as it is currently either.

There were a lot of midges. As soon as I sat down, they were zinging around, annoying me. This was in the hottest part of the day, so in the late afternoon, when you’d be thinking about setting up a wild camp, or in the morning, when you’d be trying to pack up, I reckon they’d be very annoying. At least they weren’t the type that liked to bite.

After some food, an Easter egg hunt and some skimming of stones across the water, it was time to start heading back. This was just as beautiful as the way out, although drinking water started to get low, lower and then ran out when we were getting close to the' ‘tallest stile in the area’.. (not verified) I was still having problems with my son, with him still telling me he was tired, though not as much as on the (uphill) way out.

As we hit the top of the forest track, we stopped and I realised I still had an apple in my bag. Duly split amongst all of us, We wandered back to the car, drove to Ladybower visitor centre, quickly ordered some ice cream and a soft drink. We all sat by the reservoir and a (now sugar’d up) Ben finally perked back up and was running around with gusto again.

Now he confirms he’d love to do it again and I’ve found out why he kept flagging. He’s coming down with a cold as well.

 

 

If you get the chance, this is a great walk, with stunning scenery. Highly recommended by me if you get the chance. It’s also easy to walk and unless you were in a white out, it’d be tricky to get lost.

Would I work outdoors?

When I was a teenager, my best mate became a climber. I'd often go out to the Peaks with him, along with a few others he'd met through work who were also climbers. At weekends we'd go camping in the field at the side of Fox House (Before they ruined it), having breakfast in Grindleford Caf and generally enjoying the outdoors. But it started to change, When they would talk, an adventure was something that happened to someone going to Peru, or someone making an attempt on Everest or finding a new route in the Alps... Essentially, someone with money. I did not have any money. I had a crap job that paid little, along with even crappier shifts. So as they got further into climbing and got better and better gear, able to spend more time on the wall, I was left behind.
I'd still go occasionally, scrambling around at the bottom while they leapt from one hold the next, high above. I thought at the time it was simply that I wasn't good enough to be a climber, I realise now, I just wasn't one of their clique and that their idea of an adventure was well out of my pocket.

Fast forward 15 years and I get back into walking. While I was reading on the net, I found a couple of websites that really fired my imagination. The first was 'One man and a Bivi' a website with the story of a man who sat up one day and decided that he wanted to go camping in a Bivi bag..
He didn't go climb Everest, he wasn't doing this for anyone else, he just wanted to try something different.
Around the same time I started to go onto the forum at Live For the Outdoors (an offshoot of Trail magazine. If you don't go there and you are into walking or climbing, give it a try. No matter how trivial the question, there's always someone who will help or lend an opinion. The people who post helped me enormously in getting back out there and if you have a question and I'm online, I'll do my best to answer it).

The story of the man and his Bivi kept coming back to me. I'd read it every now and again. It's essentially the story of a middle aged man having what seemed to be a very quiet middle age crisis, it inspired me to just go out there and do what I want to do. I don't need to go overseas for an adventure. In fact I don't have to travel far at all.

A few months later one of the Trail staff posted this question to the forumers.. "Would you work the outdoors?"
Since I had discovered that adventures were where you made them, I was Horrified... with a capital H and a lot of why's. Why would I want to spoil my hobby? Why would I ever want to feel obligated to go out there. Why would I do something that meant I had to follow a set path or stop where I didn't feel like it? Why would I spoil my enjoyment for that?

I found myself re-examining this question tonight. I still feel as protective of walking as I did before, but now I want.. I want people to feel the same way as I do when you're stood on a summit with the wind in your hair, like I did on Bleaklow last year. I want people to understand, just how otherworldly Kinder can be when the fog rolls in and one day, While I'm in the Pub having a well deserved after-walk pint - If just one person utters that they are there because they read something that I had written...


Oh! whare are my old mates?.. They are at home watching Eastenders...
Cheers!

Wild Camp

After I had been on the last winter walk, Jim mentioned he liked carrying everthing we needed because if the weather closed in, we could just pitch for the evening..
I suggested we should go wild camping..
The plan was to get dropped off at the side of the snake pass where it meets the pennine way (Cheers Dad!), Walk up to the crash site on the top of Bleaklow, drop down into Alport Valley, Have a look at Alport Castle and then pitch for the evening in an undisclosed location before being picked up from the main road the next day.

The trip out was unremarkable, so I'll skip that, (NB. the layby at the drop off point is in bad repair so take care not to bottom out your car).


We soon set off for Bleaklow top. The path is clear (it's part of the pennine way) and this is a nice easy walk in nice weather with no kids. Pretty soon we came across the remains of the crashed B-29 Superfortress "Overexposed".

It's the same type of aircraft that dropped the atomic bombs at the end of the second World War. It's strange to walk among what's left. Some parts are shredded, some melted and some perfectly intact. Thirteen men died when the plane crashed but I didn't feel anything odd, In fact I found it quite peaceful and interesting, though I'm sure if the mist rolled in and I was on my own, it would have been completely different.
Continuing on to the top of the hill we stopped for a bit. I stepped up onto the boulder the trig point is set on. Although windy we must have been sheltered as the wind just a couple of feet higher was amazing. It was like being in a convertable or on a motorbike at speed. There were no gusts, just constant, cold, refreshing wind on a (surprisingly) sunny day. I couldn't get enough. I stood there for ages, just letting the wind blow the cobwebs out. Perfect.

As we went back on ourselves, we passed a couple who were coming the other way. I mention them, not because they were memorable but because they were the last people we would see until the next day! (If you don't find this remarkable, I once read that the Peak District National Park is the second busiest in the world - only beaten by Mt Fuji).


The walk down the valley was scenic and obscenely quiet, No other people, not even sheep for the most part. The only other living things were a few birds and a snake thet leapt from the path in front of us (it's nice to know they really are more scared of us!).
(note: From dropping into the valley, to its exit at the main road there is NO phone reception on Vodafone, Orange or T-Mobile, so phone loved ones before you enter the valey!).
The path is ok until you reach the valley proper. It peters out to a sheep track and is hard going walking on a steep slope an a path perhaps 20cm wide. There are patches of bracken that grows to an incredible size. In places it was taller than me and I'm 6'2"..
We were well ahead of time, so we kept stopping for breaks, watching the erm, stream go by as there really is nothing else there!. I kept hearing that 'swishing' noise that you can hear traffic making on a motorway. It took me ages to realise that it was the sound of the wind rushing over the top of the valley.

As I got to within sight of the first of our (several possible) camp sites, we stopped on a bit of a platau and the decision was made to try and get down to river level. This may have been a mistake. Telling the truth, It was a mistake and a fairly big one. We had little visibility of our surroundings, because no one could see over the bracken, and the steep valley sides, just got steeper and steeper. We hit a small stream valley and the floor kept dropping away either in a very steep gradient or in 2 foot steps. Normally not a problem, just tiring. Here the bracken not only blocked the view, it blocked the view of our feet. To make things slightly more intersting the bracken also liked to get wrapped round my boots, trying to trip me up.
Some how we reached the stream without spraining an ankle and the first possible camp site. Very pretty, but buggy and not that discrete. Besides, Jim and Paul wanted to camp in a woods, so we pushed on.

We decided to find the place to pitch and drop off our bags, before walking on to Alport Castles. First we had to find a way into the woods.. They were thick, dark and inpenetrable. Finding a hole big enough for a badger, we pushed in.
Inside, it was warm, quiet and nowhere near as evil as it looked from outside. I had been given a description of how to find the campsite by an online friend. Without directions we'd never have found it.
We came over a small rise and saw our home for the night. Alport castles, Majestic as it is, never stood a chance. It's perfect. It's flat, hidden and someone before us had built a bench and there is a fire pit there too. Just at the side there is a small stream. At first glance this looked filthy, but this was because it is a sandy bottom with a little dirt in it. Not a lot of water comes through it, but what does is clear, not full of tannins from the peat on the hill tops above the valley and for the most part, insect free. It may dry up if it hasn't rained for a while, So don't depend on it, though you could go to the river Alport if your need was great enough. After digging a small depression for the water to collect, and pitching camp (including pitching a tarp I'd brought that we put over the bench). We were totally settled in. We were going nowhere.
The night was great. A fire was lit, though much smaller than previous ones by others as we were not cooking on it. The fire would only be for a bit of heat, light and general 'when would we get the chance to have a fire again'.
There were no 'spooky woods in the middle of nowhere' feelings. We just had some Supper, sat round the fire listened to music, drank our wine and chatted. It was one of those nights that you'd love to have all the time. So we'll have to go back, sooner rather than later.

The walk out was also uneventful, though it's still very wild, with no paths through the bracken other than ones left by animals. The river also has eroded the bank in places so it is slow going until you reach the farmhouse and pick up a dirt road.

An excellent place and all three of us enjoyed this trip thoroughly. As we didn't manage to go round Alport castle, we've the perfect excuse to go again..