Causey Pike, Scar Crags, Outerside & Barrow

A mad idea from Claire and her colleagues meant that we found ourselves in Keswick on a night out mid-February, followed by a night in the freezing cold camping barn at Catbells afterwards. The problem was that if no-one volunteers to stay home and stoke the coals whilst the others are out having a good time, then that fireplace and camping barn is going to be cold!

An early start and a big breakfast at Booths soon warmed us up and meant we could head back over to Newlands and park up just beyond Stair for the start of this walk. Our planned itinerary was up the front face of Rowling End and onto Causey Pike, following the ridge over Scar Crags before taking the path down at Sail Pass which would bring us back along the lower slopes of Causey Pike before crossing over to ascend Outerside and Barrow.

The pull up Rowling End was a hard slog, but it did mean that we reached higher ground pretty quickly. As always each step upwards was rewarded with a view that was opening up and behind us we had fantastic views over Keswick and Derwentwater. The flat section along Causey Pike was a welcome break before the final scramble up. This looked much trickier than it actually was and as usual, a scramble up seems easier than using the same route to come down.

Having seen very few people, it came as a surprise to find a load of people resting on the top of Causey Pike, I wonder when the bus was due?!?! It was pretty windy here so we didn't linger for long.

One of my favourite parts of fellwalking is the ridge route - it's a great reward for the hard work in getting up the fell, and the ridge from Causey Pike over Scar Crags towards Sail is a delight. Good walking conditions and really rewarding views.

Ahead we could see the hard work done by Fix The Fells to restore the path up Sail, and you could see the scars left behind by the thousands of boots that had widened the path beforehand.

On reaching Coledale Hause we turned sharp right and headed along the path that would take us down to the bottom of High Moss. The path was iced over in places meaning we had to either go off-road, or sit down and slide down on our bums - this was nothing compared to the slides down Great Whernside which I'll be telling you about in a future post!

From here it was an easy walk over to the base of Outerside and a short and pleasant climb up. At this point the wind had picked up a bit so it got really cold whenever we stopped.

A short pause on the summit of Outerside and we pushed on, over the crags of Stile End until we made the summit of Barrow and our fourth fell of the day. From here once again we had brilliant view over diminutive Swinside and onto Keswick, Derwentwater as well as over Bassenthwaite Lake over to the Skiddaw range.

In a rush to get out of the wind we retraced our steps to Stile End, before taking the steep path down the side of Barrow which brought us onto the main bridleway along Stonycroft Gill, and here it was an easy walk back to the Newlands road and the warmth of the car.

More La Palma Sun: Pico Bejenado

And so we come to the last post of this series of walks on La Palma. We look forward to returning to this amazing island again and picking up from where we left off!

The conditions were perfect for us on this walk. Although there were clouds swirling around some of the nearby mountains and over the volcanoes in the southern half of the island, Pico Bejenado was surrounded by clear skies. This mountains is fairly unique on La Palma, whereas others tend to form part of a chain, Pico Bejenado stands proud on its own, at the southern end of the La Caldera de Taburiente national park.

There are only a couple of good starting points from the south, mainly due to the inaccessibility of the terrain to the north. We chose the El Barrial route, taking a long walk up a dirt track before arriving at the starting point at the start of the national park. From here the route was signposted really well, with directions at every junction helping us along the way, so we barely needed the map and occasionally dipped into the guide book to read about the attractions such as the lava tubes as we went past.

We gained height very quickly, and had some fantastic views back towards the mountains of the volcano route. The path was nice and varied, using a forest track through the pine forest before giving way to sparser scrubland and then towards to the end getting much steeper with sharp drops.

When we reached the point at which the path meets up with the other recommended walk, we found ourselves on the edge of a massive cliff as we could look deep into the heart of the Caldera de Taburiente.

Although we felt like we were near the top we still had several hundred metres of ascent ahead of us, but the panoramic views meant it was a pleasure all the way.

One on the pretty small summit we enjoyed our sandwiches and a bit of banter with a handful of other walkers before retracing our route back down.

This walk was fairly hard work, made a lot easier by the excellent waymarking and the great idea of going up the mountain gradually with long hairpin footpaths instead of just heading straight up.

As with the other walks, we rewarded ourselves with a bit of relaxation and swimming on the beautiful beach at Puerto Naos to finish the day.

Overall, La Palma was a brilliant holiday, we will be back!

More Walking on La Palma: Jedey Walk

I've never seen quite so much variety in the weather as on La Palma. And that's coming from a frequent visitor to the Lake District where we have had walks starting off in glorious sunshine ending up in a snowstorm a couple of miles later and several hundred metres higher.

Our strategy for picking where to walk was pretty straightforward, get up off the coastal strip onto higher ground, look at where the clouds were and then head off in the other direction.

We chose a walk starting from the village of Jedey as this meant only a short drive for us from Puerto Naos, meaning we could park up, enjoy the walk and be back in time for a swim and lie on the beach by mid afternoon.

The main footpath we set off along was the PR LP 15 that would have taken us back onto the GR131 and the volcano route, but to shorten the walk, after a short while we headed off the path and onto a forest track that was headed upwards.
Although the slopes were steep the path - as we found is the case with many of the paths on La Palma - they comprise of long straight sections and hairpin bends, meaning they take you gradually up into the mountains.

Once again this was a walk with varied scenery, as we headed up from the village we passed through volcanic slopes and the occasional vineyard before entering the pine forest. As it was cloudy more or less everywhere around us the views around us were pretty hazy.

After a couple of hours heading upwards we unfortunately found the path we planned to use on our descent appeared to be closed for maintenance - and in this volcanic terrain going off the established paths isn't an option.

So we took the same path back down and before we knew it we were back in Jedey and at the car ready for a couple of hours of seaside Atlantic bliss.

La Palma: Roque de los Muchachos

Here is some more Winter sunshine for you, a visit to one of the "must see" attractions on La Palma. Roque de Los Muchachos is the highest point in the island, a collection of rocks towering high up in the clouds at nearly two and a half kilometres above sea level.

The summit area is also a hotbed of astronomic activities, as we drove past countless observatories as we neared the top. La Palma is renowned for its clear skies and apparently is the second best location for astronomy in the northern hemisphere. Yes you read correctly - we drove up as opposed to walking - but the drive was more than an adventure as we headed up through countless hairpin bends with near vertical drops.

The views form the summit were simply stunning, you could look right over the cloud to El Tiero over on Tenerife.

Looking southwards we had a fine view over the Caldera de Taburiente, deep into the lush forest far below us.

Over to the west past the jagged crags we could see the expanses of banana plantations and beyond we could see the coast and the villages of Tazacorte and Puerto Naos.

We had a short walk to the central viewing point and the view from here into the Caldera de Taburiente was simply stunning! The GR131 (long distance footpath) passes this spot but we had a busy holiday schedule of things to see and places to visit, so we've saved that one for another time.

I have a couple more La Palma posts for you, before a triumphant return to the Lakes and a great little circular in the North Western Fells, so watch this space!

Some Winter Sunshine: Walking on La Palma

Well I'm not sure if AW would have approved, but to make up for 2012's cancelled Summer holidays, my wife Claire and I had a fantastic break at the start of February. The challenge was to find somewhere with sun, sea and walking to be done. We considered, and discounted loads of places, as we wanted to find a place where sunshine was more or less guaranteed and we found the perfect place on this Holiday La Palma website. So some research, when we saw La Palma referred to as "the world's steepest island" then that was it! Armed with Paddy Dillon's Cicerone guide to La Palma and a map we were set to go.

We stayed in the resort village of Puerto Naos and it was fairly quiet - the beach wasn't too busy and the restaurants and cafes were open for business but not rammed. There were lots of cyclists based in Puerto Naos, but we didn't see too many other walker types.

La Palma is an amazing place and an interesting one to drive on - the roads all basically consist of hairpin bends with short straight passages in between. In particular when you are in the national parks it gets pretty hairy. The scenery is fantastic and very varied at that - you can be in lush forest one minute and on an arid volcano the next, whilst being a short drive away from a nice volcanic sandy beach. Walkers on La Palma cannot fail to be impressed by the fantastic footpath network, waymarking and great condition of the paths.
We managed a number of walks so I'll be sharing these with you over the next few weeks as well as some other resources.

For the first walk we did a part of the "volcano route" which is goes from the heart of the island, heading southwards towards Los Canarios.
Setting off from the Refugio del Pilar, we headed upwards through lush forest, gradually climbing the slopes of Pico Birigoyo.

We were accompanied by a steady drizzle, as we were well in the cloud. Occasionally we came to viewing points which should have offered expansive views, but we had a sheet of white instead. From time to time the sun looked like it was going to penetrate the cloud, but no such luck.

Higher up we left most of the vegetation behind and it was our first exposure to the eerie upper volcanic slopes. As I previously mentioned, the footpaths and signposting was absolutely spot on.

Unfortunately the weather did not let up and so we didn't get any of the big views we were hoping for, at least the landscape itself was very spectacular though. After a while we left the GR131 path, and headed down towards Montana Marcos. This part of the walk was a bit tougher and we felt extremely remote - this is definitely not the place to stray from the paths! Here we met a couple from Wales who were headed back in the same direction as us so we had a good chat with them on the way back.

We were absolutely drenched and frozen when we reached the car, and so it was quite surreal when we headed back down, out of the cloud, and over to the coast where a blazing sun and bright blue sky meant we replaced the planned cup of tea and a hot bath with a lie on the beach and a dip in the ocean!

Misty Baldersdale

It's been a long tough Winter up until now as far as walking and me are concerned. Every spare morning or day on a weekend has been taken up by work and studies and so I haven't been able to get out and about anywhere near as much as I would like to have. I did manage a quick escape on a long Sunday afternoon, jumping into the car and heading up into Teesdale.

I have explored the area around Baldersdale a couple of times already, walking up Goldsborough and nearby Hury reservoir. A couple of miles to the south near Bowes you have the spectacular God's Bridge which can be visited on the Bowes loop on the Pennine Way.

AW didn't have good things to say about the reservoirs here. I think over the years nature has reimposed itself on the area and for me the man made lakes can be seen as a thing of beauty. This is a remote part of Teesdale and away from the star attractions such as High Force and as such, it is a perfect place to get away from it all.

I only had a couple of hours of daylight left, so my intention was to park up near Blackton reservoir and have a quick walk up Shacklesborough. This is a limestone outcrop, similar to its twin Goldsborough, poking it's head up from the moors with a flat summit that reminds me of a miniature Ingleborough.

However the weather had other plans, and once I had made some headway along the Pennine Way and up past Balderhead reservoir, the mist closed in and the visibility was reduced dramatically. Although my GPS told me that Shacklesborough was just a short distance ahead, it was nowhere in sight! Furthermore the light was fading fast, so I decided the best thing to do would be to head back to the car, making a small detour to walk along the water. This was a bit of a mistake, as although the shoreline looked fairly straight and easy to follow there were in fact some sudden steep ravines, which meant I had to make long detours.

I bumped into one other person on the walk only and we had a chat about where we had been that day. Tim Laurie had a fascinating story to tell, as a member of the Swaledale and Arkengarthdale Archaeology Group he had been up one of the ravines nearby to monitor the state of the juniper. You can follow his activities here: http://www.swaag.org/

I made it back to the car with very little daylight left and although I hadn't reached my intended target, this was a fun little walk and it was fantastic to be out and about in Teesdale again.

Sutton Bank, North York Moors

The North York Moors National Park has a great deal to offer and its expansive views are one of the highlights for me. The Lyke Wake Walk gave us plenty of eye candy as we were surrounded by endless desolate beautiful moorland for hours on end, stretching as far as the eye could see.

The views from Sutton Bank are quite different in nature. Perched in the south-western corner of the National Park, the hills rise up out of nowhere. And sharply too, as anyone who has enjoyed a drive along the A170 from Thirsk to Sutton Bank will testify to. With this higher ground rising sharply and seemingly from nowhere, the views stretch for miles and miles right across to the Pennines over to the west. When you hit the higher ground along this walk you also get to gaze deep into Lyke Wake Walk territory - and it's pretty tempting to just keep on walking towards that mast in the distance.

Starting off at the National Park Visitor Centre it's a short walk through the trees before you arrive at the first of many spectacular viewing spots, where you can enjoy the view across the plains and down to Gormire reservoir far down below you. The path makes for a brilliant walk and it is well maintained and pretty level so this walk is great for walkers of all abilities - all you need to do is remember to turn around and walk back to the start!

Paths go off left and right at regular intervals giving you the option of heading deeper into the National Park or head steeply downwards into the woodland below. Our route saw us continuing northwards along the Cleveland Way, which is one of those "we'll do it one day" multi-day trails to add to the list alongside the Coast To Coast, Pennine Way, Cumbria Way etc.

We soon passed High Barn and shortly afterwards crossed onto a path along the old Hambleton Drove Road. This was as far as we went, and so we headed back through the woodland back on the Cleveland Way. We soon headed downhill which was a steep climb down and enjoyed the atmosphere as we followed the forest paths.

The ground underfoot started off as a good track but got gradually smaller until we were more or less stumbling around the boggy woodland.

We reached a wider but similarly boggy path where we had the choice of heading downhill to visit Gormire reservoir which was the original plan, but it was extremely slippery so we decided to head back uphill and onto the Cleveland Way path along the cliff tops. From here it was a fairly short walk back to the National Park Visitor Centre.

Instead of stopping here we decided to carry on back along the Cleveland Way to have a look at the glider field of the Yorkshire Gliding Club.

We were hoping to get a view of the famous Hambleton White Horse, but stood above the horse cut into the turf, it just looked like a patch of gravel from this angle!

Never mind, we retraced our steps back to the car, completing a fantastic walk.