Cat Beers

It's been a while since the last beer post so I have a couple lined up for you.

Real ale is a booming business and an inspiring example of cottage industry and independent firms striking out on their own, and Claire and I have visiting a couple of great examples - the Durham Brewery and Jennings Brewery. Apart from the obvious great tasting beer, I love some of the imagination and thought that goes into the branding and packaging of independent ales. I'm an easy target in many ways and any beer that has some Lake District or Yorkshire Dales association is going to win me over every time, so I'll always pick up a bottle of  "Leyburn Shawl" or "Muker Silver" whenever I see a selection of beers from the Yorkshire Dales brewery on offer.

One other beer that catches my eye is a label with a cat on it! Any of our friends will know we have a house full of cats and Claire does some good work for the Cats Protection Society too, fostering cats in need of a new home and so this is a topic close to our hearts.
I've picked up a few "cat beers" recently and here are a few that I really like:

This first one has it all, Lake District AND cats, how could I resist?

This beer brewed by Robinsons has a cat AND my name, but at 8.5% it's not to be taken lightly.

This one isn't quite as heavy but at 6% still a strong ale.

And finally here's one from Moorhouses who have built up a range of ales that feature the mystique of Pendle Hill - and what witches tale would be complete without a black cat?

Latrigg: Gateway to the Northern Fells

Today's walk is about a return to Latrigg, previously visited in October 2012, Keswick's family fell and gateway to the Skiddaw family beyond. We had a special occasion recently, a welcome return to these shores for crag rat Rainer. He was on a whistle-stop tour of the UK, and of course on such a trip you have to make time for a visit to the Lake District even if only for a brief stop to say hello. With time up against us as usual, we decided on a half day in Keswick, having some breakfast in Booths, a look around the shops and a quick hike up Latrigg.

We took the "usual" Keswick route, along Spooney Green Lane and the bridge over the A66. At this point we followed the Cumbria Way as it climbs rapidly skirting Brundholme Wood.

As always, each step upwards was greatly rewarded as the views opened up over the vale of Keswick behind and the North-Western fells beyond, as well as the Skiddaw group directly ahead of you.

The walk is a short fairly steep one, with a very well made and maintained footpath, and so with a minimum of fuss we found ourselves on the summit plateau of little Latrigg. AW said of Latrigg:

"a small hill, an excellent viewpoint, a great favourite of local folk and visitors"

and that captured our requirements for today's walk perfectly - an easy walk with friends to share some of the fantastic Lake District scenery. Looking eastwards you have an excellent view of Great Mell Fell and Little Mell Fell on the edge of Lakeland.

It is a real pleasure to walk along the summit which has an amazing view over Keswick, Derwentwater and the huge collection of fells beyond.

We carried on along the summit, taking the route back down towards Lonscale farm. This leads down to the C2C cycle path and footpath that follows the old railway track between Penrith and Keswick.

On this sunny day the path was very busy with walkers and cyclists and it's not hard to see why this is a popular route. Soon enough we were back at the old train station and it was smiles all round after a great little walk.

Muker Meadows in Swaledale

Swaledale is a pretty special place for me. Working in Richmond, I often see walkers when I stop for a coffee before work, knowing that most of them are well into their Coast To Coast adventures. Heading further up into Swaledale you go though some spectactular places - Reeth, Gunnerside and Muker are all great starting points for walks.

We recently had visitors and so we decided to head over to Muker to have a look around the village and the wild flower meadows that you cross when heading up on the paths towards Keld.

After the long cold Winter that we had,it will be a while yet until the meadows are in bloom, but here Swaledale is really spectacular as it gets gradually narrower as it heads towards Keld. This is also where two walking legends cross - the Coast To Coast and Pennine Way routes cross just a short distance to the north of the village.

Our plan for the day was to take in a number of Dales sights - a drive across the Buttertubs Pass, visit to the Wensleydale creamery and a whistle stop tour of Leyburn, so our walk was just a quick one here. Despite the sun being out, it was pretty cold and at one moment it even started to snow - not what you expect from late April!

But whatever the weather, this is a spectacular location looks great at any time, with the meadows, barns, stone walls and the hills creating a fantastic surrounding.

River Swale at Richmond

I was in Richmond town centre early one weekend recently whilst working on another project and so I thought I'd make the most of it with a quick castle walk. Part way round though I decided to take the steep steps down and do the walk round at river level.

I normally stay up on the high path but down at the riverbank you really get a good impression of how the castle dominates the landscape.

This really is a lovely place to walk - even though you are just minutes from the market place this feels far removed from anyone and at this time of day the only sound was the water rushing by. For those having a short break whilst on the Coast To Coast this is well worth having a look.

Even in the shallow fast-flowing river, an odd bend allows the water to slow right up providing a tranquil scene.

And the falls are always a good viewing point as the water cascades only a metre or two but it is always a compelling scene. Like sitting round a campfire gazing into the flames, somehow I never get bored of looking at the water hurtling over the edge of the falls.

A quick sharp walk uphill and I was back at the market square, the walk is literally only ten minutes, but sufficient to put a smile on my face for the rest of the day!

Yorkshire Three Peaks April 2013

It was just over year the weather last Winter defeated our previous attempt at the Yorks Three Peaks, and so having compared calendars with walking buddy Dave, Claire and I found a date at the start of April this year to give the Three Peaks challenge walk another go.

It is an odd one it has to be said. Due to the nature of the challenge, you don't get a great deal of time to fully appreciate the scenery as you are trying to complete the walk in less than twelve hours. It also attracts a huge volume of walkers which obviously puts a strain on the footpaths of these fragile fells. A lot of work has been done to improve the path and make it more durable, especially across the infamous bog section between Pen-y-Ghent and Whernside

The sun was just coming up over the top of Pen-y-Ghent as we set off from Horton-In-Ribblesdale and it really was a beautiful morning to be out on the fells. The first couple of miles are very rewarding as although it is a sharp pull up Pen-y-Ghent, it isn't long before you reach the top, soaking up the views and thinking one down, two to go, that's not so bad!

Reality soon kicks in afterwards - the long trudge over to Ribblehead takes a few hours to complete and although I remembered this a being a flat march, there are actually a couple of short ascents and descents. The great news here is that the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust and National Park Authority have done a fantastic job in putting a new path that diverts away from the boggy ground of Black Dubb Moss which makes for much easier going.

The tarmac on the road for the mile or so over to Ribblehead is hard on the feet, but this was all good as we had left a car here and knew that a breakfast stop and water bottle refill was soon to come.

The next long trudge was along the huge hump-backed spine of Whernside, which is a good couple of miles of non-stop ascent. I have really enjoyed walking Whernside individually but as part of the challenge walk is it pretty tough going - even more so on a snow-covered path.

With Ingleborough up next, we enjoyed the gentle walk between the two fells and the good path across the lower slopes leading up to the steep bit. Normally this is a tough slog up a zig zag path, but with a thick blanket of snow, the only way was to head straight up kicking holes into the ice and climbing the sharp gradient upwards. This certainly got the heart, legs and adrenalin pumping!

From the top of Ingleborough we had some spectacular views all around of the terrain we had walked and way beyond. This is a great fell and definitely deserves exploration on its own and not just as part of the challenge.

The last couple of miles seem a lot longer than they actually are as fatigue sets in, but the end is in sight, and soon enough we were back in Horton in Ribblesdale hobbling to the Three Peaks Cafe on tired but happy legs.

We decided to stay at a spectacular bed and breakfast not far from Clapham, and toasted our walk with a couple of drinks in the pubs of Ingleton that evening before sleeping extremely well!

Durham Brewery Tour

I recently made the most of a great Christmas present, which was two tickets for a tour of Durham brewery. The car stayed at home for this one and we got the train up to Durham, visiting the town for a spot of lunch and a look around some of the outdoor shops. The brewery is a short bus ride outside of Durham, in Bowburn and we arrived just in time for the 2pm tour.

I won't give away too much, but the tour itself was really interesting. Our educated tour guide and master brewer Steve was very entertaining and we learnt a lot about the history of brewing as well as the start of the Durham brewery itself. For example I didn't know that the British traditionally brewed ale which which preceded the introduction of hops - and subsequently brewing beer rather than ale. Dutch migrant workers introduced hops, and that as they have preservative qualities, this was the essential factor that made brewing beer as an industry possible, rather than being simply brewed for private consumption.

And of course the star attraction was the beer samples, and these were plentiful and generous! No thimble of beer here and here, we got full pints to try and with each one we learnt about the brewing process and what makes each beer unique. The only exception was the Russian stout which came in a wine glass, and at 10% that's probably just as well!

I picked up a couple of bottles too, all I need now is a special occasion to get these opened and sampled!

Great Whernside, Wharfedale

Somehow the middle of March 2013 offered that rarest of occasions -  a free day! When I checked my diary and realised Claire and I had a weekend without appointments, so after a quick chat with our fellow walker Dave we decided to meet up at Kettlewell for an exploration of some of the fells of the Dales. The original plan was to take in both Great Whernside and Buckden Pike, but the weather had other plans for us.

There are a number of ways Great Whernside can be tackled from Kettlewell, and the route we picked seemed pretty straightforward and direct.

We started off heading out of the village along the pretty lanes before taking the footpath heading towards the interestingly named Hag Dyke. This was pleasant walking territory and we gained in height pretty quickly. We got a little bit confused at the scout hut which is situated at Hag Dyke, about halfway up Great Whernside, but soon found our way back onto the path.

Shortly afterwards and we found ourselves walking in the white stuff, and it was only a few minutes until we were knee deep in snow at times!

The deep snow made the walk considerably harder, but we pressed on upwards, soon reaching a collection of cairns. From here onwards we encountered a whiteout and wouldn't really see anything beyond the white ground and sky until well off the summit of Great Whernside.

Fortunately we were well equipped with map, GPS and the compass which kept us headed in the right direction, and shortly afterwards we reached the trig point that marks the top of Great Whernside. At this point the snow was also coming down and so we didn't hang around for long, as when we stopped for even just a couple of minutes the cold really got to us. We stayed on the summit plateau for a short while mainly guided by compass as there was no way of discerning the path on the ground!

Conditions improved slightly after we had passed through the summit crags and we could see a slight depression in the ground which looked like it was where the path should be and fortunately we were right. A short while on, and we came to some very steep slopes.

It was far too slippery to attempt to walk down them and so we had to just sit down and slide all the way down. It was great being a kid again and we've never come off a fell quite as quick as this!

Now that we were off the higher ground the visibility improved, but by this point we had got fairly chilled, and the prospect of going through that all over again wasn't all that appealing and so we decided to head back to Kettlewell and save Buckden Pike for another day.

We crossed the little road from Kettlewell to Coverdale, and took the path back to the village, following Tor Dyke and the Top Mere Road. This was a really nice path that made for pleasant walking, and as the skies cleared we had great views back over to Great Whernside and down onto the picturesque village of Kettlewell.

All in all a great day out and good preparation for the next big Dales walk, which I'll be telling you about very soon!