neil.baldwin – Page 28 – Neil Baldwin's blog : Warning contains walking, technology, photography, holidays.

Wet and windy walk to Boulmer and back

We knew from the weather forecast it was going to be bad, there were storm force winds battering the south west of the country and the tail of the anti-cyclone was going to be right over the north east.

We set out at about 10:30, after N made scrambled eggs on toast, it was grey and windy but dry.

We headed south and in land towards Howick hall where we hoped to follow a sheltered valley back to the coast, in the hall grounds, then walk down to Boulmer on the coast. We passed through a farm and spied the farmer butchering and lamb.

There was not much bird action going on, I guess the weather wind and rain was keeping them hunkered down.

We reached Howick Hall entrance and walked down the road past it in the hope of getting onto a path in the grounds called the long walk. When we found it was all fenced up and gated with a lock. A sign suggested we now needed to pay the entrance fee of £6 to be able to use the path. They did mention an arrangement with dog walkers, keys and locks, but we didn’t have keys or dogs. We turned round and headed towards the sea, then it started to rain so the wet weather gear came out.

The aim now was to get to the Fish Inn at Boulmer, then evaluate our plans over a pint. By the time we got to the pub it was raining quite hard my poncho was letting in water, and my shorts were getting damp. The pub was a welcome site being on the side of the village we arrived from. There was a bus stop outside a possible escape route.

Inside the pub there was a small seating area of 4 tables and then there was a restaurant area out the back, with views over the bay rocks and the sea beyond.

Once our wet outer (and some we inner layers) had been removed and hung near the radiator, we grabbed a table from a couple who were leaving. We decided we may as well have some lunch and then have a salad and home made pizzas for dinner.

We sampled 2 broccoli bakes, a cucumber baguette and chips, and I had crab cakes and chips. I could have done with more chips. We then all went for a pudding, 2 chocolate mousses, toffee and vanilla cheese cake, and I had apple crumble and custard which was lovely. We tried phoning for a taxi but there was no answer, and investigations into buses on my phone and a feeble signal revealed only one bus per day. We had no choice but to walk back to the hut at Craster.

The rain had eased off, and continued to, and eventually stopped as we headed north up the coast. We crossed a nice looking beach on the way, and with the rain stopped it became quite pleasant. At one point we passed a nice house on an exposed point, apparently it was build as a bathing house by the owners of Howick Hall.

Just as we were about a half mile for Craster it started to lash down with rain again. In Craster we got some bread from the smokehouse. Once back at the hut I put some dry jeans on and headed, out to get enough bits to finish off the pizzas. I had no luck getting olives, from the local small Londis, which stocked essentials!

Despite the weather we had got out for a walk, and had been out the best part of the day.

Lindisfarne Holy Island

The plan for Thursday was to visit Lindisfarne and have a look round the Holy Island. I was up earlier than the rest of the house and took the opportunity to take a walk down the coast to Dunstanburgh, to take a couple of panorama sets. The weather was really quite warm, I set out with a T-shirt and fleece on but the fleece had to be removed halfway there.

Whilst down there I looked to see if the end of a lobster trap was still there after we hid it earlier in the week, it was not so I picked up another wreck, of one for H.

We made sandwiches for the day I had Nutella, Helen had Marmite. Then headed up the A1 to Lindisfarne, it made a change to be travelling at the national speed limit. To get to the Holy Island you have to cross a causeway that is covered for about 5 hours on the high tide. We had checked out the tables and were OK till about 16:15. We parked just before the official car park with plenty of others and so avoided the £4 fee.

Looking at the map we decided a loop round the island was the best, option as the weather was probably going to deteriorate later in the day.

There were lots of Northern Marsh Orchids in bloom, and many other flowers to photograph. Highlights included Butterwort and Large Thyme. When we got to the northern end of the island we turned east at the beach and did some rock pooling, was saw the usual molluscs and a few crabs. There was also some interesting geology , with many layers often wavy, some of the layers containing fossils that looked like they were once worms.

We came across and interesting well build hut, it had seats built into the wall round the base, and windows built into the stone, supported by driftwood. Inside there was lots of stuff hanging from the beams built into the roof. Turns out it was a geocache, the most intricate and well built one I have ever seen.

Next we headed south towards the castle and stopped off at the bird hide overlooking the Lough. There were many starlings feeding young on a fence, other birds included Reed Bunting, Wheatear, Pochard, Swans with signets, and a Willow Warbler. We took the opportunity to eat our sandwiches.

Next stop was the Castle, a national trust property so we were able to claw back some of the money spent on National Trust membership. Whilst in the entrance we checked with the staff about the tides, good job too, we needed to be of the causeway by 15:30, or stay till 21:45! That did not leave us much time, we had about an hour to get to the car, Helen then went into route march mode.

It was like the was a mass exodus going as everyone seemed, to be heading back to the car parks, to get off the island. We got back to our car in good time but the tide seemed miles away, perhaps it comes in really quickly over the sands where the causeways is? Anyway we got off the island and across the causeway safely and in good time.

Next we stopped off in Seahouses for some gifts to take back and to stock up on food for dinner. Then it was back to the hut. The weather was just on the turn and a big storm is promised in the south west, and we may see the tail end of it tomorrow. We had had a lucky weather window again, it is a slight shame we miss judged the tides, as we may have timed the trips differently if we had know what the correct tide times were.

Cragside on a rainy day

We were not up early the weather forecast was rain so we took our time and had a cooked breakfast. We left the house just after 11:30 destination Cragside National trust property, originally owned by the Armstrong family. Armstrong seemed to have invented hydraulics, the house was the first to be fitted with electricity, and many things to do with water for example fire hydrants.

The house is also impressive built in to the steep hillside. The whole world had the same idea as us and were visiting the house, when it rained the house became even more packed. The tour of the house was full of the usual victorian paraphernalia, paintings, shell collections etc.

After the house we had a look at the engineering bits in the power house which is a bit of a trek up and down hill, we saw a Bullfinch pair on the way. The formal gardens seemed to be a work in progress or were between seasonal display.

Later in the day the sun came out and I managed a few pictures. We stopped off at the tea room the Buttery lemon cake was great accompanied by a cappuccino.

The women went to look round the shop whilst N and I went to look at the pump house and iron bridge, then see if we could join up to the NT as with the discount on offer we only needed to make one for property visit to be in pocket. We regretted not joining on the Farnes as there was an extra 10 quid on offer. We spent the refund at Lidl on the way home.

Farne islands boat trip part deux

We were up early again in hope of a trip to the Farnes, we had not booked but planned to phone at 08:30 to see what was on. I drove up the road at 08:20 till I got a phone signal and tried phoning. Permanently engaged on both numbers, so I resorted to booking online.

We arrived at Seahorses in good time there was a queue for Billy Shiel’s we queued up I noticed I had a confirmation booking, good news. Once paid up we had a wander and a few pee stops, as we were not sure of the arrangements later.

We headed to the end of the harbour wall to the boat Glad Tidings IV, and got on board, the tide was out so getting on board was a long walk down some steps, then a big step down, onto the vessel.

The boat left the harbour at 10:30 and we headed out to sea, the sun was shining and the sea was pretyy calm. We slowed when there were interesting things to see, both type seals basking on the rocks, guillimots, razorbills, shags, cormorant, and many other sea birds.

After taking a look at the furthest island Longstone, we headed back towards land to land on the Inner Farne. The friendly National Trust volunteers charged us non-members £6.20 landing fee, and told us to keep to the boards walks, and recommended we wear hats, or stand next to a taller person. It soon became clear why, the terns literally nest right next to the board walk, and then aggressively have a go at anyone close by, and had a knack of diving and pecking your head. I am tall and got pecked quite a lot later I noticed blood on my hat where they had draw blood right though the canvas.

We walked round to the light house and had our Heidi pies in the picnic area. After the lovely pies we continued our first circuit of the island. Just past the light house there is a cliff edge where you can get very close to the bird, many of them nesting, you are literally 1m away from Shag nests with young of various ages.

We ran the Arctic Tern gauntlet again as we got towards the National Trust centre, I was pecked a few more times. At the centre there is a church to have a look round, it is pretty basic, but did have a stained glass window. We had managed to while away about and hour and a half, we had 2 and a half hours left for more circuits of the island!

This time round I took the time to try to get some action shots of the Puffins flying in from their hunting forays, out at sea, for sand eels. The puffins were quite good at finding their burrows, and would drop in really close then dash quickly out of sight. If they missed the black headed gulls were hanging around to relieve them of there hard won sand eels.

At about 15:30 we went to join the queue for our 16:00 boat back, the queue was already long, the weather was turning I think everyone had seen enough and wanted to get back to a warm pub with a pint, we did for sure.

All in all we really enjoyed the trip, perhaps would have been better if it had been possible to land on two of the islands as advertised. We were definitely luck with the weather although it turned towards the end of the day, looking at the forecast for the next few days, today was the best.

Alnwick parkland walk

We were up early to get on the boat trip we had booked, but after we had parked up and paid £4 to park we were told it was too rough, to land and the trips were cancelled, pending a decision later. Rather than waste more of the day we went back to the hut had coffee changed bags and equipment then headed to Alnwick for a walk round the parkland.

Alnwick was busy there was an event on at the famous gardens, we parked up (£2 for the day) then headed through town following the instructions for the walk. We stopped at Greggs and got 4 cheese and coleslaw stotties, for lunch.

The parkland made a change from the usual walks we do in that it was managed landscape but there were big sections of woodland. There was three loops of the park we went for the 5 miler which took in the Priory.

After the walk we stocked up at Sainsbury’s then headed back to the hut and N made Couscous with roast vegetables.

Walk to the the Ship Inn Newton Pool

We were up as at a reasonable hour, had breakfast whilst watching London get ready in the rain for the Queens jubilee boat parade, the weather in Craster looked good the sun was shining, there were clouds, the weather man said there may be showers.

We headed North up the coast towards the remains of Dunstanburgh Castle which sits very proud on a slight rise about a mile and a bit from Craster. We didn’t bother paying the £4 to have a look round, but walked on past. Just pass the castle we came across a good view of a cliff with nesting sea birds, we spotted Razorbill, Guillimots, and Fulmar. It started to rain so we had to get the wet weather gear out. The rain soon stopped and we walked along a wide open beach towards Low-Newton by the sea where we stopped at the Ship Inn for some lunch. They had a wide selection of real ale, and the food was local, the ploughman’s was excellent. The pub and adjoining properties are owned by the National Trust.

Suitably sustained we headed back via Newton Pool where there is a hide. We spotted what we thought was probably a willow warbler and got great views. Then it was on the Embleton to see if we could pick up some pasta to eat later.

The path to Embleton was quite a challenge, we found the footpath we wanted but it soon disappeared into a field of rape taller than all of us, so we chose to go off piste round the field. At the next junction we were debating whether to run the gauntlet of either the field edge or through the field when a party of about twenty walkers came along, we followed into the field of rape, after a lot a laughing we emerged yellow at the other side of the field.

On the road into Embleton we came a cross a small petrol station and managed to get some pasta and a dozen eggs from the farm yard next door. At the Londis we found H some mint tea. Round the corner we stopped for pint at Grays Inn, and booked up an all day bird watching trip to the Farne islands.

West to East via Scotland

We were up and ready to leave the Lakeland hut at 09:45, so we did. Whilst packing I discovered what the petroleum smell we had been smelling was caused by, the spare oil in the boot pack was slightly leaking, luckily contained within the bag, so I wasted some time wiping down the air pump, triangle and fire extinguisher.

We headed off past Whitehaven, then onto the A7 and through Carlisle, the roads are quite rural long and straight. Eventually we turned off towards Kielder Forest and water, where we though a good lunch stop would be the Osprey Watch point. The road in was pretty empty, but was a good surface a a dream to drive on. The houses were sparse along thje route and you get a real sense of the size of the forest it is massive.

We got to the Osprey watch point (part of a Kielder complex campsite, pub etc) and parked up £1.40 for an hours parking. The osprey watch point was an area round the back of the pub where the local Nature Trust had set up camp with their telescopes, including a quite powerful astronomical one. We had a look you could just about make out the platform, but that was about it, even if the birds were not hunkered down due to freezing weather you could not have seen them. I guess the idea is to catch a view when the fly out hunting for fish over the lake, but it was too cold to be standing around, and we only had an hours parking!

Back on the road we had our packed lunch, and headed into the Northumbria National Park, where the landscape changed from forest to moorland, very open and bleak rolling countryside. The roads were straight only turning when we got to human habitation or followed a valley river. We passed through Otterburn where there once was a battle.

Alnwick was our planned stop to get supplies, and as we drove through looking for Sainsbury’s, I spotted Barbers book shop “one of the largest in England”, and what a lot of books they have. The shop is in the old railway station and it is full of book shelves, most of them open but the rarer books are in cabinets. Helen bout a couple of books while I took some photo’s.

We found Sainsbury’s on the edge of town, and it seemed like everyone from Alnwick was there shopping like the shops were going to be shut for the next month, we checked and they are not closing at all over the Jubilee weekend.

Then it was off to find Craster even after TomTom put us onto the A1 heading south when we needed to go North, but after a U-turn we were back on track and soon in Craster. The cottage was easy to find and had coned off parking directly opposite. The accomodation looked great two bedrooms both en suite, one with a view over the harbour. The lounge was comfortable with plenty of soft furnishings, kitchen well equipped, but no dish washer.

Helen and I settle in to wait for H&N to turn up.

They arrive before 18:00, after a reasonable journey, up the A1. We sat around and caught up, them had some Pizzas that they bought with them before going over the harbour to the Jolly Fisherman.

The beer is good we had Black Sheep Brewery Bitter and Golden Sheep. Tomorrow we have planned a circular walk from the hut.

Pike or not Pike that is the question

Up just before 8 for our last full day in the Lakes, The plan was to drive over to Wasdale Head then take a walk up the Valley and into a very rugged part of the lakes. We will be following what is the easiest (if not the shortest) route up Scafell. Depending on how we feel when we get up there me may have a go at the summit.

We drove over to Wasdale Head which is a little fertile flood plain at the top of Wasdale Valley, there is a patch work of walls with sheep within. There is a car park near the inn, where we parked it is a close as you can get to the end of the valley. We walked through Burnthwaite along a path called Moses Trod, towards Bursting Knott and Toad How hoping to get up as far as Sty Head. The walking started off pretty flat but slowly got steeper as the metres passed, so we had to loose our top layers. Helen is definitely seeing the benefits of going regularly to the gym, I can’t keep up with her on the up hill bits, where I tend to pace myself. The weather was clearing by the minute, there were clouds on the tops of the peaks but there was plenty of blue sky around to let the sun through, the forecast was that the clouds would clear.

As we got higher we started to become a bit more confident and set our sights on Great End it is 900m with a gentle walk in. We came across a couple of friendly students, and I swapped notes on Lumix camera’ s one of them had an LX5 I have an LX3. We shared the path with them for sometime when it got to the point Right for Great End and left for the Scafell’s, we got even more confident and took the left hand route, towards Scafell and the Pike.

Finally we reached Scafell, we looked ahead and could see Scafell Pike in the distance, but between the two a big drop and another big steep climb, which would have been a challenge to descend. We did consider going to the top and down the other side, but we were tired and it was getting way past our agreed turn round time. Further on the way down we had a conversation with a guy going up and apparently the way down over the top and down the other side would have involved scrambling edient, so this vindicated out decision.

The weather became quite warm on the way down, and we were getting low on water! We chose a slightly different route down the valley, in the hope of dropping down quick and getting on to a flatter section, because we were getting tired of walking on the uneven rocky surface. , not sure if in the end it was a better route, Helen found it particularly tough walking down hill over the uneven ground.

Eventually we got down to the flatter part, and ended up back at the car after an hard 8 hours walking, and a total ascent of 800m. We did not hang about as we wanted to make sure we could get a table at the Woolpack Inn Hardknot where Helen was keen to try out the Pizzas which are advertised as being traditional and cooked on a wood fired oven. The menu is quite extensive, and I chose Sea Bass, Monkfish, Mussels in a Tomato Garlic, White wine, Fennel, Sauce with spaghetti, which seems to be quite a long list of ingredients but they all sound good, and lovely it was too, plenty of fish and mussels and the sauce divine. As for beer I tried a half of Pint by Manchester Brewery and a half of Anarchy. The Half of pint was the best one.

So our last day in the lakes, was a good one, and long walk which at the time seemed tough but looking back we both agreed was well worth the effort, followed by some great food. We will sleep well tonight.

Proper Lakeland weather

Thursday of our Lakeland holiday saw us waking up to rain, and mist over the hills. We had check the weather report at the pub last night, and already had vague plans to drive to RSPB Leighton Moss, which claims to be the largest reed bed in the North West. The rain and mist made up our minds RSPB would be the destination today.

The drive took about and hour and twenty, on mixed roads, a bit tedious but it was raining and we had the Desert Island Discs archive to while the time away. We (or should I say TomTom) found RSPB Leighton Moss easily. Once parked up I said to Helen “where are the binoculars?” We had managed to forget them back at the hut. In future we must both make sure we do binocular checks before we leave to visit a reserve. All was not lost, the RSPB will loan binoculars to forgetful members, like us FOC.

The helpful volunteer on the desk kitted us out with binoculars in exchange for Helen’s credit card, then gave us a virtual tour of the reserve. We headed out to Lilian’s hide apparently opened by John Prescott, the main attraction is the gull roost. We could not spot any other gulls than black headed, but there were a few ducks about. When we got a sense that the rain had eased off we made a break for the next hide.

There was not much to see from the public hide so after a quick scan we moved on to the Low Hide, not much going on there either, but it was a good place to watch the Marsh Harriers, and the Swifts flying past. It stopped raining so we took the opportunity to walk back to the visitor centre for some RSPB lunch. On the way we saw and heard Reed Warblers and Reed Buntings.

At the cafe Helen had from the Kiddies menu beans and a veggie sausage (called sunshine beans on the menu great value at £2.10) and I had a Lancashire cheese baguette. Next we got drove down the road to the beach side hides that over look the marshes.

From the Eric Morecombe hide there were some Black-tailed Godwits, Little Egrets, Redshank, and plenty of Avocets, with chicks. From the Allen hide more Avocets and some Oyster catchers all with chicks. Next it wasa back to thje visitors centre to check out the last two hides.

Great views of Lapwings flying close in front of the hide, and a Gadwall pair. The lapwings were so close we could hear their wings beating against the air. We also saw a flock of 8 Little Egret fly over, which I think is the most I have ever seen so close.

The Tim Jackson (died in an accident bird watching!) hide has recently bee rebuilt, and a lovely hide it is. A bit more activity lots of Gadwall out the front with the usual gaggle of Black-headed Gulls. Over the back of the lagoon we could see a Red Deer and a young doe gambling back and forth without any care, the velvet covered antlers of a stag could also be seen in the long grass at the edge of the reeds. On the way back to the shop I noticed a small mammal running towards me on the path I stood still and signalled to He’ll to do so too, the small creature stood and looked at me for a bit then ran into the under growth. Most likely it was a Weasel but it could have been a Stoat. We left the reserve at 16:30, to take a mountain pass home.

The mountain pass through Ulpha and across Birker fell did not disappoint, the climb up was very steep, but once we were up on the fell, the road flattened out and you could see far ahead, and the descent down into Eskdale was quite restrained. The pass had cut quite some miles but no time off the journey.

We were back bay 17:45 and felt we had made the most of the day by driving whilst it was raining. then doing the wildlife whilst the weather cleared up, culminating with sun as we drove over the mountain pass. We quickly dumped our stuff at the hut and headed back to Brook House Inn at Boot, some of it’s great beer and food.

The food lived up to our expectations, and was excellent, the menu was a fluid as it was yesterday, as we arrived some choices were removed and new ones added. I had the last Deep fried king prawns, with salsa, salad and chips, before that was taken down, and Helen had Feta and Spinach pie with boiled potatoes and a salad. As for beer we both had the Hawshead Brewery Windemere Pale.

Why use the the bridge when there is a ford.

Not such an early start this morning, holiday sleeping hours must be kicking in. The breaking news is that Julian Assange has lost his appeal to be extradited, on what seems to be technicality, specifically whether the Swedish court is a Judicial body. His legal council made a very unusual appeal at the judgement, that the legal point that the judges had ruled on was not argued during the case. Strange think the law!

It is much cooler here in The Lakes today, we have clouds over the hills and patches of blue sky, rain is promised later so the poncho may have to make an outing.

We left the hut at 10:00 and headed into the village, past the village store then took the foot path that starts from the road between the Japanese garden, the path takes you to Miterdale, where we turned right up the valley. The walking is up hill but not too much effort. After the last farm Low Place, there is a ford to cross if you don’t bother looking a few yards ahead and notice the foot bridge, we had to laugh.

Heading further up the valley that are harvesting the pine trees and making a right mess, but they are preserving and extending the hazel wood. Just before Black Gill you need to turn right off the main path to Wasdale, it is not sign posted so easy to miss, if you do the walk is going to be much further, you can’t turn back till Burnmoor Tarn. At the top of Black Gill we had a well earned rest the short climb up the hill had been very steep and because of the humidity we were dripping despite that it was much cooler today than it had been over the past few days.

We walked over the moor between White Moss and Brat’s Moss, there are three stone in the saddle between the two. One of them has four burial mounds and the other two just one each. Helen forgot to bring her trowel so I took a picture for studying later. The path is a bit confusing at that point and I had to get my compass out and do some real navigating!

As you descend towards Boot you pass some old agricultural buildings in various states of ruin, they all look they were quite substantial, possibly inhabited at some point in their past. We stopped to eat our sandwiches, on a rock with a view over the Esk Valley, Helen had Marmite (not my mate) and I had Nutella.

At the bottom of the path there is a curious old renovated mill, I had read that the council had renovated it, but it was not like a council run place. Out side was a man chipping at stuff, next to a sign to beware of the cat called Stanley, who was asleep in a box of leaf litter. The entrance area was full of books and junk for sale, all with an honesty box. The guide took us round the workings of the mill after he had been outside to change a setting to make the mill stone spin faster. The mill it turns out is the oldest still workable in the country. After then demo we looked around the rest of the mill buildings which were full of old farm and house hold equipment. A lot of the labels for the exhibits, were quite humorous, for example of next to a broken shoe repair tool was a label “did not last”. Well worth a visit if you up this end of the valley.

After the mill we stopped off for a half and a packet of crisps at the Boot Inn, which was also a welcome opportunity for a comfort break. We had planned to walk back up the hill the way we came so as to take in Blea Tarn on the way back but on examining the map we noticed that there was a more direct route to the Tarn, we don’t like having to go over old ground.

We took a slight detour rather than just walking down the road, it took us in land nearly to St Catherine’s church then back to the road further down. The man building the wall had got what looked like two thirds of the way through the job. We passed close to the river and got some great views of a Dipper. We then had about 500 yards of road before we took the step path up to Blea Tarn. The path was very steep and what with the humidity was not much fun, but we were rewarded with some great views of the valley.

We then got lost which did not go down too well with Helen, we had over shot the Tarn and had to double back a bit to pick up the right path. We just are not used to footpaths without sign posts, something there are plenty of back in the Chilterns. I guess having signs everywhere would spoilt the remoteness and unspoilt nature of the landscape.

Getting back on track revealed that getting back on track had meant we had walked further than was necessary, we had done 270 degrees of a circle when we had only needed to do 90 degrees, any way we were glad to be back on track. The descent was tough on the lower legs and knees after having been out for 6 hours and counting.

It became a bit a chore rather than, a leisurely walk, but on we had to plod. When we reached a cross roads we had take a right turn with a sad heart as it went up hill again, Helen was not amused, then we had to walk up another hilly bit to walk round the edge of the Outdoor Centre stone wall, in order to join the footpath back down to the Post Office, for Helen it was almost the final straw. Eventually thought we got down to the village store and plodded through the village back to the hut, which we reached at 17:10.

Once back we freshened up and Helen put a load of washing on, then we headed out, to a pub we had stopped at on a previous day where the beer was really well kept and the choice was varied. We went to the Brook House Inn up in Boot, an establishment I would not hesitate to recommend. My first choice had unfortunately run out, with Fennel and Asparagus Gratin with Brie, so I went for the Salmon and Prawn fettuccine, but then notice that the Gratin was being replaced with a Wild Mushroom and Basil Fettuccine. Helen went fpor a Goats Cheese Tart with a portion of chips. Both meals were really good, staff were excellent, really happy and obliging. As the the beer it was top notch as clear as a bell, and a choice of 6, I tried a half of the Hawkshead Brewery Windermere Pale, which I followed by a Half of the Yates Golden Ale. both were superb. We may be back tomorrow.