-
Recent Walks
- Diastole
- Remembrance of Things Past
- The Flowers of the Forest: Flodden Field
- Bamburgh: royal castle, aviation museum and a sycamore gap
- Lindisfarne
- A wee horseshoe from Langholm
- Torr Point and Red Haven in 24 degrees
- O’er Burnswark Hill, we cheerily roam’d
- Quintinshill and the River Sark
- The Debatable Lands on the King Charles III England Coast Path
Archives
Categories
Tags
- 7stanes
- Ae
- Annandale Way
- Arran
- Ayrshire Coastal Path
- Comedy Way
- Corbetts
- Cumbrian Coastal Way
- Cumbria Way
- Donalds
- driving
- Eden Way
- England Coast Path
- Forrest Estate
- Grahams
- Great Trossachs Path
- Hadrian's Coastal Route
- Hadrian's Wall
- Limestone Way
- Low Level
- Monica
- Mull of Galloway Trail
- Munros
- Nithsdale
- pandemic
- Paths
- Raiders
- Raiders Road
- Ribble Way
- River Ayr Way
- Romans and Reivers
- Rosnes Benches
- Ruins
- Skiing
- Spring
- SUW
- Three Peaks
- Wainwrights
- Wee Hills
- Winter
Author Archives: drow 'n smirr
Ayrshire Coastal Path: 2 – beaches, barriers and braying bovines
7.18 miles 3h 19m ascent 118m Ballantrae-Lendalfoot Trudge: V. (intr) to walk laboriously, wearily or without spirit but steadily and persistently (Orig. obsc) The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary This word accompanied my thoughts as I walked, and re-appeared as I … Continue reading
The Last of the Long Field Hills
2.29 miles 1h 15min ascent 75m Little Auchenfad Hill Auchenfad, achadh fada, means the long field, which I take to be the land bounded by Craigbill and Auchenfad Hills to the north, and Trostan and Little Auchenfad Hills to the … Continue reading
Auchengray Hill – one of Monica’s neighbours
2.21 miles 1h 44m ascent 132m I have seen two suggested origins for the name Auchengray. Field of the moor or field of the herd. Auchen is common in place names, almost certainly coming from achadh, ‘field’ and an/na ‘the’; … Continue reading
Ayrshire Coastal Path: 1 – fairy foxgloves and standing stones
9.54 miles 4h 21m ascent 209m Glen App Kirk- Ballantrae Behind yon hills where Stinsiar flows,‘Mang moors an’ mosses many, O Robert Burns This was our first section of the Ayrshire Coastal Way, taking us from Glen App Kirk over … Continue reading
Three Peaks: Day 3 – Whernside, viaduct, aqueduct and bolting rhubarb
8.04 miles 5h 3min ascent 473m Ribblehead-Viaduct-Dales High Way-Cable Rake-Whernside-Skelside-Broadrake-The Scar- Gunnersfleet-Ribblehead Whernside was the third of our Yorkshire Three Peaks walk. It takes its name from the OE cweorn ‘Quern, millstone’ and at 736m it is the highest of … Continue reading
Three Peaks: Day 2 – Ingleborough, limestone pavements and powdery primulas
9.28 miles 6h 22min ascent 470m Ribblehead-Gauber quarry-Park Fell-Souther Scales Fell-Swine Tail-Ingleborough-Sulber Nick-Horton Ingleborough is the second highest of the Yorkshire Three Peaks and the second of our Three Peaks’ walks. After a very wet outing the day before, we … Continue reading
Three Peaks: Day 1 – Pen-y-Ghent in wild weather
8.73 miles 5h 56min ascent 533m Horton-Brackenbottom-Pen y Ghent-Plover Hill-Foxup Moor-Horton Moor As soon as we arrived in Horton it was obvious we would be walking in waterproofs. We began with drizzle (which my mother claimed would wet you more … Continue reading
Yeork-sher: wet boots, mired tyres and abandoned walks
That doesn’t sound particularly promising, does it? But I enjoyed it. The old adage is that good sailors are not made by smooth seas. And the philosophers suggest that enjoyment is perhaps heightened with a wee dash of adversity thrown … Continue reading