Monday 29 November 2021

Lake District trip - Sept 2021

Another nice week up in The Lake District in mid-September with a couple of massive 7-8 hr hikes around the mountains south of Buttermere, and those south west of Derwent Water.

Castle Crag at dusk

Grasmoor (852m), Crummock Water and Mellbreak (from Scale Hill)

Massive hike number 1

Massive hike number 2

Crummock Water, before heading up Red Pike 

Crummock Water from High Stile

Tarn Hows

Scotland trip - Aug 2021

We had three days on the Isle of Jura to take in the whole length of this massive island, which has a distillery, some spectacular mountains, and more deer than people, but not a single campsite.  

After that, we drove up to the top of Skye to see the Quiraing and camped in a gale further south on the island before finishing up with a trip to Loch Lomond and a walk up Conic Hill.

The Paps of Jura

Barnhill in north Jura, where George Orwell lived.

Scenic views on our 14 mile Jura hike

The Quiraing on Skye

Loch Lomond from Conic Hill

Wednesday 7 October 2020

Snowdonia trip - Sept 2020

With a whole week of sunshine forecast, it seemed like a perfect time to do another camping trip to Snowdonia.  I've climbed Snowdon quite a few times over the years but this time I decided it would be nice to do the Horseshoe route which I'd not done before.  As is often the case, the Pen-y-Pass car park was full up, so it meant catching a bus from the Park&Ride SE of Llanberris back to Pen-y-Pass.  The bus stops running at 7pm, so by the time I was off the mountain by head-torch I had a delightful three extra miles to walk back to the car.

During the week I walked up Mynydd Mawr, an inviting looking mountain four miles west of Snowdon with an impressive view from the top.  And then I finished off the week with an epic 16 mile hike from Betws-y-Coed up a long expanse of wild mountain to the spiky rocks of Glyder Fach (994m) before scrambling down Y Gribin to arrive at Lake Ogwen at sunset, followed by a 7 mile walk back along the road to the campsite by head-torch. A tough long hike, but good exercise, photos and memories.

Y Lliwedd (898m)

Lake Padarn from Llanberis 

Mynydd Mawr (698m) and Lake Cwellyn

Snowdonia vista from viewpoint 2 miles east of Betws-y-Coed

Tryfan from Foel Goch

Glyder Fach with Snowdon in the background

Friday 16 August 2019

St. Davids trip - Aug 2019


A camping trip in early August, during a heatwave, to see the extraordinary tidal effects in Ramsey Sound, on the Pembrokeshire coast of Wales, during a spring tide.  The sea changes direction through the sound with each tide, causing spectacular white water around the rocks known as 'The Bitches' which are very popular with kayakers and tourists on organised boat trips.










Wednesday 24 July 2019

Scotland trip - July 2019

Our first place of interest to visit on this trip was Stob Dearg (1022m) in Glen Coe; this is a spectacular looking mountain with an iconic, triangular shape when seen from the A82 as one reaches the west end of Rannoch Moor before driving up the dramatic Glencoe Valley.  Having driven past this famous mountain on our last Scotland trip three years ago, we decided it would be nice to walk up it.


Stob Dearg

Looking west toward the Pass of Glencoe from the Stop Dearg footpath.


The vastness of Rannoch Moor, as seen from the summit of Stob Dearg


On the summit of Stob Dearg with Loch Linnhe in the distance.


We didn't see any Golden Eagles on this trip, but there was a big Raven hopping around on Stob Dearg's summit, admiring the view.


The south west view from Stob Dearg (Buachaille Etive Mor)

After a tiring seven hours on Buachaille Etive Mor, we drove on to our next camp at Glen Nevis where the next day we walked through the Nevis Gorge, deep into the heart of the mountains until we came to a fabulous waterfall, the Steall Falls, which is Scotland's second highest waterfall, with a single drop of 120m.


The Steall Waterfall

Standing in front of the Steall Waterfall

We then drove on upwards into the northwest Highlands to explore the Coigach peninsula. It was a lovely surprise to drive over a hill on Rubha Mor and then see the Summer Isles archipelago.  We decided to camp here at Altandhu, and for once we had a midge-free evening.


The Summer Isles, Northwest Highlands

High on the agenda was a summit camp on Cul Mor (849m).  We had been monitoring the weather continuously for a good day to climb it, but the forecast kept promising improved weather towards the end of the week. Running out of days, we couldn't wait around forever so we went up with a forecast for light cloud and hoped for the best.  But halfway up, low cloud rolled in and the summit camp, which should have been a spectacular event, turned into a white-out.  If only we had gone up the previous evening when the summit was cloud-free instead of trusting the forecast.


Cul Mor, Inverpolly, Highland, the day before we went up it.


Cul Mor summit, in cloud.  Not the weather we had hoped for.

Sunday 26 May 2019

A Song Recital in May

It has always been a dream of mine to perform a song recital of wonderful repertoire with a delightful soprano, on a magnificent concert grand Steinway piano.  This May, that dream came true.

Here's the video that I made of the recital:   https://youtu.be/Ru5Y1MOm8qY which was held in the chapel of Chichester University; with songs by Schubert, Mozart, Mendelssohn and others.






Tuesday 16 October 2018

Lake District trip - Aug 2018


Towards the end of August I went up to the Lake District for nine days of camping in the fresh air and mountains.  
Ennerdale forest is one of the most scenic areas in Lakeland.  The valley in which the forest resides runs for many miles between Green Gable and Ennerdale Water, and I'd always thought it would be nice to walk through that lengthy valley one day.  This involved a 30km hike, starting at Buttermere, walking up the ridge of Fleetwith Pike, following the path round to below Windy Gap where I wild camped for the night.  Thankfully, the weather improved the next day for some perfect blue skies as I walked the long, forested valley which was wonderful.
After reaching the shores of Ennerdale Water I continued my circular route through the mountains arriving back at Buttermere 27 hours later.

Ennerdale valley, looking west.

The 30km hike

Crummock Water (looking east), towards the end of the long hike.

Langdale Pikes from Blea Tarn.

Looking towards The Old Man of Coniston (4 miles away) from Carron Crag viewpoint in the Grizedale Forest.

The Skiddaw massif under perfect weather, from Castlerigg Farm campsite.

Crummock Water, from Rannerdale Knotts.

Buttermere and Crummock Water from Rannerdale Knotts.