A wizard walk over Alderley Edge with Becky, Samuel and Harry

This week we met up with our friends Becky and Oli, and went out with Becky and their two boys for a walk over Alderley Edge. Now, I know how difficult it can be to encourage children to go for a walk, so we made sure we found one with plenty of interest! This walk over Alderley Edge had a definite mystical theme! We essentially followed a combination of 2 walks found here. We started on the Mottram Quarry Walk, and then when we reached The Beacon, we diverted for a short while onto The Wizard walk, then back to the Mottram Quarry walk to the end from The Beacon again. The start at the Mottram Quarry car park is at the bottom of the hill, although I believe you can park at The Wizard Inn car park and avoid most of the climb. We walked through the woods, with the dog running around in the trees and the children playing. The walk kept us on fairly level ground for quite some time before we found our uphill path. It wasn't too steep or too long, and the kids managed it easily. Once at the top we started looking out for all things magical!



The story of The Wizard is essentially that many years ago a farmer was walking across The Edge taking his mil-white horse to market to be sold. He is stopped by an old man who offers to buy the horse, but the farmer refuses. The old man tells him that at the market, although many will admire the horse, none will offer to buy it, and that he will therefore buy it on the farmer's return trip. Sure enough, the farmer has no luck at market, and returns back over The Edge again, only to be stopped once more by the old man, who has now turned into a tall and imposing wizard. The wizard leads farmer and horse to a rock, and with a magical tap of his staff, he reveals large iron gates leading into a cavern. Following the wizard inside the farmer finds a cave full of sleeping knights, each with a milk-white horse (also asleep). there is one knight who has no horse. The wizard shows the farmer a cave full of jewels, telling him to take what he wishes in exchange for the horse, which the wizard buys for the currently horseless knight. The wizard goes on to explain that the knights are waiting for the time when they will awake for battle during which they will save the country...needless to say, that despite much searching, no one has ever been able t find the magical gates ever since...(and neither did we...)



The story kept the children interested in the walk, and they were particularly impressed by the Wizard's Well, where someone has carved the face of a wizard into the rock above the well. It's a bit indistinct, but I think that only added the mystery of it all! In addition to the wells, there was the 'Golden Stone' to find, which looked more green to me (see the photo with the children on a rock), and the Druid's Circle, which I'm afraid to say is not a real druidic construction! There used to be a building on the top called The Beacon, but this has fallen down long ago. As you might have expected, beacons were lit here in the past - most notably to warn that the Spanish Armada had been spotted!

Probably the best find on this walk, however (particularly for Bethan, Samuel and Harry) was the rope swing! We found it in the woods, and the kids had a great time playing on it. There's something irresistible about rope swings I think, and I was very tempted to have a go myself, but I'm sure it would have ended in disaster if I'd tried! We managed to engineer the walk so that we went to it twice, which kept them walking!

There were two view points during the walk. One from 'Castle Rock', which is the site of an attempt to build a castle in the past - apparently they didn't get further than the foundations, then built it at Beeston instead. The views from here were expansive and we could see Manchester to the North. The other view was towards the end of the walk and looked more Eastwards - we could just make out White Nancy sitting above Bollington.

All in all, this was a great walk. We all enjoyed the trees, the views and the mystical stories. Thanks to Becky, Samuel and Harry for a great day, and hill number 35!

Cadair Idris with James

James is my brother-in-law, and had initially said he wanted to climb Scafell Pike with me for his hill, but when it came to the logistics of getting to Wasdale Head, up the mountain and back home again in a day, we had second thoughts! We then thought about Snowdon, and very nearly went for it, but at the last minute decided on Cadair Idris instead. It was a good choice. Neither of us had ever previously climbed it. The weather was perfect, with great views in all directions (Snowdon to the north seemed to be shrouded in cloud, confirming our 'correct' hill choice for the day!). We climbed up via the Minffordd path which takes in the spectacular Cwm Cau with it's lake (Llyn Cau). Cadair Idris translates as the 'Chair of Idris'. Legends tell that Idris was a giant, and the Cwm does look like a large chair for him to rest in! Our walk took us all the way around the Cwm, covering about 9 miles in all, and quite a bit of up and down!



From the top we had views down to Barmouth, north to the Snowdon hills, West across to the Llyn Peninsular, and South to hills that We were unable to name. Looking east were more hills, we suspected the Berwyns could be seen, as well as a small part of Lake Bala. We'd been told that cadair Idris has the best 360 degree view in the UK, and I can believe it!The whole day fantastic. They say Cadair Idris will change you. In fact, the stories say that if you sleep a night on the mountain, you will wake up either a poet or a madman, or not at all...! We made sure we got down in the daylight, just in case!

After leaving Minffordd you climb steeply up the valley with the tumbling river to your right. It takes a while to reach Cwm Cau (at least an hour), and although you've already gained a lot of height, you feel like you are still at the bottom of the mountain (the photo's of the lake show you what I mean!) We then climbed up onto the horseshoe ridge, and round to the summit. There is a large stone shelter on the top, which would be very inviting in bad weather, but when we were there it was shorts-and-tee shirts all round sitting outside for your lunch. Apparently the shelter is built on the site of a previous shelter initially erected over 100 years ago. The original shelter was served by a local woman who used to climb up each day in the morning, and then serve cups of tea to all who made the ascent during the day. There was no one there giving out drinks to us...

From the summit we headed East to Mynydd Moel, with spectacular views down to Dolgellau. We then turned South and headed down off the mountain to our start point. A good day out, great company and superb views.

Thanks James for this 34th hill! It was a cracker!

Walking up Volcanoes Part 2: Puy De Dome with Bethan

The day after Puy De Sancy, we climbed Puy De Dome. This is another volcano, and again is higher than anything in the UK at over 1400m. Bethan should be proud to have climbed the second highest of my 40 hills, and she did it without the aid of a cable car!!

When Rach decided to 'upgrade' her hill, Bethan decided that she would like to upgrade hers as well! Puy De Dome is a mountain just asking to be climbed, and if you visit the Auvergne, you really have to make the trip. The volcano is visible for miles around, and the highest of a chain of volcanoes in this area. There is a road that winds it's way to the top, but we parked at a col and climbed. The first car reached the summit in 1913, but the toll road only opened in 1926. It took us about an hour to get to the top, walking up a steep, switchback trail all the way up. The views were great, but would have been better if the weather was clearer. As it was, we had to settle for a slightly misty day, with a bit of light rain at times. You could still see the local volcanoes with their craters clearly visible though.

Thankfully there were lots of benches along the way to stop, rest, and admire the impressive views. When we did eventually arrive at the top, it was to discover a large plateau. Apparently, this is a very popular spot locally for hang-gliding and parascending. With the weather being a bit iffy, we saw no one today engaging in either sport, which was a shame. The area at the top is so large that a famous challenge was set in France a century ago to be the first person to fly from Paris and land their plane on the top of Puy De Dome. There is a statue celebrating the achievement of Eugene Renaux who was the first to manage this in 1911! There are quite a few other things to find on the top as well. There is a visitor centre, which was strangely closed, and a radio transmitter station. There are also the remains of a Roman Temple, which had subsequently been turned into a Church. Clearly the lofty location had inspired thoughts of higher things.

We walked all the way around the top, and ate our baguette and cheese (a very French lunch). There were plenty of other people around who had also walked up, some in very inappropriate clothing (handbags and silly shoes...) but they all seemed to manage it! Coming down was much quicker!

The weather gradually deteriorated as the day progressed. By that evening we progressed from showers to rain, and then thunder storms. I've included a video here of the rain coming down at the campsite. It was heavy, and quite exciting. It actually rained much harder later that night!

Thank you, Bethan, for managing to climb this hill with me - the second highest of all my 40hills, and with no 'cheating' by using a cable car!!

Walking up Volcanoes Part 1: Puy De Sancy with Rach

The year we holidayed in France. We spent the first several days in The Massif Central. The whole area is full of volcanoes that last erupted a few thousand years ago (not that long ago geologically speaking). We decided to try and climb a couple of them, and both Rach and Bethan then decided they wanted to 'upgrade' their hills! When we first arrived in France the weather was fantastic, and we had soaring temperatures for our day to Puy De Sancy. This is the highest peak in the Massif Central range, and at over 1800m, higher than anything in the UK. Rach was quick to claim it as her hill! If you can read French, try this link to read about the Sancy area. If you can't, then there's always wikipedia!

It should perhaps be pointed out at this point though, that we didn't actually climb all the way up from the bottom. The clue is in the first picture here - a handy cable car! The mountain-side has a number of cable cars and ski lifts which are used for winter sports, and we were able to make use of one to aid our ascent. The cable car journey itself was great, and we all enjoyed it. Many people just do the cable car ride, have a drink in the cafe, then return, but you can walk up to the top. There are steps and board-walks all the way to the summit, so although it was definitely up hill, it was not difficult terrain! There are plenty of places to stop, rest and admire the amazing views. We were lucky with the weather as it meant that we could see for miles in all directions. If you wanted to come here for a walking holiday, there were miles and miles of trails all around, and as we drove through the mountains, we kept coming across car parks full of hikers.

When we got to the top, we found a toposcope, naming all the surrounding hills. On the horizon you could just make out the Alps, with what we assumed was Mont Blanc as the highest peak. It was slightly unfortunate that as we arrived at the summit, so did a very large group of Scouts! They seemed to be everywhere! We think they had walked all the way up, and well done to them if they had!

We retraced our steps then back towards the cable car, although stopped on the way to divert up a lesser peak, where we could stand on our own (not surrounded by Scouts) and admire the views. There is a cafe at the cable car station, so we had a drink before the descent. It was a great day out, with a lovely drive through amazing landscape to get there and back just adding to the day. The weather was so warm that we went straight to the pool when we arrived back at the campsite. It was a nice pool, but rather cold! It was a good end to a great day though. We would love to return to the Auvergne again in the future, and would certainly recommend getting up Puy De Sancy! Thanks Rach for this hill - the numbering has been messed up by your upgrade, but I think this makes it 32 hills done!

The Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon with Ken

This year was my 4th entering the Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon. My brother got me into it, and I did my first couple with him, then last year with my brother-in-law. This year I was scheduled to do it with Peter (see Gritstone trail day 2), but he couldn't make it in the end, so Ken eagerly stepped in. Well, when I say eagerly perhaps it would e more accurate to say apprehensively! He had no need to be though. A Mountain Marathon sounds harder than it really is. It is a two day event and you compete in pairs. You start on Saturday morning, get given a map and a list of controls (grid reference and description such as 'cairn' or 'sheepfold' etc). You have to navigate yourselves to all of the controls in the order given. The final control on Saturday leads you to an overnight 'camp' (a field), where you pitch your tent for the night. Sunday, you get given a new list of controls which takes you back to the start, via different checkpoints. You have to carry all of your gear for the 2 days, i.e. food for 2 days, stove, sleeping bag, clothing, tent etc. Oh, and you try to run where you can!

This year we started from just outside Shap, near the Wet Sleddale reservoir. This area is probably best known for the location used in the cult film 'Withnail and I', although we were too preoccupied to be looking out for film locations! We had great weather on the Saturday, and awful weather on Sunday! I chose Branstree to be Ken's hill, or more accurately, Artle Crag, just to the North East of the summit. This was the hill where I think he was most relieved to have reached the summit! Branstree is one of the Far Eastern Fells (if we use Wainwright's categories) and from Artle Crag there are great views down to Haweswater and the fells beyond. It had been a tough climb up to the top, and will be a memorable hill for Ken!

We had a good, but hard day on the Saturday, only getting slightly lost a couple of times, and then not really lost, but just taking a while to find the controls! Our first error was a classic one - thought we knew where we were going, then started following people in front, only to find they were on a different course to us, leading us to the wrong control. The second error found us quite a bit upstream of the control, and added a fair amount of time following the stream along to find it. The overnight camp this year was at Longsleddale. Usually you get a field, some 'porta-loos', a tap for water, and they also sell milk, beer and soft-drinks. There was no treated water available this time, they just sold some bottled water, and pointed us towards the river! We used some bottled water, and also sterilised some of the river water - we survived! One of the best things about the Saunders is that you get the Saturday afternoon to sit around drinking tea (and beer which you can buy at the camp!) You get time to chat and chill out, while mentally preparing yourself for further exertions the next day! Day 2 we didn't get lost at all, and did considerably better than on the previous day. It was pouring with rain and felt like it was blowing a gale, but it was wonderful to be out running across the misty moorland, with compass in hand! You certainly felt alive!

When you finish you get a hot meal. Because of the weather we arrived back at the marque at the base camp totally soaked through. Because we'd been running we didn't feel cold, but after we'd sat down to eat our veggie chilli and drink our tea we did start to cool off. We'd left a tent of Ken's up over the weekend, planning to use it to get changed in, but there wasn't really enough room for us both to get in and get changed without getting all of our dry kit very wet. A number of the tents that had been left were now wrecked. The wind had collapsed some, and blown over others. I wouldn't be surprised if some had been blown away altogether! The large marque used as the event centre was being anchored down to a land-rover which was being lifted up by the wind! I got changed in the back of my car! We would usually hang around the centre for a while watching people come in, but the weather was so foul we just headed for home.

Ken is one of my oldest and best friends, and was our best man when Rachael and I married. It was great to do the Saunders with him. We pushed ourselves hard, and not only completed the course, but did so with a very respectable placing. I was really proud of our achievement, as was Ken (I believe). I had a great weekend, and hope he enjoyed it enough to join me again some time in the future! As I keep telling him, we have to go up a class now...

Bickerton Hill with Paula

Right - so this is a bit of a test to see who's been paying attention... Those who have will be thinking, 'Hold on, I thought he did Bickerton Hill with Bethan?', and they would be quite right. However, when we were on holiday in the Massif Central this July, Bethan and Rach both decided to 'upgrade' their hills - blog will appear in due course about that. Therefore, Bickerton Hill with Bethan no longer counts! This also means that The Cloud with Rach no longer counts either!
So - I remembered that on New Year's Day this year we walked up Bickerton Hill with friends, including Paula. She has therefore been 'allocated' Bickerton! I don't consider this cheating, as I have definitely walked to the top of Bickerton this year. At the time we commented how it was a shame we couldn't count it, as Bethan had already claimed it...well, now we can!
For New Year's Eve we had had a 'casino' night at home. Paula came along as did Ken, Jen and Nick. I bought a roulette wheel and Ken brought some poker chips. We had cocktails, a meal and then played roulette, blackjack and poker. It was a great night.

We always try to get out for a New Year's Day walk, and this year we managed to get up to Bickerton. The weather was great - with some frost/snow on the ground, and nice, clear skies. I love walking in that kind of weather - good visibility, crisp air, great views. This walk was all of those things. We all enjoyed it, as did the dog! From the top you can see across to the Berwyn's (climbed with Jamie as my first hill) and North West across towards The Wirral with Liverpool beyond. We love going there, and this day was no exception.

It's great that I can include this New Year's day walk as one of my hills - thanks Paula for climbing it with me!