The Nab with the church Youth Group! Yes - Hill number 40!!

The weekend before my 40th birthday I was involved in taking the church youth group away for the weekend. We stayed at The Peak Centre in Edale, and as I was involved in planning the programme, managed to fit in a walk to include a hill! The weekend overall was a great success I think, with the young people seeming to enjoy themselves. The centre itself was fantastic, with superb accommodation and amazing resources. We enjoyed indoor rock climbing, archery, a campfire, excellent food from local caterers Jo's Pantry, and, of course, the walk for my 40th hill! The kids were a pleasure to go with, and except for an unfortunate incident with a sprained ankle and a trip to A&E in Sheffield (nothing broken - phew!) there were no problems all weekend.

The walk we did on the Saturday morning was from the centre, across fields to Ollerbrook, then up hill through more fields along Oller Brook to reach 'Open Country' (access land where you can walk were you want, although we didn't tell the kids this!). You then pick up a path on the left leading up to The Nab, where you get fantastic views across the valley to Mam Tor beyond. From there it is a simple matter of following the path down back into Edale.

Edale is a fantastic place if you like the outdoors. The Pennine Way starts here. If you wish you can follow this national trail 268 miles north into Scotland. We didn't. I had, of course, started one of my other hills from here as well, when I climbed up on to the Kinder Plateau with my mum via Ringing Roger.

Walking up to The Nab with the kids seemed a very fitting end to my 40 hills. It was a privilege to take them away and to have felt that we had done something for them. They didn't all find the walk an easy one. Although it was not that far, there were some steep sections. I like to think that they all enjoyed it, although I suspect they preferred the rock climbing and archery!

I'd like to send a huge thank you to all the kids who came on the weekend, for making it a great time of fun and friendship! And, of course, for completing my 40 hills in the nick of time!!!

The Clent Hills with Pat and Paul

The Clent Hills are an oasis just outside Birmingham. I'd never been before, and was really glad to get there to climb 2 hills with my aunt and uncle, Pat and Paul. We were joined by my mom and dad, my brother, and, of course, Monty the dog! First of all, credit where credit is due, I found this walk on the Walking Britain website, where you can find it as walk number 2716, or just click here. It turned out that Pat and Paul had done this walk before, so there was no chance of us getting lost! We picked a fantastic day to walk, with glorious sunshine. We parked at the NT car park described on the website, and ate our picnic lunch before setting off. We particularly enjoyed the rhubarb polenta cake that we had made with a cup of tea!

You start the walk by turning your back on the hill right next to you, and setting off in the opposite direction. By crossing various fields, you find yourself at St Kenelm's church. Nipping behind the church you can check out the source of the River Stour (aka muddy hollow) and there is a small poetry trail about Kenelm, who was a Prince of Mercia, apparently murdered at this spot in the ninth century. Some legends have it that the water first sprung up at the moment that Kenelm was killed...

After leaving the church we started our first climb. Initially through a field of peas, then into woodland beyond, we eventually found ourselves at the trig point of:

Walton Hill with Pat

This was actually the highest point of the walk, and gave the best views looking South and East. The Lickey Hills seemed just a stone's throw away, with the Malverns further South. Walton Hill is an area of common land, now owned by the National trust, as was most of the area we walked today. We could see across the valley to our next hill, and could equally see we had to descend into the valley first before another climb!

This we obviously then did, dropping down to the village of Clent with it's church. We quickly entered woodland criss-crossed by many paths. The directions from the website were excellent, and kept us going in the right direction. We eventually cleared the woods to find ourselves atop:

Clent Hill with Paul

We first stopped to look at the toposcope, giving us great views all round to hills on the horizon. On a clear day you can,apparently, see the Berwyns, which was my first hill last year with Jamie. Leaving the toposcope we headed further uphill where the summit is marked by 4 standing stones. It would be nice to believe that they were pre-historic, like Stone-Henge, but I'm afraid they are not. Lord Lyttelton of Hagley hall had a number of follies erected in the 1750s, and these stones were one of them. I still prefer to think of them as some kind of neolithic monument...

From the top it was an easy matter to find our way back down again through the woods to the car.

Once again, a great day out. fab company, and 2 great hills. By my calculation, that just leaves one to go...

The Stiperstones with Jane, Eric, Hannah, Emily, Sam and Lizzie

The Stiperstones is a great place to go with kids. It's easy to get to the top if you choose your car park wisely, and the rocks are fantastic to scramble over! We had wanted to walk a hill with my aunt and uncle, Jane and Eric, and on the day we arranged they were looking after their grandchildren, so they came too. We had quite a group in the end with Rach, Bethan and my mum and dad as well, not forgetting Monty the dog! We met at the car park at The Bog, and as we were last to arrive found everyone else in the nearby tea-shop. We dragged them out, and set of to join the Shropshire way, which then leads you up onto the ridge. It's a pretty easy walk, uphill, obviously, but not too far. The worst we had to deal with today were swarms of flying ants! It really was grim at times, and I think I was lucky not to swallow a few!

The rocks at the Stiperstones are apparently unique - Stiperstones Quartzite or something like that. I'm not much of a geologist, but suffice to say they are impressive. You can scramble up and onto various sections, and if you want to reach the trig-point then you have no choice other than to put hands on rock. Most of us did. The summit was covered in ants, so we didn't stay long.

The kids enjoyed the walk, and eating the bilberries that were growing all around!

There are various legends associated with the area. The most common one involves Wild Edric (again). This time we find that after fighting the Normans for years, he finally settles a truce with William, only to be cursed for doing so. Legend has it that he was cursed to spend the rest of eternity down in the local mines, waiting to come out and fight whenever England is in danger. Apparently he was last seen during the Falklands War...but thankfully not today!

One of the best bits about the walk from The Bog, is the visitor centre/tea room. Here you can buy homemade cake, drink tea and find out about the local area. Staffed by volunteers it is a great find. They are happy for you to walk in with muddy boots, dripping waterproofs, and dogs! They believe they are the only tea room in Britain to have gas-lighting. If you are going to the Stiperstones, stopping off here is a must!

All in all, a great day, a fab walk with good views (we could see The Long Mynd, The Wrekin and various other hills looking towards Wales), and great company. Thanks to all who joined me for today's walk!

Raw Head with David

Raw Head is the highest point along the Sandstone trail, and the county top of the newly formed Cheshire West and Chester county. David and I had been trying to find time to get out for a walk together, and had very nearly co-ordinated to climb a Spanish hill, but our holiday's didn't quite fit together (we caught the ferry from Bilbao that they arrived on the same morning). In the end, we managed an early bank holiday Monday walk with our dogs. Monty found himself up against 2 large and boisterous Labradoodles, and they had a great time!

The weather was perfect, with clear skies and great views in all directions. We parked at the top of Coppermines Lane, and followed the Sandstone trail all the way to the top of Raw Head. You get particularly good views looking North towards Liverpool and The Wirral, but as the walk progresses, you can also see West to the Clwyds, and the South, where Bickerton Hill dominates the foreground.

There are a couple of points of interest on the walk, but we didn't divert for either, wanting to make sure we were back home with our families for the rest of the Bank Holiday! The first is a well that you can nip down to have a look at. I've seen it before, and unless you are into 'well-spotting' (is anyone?) then it's not as exciting as it sounds (and I don't think it sounds that exciting!) Of slightly more interest, a little while before you reach the top, you can scramble down from the path to find a large cave. It's not naturally made, but has been quarried out by locals wanting sand for their floors. It really is quite impressive, and if you want to check it out, you will need a torch! It's a good divert if you have kids with you, as they love to explore inside.

We stopped at the trig point to admire the views and to drink a quick cup of tea (thanks for bringing the flask David!). I've read somewhere that not only is there a summit trig point, but also a summit cave. Rumour has it you can crawl all the way under the summit and come out on the other side of the hill. We didn't find the cave though.

The walk down initially takes you past some very steep drops just off the path. Thankfully neither we nor the dogs strayed significantly off the path - it would have been a very rapid descent down...

All in all we really enjoyed the walk. Perfect weather, perfect timing getting us back not too late, and, of course, perfect company! Thanks David for hill 36!