Pleasington circular walk - near Blackburn

This is my 1st walk since October, my first with my new boots (i chucked the old ones)and my first with Amy since we did a walk a couple of miles from here in September.

We started in the village of Pleasington not far from Blackburn and did a 5 mile circular walk accross large fields,by rivers, through woods,under railway viaducts and past plenty of streams. Oh and a very cool waterfall too!

I was full of cold, was unsure of the leg i injured in December and had boots that were cutting into my feet. Amy was tired too and Henry the dog had been sick the night before and was very off colour!

As it was January the walk was very muddy in places but we had no rain and a bright blue sky at least. The walk was picturesque and a good starter for tougher walks later in the year. We all enjoyed it and wondered just how nice it would look in the summer :)

Grizedale Forest

This was a walk in Sept 06 to Grizedale Forest- our first walk in the lakes and one of my favourites. It was a great day for walking. You can basically choose different paths around the forest all colour coded and make the walk as long and hard as you want. We chose the hardest walk to the top point of the forest at Carron Crag - just over 1000 feet up. It is only 3-4 miles all told but it seemed much longer and it was quite steep as the path curved around to the top. There are sculptures around the forest too and mountain bikers flying past on the way down. Great views from the top and a great walk. ps. these are two of my favourite pictures of Henry and Amy :)

Downham - near Pendle Hill

Another walk I did over a year ago..

This walk started off in the very picturesque village of Downham in the shadow of Pendle Hill. We skirted around the smaller hills surrounding Pendle and despite the cool looking hills on here the walk was actually fairly flat. This walk was very muddy and we had some cattle to dodge which always makes me nervous when you have a dog with you.

Some great scenery, we even scrambled up a grass slope to find a couple of goats there already!

This is a place that is perfect for a slow walk on a nice summers day and I want to come back again :)

Warton Crag -Warton - near Silverdale

I thought I would add a few 'older' walks on here. This was one of our 1st walks together back in Sept 06! Warton Crag is only some 500 feet high but as the land around is so flat it seems bigger. It is steep and you walk along some pretty big drops. You can see Carnforth and Warton village from the hill and on the top there is a Beacon that they used to use to burn to warn of invaders! Once you get to the top the walk changes into a scenic walk through long lanes and by nice ponds and lakes. Only problem is I must have took a wrong turn and the walk ended up taking about 5 hours and at least 10 miles long! We came out eventually and walked the last 3-4 miles along the road passing through small villages that seemed to take forever as by now I could barely walk my feet were hurting so much. Still Amy rates it as one of her favourite walks so I reckon we will come here again.

Crinkle Crags - from Wrynose Pass

This was our biggest walk yet. Right in the heart of the Lake district we decided to walk the 'Crinkle Crags' and if we had the time and energy the neighbouring higher peak of 'Bowfell'.

We ended up walking for over 5 hours and 8 miles to the 2800 (850 metre) foot top of Crinkle Crags from the car park at the top of the narrow and winding Wrynose Pass and back again.

We had fells all around us including the long green ridge of the Old Man of Coniston (pictured), on our right as we walked towards the crinkle crags was the pointy shape of Pike O'Blisco (also pictured) and I have also included a picture of Bowfell which is at the end of the Crinkle Crags ridge.

When the Crinkle Crags do come into view in the mist they appear as several black humps (pictured) and are an awesome sight. The path steepens here and you scramble on the slippery wet rocks to the first 'summit'. The 2nd of the 5 crinkles is the highest and is also home to the 10 foot rock wall known as the 'bad step'. To say that it was dangerous in the mist, with no grip and no foot/handholds was an understatement. Only gary got over it and me and Simon had to go around.

We went off course in the mist and came to the end of a ridge with a valley below and Scafell Pike in the mist the highest point in England a few miles in front of us. To the right was Bowfell but by now my ankles which were already painful were in agony. We decided to give Bowfell a miss this time knowing we still had about 3 miles or more to walk back to the car.

All of us slipped over at some point (me in the mud) as it was very slippery and you had to watch your feet most of the way on the rocks that were everywhere. We eventually got back to the car and I could barely take my boots off. I think my ankles have swollen and my boots are now useless. Think that will do it for this years big walks!

Beacon Fell

This was just a small walk for a couple of hours around Beacon Fell. A nice chill out and admire the scenery while stopping to stuff our faces kind of walk ;)

It was a nice day but neither me nor Simon had the time or the energy for a tough walk so we went to Beacon Fell. it is no kind of challenge but it does have some great little woods and some cracking views over to Parlick and some cool sculptures around the place.

And we brought plenty of grub including the now compulsory pistachio nuts of Simons and my Giant can of Pringles ;o)

oh yeah and we got asked the way by Two Park Rangers!! that cant be right!

Nicky Nook - Scorton

What a gorgeous day this was! I thought I had better take Gary to Nicky Nook as he was missing out for not having gone there. This turned out to be an 8 mile walk in 3 hours so we were walking quite quickly and half of that was road walking on the way back.

This little 700 foot hill is not a long climb but its steep enough for your body to know about it.

We started off the walk having to negotiate a herd of cows who were walking up and down the path and blocking the way and also a bull who thankfully was a bit dopey and somehow didnt even see us.

We then descended down the steep steps past the lake and through the picturesque forest. This brought us out towards a car park with fells on either side. It turned out to be 4 miles on the long winding road back to Scorton but although my feet were on fire it was well worth it :)