My annual holiday in the
We walked a little more of the South West Coastal Path, from Morwenstow to Barnstaple, which was fabulous apart from the Tarka Trail. The section we walked is a converted railway track which runs from Barnstaple towards the Bristol Channel on both banks of the estuary.
Although pleasant enough as a cycle ride, it felt very unsafe as a walker, especially one with a dog. The tarmac surface meant the bikers could get up a fair speed, and I wondered whether the folk responsible for the Keswick to Threlkeld railway track refurbishment realise how dangerous this is. Though most were fairly courteous, the odd bike came whizzing past at great speed and very close indeed. It was a huge relief to escape from its confines and onto the Warren approaching Westward Ho!, for example.
The rest of the walking was fabulous, with massive cliffs overlooking tormented seas, and great fins of rock jutting into them in places. It was no surprise that so many ships came to grief in this area, especially around Hartland Point.
Back home, I was back to work on a Youth Adventure Trust challenge event. This was based on Wasdale Head, with two days’ walking across a wide area to raise funds for the charity (youthadventuretrust.org.uk).
I was based on Lingmell, so walked up the night before to make the most of a lovely evening. I camped a little below the summit and then spent a fascinating day watching the clouds swirling
Looking across to Mickkedore between Scafell Pike and Scafell
I had a couple of massive aerials with me to help with the communications, relaying messages down to
A client of mine was up for a week but had been advised not to do any serious walking as she was awaiting some test results on her heart. We’ve become good friends over the years, so went for a low level walk from Coniston.
We followed the lakeshore for a while, then headed up to another disused railway line into Torver. After a pub lunch, we ascended gently towards Torver Beck and after a while, and some intense blackberry picking, arrived at
Hidden in the landscape, a large lake is fed by a waterfall from the
Most recently, I joined my son and some of his friends in Wales for an attempt on the Welsh 3000s. I did this with him about 10 years ago in a little over 15 hours. The route goes over Crib Goch, Snowdon and Crib-y-Ddysgl, then drops to Nant Peris before heading up onto the Glyders via Elidir Fawr. This section finishes on Tryfan, then drops to Ogwen and back up onto the Carneddau via Pen yr Ole Wen.
Fell ponies at the end of the walk 
Banisdale Quarry 
Near Cnicht – inclined planes
This time it was supposed to be easier, taking two days, but the first, over the Carneddau, was a shocker, with strong wind and heavy rain for most of the day. We saw almost
We admired the engineering of some inclined planes to assist in getting the quarried slate down to the valley. There is a large area of disused quarry buildings at the head of the valley which
After a rest day, I joined up with the Youth Adventure Trust again for another day in the hills, this time hiking, biking and paddling from Lyn Gwynant campsite. The hike was over Snowdon, up the Watkin path and down the Miners’ path. The weather was stunning for this section, but closed in for the bike ride which had to be cut short – it really wasn’t very safe in the conditions. All teams made it to the final paddle on the lake, drenched to the bone but extremely satisfied!
John Hunston – the walking mountain leader
johnhunstonwalking.com
John is a member of the Keswick Mountain Rescue – you can donate to this amazing, lifesaving charity online via this link: http://keswickmrt.org.uk/donate/
