As spring begins to take off a new resident bags his/her spot in our bird box. Hopefully this great tit will do better than our tenants in 2013. There seemed to be two clutches of eggs last year – eventually there were about 20 eggs in the nest at one time. Each clutch was abandoned […]
New Tit takes up residence! Read More »
The Snake Pass Inn is in an excellent location between two of the highest masses in the Peak District – namely Kinder and Bleakhow. The room decor is bizarre, but people aren’t coming here a 4 star hotel experience. Several of my companions in fact decided to forego the room experience altogether and camped
Wrecks challenge the TGO ers on Shelf Moor Bleaklow Read More »
I bought the Harvey maps for Dark Peak and White Peak in 2012. I’m not sure why. I suppose I want to support this small company with just 8 employees as they compete with Ordinance Survey for our custom. The scale 1:40000 is better for walking than OS’s 1:50000. In most cases it is also
First peek at the Peak District – Kinder from Edale Read More »
Anti-blister kit My new anti-blister kit! Keeping feet in good shape is essential for a walking trip long or short. Blisters and foot pain comes from friction. Reduction of friction must be a priority – and is something Compeed and the newer specialist blister plasters do not address. Also a priority is to keep dressings
Begone Bad Blisters! (or Compeed is Not Enough) Read More »
What is this flower? Another of the mysteries from my ‘lucky dip’ selection of seeds planted last year. There are several such blue flower heads developed each with a blue stem. First flowers of 2014 appeared some weeks ago and now there’s plenty to see in the garden.
What is this flower? Read More »
The first sourdough bake of the year! Dough overnighted in the refridgerator before shaping this morning. Then a couple of hours resting at room temperature in bannetons. Slashed and sprayed before baking. Oven at 250C, steam from a roasting tin in the bottom for the first 15 minutes. Lift helped with granite slab on one
Friday Bread – with lift! Read More »
Cann Mill with the large mill pond in the foreground The water wheel provides all the power Enough to cover the Christmas period (and a bit more!) More about this special flour in an earlier blog …
Cann Mill Organic Flour -time to top up Read More »
What will set the limit? i) Two months after an arthroscopy, will it be the knee?, or ii) With no long walking for many months will (un)fitness by my undoing? or iii) as we approach the shortest day of the year will the number of hours of daylight? The route starts at Caversham Bridge in
Dawn to Dusk in December – A 50k walk in the Thames Valley Read More »
It is now nine weeks since the knee operation. There’s been remarkably little pain and I have been able to increase my walking distances without incident. At the 8-week check I was given the all-clear to increase distances while ‘listening to your body’. Time for a trip to the mountains! A trip to North Wales
Knee test: 3 walks in Wales! Read More »
What is the best GPS for the backpacker and walker? It is hard to find a definitive answer to this – I’ve been looking for more than a year. Without great conviction I’ve settled on the Garmin GPSMAP 62s in the knowledge that it is at least better than some. My first GPS was the
New Generation GPS? Some thoughts on GPS for mountain walking .. Read More »