A stroll through the beautiful peak district countryside from Bakewell, taking in the stunning Lathkill Dale and a section of the Limestone way
Bakewell to Chatsworth House loop - June 2022
Calke Abbey walk - May 2022
High Seat, High Tove and Armboth Fell - April 2022
Back of Skiddaw - Longlands Fell, Lowthwaite Fell, Brae Fell, Little Sca Fell, Great Sca Fell, Knott, Meal Fell and Great Cockup - April 2022
Lingmoor Fell - April 2022
Conwy mini 3 peaks - Alltwen, Penmmaen Bach and Conwy Mountain - March 2022
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About Alltwen | About Penmmaen Bach | About Conwy Mountain
Parking Location | OS Map | Current Weather
We only wanted a small walk for our first day back in Snowdonia, but wanted to get some height in. We had plotted a route taking in the three small peaks just outside of Conwy. After the few hours travel, we were parked up and on our way by late morning.
The start of the walk follows a small ridge. It is technically a farmer's path which is more than wide enough for walkers, but I wouldn’t want to drive a long it! Once over, the actual path heads up on the left and starts the climb to the first small peak. It is easy going and there is a couple of obvious routes to the top to choose from. Once at the peak of Alltwen, you are greeted by some amazing views for the effort. The beautiful beach and sea stretching out over the horizon with the endless mountains spanning out behind you is a calming and revitalising sight.
From here we made a sharp turn towards our next peak, Penmmaen Bach. The walk down between the two is a little rough, and not often trodden so you must take a little care. Although it is clear enough and once past the steepest initial sections, it softens out until it’s almost flat. We came to a small boulder field, here we found a place to sit and have a bit of lunch while looking out to the sea and getting some of that fresh “sea air”. After this, we started the steady climb to the next peak, heading into the hill, then thrusting out towards the sea before reaching the top. Very similar views to the first peak, but with a little more of the Great Orme on show.
Heading off Penmmaen Bach, the paths were straight forward. We soon picked up a bit of pace on the lower sections, eventually crossing over the very clear North Wales path and instead of following this we headed to our left, up the final peak of Mynydd y Dref, AKA Conwy Mountain.
This one is just as easy to top as the others, but you walk a little further over the rocky hill to get to it. Eventually when near the top, you come across an old fort and a couple of information boards explaining the history of the fort. A little way past these and we hit the top of Conwy Mountain, but we didn’t stop here. We carried on over to get a better view of Conwy and it’s walled town surrounding the stunning castle.
We returned down Conwy Mountain the way we went up it. We retraced our steos until we reached the Nother Wales path again. Here we took the nice wide path all the way back to the car.
It was a few hours out walking and 3 mini peaks taken in, all with good views. An enjoyable shorter walk. It retains a bit of that wild Snowdonia feel as well, surprising considering how close to the sea we were.
Kielder Lakeside and Wave Chamber - November 2021
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About Kielder Water | About Kielder Wave Chamber
Parking Location | OS Map | Current Weather
Setting out from the Hawkhope car park, we wanted to follow a short route to the Wave chamber built onto the lake. It was a late afternoon walk and with the weather wet and windy, we had decided on a small, sheltered walk through the woodland.
We started along the distinct path just above the car park and found it easy going. The path runs alongside the lake with water lapping up against the surface. Although rain was falling, the sun had come out on the opposite side of the lake, so the far-off views were spectacular. As we continued along the meandering path, following the lakes shore, we reached a small cliff face set out against the lake. Following this around, we started to get views of the Belling, a small outcrop in the direction of the Wave Chamber.
By this point, we had passed quite a few signs advising of downed trees due to the recent storm, and that we should take care, but luckily the main path had been cleared and there were no serious issues as we travelled along it.
Eventually, we came to the Belling. There was a small sign and some cones advising of too many downed trees and that this should be avoided. It looked fine, so we followed the path for a short while before discovering there were, in fact, many downed trees. Who would have thought! Although passable, they were probably a bit too much of a risk. We made the decision to turn around and unfortunately miss the wave chamber. If clear, is normally a simple walk around this outcrop.
Once back on the main route, the path carried on as expected and if we had more time, we would have looked at walking much further along the Kielder lakeside. As it was, it was getting a bit later and the winter night was starting to draw in, so we took a path on our right up onto the North Haul Road and this track takes you all the way back to the car.
This ‘road’ is just a wider track, and is used by some forestry vehicles, but none passed us on this day. It does mean that the path is muddy at points, but the higher-level walk through the woodland was nice and it is a very quick route back to the car.
It was a shame the storm had taken down so many trees blocking our route, but it is still a charming afternoon stroll without much difficulty.
Kielder Observatory Walk - Feb 2022
Otterburn Ranges, Chew Green Roman Fort and Pennine Way - February 2022
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About Otterburn Ranges | About Chew Green Roman Fort | About Pennie Way
Parking Location | OS Map | Current Weather
Starting out in Byrness, we followed the main road until we hit the section where the Pennine way crosses over the road. We latch onto the path and then start the assent up the hill to take in this section of the Pennine way. This path is a direct route up the hill, a little unforgiving at first before taking in a steadier climb. It's mostly through woodland, and surprisingly considering this routh a main “way” it’s a small, albeit very clear path.
As we started to rise above the trees, the views became better and better. As we neared the edge of the woodland, we found a few trees down over the path. We managed to make our own way around these and then exited the woodland. Crossing over a forest path, we carried on up and headed over a much rockier section where the views out down the valley were extremely picturesque.
It was here we came across the first of a few military warning signs, stating that the ranges are a live firing area and to not wander into the ranges or pick anything up. The OS Map’s clearly lay this information out, so make sure you’re carrying one.
From here, we headed left, following the Pennine way. This takes you across a large hilly section of the Otterburn Ranges. It’s here that the beauty of the undulating raw hills comes out. It’s a wild place, and with the weather soon moving in, the harsh wind that had developed made it feel all the wilder. Making our way along the path, we passed a few more signs. Once we started to run more parallel with the woodland below us, the ground grew boggier in sections. Luckily, these are cut through with a wooded walkway or rocky steps, both of which make it very easy to not get wet feet. Eventually, we take a left turn to face Grindstone Law and Scotland. From here the path drops down and you still have the rawness of the area on show but with a view out to even more hills and mountains than before.
Still following the path running parallel to the wooded area to our left, we left the woodland behind and entered Scotland! About 20 minutes of walking through a grassy and bumpy path swings you around and heads towards the Roman fort. Winding back over the border into England again, we soon reached the fort. There isn’t much to see here, some obvious remains of a fort but as they’re all grass covered, I imagine the view is much better from above than ground level.
5 minutes of looking for old roman coins (because why not!) and we started back. We re-traced our steps back over the Scottish border, and then again into England before joining up with the path and the woodlands.
Here we went over a small hidden stile and took a permissive path through the forest. It is Forestry commission land here, so there is a substantial number of tree stumps over the floor between the small scattering of trees. It is bit of a rough trek here, there is no real path to follow and the tree stumps along with the thicker tree coverage means more concentration is needed for walking. As slow going as it was, it was still the most direct route back.
Once out of the main wooded section, we emerged onto a forest track. From here it is a case of walking the flat track all the way down the hill and back to the bottom. Just because it’s a generic forest track doesn’t mean it’s boring. It sweeps through the valley and even runs past a Bothy, all while still having fantastic views out to the valley bellow and the endless forests around the national park.
Once at the bottom, we followed the A68 back to where we had parked, there is no path here but there is plenty of space on the grass verge at the side of the road. In summary, this is a wonderful wild walk, taking in an interesting part of the UK. We will definitely be back exploring here in the future.
Hadrians wall and Greenlee Lough - Jan 2022
River dove Ashbourne tissington trail - January 2022
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About River Dove | About Tissington Trail
Parking Location | OS Map | Current Weather
We started this route by heading into Thorpe and connecting briefly with the Limestone Way, before heading past the church and walking until a small path was found just over a stile to our left. This passes over a wide grassy field full of sheep. Here, there were great views of the hills and valleys both in front, and to the sides with a valley that the river Dove had carved away.
Reaching the bottom and over another stile, we headed into a small wood. This is where the path became very muddy. We had to take our time not to slip down the steep hill. After leaving more than a couple of large slip marks in the mud, we crossed a small wooden bridge, and the river Dove came fully into sight in front of us.
Taking the T junction left, heading over a stile, we found that the incredibly muddy hill was just the start! We had to cross a section of mud that was probably 3-4 inches deep with no real way around (check out the photos if you want to see just how muddy we got!) Once we had trudged our way over the mud patch and tried to clean up on the grass a little, the route became a little firmer.
The path follows alongside the river and is easy to follow without too much change in elevation. Mud continued to be a theme, but I suppose that’s what you get for walking the Peak District in a wet January. We carried on taking this path all the way to some wider fields where we skirted past Mapleton, before swinging back towards the river ...and back onto some muddier paths. Eventually the mud started take its toll and our pace suffered. At least we managed to stay up right! But luckily, things improved not too much further along, as the path made its way around the edge of a farmer's field. The ground here was much more stable and there was plenty to look at as a few birds of prey could be seen flying over the edge of the meadow.
The path begins to head off over Bentley Brook, at which point you can choose to carry following the river Dove to the right, or head left as we did and head towards Ashbourne. The path here is on a bankat the top of a sloping field, this made an awkward traverse, but at least it wasn’t muddy! Towards the end of the field, a small path appears to the right. This takes you directly into the heart of Ashbourne (a beautiful town if you’ve never been!) we followed the main steps down towards St Oswald's Church before swinging into the centre of town. After contemplating grabbing a coffee and cake, we realised that nobody in their right mind would allow our quite unbelievable muddy boots and knees in (no matter what the sign said), we decided to carry on into the heart of the town.
After a little picnic, we made our way to the main carpark and the start of the Tissington Trail. This is the magic part! We lumbered through the 350m brick lined historic train tunnel that runs under houses and roads of Ashbourne. It was surreal, and although not the normal natural view we love, it’s simply stunning. Definitely an experience to tick off if you are in the area. Once through this amazing landmark, the Tissington trail starts up proper. You quickly head down a small hill and over the river again, before the land heads back up. Expect lots of walkers and cyclists here, even in the cooler months. As you can imagine, being a disused railway, it’s flat and very quick. In fact, this whole section of the walk took about half the amount of time than the first and we didn’t even rush. There are some spots of views out, but most of the way you follow the wood lined path under and over tunnels before arriving back at an old train station where we leave the trail and back up to the car.
If you're considering this route, please do you’ll love it! However, I'd definitely recommend doing it in the drier months of the year to avoid the mud bath. Even then, take some gaiters!
Moel Siabod - November 2021
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About Moel Siabod | Parking Location | OS Map | Current Weather
We were staying in the nearby village of Betws y Coed and wanted to hit a mountain peak. Not wanting the crowds and traffic that a day on Snowdon normally produces, we headed towards Capel Curig to take on the wonderful Moel Siabod.
Parking just outside of town, we headed down past Plas Y brenin Outdoor Center and over the small bridge at the bottom of the path. The view up the lake from here gives a fantastic sight of Snowdon, and at the right time of the day is stunning. Moving on from here, we entered the main woodland and headed up through. The paths here are very easy to follow, but they are a little steep so are somewhat energy sapping. We took our time and pressed on through the woodland. There are a few paths off to the side but ignoring these, we headed directly at the mountain.
Upon leaving the woodland, we found that there were some fantastic views that had been hiding away. Looking back towards Crimpiau, as well as over towards Snowdon, you get a taste of exactly what Snowdonia has to offer. From here we continued to follow the path upwards. The direct nature of the path means that you rarely lose sight of it, all the way up towards the summit. It’s rockier, the closer you get to the summit. Due to the previous few days of rain, the rocks had become slippery at points, so we had to take care.
Eventually, we passed a stile and the ground started to flatten off a little more, still direct and aside from a few sections where there had been steps cut into some rocks, it was even easier walking. We managed to keep a good pace until very near the top where the path joins with a secondary path from Pont Cyfyng. At this point, the top is a huge boulder field with little in the way of an obvious path. The route and destination in front were very clear, so we carried on through here being careful where we placed our feet. It’s not dangerous really, but you’re much more likely to roll an ankle here or slip if the ground is wet.
Eventually, we got to the storm shelter just below the peak and then headed to the summit itself. From here you can see 13 of the 14 highest peaks in Wales while standing on the highest peak on the Moelwynion range. Once we had taken in the breathless views across what feels like most of Wales, we moved further down the mountain and sat eating lunch while watching clouds pour over Mt Snowdown in the distance.
Finishing up, we headed back through the boulder field trying to pick up the path again and soon managed to find it. From here, we retraced our steps all the way back down, luckily the views on the way down were just as fantastic with some great mountains opposite. We soon began planning our next day in Wales when we could look to tackle even more of these.
In summary, a great ‘there-are-back-again’ walk. The views on top are wonderful. However, and it is definitely one to do on a clear day, as you can see for miles in almost every direction with little standing in the way.
Gwydyr Forest walk to Llyn Geirionydd - November 2021
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About Gwydyr Forest | About Llyn Geirionydd
Parking Location | OS Map | Current Weather
We’ve walked Gwydyr Forest a few times now, and each time we find more beautiful routes, amazing forest paths and stunning lakes. We decided to head further into the northeast of the forest than we have previously explored and found much more of the same. Which is to say, still stunning and definitely worth it.
We started in Betws Y Coed and headed up the main road before crossing the popular bridge over the River Lugg. Once here, we joined onto the Snowdonia slate trail path. This runs alongside the river. It is a path at height, on a wooden platform and is unusual as parts of the walkway even fork around trees. Once off the walkway, the path is clear until you come to an open area. Here, a couple of paths go up into the forest but the one we want to follow is slightly hidden behind a rocky outcrop to the left. Once you move behind the rocks, there is a little gate that leads up, over a flat field and runs very close to the river. Leaving the field, we came to a few steps up to another gate where the steps run back down. However, we stay on the paved pathway, still running parallel to the river.
From here we followed the Snowdonia Slate trail along and up to a small forest road, there were a few cars on here so we had to take care but there was enough room for them to pass easily. This a road through the woodland at height and it is easy to make good progress. As we reached the point where the slate trail turns left towards Swallow falls, we continued on the road. It gets much steeper here and the road starts winding up the hill. This took a bit longer to get up and there is a T junction at the end. We turned right here and followed another road along. There are some nice views at this point as the trees behind have dropped away and you get a panoramic view. Further up this road we reach a path.
Upon turning left onto this path, we found it was used as a mountain bike route! We only ran into two bikers, and we stepped off the path in good time to allow them to fly past, but if you are nervous about this, take the left-hand turn at the road you past previous and that would avoid this part. Once we had made it past the bike trail it was onto a nice wide forest walk, and again thanks to the height we got some good views of distant mountains. We followed this path sweeping past our first lake, a small body of water that runs alongside the path for a short while.
Not much further round and we found ourselves dropping down to a little hidden path to the left. How glad we were that we chose this path, as the next body of water was so beautiful that we decided to sit here and have lunch. While we sat there, we could see a heron across the far side of the lake stalking fish, and upon closer inspection, we saw many small fish right in front of us (I popped the go-pro in to take a look below the surface, so check out the video below).
Moving on from here we arrived at a farm, and after some rough navigation found the Sa, Helen path, this one took us over the brow of a hill and gave us the view of the day. Llyn Geirionydd in all its glory on a sunny day. Luckily, we got to follow the path all the way down with this view in front of us. Once at the bottom, we follow a good path to the far end of the lake, before swinging around to the other side. The path here is much rougher and at the section where the hillside slides out towards the lake, we found a small technical scramble, made difficult by some damp roots.
Once over this, the path returns to normal and we soon made our way around the lake with the sun blazing in our eyes. Yes, the sun was surprisingly bright for a mid-November day. Once we had rounded the lake, we headed onto a small road. This leads us back to the lanes we walked to get here. The rest of the route back was following these lanes back down to the slate trail, and then taking that back to Betws Y Coed. We know we have much more exploring to do in this forest, and although a large amount of this walk was on lanes, the view of the lake as we came over the hill was stunning.
