MY WALKING WORLD  David Preston

A summary of my walks with a few photos

The day was overcast with a forecast of light showers, I did not set out very early so I decided to do a local walk on the Roaches which is not far from my home. I arrived at the start near Hulme End grid Ref SK00610 61610 at around 11.15hrs. The plan was to visit the trig points on The Roaches and on nearby Gun which was on the hilltop on the opposite side of the valley, the walk was listed as 11 miles but I quickly realised that I had left my start to late so decided to shorten the walk by making up my own route across the valley. The Roaches are a well known for some excellent rock climbing on the dramatic rock faces that abound along the escarpment. I left car parking area which is along side of the narrow lane and climbed up the path through the bracken and heather which covers the hillside You are soon on the top and there is easy walking along the ridge towards the trig point  at the far end  of the ridge. On the way I passed Doxey Pool which is an interesting small pool almost on top of the ridge. It normally remains full throughout the year despite having a small catchment area. Once at the trig point I stopped for lunch despite only covering about 1½ miles. There was  a bitter wind with occasional rain showers sweeping across from the south west, at the end of the ridge I descended Roach End and then followed a series of field paths and country lanes heading across the valley.

 On the map was marked a small lake called Turners Pool and this sounded an intriguing place so I made my way towards it, the footpaths were not well marked and I had difficulty finding my way, particularly when I came across a small pool 20 or 30 yards across which I took to be Turners Pool. There was no other water marked on the map but due to the absence of footpaths around it I decided that this was not it. My GPS also confirmed that I was  not at the right place so I carried on across several pathless fields until I espied a sign pointing towards Turners Pool, after a few minutes I arrived at the pool and found it to be a popular fishing lake. I passed through the farmyard and climbed up the hillside for about a mile until I was finally up on the ridge, I then headed south arriving at the trig point to some excellent views all round. After quick brew I set of down the hillside following a series of paths and lanes and then finally up the valley side through a farmyard and back to the car. An excellent walk fairly close to my home

Seven of us from the 40sWalkersNorth met up in Tideswell at 0930hrs for a circular walk starting from Tideswell. The weather was overcast with a fine drizzle as we set of over the fields towards Millers Dale, the field paths were muddy after the recent rain and gaiters were much appreciated, after a brief stop at Millers Dale we climbed up to the Monsal Trail and headed east until we came to a side path heading up to Brushfield, one of the local farmers clearly was not impressed with the offroading fraternity according to the sign although walkers were welcome.

 After many field paths and farm tracks we arrived at the White Lodge car park where their are toilet facilties. We ate our lunch using the picnic tables provided and then set of  up the hillside and followed to path through Great Shacklow Wood eventually arriving at Ashford in the Water. We then followed Pennyunk Lane which then became a series of field paths to Monsal Head. The weather had brightened considerably and we enjoyed a pint at the Stables Bar at Monsal Head in spring like sunshine. Our route led down to the Monsal Trail again which we followed until we reached Cressbrook. We followed the lane up the dale and then up through the wood and then across the fields back to Tideswell where we arrived at 16.45hrs.

An excellent day out with a very friendly walking group

An excellent weekend in Borrowdale started with a walk on the Friday from Buttermere and climbed up from Crummock Water past Scales Force and then along the ridge over Red Pike, High Stile and High crag and down Scarth Gap to Buttermere and then along the North West shore back to Buttermere village- Sunny periods - 9 miles

Saturday we walked from Rosthwaite to Seathwaite and up Sour Gill, up onto Base Brown over Green Gable to Great Gable, down to the Styhead Pass and over to Sprinkling Tarn and back down Grains Gill to Rosthwaite. Low cloud on the tops, clearing later- 12 miles

Sunday we walked from Rosthwaite and over Kings How and back to Rosthwaite. We spent an enjoyable afternoon at the the Borrowdale Show in Rosthwaite where we watched Fell Racing, Cumberland wrestling and all sorts of events. Definetley worth a visit next year. Sunny periods - 5 miles

Most of the group stayed at the Youth Hostel and we stayed at Thornythwaite Farm nearby - excellent.

A walk with 40sWalkersNorth starting from the Dovestones Reservoir just off the A635, we followed the track along the reservoir shore and then climbed up Birchen Clough, It was an interesting scramble up the waterfall and we eventually emerged onto the moor which gave us a great view across the valley and down onto the reservoirs. We had lunch on the rim in the warm sunshine and then followed the Edge  before eventually dropping down back into the valley and back to the car park. It was a superb walk with wonderful views all day.