...nothing but footprints

All the festivities and over-indulgences of the Christmas and New Year period had left us with the feeling that we were overdue a good long walk.  Prior to Christmas I had continued to lose weight, totalling over a stone and a half since August.  Inevitably though a few of those lost pounds had crept (or perhaps I should say leapt) back on, leaving me with a somewhat sluggish, torpid feeling which I didn't like at all.  It was high time we got back to sensible eating and long walks! We decided to start the year with a level walk and, after scouring my map collection I came up with what looked like the perfect route - a nice steady circuit of ten miles at the foot of the Yorkshire Wolds, alongside the Pocklington Canal. It was an overcast day with an icy cold wind gusting straight out of the north as we drove out to the little market town of Pocklington in East Yorkshire.  Our walk began from a small car park at Canal Head, by the side of the A1079 York to Hull ro...

At the beginning of November we made our final trip of the year to the Lake District.  Before winter set in and all our Christmas preparations began we had decided  to spend a couple of nights in Keswick, regardless of what the weather may have in store for us.  The plan was primarily to enjoy the shops and pubs and then, if we did manage to fit in a climb or a walk, that would be a bonus.  It was something of a last-minute decision, but even so I was a little surprised to find that accommodation in Keswick was hard to come by so late in the year.  After an hour or so of internet searching I was finally able to book a couple of nights in a guesthouse on the edge of town, overlooking the River Greta.  I must admit it wouldn't have been my first choice, but it actually turned out to be pleasant, convenient and very reasonably priced. We left home early on a blustery and wet Friday morning, with the intention of arriving in Keswick by late morning and having ...

Sometimes when I have a week's leave from work it just isn't feasible to spend a full week away from home.  When that happens we like to start and end the week with a weekend break, which is just what we did in October, starting with a couple of days in the Dales and the Howgills and ending the week with a return to the Lake District.  This time our base was the town of Cockermouth, which placed us just a short drive away from Crummock Water from where we intended to set out on a climb of Grasmoor. It was a dull and blustery Friday morning as we drove out to Keswick where we spent an enjoyable day around the shops, followed by a pleasant evening in Cockermouth - home to Jenning's Brewery and one of my all-time favourite beers, Snecklifter. Unfortunately, the weather didn't improve much overnight and the forecast for the rest of the weekend was a bit grim.  The need to book accommodation before the availability of a weather forecast with any kind of accuracy is a prob...