Great Outdoor Reads

There's nothing better than being cosy and warm by the fire in the winter, with the rain or snow lashing against the windows, a mug of hot tea and some dark chocolate digestives to hand enjoying a good book. I'm a voracious reader, getting through a book every three days or so, and here are a selection of really good stories I’ve read and thoroughly enjoyed.

Adventures of the Yorkshire Shepherdess by Amanda Owen

The third in the utterly delightful series of the Owen family and their remote hill farm in the Yorkshire Dales. A real James Herriott style read for today’s generation. Full of warmth, decency, family, hard work and simplicity, it’s a real tonic. She’s a lovely lady too; I met her after attending one of her talks this year.

The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd

An absolute classic of mountain literature. Nan Shepherd recounts living and breathing her beloved Cairngorms in such a personal and evocative way as she pursued her quest to find the essence of the mountains.

The Bond by Simon McCartney

Bro bought this from the Kendal Mountain Festival a couple of years ago and it disappeared to the back of the bookcase until I dug it out at the beginning of this year. This is a really fabulous read about two epic Alaskan climbs and the ensuing determination, friendship, hardship, trust and courage. Brilliantly written and utterly absorbing. Can’t recommend it enough.

A Croft in the Hills by Katharine Stewart

A really gentle story of a family making a living on a croft with no previous experience at all. Told from today but looking back fifty or so years, it tells of hardships, but also details a simpler, happy family life with the characters, neighbours and friends they met along the way. Really lovely.

Thinking on my Feet by Kate Humble

I love Kate Humble; she’s so natural, down to earth and bubbly. Someone I think I’d like to be friends with. This is a lovely book about walking the Wye Valley Way as well as her thoughts, feelings and observations on her walks and runs over the course of a year both here and abroad. Chatty, warm and friendly, just as I imagine she is.

Walking Home by Simon Armitage

This is brilliant. Just so well written, I couldn’t put it down. It tells the story of his walk along the Pennine Way giving poetry recitals in the evenings to help with the finances. He describes in little snapshots the people he meets, how he feels, what he sees. Just delightful.

Ghosts of K2 by Mick Conefrey

This is a fascinating account of the race to be the first to conquer the world’s second highest and most dangerous mountain. Really well written and researched, it gives a huge amount of interesting facts and information surrounding this most deadly of races to the top. A great read.

The Ogre by Doug Scott

A fascinating account of Bonington and Scott’s dramatic first ascent of The Ogre. The first part of the book details the history of the local area, its people, other expeditions and the mountain, then the second half focusses on the ascent and epic descent. A really fascinating read. I have met Doug Scott as well. Just saying.

Captain Scott by Ranulph Fiennes

I'll admit to Captain Scott being a bit of a hero of mine as is Ranulph Fiennes, so the two together were always going to be a winning combination for me. Fiennes writes really well, in a clear, simple almost chatty style that brings the tragedy of this story to life in a way many other versions I've read, don't. Exceptionally well researched and well paced, the story builds dramatically to the tragic ending you know and dread is coming, to the extent I really couldn't put it down. Wonderful.

I hope this whets your literary appetite or might appeal to anyone else you know who loves the great outdoors.

All that remains for me to say this year is have a very

Merry Christmas and a Happy, healthy New Year.

Bletchley Park

bletchley park

In the middle of September, Dad and I visited Bletchley Park, somewhere I'd wanted to go for a very long time. I find the history of what went on there fascinating and I've read a lot around the subject; Alan Turing's biography, memoirs of the ladies of Bletchley, Gordon Welchman's story of Hut 6 as well as more general histories of the war effort.

Bletchley is situated just outside Milton Keynes. Dad had been before about a decade ago and couldn't believe the wonderful restoration work that has taken place. The way the exhibits and stories are laid out is amazing. Everything is beautifully presented and you are either free to wander at will, take a guided tour or use an audio guide. Dad and I wandered freely around the huge and impressive site.

The big house is stunning and the rooms are staged as though their occupants have just stepped out for a breath of air. The huts are probably the most interesting and, although the layout of each is not known specifically, they are set out as though work is still ongoing. The interactive, touch screen exhibits are fantastic - you can have a go at cipher and code cracking, mathematical problem solving, pattern spotting or memory puzzles which are all fascinating. They also have holographic projections of characters on the walls, so it's like you're joining a conversation that started just before you walked in.

an enigma machine

inside one of the huts

There is also a fascinating museum with huge number of Enigma machines, films, deciphered messages, a lot of examples of Alan Turing's papers and books and crucially, his apology.

The reconstruction of the Colossus machine is, as you might imagine, colossal, although it would also have been incredibly noisy, oily and filthy. Soundtracks of the experiences the female operators had working with the machines play over speakers as you walk round.

miles of cables, hundreds of bulbs

A few minutes walk to the far end of the park brings you to the Museum of Computing which houses the only replica, fully functioning Bombe machine in existence and we had a fascinating talk from one of the 15 people who built and operate it. Miles of cabling, thousands of bulbs, hot, noisy and a bewildering array of turning, clicking dials - it's mind boggling that people could have invented and built a machine like it.

the replica bombe machine

how anybody can work this out…..

Bletchley is well worth a visit and I would allow a full day to explore and take it all in. Your ticket will also be valid for a year from the date of issue, so you can go back for free if you wish. It's such a fantastic reminder and memorial to those special, brilliant, dedicated, brave and loyal people who helped us win the war, but were never allowed to tell anyone what they did.

www.bletchleypark.org.uk

Making Tracks

green lanes of the KENtmere valley

Having just discovered my first lonning in Cumbria last week, I though I'd look into old trackways a little more and it turns out to be a vast network; in fact the United Kingdom is crisscrossed with ancient paths and tracks.

As well as the longer, more well known paths, there are hundreds of small, secret, almost forgotten pathways that go by many different names: holloways, green lanes, barfs, sunken lanes, greenways, trods, byways, driftways, lonnens, loanins, lonnings, lons, droveways, pilgrimage routes, miners paths, trading paths, packhorse routes, reivers roads, military roads, turnpikes, shieling paths, boreens, bealachs, casans, smugglers paths, timber trackways, corduroy trackways, herepaths, herewags, heargways, toghers, slighes, ridgeways, watershed routes and many more

Huntingstile Lonning, Grasmere

TICKLE BELLY alley lonning, boot

ticklebelly alley

Many follow the natural contours of the landscape; rivers, ridges, valleys; perhaps more solid ground or firmer sand, over mountain passes and through marshy or boggy ground and to fording points of rivers and streams. Many have neolithic origins such as The Ridgeway which was in use 5000 years ago or the Sweet Track which is perhaps 5800 years old. Some are Saxon, some Celtic, lots are Roman such as the Fosse Way or Watling Street and were built over older trackways, some are medieval - the Long Causeway - and some are later still; 17th or 18th century such as the Keighley and Kendal Turnpike or the Sparrow Herme Turnpike.

However, these routes, which also include the Corlea Trackway, Icknield Way, Harrow Way, Pilgrim's Way, Mariner's Way, Saints Way, the Old Way, Broomway, Kennet Avenue, Ermine Street, Dere Street, the Peddars Way and the Devil's Causeway were all well used. The green lanes or lonnings or holloways were more rural; used for driving livestock, travelling between settlements, or were eroded by water, marked boundaries between two landowners and some do date back to the Romans and Iron Age.

Sunken lanes are characterised by quite steep sides and hedgerows, packhorse routes tend to be narrower, drovers routes are wide, trods are fairly indistinguishable, barfs are quite steep and green lanes were unpaved and sometimes only known to locals.

green lanes of the KENtmere valley

the Ridgeway

What is sad today, is that a lot are disappearing; either through a lack of use and have become too overgrown, some are being upgraded to byways, some have become proper roads, hedgerows have being grubbed up to make way for larger fields and these beautiful little corridors through the landscape have been lost  - occasionally just a rut in the landscape is all that's left.

Let's not lose them. Let's search them out and use them. Let's listen to Joni Mitchell and not go down the 'pave paradise, put up a parking lot' route; there are hundreds of better paths to choose.

old woodland paths

a path or a burrow?!

Orchids and Nature Reserves

On late May Bank Holiday weekend, Bro and I did something we've never purposefully done before. Visited a nature reserve. In fact two nature reserves and in areas we know very well and have walked in many times over the years, but they're really, really tucked away; to the extent you probably wouldn't find them if you didn't know they were there. Which is exactly the way they want it I expect.

I also did something I've never done before which was to look actively for wild orchids. I took an information leaflet at the very small visitor centre and we set off, but, as is our habit, we turned the whole afternoon into a walk, trying to make it longer and longer as we were off the the Lakes a few days later.

poor dead mole

Consequently, we saw some beautiful views, vast woodlands we'd never visited and a huge area of wildflower common we'd missed, but we didn’t actually see any living creature or anything resembling a flower. The dog, crashing around in the undergrowth, blew any chance of seeing butterflies, deer or rabbits and the only thing we did see was a dead mole…

Back at the car, I was a little disappointed in my nature spotting abilities, when an older man came over and asked if we'd seen one of the three orchids that were in the reserve just under a bush as you left the car park. He also said he was bursting to show someone the other, rarer orchids he'd found, which was kind of him and I jumped at the chance.

We went through a small nature garden behind the little visitor centre, up to a tiny gate and there, behind a fence, was a small, delicate looking plant he told me was a Lady Orchid and next to it was a Fly Orchid. They were beautiful and so unusual. He suggested we visit another Nature Reserve nearby where there were great drifts of them including the very rare Monkey Orchid. We did go the following day and I must say it was a lovely way to spend two afternoons, seeing well known areas from new angles and spotting beautiful flowers. Even Bro can now identify a Common Spotted.

We just have to keep the dog and his great feet away - he couldn’t care less…

lady orchid - like ladies in bonnets

fly orchid

common spotted orchid

the very rare monkey orchid

twayblade orchid

beautiful pyramid orchid

hybrid lady/monkey orchids

A walk in the chalk

As much as I love the Lakes and the high fells, living as we do for the time being in the South and making the most of the area, I also have a real soft spot for the chalk uplands that characterise great swathes of Oxfordshire and which are fortunately within a 10 mile radius of home in North Berkshire.

The huge sweeping landscapes, big skies, skylarks in the summer and a profusion of ancient hillforts, long barrows and burial mounds make for some really interesting walks. There are a number of long distance paths and in a walk last weekend in beautiful sunshine, we touched on three of them in a six mile circular route; the Swan's Way, the Icknield Way and the Chiltern Way.

big skies

The Swan's Way is a long distance bridleway (and we did meet lots of riders that day) that runs from Salcey Forest in Northamptonshire, through Buckinghamshire and ends at Goring on Thames in Oxfordshire - a distance of 65 miles.

The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway that starts in Norfolk and includes the Berkshire Downs and the Chilterns before ending in Wiltshire.

The Chiltern Way is a 125 mile circuit taking in the Chilterns from north to south; from Ewelme in the south west to Chorleywood in the south east and the wonderfully named Sharpenhoe Clappers and Great Offley in the north east.

It really is a beautiful, pastoral landscape, with a palpable feeling of antiquity.

long views

golden fields

church of st mary, ewelme

jerome k jerome’s grave in st mary’s churchyard

Wiltshire Weekend

wiltshire views

We decided to have a couple of nights away to break up the month and chose Wiltshire. We found a lovely dog friendly hotel, The Moonraker, between Bradford on Avon and Trowbridge which was about a hour and a half from home.

We love Wiltshire. It has huge, open, sweeping chalkland landscapes that have a palpable air of age and antiquity and which are littered with historical sites such as The Ridgeway, Silbury Hill, Avebury, Stonehenge of course, and numerous hillforts, longbarrows, white horses, stone circles and earthworks. There are also some beautiful towns; Salisbury, Marlborough, Chippenham and Devizes and numerous picture postcard villages.

the moonraker

kennet & avon canal towpath

The Moonraker Hotel was named after a group of local smugglers trying to avoid import duties on spirits by hiding barrels of contraband in church crypts or village ponds and who, one moonlit night, were caught trying to get those barrels out of a pond. Pointing to the moon reflected in the water, they told the officials they were trying to rake in wheels of cheese and astonishingly they were believed, although the officials did think the smugglers were just simple local folk...!!

That afternoon, we walked from the hotel down to the Kennet and Avon canal and along the towpath to Bradfield on Avon's wharf which was pretty, busy and bustling. We stopped for a while watching the boats and barges from a pretty, tiny tea shop garden right by the  water’s edge. A little further along the path brings you to a magnificent 14th century tithe barn  surrounded by little cafes and shops and a lovely flower filled park. A circular route down wooded lanes, across fields and through a narrowboat marina brought us neatly back to the hotel again.

bradford on avon wharf

the 14th century tithe barn

inside the barn

The following morning, after spying a white horse on a hill from the bedroom window, we drove to Bratton Downs. You can drive right up to the top and there are miles of walks to choose from starting from the car park. We had a walk round the 2000 year old earthworks and the Westbury White Horse enjoying the panoramic views all around us.

We then headed back into Bradford on Avon for coffee and then lunch, but also had a wander and found the tiny St Laurence Church, one of the only surviving, and most complete, Saxon churches dating from around 700 AD. We admired the Bridge Tea Rooms dating from 1502 and crossed the Town Bridge which was originally a packhorse bridge and has a curious building in the middle of it which was a tiny jail; it has a fish on the top of the weathervane, so if you were locked up, you were said locally to be ‘under the fish and over the water’.

WESTBURY white horse

the views FROm the white horse

plenty of walking

On the last morning, we drifted slowly home stopping at the  lovely, unspoiled village of Lacock, calling in at the Abbey and the large tithe barn in the centre of the village. We then  stopped at Avebury, although we’ve been many times, but it’s such a pretty village and has the largest stone circle in Europe, forming part of a huge neolithic complex including the mysterious Silbury Hill; in fact, there are many long barrows and burial sites in this area.

It's certainly an area we'll go back and explore as it has so much to offer that is unique and unspoiled, and all set against a landscape that's rich in millennia of  history.

tudor tea rooms

the only surviving saxon church

the tiny jail

lacock bakery

lacock abbey’s cloister

AVebury stone circle

avebury