A Pendle Hill walk

Pendle Hill footpath near Barley

It feels a bit odd writing ‘Pendle Hill’, now I know (thanks Wikipedia) that Pendle is a tautological word. A mix of cumbric (Pen) and old english (Hyll), with a modern ‘Hill’ added for good measure.

‘Let’s climb Hill Hill Hill!’. Which feels incantation-like, resonating with the witchery of the early 1600s (and the sad outcomes of that).

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Northumberland Coastal Path (Craster to Bamburgh Castle)

Northumbrian Coastal Path Dunstanburgh Castle

Last weekend I walked fourteen of the sixty four miles of the Northumberland Coastal Path with friends Jenny, Karl and Taru. Jenny and Taru both have family holiday connections to the area and love it. So they cooked up the plan to visit for a weekend which would involve a good day’s walking. Taru sorted out the accommodation for us (the very cosy and well equipped Shepherd’s Nook cottage in North Charlton). Our group also included Anita and Bob – both not currently that well to do the walk itself, but thankfully well enough to enjoy the cafes and bookshops in Alnwick 🙂 We also had Brodie and Scout along for the weekend. Eight go mad in Northumberland.

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Walking in Acadia National Park

Bubble Mountains Acadia National Park

Time has defeated me since we got back from the States so this will be mostly a picture post. As well as great walk out with an old friend in the Catskills, I had the chance to walk a small part of the various trails in Acadia National Park, up on the North East Coast of  Maine. We stayed in Bar Harbor (great seaside location) and used that as a base for the park. In terms of the trails, none are individually that long (typically 2 to 4 miles).

But some have steep ascents (needing iron rungs hammered into the rock face in places)  and the heat has an effect on what you want to do distance / exertion-wise. But for the fitter and less time-starved folk you can also daisy chain some together for a longer day out.

Cadillac Mountain North Ridge Trail First up was a walk on one of the trails that runs around / up to the wonderfully named Cadillac Mountain.

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Chewing the fat in the Catskills – a North Point walk

Catskills Mountains hike with soaring Raptor

I was over in the states recently (we had an empty-nester road trip, very fine it was too). And as part of that we spent some time with old friends Richard, Gina and kids. Richard knows I like a good walk (he can’t not, based on my endless Facebook updates) and he had kindly planned a trip out for the two of us old mates to catchup, chew the fat (and burgers .. later on) and get some views. He lives in upstate New York and the Catskill Mountains are a short drive away, so off we headed on a sunny morning.

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Harris and Lewis trip – Beinn Dhubh circular hike

A walk up on to Beinn Dhubh was the plan for my first full day on Harris, the start of a solo journey that would last just short of a week. The week would see me walk snow–covered hills, mooch along beautiful empty beaches, track dinosaurs over sea-battered stacks, stare back at seals and squint at many a standing stone. I was making like a Salmon, visiting the place of my making. A bit of an emotional journey in itself.

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