The dodgy achilles limp-along post..

Warkworth beach boat wreck

A recent ultrasound provided me with a new label to add to the middle-aged collection of ailment badges.

Achilles Tendinopathy.

So that’s what the painful bulge on the back of my ankle was.

The pain is exacerbated by the off-piste moors yomps I love with the dog. And hilly / mountain hikes (I ignored the signs over the last year or more, doh). And the stop: start driving on the M62.

So all the above are being avoided where at all possible.

I don’t miss the M62, I do miss the moors and mountains.

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Surveying the Marsden Poetry Trail

Marsden Poetry Trail walk

I had a walk around the Marsden poetry trail, that I previously devised and shared on this blog, alongside poet David Coldwell.

See the original Marsden Poetry trail post here and the Viewranger file for the trail here .

I recently added to some of the waymarkers to the Viewranger file to give more (poetic) detail to the 9.4 miles.

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Joining Marsden Walkers Are Welcome steering group

Marsden West Yorkshire

I’ve started to help organise the latest iteration of the Marsden Walkers Are Welcome group. Although in truth we haven’t had chance to plan much yet as we’re all new to it and need time to work out priorities, structures etc.. and it’s that crazy pre-christmas period. The guys who set up the Marsden group (part of the national Walkers … read more >

Marsden Adventure Outdoors Day – 10th Sept

Marsden Moor hike - Marsden Adventure Outdoors - Meet The Ranger

I have been helping to organise an outdoors themed day – Marsden Adventure Outdoors.

And thought I’d share it here for any readers in the West Yorkshire / Saddleworth / Peak District region (or further afield!) who wanted to come along.

This will be part of the Pennine Prospects Walk and Ride 2016 Festival.

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Save Butterley Spillway crowdfunding appeal

Butterley Spillway Marsden October 2015

I write a lot about the hills and moors around Marsden and sometimes about the heritage of the area. That heritage has literally shaped those hills and moors, in the form of quarry, road, rail, canal and reservoir.

One of the most obvious examples is the daisy chain of reservoirs that fill the Wessenden valley. What was once a brook used by hunter-gatherers to corral prey, has become a series of reservoirs created in Victorian times. Culminating in Butterley reservoir at the foot of the valley. And that is ‘crowned’ by an impressive spillway. The spillway was given Grade II Listing status on 11th July 1985. If you have ever walked along the Wessenden valley to or from the Peak District or across to Black Hill, or looked around that side of Marsden, as a visitor – you’ll have stopped to look at this impressive structure.

The spillway is under threat and the High Court representation needs funds: https://www.crowdjustice.co.uk/case/beautiful-butterley/

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