UK Walks.

Short Walks in the UK

October 2015

In October 2015, we headed to the UK to attend the wedding of Paul's cousin. After the excitement of the big day, we took off on a short road trip taking in a few areas in the north east. We made sure to explore on foot and here are some of the great places we visited.

Monday 12 October 2015

Hadrian's Wall - Steel Rigg carpark to Mile Castle 38 - 6km return

We had a chilly start to this popular section of the wall, but were keen to get moving. The start of this path had views along the whole of where we were to walk, along with a paddock of enormous, very hairy cattle.

At the base of a grassy hill we encountered the 'wall' for the first time.

There were many steep ups and downs, with lots of stops to take photos and generally take in the amazing scenery that was around us in all directions. Mile Castle 39 was of great interest, as was Crag Lough.

We were happy to walk into Sycamore Gap and see the tree made famous in a scene from Kevin Costner's Robin Hood movie.

The way from here lead us through a treed area, on Highshield Crags, above Crag Lough. In places the path went quite close to the steep drop-offs.

Our turning point was near Hotbank Farm, Mile Castle 38. The view back to Crag Lough was stunning. We stopped there for lunch, in sunshine but with a biting wind that saw us huddled together behind some rocks.

We continued to retrace our steps, revisiting Sycamore Gap and Mile Castle 39, before reaching our car.

Tuesday 13 October 2015

Hadrian's Wall - Cawfield's Quarry carpark to Windshields - 5.5 km return

This was another very cold, but superbly beautiful day. We didn't see as many other walkers along this section of track, as the ups and downs were much steeper, the track was quite uneven and slippery in places, and the wall wasn't as prominent. None the less, the views were once again wonderful and Paul's imagination ran overtime, with images of being a Roman soldier patrolling the wall, or being a local feeling the effects of the barrier.

Looking back to the start of the walk from Mile Castle 42, (the carpark is on the right of the photo), we could clearly see how quarrying had destroyed the wall past where it crested the hill.

We were particularly keen to see the Vallum, the interesting ditch and mound earthworks associated with Hadrian's Wall. Built alongside the wall, it is believed to have establish the southern boundary of the military zone. It is particularly visible along this section of the wall.

Just past the remains of a turret at Caw Gap we crossed a road and continued on, hoping to catch a glimpse of where we'd walked the day before. Even after climbing higher and steeper on the striking Windshields, we were foiled as there was always another hill looming ahead.

Paul returned to collect the car and I took off across a cow paddock in search of the ruins of a Roman camp. Even though I didn't locate the ruins it did give me the chance to walk across the Vallum and have another view back to where we'd walked.

Though not part of this walk, we did visit Vindolanda later in the day. It was FANTASTIC, with both the excavated site and the museum being a hit with us. Well worth a visit.

Wednesday 14 October 2015

Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh - 8 km return

As we approached Edinburgh we could see this looming volcanic remnant and decided that we'd head there as soon as we were in our accommodation. This walk was measured from where we were staying at a guesthouse, in East Mayfield

We had no map and were relying on a few things I'd read on line. As we approached we found an information board, but it wasn't of much use owing to the number of possible tracks to take, so we just followed our noses.

There were many people about and they all seemed to have their own ideas about which way to go. We decided on the direct approach and took off on a very steep trail on which we could see folk coming down.

Our selected track was narrow, a bit rough underfoot and lung-bustlingly steep. We had lots of stops for sight-seeing/breath-catching, then pushed on to the top. One fellow we encountered near the top, was sitting on a grassy patch with an amazing view to the city. He was beautifully dressed in a suit and had a cigar in one hand and a glass of whiskey in the other. What a sensational spot for an after work wind-down.

The view from the top was pretty sensational.

The top was full of people: families with toddlers, groups of school boys, young dolly birds, couples and even some quite elderly folk. People could be seen literally swarming up from all sides. It seemed that this was the place to be on a stunning Wednesday afternoon.

We decided to return a different way and found ourselves around the other side of the mountain. This meant a longish walk around a footpath track at the base until we met up with our road home.

This walk is definitely worth doing if in Edinburgh.

Friday 16 October 2015

St Cuthbert's Cave - 7.5km loop

We decided to do this walk, after seeing St Cuthbert's Cave marked on our UK map book. After a bit of research, I found a great loop walk that accessed this very interesting historical site. The cave itself is a large sandstone overhang supported by a pillar of stone. It is reputed that after Viking raids on Holy Island/Lindisfarne, St Cuthbert's body was brought here in AD 875, by the monks.

Getting there proved to be somewhat of a challenge, as the St Cuthbert's Cave National Trust Carpark was a bit tricky to find. It's at Holburn Grange Farm, signposted from the Holburn to Chatton Road.

Some of this walk is through private property, using public footpaths. Part of the walk follows St Cuthbert's Way. This 100km pilgrimage walk goes from Melrose, in the Scottish Borders, to Holy Island.

The short walk in to the cave was through farmland and forest.

The cave was interesting to explore. In front, on a large rock, was a memorial to the Leather Family, once owners of the area.

We also enjoyed the view from the top.

After leaving the cave, the walk took us through paddocks to a rise where we could look out across to Holy Island in the distance.

From there the track varied from forestry planation, to a road alongside farms and across more paddocks. For a while I though we might be lost, but we eventually found our way back to the car, albeit a slightly different way than our downloaded map showed. We used a Northumberland County Council map.

This was a stunning afternoon's walk.

Saturday 16 October 2015

The Holy Island of Lindisfarne - 6km

Though not technically following a set path, we have included this as we walked 6km wandering about the island looking at all of the sites.

Having checked the tides, we were one of the first cars to cross the causeway just after 9am. It was an overcast and very cold day, made even chillier by the biting wind. We loved seeing the posts of the historical Pilgrim Path stretching out across the sand/mud, along with the emergency shelters along the way.

This amazing island has wonderfully rich history, including Saint Aidan building the first monastery, St Cuthbert's ministry and Viking attacks. It has long been a centre of pilgrimage.

After parking, we headed straight across the island towards Lindisfarne Castle.

The nearby lime kilns kept us busy for ages.

From inside the underground kilns we could see the beach lined with piles of stones. We both loved walking amongst the stone towers, the toil of many hours of work by those who created them.

After leaving the windswept beach we walked back along the harbour foreshore and marvelled at the upturned herring fishing boats, now used as stores. We walked along a small rise and visited a defensive ruin, viewed the abbey ruins from above and climbed the modern viewing tower that provided a wonderful 360 degree panorama. From there we spotted a small island called St Cuthbert's Island and I decided to walk across while Paul went in search of a coffee.

This tiny island was evidently the site where St Cuthbert had his hermitage. As I had the island to myself, it was peaceful and very beautiful, though cold, bleak and very windy. I decided those early religious types must have been hardy souls.

Paul had meanwhile located a cafe and was enjoying a coffee and scone when I re-joined him. After an excellent visit, and with drizzle starting, we decided we'd had enough of the cold wind and headed back across to the mainland. The carpark was looking pretty full when as we left. Those enticing pilgrim poles called to me!

We completed our St Cuthbert's 'story' a few days later, when we visited Durham Cathedral, where his remains lie.

Tuesday 20 October 2015

Cook's Monument & Roseberry Topping - North York Moors NP, 8km

This day started with morning tea in Great Ayton, a welcoming town, famous as the place where Captain James Cook went to school. On-line, I'd found a 12km loop walk, part of the Cleveland Way, that included Cook's Monument and Roseberry Topping, starting and ending in Great Ayton. Having got a very late start, we decided not to do the loop, but to head off to Cook's Monument, park nearby and see what happened.

As advised by the lovely lady at the info centre, the spot to park was Gribdale Gate. This was pretty easy to find, and in no time we were heading up the 1km gentle climb to Cook's Monument. This was erected in 1827.

The view from the top was outstanding, especially away to Roseberry Topping in the distance. This was very enticing and we decided to walk across to it.

We retraced our steps to return to our car. A quick lunch was put together and we headed off in the opposite direction, up a steep grassy hill, following the Cleveland Way, onto the moors. The Cleveland Way is a 177 km walking route that covers a large area of the North York Moors and nearby coastline.

There were a number of signs stating that grouse were nesting. Our walk took us along a stone fence line, with moors to the right and Roseberry Topping in our line of sight as we approached. We went through a gate and down a zig-zagged path, before the steep climb up to the top.

We were astonished to see a Pug dog at the top! It was with a young local couple and really seemed to enjoy the view and the experience. This was just one of many dogs we encountered along this walk, the funniest being a Chihuahua dressed for the occasion in a blingy pink collar!

There were quite a few people at the top, enjoying the beautiful sunshine and stunning view. The ocean was visible off to the east and we could see all of the surrounding countryside. We stayed at the top for ages, enjoying our lunch and some conversation with other walkers. We all gathered excitedly as a couple of guys who'd carried mountain bikes up, took off from the top. We think it would have been a white-knuckle ride on the way down, negotiating the steep and narrow track.

Retracing our steps, we enjoyed walking along the ridgeline in the mid-afternoon sunshine on a magnificent day. We heard the grouse and watched them starting to move about, admired the local sheep and generally took in the atmosphere of this stunning and popular area of the moors.

A copy of the 12km loop walk, that includes Cook's Monument and Roseberry Topping, can be found on the North York Moors National Park website.