Archive for the Category Travel
Random acts of Kinder
Originally uploaded by Josh Rogan
I love Kinder Scout – i don’t think i have been as lost on any other mountain as this one… and its not a real mountain anyway, more like a hill, but its as tricky a walk as any other thanks to its ability to get completley lost in fog, and to have a barren plateauas a summit – Its absoultely steeped in history from crashed planes to mass tresspass that gave way to the rights we have today to roam in countryside – its a great mountain – its also the one i proposed on so long a go.
Its great for all those reasons plus its less than an hour away, you can grab friends who don’t normally spend their weekends in head to toe gore-tex and drag them up, its not tough but its not without steep ascent and whether its bleak or glorious the summit is always great.
This is the first time I think i have seen the summit -i was almost disapointed that the fog and mist that has greeted me at the top before was not there – a great day out though and my first hill walk of 2008
Poole, Studland
As some of you may or may not know, part of my job entails me travelling to Poole, Dorset, on the South Coast of England every so often. Now while Poole is a not inconsiderable distance away, there are many worse places to be sent – in parts its absolutely beautiful – and the weather is certainly better than in the North.
I have brought my camera to Poole before but this time, due to the Labour Party Conference in Bournemouth, there didn’t seem to be a hotel in all of Poole so it was off to a pub in Studland for me.
As hotels go, it didn’t have wireless, not even internet, no trouser press, not even an iron, it only got 2 channels on telly, so no bbc news 24, i never saw breakfast as it wasn’t served till 9am – it did however have its own brewery out the back and a real log fire – it might actually be the best hotel i have ever stayed in.
What made this pub so special was not just the beer, the food or the fire – but the surroundings. It lies about 3 miles from the ferry, and about 10 miles from work, i decided to bring my bicycle down and try to get a bit of exercise on the way to work – and i’m very glad I did. If you have Google Earth installed, you can see the route here (right click and save as)
The first 3 miles or so until the ferry go through amazing scenery with patches of woodland absoultely teeming with deer – the commutes back from work were spent riding off road and following trail to find deer. As always in Poole the Sunsets didn’t disappoint, and when that was over, the finest full moon I have seen.
Causeway Coast
Some neglecting of my blog of late, and apologies for that but I was back home recently and went as usual to the Giants Causeway – couple of pics here
Geneva, BMX fest
“In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.”
toblerones, unfeasible knives and some bmx’ers – never photograhed bmxing before – and now have a new found respect for anyone who can do it well – its difficult, pretty unpredictible and very difficult to get the backgrounds clutter free
Asphalt-issimo BMX / Skate fest Geneva 2007 pics here
Chamonix – Le Brevent
Last night I decided that I wanted to climb Mont Blanc – thats it in the picture – the highest point, I spoke to a couple of people and tried to assess just how much of a task this would be, general opinion seemed to be that my fitness was fine, and the mountain was not really about fitness but altitude acclimatisation and weather – particularly weather… so… i’m thinking that this could be something worth doing – if for nothing else it gives me an excuse to get out in crampons on the scottish hills this winter – time was when the ranges of snowdonia would have given me enough snow to practise on – but not any more. Mont Blanc 2008 – who’s with me? Its either that or the crazy 160km mountain marathon that starts from Chamonix and goes through Italy and Switzerland via the foothills of Mont Blanc – now that is crazy.
Anyway, i digress – perhaps the best view of the mont blanc range can be seen from le Brevent
Chamonix – Nid d’Aigle
Well the weather cleared and some great walking was had, but to be honest I never took as many photos as I did on the first couple of days as there was nothing quite as good.
One walk in particular should be commented on if for no other reason than for me to have a whinge – the walk starts from Les Houches (980m) and ascends firstly to Col de Voza at 1653m and on to Nid d’Aigle at 2372m – but you can take a cable car to Bellevue at 1801m – take it. There is absolutely nothing to be gained from walking the first half of this walk – unless you have some sort of weird love of walking on very steep roads – on the second half though, the walk becomes worth it, a spectacular walk alongside glacier de Bionnassay
As you can see from the picture – the weather was not really the best and we pretty much missed out on any spectacular vistas but we did see a few of the fellas pictured above, bouquetin or alpine ibex.
No gallery today as frankly the pictures just aren’t any good
Chamonix – Mont Blanc, Mer de Glace
Going out with me must be pretty ace – going on holiday for the 6am starts so you can traipse up a mountain and watch me take photographs as the temperatures slowly rise with the sun to freezing point… pretty.awesome
Gallery of Day 2 – Aiguille du Midi – Mer De Glace
Gallery of Day 1 – Walks in the hills around PLanpraz
Glad I did get up early though as the weather has closed in pretty badly and doesn’t look like getting much better any time soon.
Wales – Betws-y-Coed
Betws-y-coed is a great place at the best of times but when it has a church fete that includes ferret racing and a classic car rally, its the best place ever to dander around feeling sore after a days walking
Wales, Moel Siabod
So, about 3 weeks ago I am talking to Richard about what walks he has been doing and he begins to describe a walk that in his words is ‘possibly the best walk i have ever done‘ – now this is a guy who has done some amount of walks – when he goes for a pint of milk it usually involves a full travese of the Peaks, so when he describes a walk this highly it has to be done.
The walk starts in Dolwyddelan which is a couple of stops down the line from Betws-y-Coed – in fact the train is a great way todo it, as long as you catch the 8:07 (saturdays) becuase there isn’t another train until 11am – The Map needed is OL17 – which we never had but luckly for us the local Spar is open early and stocks Maps as well and it is likely to finish in the pub over the road, the Gwydir some 5-6 hours later.
Is it the best walk ever? – Its certainly a contender – its has fantastic scrambling up some impressive rock, it has beautiful forest, it has lakes, disused quarrys – it has very very few people on it and it has what must surely be some of the best views in Wales looking back onto the Snowdon Range – its certainly a contender.