The McKenzies' Blog…

On Friday I left work at 1pm to meet up with my pal Dave (M0VMC) to head up to the Peak District to do some walking.  On our way we’d stopped off to check out a huge hole in the ground that was left as a result of about 3500 tons of stockpiled explosives all going off at one time.  It’s known as the Fauld Crater, located next to Hanbury, Staffs.

It was a short walk (check out the GPS log – 2.9km /1.8mi ) across a couple of fields to get to the craters edge.  It’s quite the hole, and must have been one hell of a bang back in the day when it up, then apparently came back down, all over Staffordshire.

After that it was off to Nottingham for the night before heading off to Bakewell, Derbyshire.

We’d got a bit of a late start on Saturday so it was pretty long day.  We’d started our walk at about 1130am, should really have been about 930am haha but meh it’s Saturday after all.

I’d parked at the Bakewell Bridge car park.  It was only £4.00 for the entire day (Midnight to Midnight).  Check out the walk and GPS log here (21km / 13.1mi).

In the above photos you could see the sun was shining nicely, well that didn’t last too long.  Shortly after walking past the old train station we’d got into rain and took shelter under a tree for about 15 or 20 mins not wanting to actually having to dig out our wet weather gear, we’d just wait it out.

We’d stopped at Hobb’s Cafe that has a spectacular view of Monsal Dale and the Viaduct in the valley

Having enjoyed a coffee and a chance to get out of the rain again we’d set off down into the valley below.  We’d actually ended up taking the “wrong” way down, it wasn’t the way down we’d planned to take but it was still just as nice.  We did get a bit worried when we’d approached a place we thought we should have been using to cross the river and were faced with with this…

This was clearly not going to be our way across the river.  We’d figured we might have to head back up the hill and down the other path.  But since we’d come this far we consulted the map more closely and it appeared there should be either a small bridge or more likely some stepping stones to get across a bit further down stream.  We were relieved to find a small bridge.

The rest of this part of the trail until we crossed the A6.  We’d search for another Geocache just on the other side of the A6 and after about 20 mins of chasing the GPS needles we had to admit defeat.  I didn’t bother loading up my phone with the details of the cache so we had no clues to work on and no phone signal to be able to look it up.  So, it was a good time to stop for lunch here.   While looking for the cache we’d found this cave near by.

Having consumed our lunch and had a nice break we set off on what would be the worse part of the route, little did we know it (we should have I suppose, but meh, why bother paying attention to all those brown contour lines on the map).  Well, to be honest it wasn’t so much a bunch of brown contour lines, it was more like big wide brown streak haha

There was quite a significant climb up of about 700 or so feet on a 35-45 degree slope, made extra nice going by the rain we’d had that morning.  All I can say is I’m glad we were going up and not down, that would have been a hell of a ride down over all those rocks.

Looking up the slope

Looking down the slope

The photos don’t really do justice to the actual grade on the hill.

Having finally gotten to the top and totally winded from that we had a pretty uneventful few miles with nothing but just some awesome scenery provided courtesy the Deberyshire countryside.

The rest of the walk back into Bakewell was pleasant except for when we had to pull our out rain gear.  With nothing to shelter under and about 300 meters of open fields to cross before getting to anything that might have helped us, the choices were clear haha.  Typical too, the rain had only lasted about 5 or 6 mins, we’d have been soaked without the rain gear but what can you do.

The last 2 miles or so were a real slog, everything was starting to ache from the pounding we’d been giving our legs and feet.  Interestingly enough though, neither of us were suffering from blisters or anything.  The soles of my feet were 100% fine, which for me was a first after a long walk like this.

We’d arrived back in Bakewell around 7pm and stopped for dinner in a pub in town before heading back to the car park and heading back to Cambridge.  Our total time from leaving the car and getting back to it was 8h 27m, of that included about 1 hour for dinner at the end and about another 90 mins or so of stops and breaks.

We’d arrived back in Cottenham around 1030pm after a very long day.  I had a nice hot bath after getting my pack unloaded and wet gear hung up to dry and dirty clothing into the wash.  Then it was to bed for a very nice sound sleep.

All of the photos from day can be seen HERE

I can’t wait for the next walk….

Mega Scotland 2010 was very good to say the least. We’d got ourselves checked in about 11am or so I suppose.  We had a bit of a lazy morning on Saturday, but who can blame us after the 10hr marathon drive from Heathrow to Kinross.

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Well that’s what I’ve been doing, well trying to when I get the time.  I’ve been managing to get out a couple days a week at lunch time when time and weather permits.  I’ve been keeping a walking log which shows the route I’ve walked and distances as well as a my total walking distance.  You can see the spreadsheet by CLICKING HERE.

On May 1st I managed to get a few hours to get out alone and go walking.  I’d planned a 3.5mi walk but it turned out to be a 5.5 mile walk.  What a great place to go walking.  There were two separate wooded area’s.  Once was Archers Wood

About this wood

Parts of Archer’s Wood are believed to be remnants of the original British wildwood, a ditch and bank in the northern section is a scheduled ancient monument and, true to its name the wood was a sanctuary for highwaymen. Even today you look to the north and imagine a 14th century Cistercian monastic grange that once stood there. Flat and easy to access, the site is dominated by oak, ash and field maple and served by a figure-of-eight network of rides so it’s great for gentle walks. Be sure to stroll along the main ride to spot the rare and beautiful wild service tree – and look out for foxes, woodpeckers and nuthatches.

The other was Aversley Wood, both just outside of Sawtry, Cambridgeshire.

About this wood

A woodland gem in England’s least-wooded county, expansive, impressive Aversley Wood is well worth the steep trek (sometimes boggy in winter) required to reach it. Believed to date back to the Ice Age, it is one of Cambridgeshire’s largest ancient woodland sites and a full tour is not for the faint-hearted – but very rewarding, with impressive fenland views.

You can see the full route of the walk with notes along the way by going to www.stepwhere.com.  I’ve been using this site for storing and planning my recent walks.  You can see all my public walks by going to my user name, M1XZG.  The process I’ve been doing with the site is planning the walk online and loading the track onto my GPS, then, when I’m out walking I record the actual track I walk and upload that to www.stepwhere.com. 

To see some photos from the walk of the woods you can CLICK HERE for my www.flickr.com gallery.  Here are a couple of the photos.

If you get out walking why not share your routes?   Also, why not check out www.walkingforum.co.uk – it’s a fantastic site for all manner of walking discussions.

A detailed account of the walk …

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I have decided that this will be the year I finally get out and do some things I’ve been wanting to do.  Mostly that’s walking in the hills and some wild camping.  The walking I’m thinking about are doing some Wainwrights. There are heaps to choose from, no idea which ones I’ll do, but I’d like to plan to do a couple of days perhaps 2-3 with a couple of nights wild camping.  I’ve recently watched the video below and it’s inspired me to do it this year.  I have most of the gear and having lost some 48KG over the last 18 months I’m feeling a hell of a lot better.  I still need to get more fit, so must get back to gym

Check out blog postings over at Dean Read dot net. Here is the video of their Ennerdale Wainwrights video.

I don’t have a plan as to when I’ll do it, but I’m thinking mid-late summer.  Need to plan to do some day walks first and get an idea on what I’m in for.  The other “problem” is also finding someone to do these with.  It would be pretty foolish to attempt this sort of thing alone with the lack of experience.  So, I need for another nutter up for some fun too   If that’s you, lets chat, drop me a comment.

We started out a weeks camping by leaving the house about noon on Sunday. The drive to the camp site, Brickyard Farm Camp site (Banham, Norfolk, NR16 2HQ), was only about an hour or so from home. Even at the reduced speed we had to travel at because of towing the trailer. After a stop at Sainsbury in Thetford for a few last minute supplies and lunch as well, we arrived at the camp site at about 1400hrs, plenty of daylight left so we could take our time getting everything set up.

Lisa and Emma immediately found the horses in the fields to go and see plus a swing set to play on as well. I was a bit worried for a while, there were no other kids around. Then, a family came trooping back into camp. They’d been out to the Banham Zoo. It’s about 1/2 mile down the road. Anyhow, Lisa and Emma quickly became acquainted with Hanna, 7yrs old. They spent the next 3 or so hours playing all sorts of games and running around the farm.

The camp site itself is a small family run business. It’s run the brother of our neighbour, very nice folks. They popped around to check on us and see how we were settling in. Quite layed back, they haven’t asked for money as yet. The site is, as I mentioned, small. Only about 6 or so pitches, most with electric. We didn’t bother with that, I’d brought the 120amp battery with us. More then enough power for the week to run a laptop if needed and charge the phones. I brought a 12v florescent lamp as well but likely won’t need it.

The kids are knackered. They’ve had a busy afternoon that’s for sure. Tomorrow we’ll be walking to the zoo and checking out the animals and whatever else they have there.

Well that’s about it from here tonight I think. the big people are knackered too and ready for bed now as well.

Watch this space for the day 2 report. I won’t be posting pics on the blog, but check on facebook, flickr and mobypictures and of course Twitter.com/m1xzg for updates.

Btw, this is all from my phone, there are likely spelling errors, I will fix them later. Don’t think I have a spell check on here.

Posted by Wordmobi