Pennine Journey (2)

Yesterday I tackled the second phase of my assault on the Pennine Way. This leg of the journey was the section from Crowden to Standedge - but I started in Hadfield and finished in Greenfield, for the simple practicality that both these towns have railway stations.

Here's the profile:


Actually this isn't quite all of it. Where's the Path struggled to generate a profile for 20 miles of hills, so this one peters out somewhere near Diggle. If you'd like to know what the rest of it looked like, imagine three miles of flat towpath. It was bliss.

I've never walked most of this section of Pennine Way before (the bit between Laddow Rocks and Standedge) so it was a bit of an adventure for me.

Actually my whole weekend was spent in the Peak District. Before my Dark Peak adventure yesterday I had a trip to the White Peak on Saturday. We were away at Matlock Town (another game we managed to lose, sigh) but it is a lovely place to visit. And a lovely journey to get there, with many scenic highlights. Here's Frankie at Monsal Head last year:



What a happy little bear!

Hare & Hounds (11)

When I first started my Hare & Hounds Project I imagined it was going to be undertaken in the space of a single year. However my progress wasn't quite as prolific as I'd hoped, so I've extended it into what may well become a Lifelong Quest.

Yesterday I visited this Hare & Hounds:

(As usual, the photo is from Google Streetview.)

This one is in Hurst Cross, just across the road from Ashton United's ground.

We played Ashton United yesterday, the first time we have played here since the August Bank Holiday in 2010 - which is why it has taken me so long to visit this pub. Yesterday was cold and wet, the pitch was claggy in the extreme, and we lost 1-0.

It's a lovely friendly club to visit though. Here are some of the local kids taking penalties at half-time. That little girl was a treasure!


(Photo nicked from Mick Dean. I hope he doesn't mind.)

I hope you all had a happy Easter. I'm back at work now, and our psycho-bitch boss has plans to lock us all up in a room with no windows. She must really, really hate us.

Oh dear.

Spring Projects 2012

It's that glorious time of the year again when the days are getting longer, the sun is shining, birds are singing and things are hatching.

Time for a Crab to start hatching her Spring Projects.

Actually at this stage it is just the one project - to walk more of the Pennine Way. Over the years, I have walked on the Pennine Way a lot - but not in any logical sequence. Sometimes I walk north, sometimes I walk south, and the start of one walk is never where the last one left off.

So this year the plan is to walk it in one direction (north obviously, I'm not going all the way to Scotland then trying to find my way home. I have limits you know.) I don't know how far I'll get but I want to see the Pennine Way as a single entity, unfolding across the country.

I made a start last Sunday: Edale to Hadfield, via Kinder Scout and Bleaklow. Eighteen miles. Here's the profile - you'll need to click on the image to see it in all its glory.


From the very excellent Where's the Path? - possibly my favourite website of all time.

I can tell you, that last long descent was a bit of a knee-cruncher. The views were absolutely stunning though - late afternoon sun over the Longendale Valley.

The next leg of my Pennine Adventure may have to wait until Easter (other things to do before then) but I am really, really looking forward to it!

Happy Australia Day

pic from here

Happy New Year!

2012 has got of to rather a slow start for me - hence the late greeting.

Last week I had a bit more ear removed. I hope they don't have to whittle any more off or I am going to end up looking like this:


I mean the funny little ear - there's no reason to imagine I might turn green.

Anyway, that was a week ago, and today my bandages have started to work their way loose. I feel like this:


It really has not been a glamourous start to the year.

Harking back to last year - here is 2011 in review:

2,143 miles walked.
10 Hare & Hounds visited.

That's 214 miles it has taken me to get to each of those Hare & Hounds - which is something of a failure by anyone's standards.

Never mind. Today is Chinese New Year. Hurrah!
Time to start visiting Dragon-themed pubs.

Happy New Year everyone!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

It's been a party morning in the library today - and now I'm done for another year. Wishing you all the very best for Christmas and the New Year. xxx

2001

This isn't an allusion to the Space Odyssey or even to the name of this blog (which is, of course, a line taken from the film).

No. In this case, I am referring to the number of miles I have walked so far this year.

In the tradition of my blog, let's see where I would end up, had I walked those 2,001 miles in a direct line from my own front door.

Here!



Saratov.

(This is an Panoramio image taken from Google Maps, but unfortunately - and yet rather typically - Google Maps froze before I could get the name of the photographer. For which I apologise - but isn't it a nice photo?)

What do I know about Saratov? Almost nothing, except that it is a Russian city situated on the Volga, and that 2,001 miles from my house is this house.

By the time I get home tonight, I will have walked 2010 miles. But that's the sequel. Rather good, it was too, Helen Mirren was in it.