The hills have eyes. And lunatics in walking gear... - The Bear and Badger

Jaco

A thread for any/all with a love of walking, hiking and countryside/outdoor pursuits in general. Show us your pics from your rambles, hikes and mountain biking, give us hints and tips on great walks and generally let us all know where the best outdoors-y stuff is in Britain.

To start: I've always been a bit of a country-boy, but I've not done any serious hill-walking for a while. So my mate and I have decided to try and get all the Wainwrights done (214 fells and mountains around Cumbria) over the next couple of years, along with the 'three peaks'.

We started the other weekend with Helm Crag (aka 'The Lion and The Lamb') which peaks over Grasmere at about 1,250ft. I'd heartily recommend it – there are stunning views across central Lakeland from the peak, and it's not too difficult a climb. About an hour and a quarter, unless you're seriously unfit. The one thing to be wary of is that the winds can get pretty violent up there, even if it's calm in the village, so pack a decent coat. And be careful if you decide to clamber up the true peak (a two storey rock called 'The Howitzer'), as if there's moisture in the air it can get slick and it's a loooooong fall.

On the way back down, I'd thoroughly recommend you stop at The Poet's Café and Bar (part of The Lancrigg – a hotel you walk through the grounds of on the way up). They serve some fine ales, great coffee and some stonking great slabs of cake. The kind that feels like it's giving you diabetes with every mouthful (i.e., the good kind).

We're actually doing it again this weekend as it's a good training hill to get your pace up. Plan is to get Haystacks (over Crummockwater) and Skiddaw (over Bassenthwaite) along with a few smaller walks done in the next month before tackling snow-bound ascents of Helvellyn, Striding Edge and Scafell Pike before the year is out.

Here's some pics from the ascent of Helm Crag, to give you an idea of what to expect of you tackle it...

Here's my daft mate up the top of the true peak, clinging on for grim death:

Some ladies and me, acting the idiots, on the secondary peak (The Lion and The Lamb):

"Look, it's a hill!" The view from the lower peak section over Grasmere is rather lovely:

WorKid

I love the Lakes. Beautiful place.

Jaco

Yup. I'm so glad I'm back here. Can't begin to imagine why the hell I ever left. Done more walks and outdoors-y stuff in 4 months of being back than I got to do in 4 years being down south!

Nina

Ooh I can do hiking pictures. Not Brittain though, California.

This was a really shitty walk, at some point the grass was taller than me and my legs were all scratched after.

This was a pretty view.

Some hiking paths are also used by off road vehicles.

I think there was meant to be a waterfall here.

Don't remember this one, hard to believe there is a place with this much green here.

This was pretty, encountered a dead cow earlier, that smelled really bad.

Big old tree.

These days we just ride to the top. Much easier.

Haven't done much hiking or biking lately, 30°C just isn't the most fun to walk around in, specially when you're in the desert. We'll probably start doing them a bit more often now the temperature is dropping a bit.

acemuzzy

Nice pickies!

g.man

Aye, great stuff peeps.

afgavinstan

Quality photos Nina!

Nina

Photo's by B, so all the credits to him.

Slightly jealous of Jaco's photos, always wanted to go to Scotland and do a big trip there. There was even a minor chance B would look for a job in Glasgow. But the weather... I don't really mind rain that much, but I don't like anything below 18°C.

Jaco

Nina, that's some quality outdoors stuff. The Baja bug is awesome, as is the vista in that second shot. Very cool!

ShabbyMcCrabby

Great photos both. I've loved the walks I've done in both Scotland and the USA. One of my best memories of my time in the UK was hiking Old Man of Storr at 6am after sleeping in my car in the carpark there and nearly freezing to death.

B's got a great eye btw, photos 1, 2, and 3 are stunning. I've never really been able to do landscape photos. Can you ask him what gear he's using? Lens and stuff? I should have gotten him to give me a tutorial when I was with you!

Nina

Heh, he just uses his phone. 1+ x I think, not available anymore. He was talking about getting a camera the other day, we don't have a way of charging our phone on the motorcycles so he hardly takes pictures, need to save battery. I'll ask him for framing tips.

It's still so hard to capture the landscape here, it's just too big and open, it always feels like the photo shrinks it.

Yossarian

I cut through a church yard earlier. There were no paving stones or tarmac or anything. That counts, right?

ShabbyMcCrabby

Bloody camera phones, crazy how good they are now. I'm sure if I was to blow the photos up and compare to the shame shot with an SLR you'd be able to see the difference but for normal photos they can really knock it out of the park.

Moot_Geeza

Does camping count? I was supposed to be going on Friday but it's been postponed for a couple of weeks, could probably get a few snaps of whisky drinking/making a big fire/cooking sausages.

yourfavouriteuncle

I walked the Appalachian trail back in 2005 or so. Took five and a half months and i did 3/4 of it with a broken ankle. This seemed tough and macho at the time but now means my ankle breaks if someone even looks at it funny.

I saw a bear and its cub on the second or third day and almost shit myself. Got stuck in the middle of a herd of deer stampeding - which was a bit like that bit off Jurassic Park - and was about as bad as the bear bit.

Loved the rest of it though. May have some pictures somewhere but taken on a 1.3 digital camera (cutting edge at the time) may not yield great results.

yourfavouriteuncle

Oh and i got lost for half a morning too. Not a good time.

Kow

I do enjoy a good ramble. Here are some photos from the Ruta de Cares in Asturias in the north of Spain. It's a 25 kilometre walk through the Picos de Europa mountains.

Unlikely

Stunning.

g.man

Thread moved to off-topic.

Jaco

That's stunning, Kow. Lovely stuff.

G: Whoops! Sorry fella. Thanks for moving it.

Diluted Dante

California? Bah. If its not pissing down with gale force winds as you cling to a Cumbrian mountainside, are you really walking?

Jaco

As someone who spends a significant amount of time clinging to mountainsides as nature does its level best to kill me / freeze me / drown me, I can honestly say I'd do almost anything for some Californian style sunshine-hiking...

FranticPea

Wimp

poprock

The Lake District. That’s like in Forza, right?

Jaco

It's surprisingly accurate, actually. My wife's office is on the shore of Derwentwater and we live about 20 mins drive from there. And yes, Ambleside does look like that. And Tarn Hows is one of my favourite places in real life. Very weird razzing around it in a tooled up Koenigsegg.

FranticPea

From the kids thread in May:

FranticPea wrote:

Last minute drive to Grasmere and a yomp up Helm Crag. Check out my wind powered quiff.

Lovely day for it.

We have a mooch up Helm Crag a couple of times a year. Love the place.

Jaco

Yay! Helm Crag buddies! *internet high five*

FranticPea

Dubs

Professional grade photos are all well and good but crappy phone snaps add to the ruggedness...

I was up Pike o'Blisco in March.

It was bloody cold, but it didn't stop one little boy romping around the summit, smashing the frozen puddles with rocks. "I told you to stop doing that!", shouted his mother, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one stifling a laugh when he replied "No, you told Lily to stop doing it". Check mate, Mum, SPLOOSH.

Some brave souls were heading for Bowfell, which I think is the highest peak on the right here, but I had neither the gear nor the inclination, having read weather reports of under-equipped walkers narrowly avoiding death on Helvellyn earlier in the week. I did do it the previous summer though and would highly recommend it. Unfortunately, I lost my photos when my semi-decent phone died (hence the blurry shots above taken on an old old phone) but it gives a good view down the surrounding valleys and a particularly imposing view of the Scafells.

Not been too far since, just pottering around the Peak District, parts of which look more like Mordor since the fires this summer.

davyK

Belfast is surrounded by hills we don't have far to go as they have formed natural barriers to development which has kept the city compact.

Will take a few shots next time I'm up and about.

Belfast Lough on the south side also has a nice coastal path that is great for a walk too. It starts in a little place called Holywood where I went to school which is a short drive away for me. So will park the car there and take a walk along there.

Haven't done either in ages - need to get more active now I have the heft off me.

Scout

Since moving from Glasgow to Swansea my out-doorsey-ness has increased by approximately 100%. We have the Gower Peninsula 10 mins from our flat and regularly go a-rambling with the dog along the stunning coastline. It really is a beautiful part of the world.

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