A Photographic Bimble.

A nice early morning sky, high mare’s tails with that orange edging of a sunrise disappearing had me starring out across the fields. The deep green grass sparkling with the dew yet to evaporate.
It quickened the heart with expectations of what might have been had i planned a walk somewhere high. A Birkett ridge maybe or even a lesser Pennine trail.
The Magpies were busy and noisey. One was perched on my porch rooftop calling the others who were playing games annoying the Sparrows. Apart from them the day was calm, windless, sunny.

Where we live, we say that we only have two seasons, the dusty one and the muddy one. With the glorious summer now unfortunately over the dusty season has now been replaced. The heavy rain of recent days has formed rivulets on our track and excessive areas of mud now predominate where the local tractors have churned up the surface like a food mixer. This will remain until the next period of prolonged heat in spring next year.

Mud replaces dust.

Walking uphill brought on a bit of a sweat even though the above picture flattens out the gradient. Reaching the top of the hill my eyes were watering with the bright low sun and my mistake of leaving the sunglasses behind. I had to squint to make progress.

Once into the trees the low sun creates fantastic shadows and exaggerates the shapes, the leaf colours both of those still surviving on the branches and those now forlorn, wet and decaying. Searching through areas very rarely walked on by other less inquisitive folk i searched out the last remaining shows of fungi in the undergrowth. The fallen logs so full of fungi just a short while ago now barren apart from moss and whatever else mother nature has to offer.

The leaf litter hides much and in some cases things you really would rather see, like shallow pools which caught me out a number of times or holes between timbers causing sore ankles.

 The Beech and Birch Woodland 

I havn’t come across this before so i will check it out. After much searching I think this is Lepista personata.

 Which are leaves and which are Velvet Shanks?

 Coriolus Verisicolor

As i made my way through the woods i sat for awhile on a dry log just enjoying the light. Squirrels ran across my path stopping every few feet to dig another hole and bury the nuts collected for the approaching winter. They were very busy, is that a bad sign i wondered. Many of the fruit bearing bushes like the Holly and the Hawthorn the Mountain Ash and the Wild Rose are also full of red berries, more so than last year.

Alder Buckthorn loaded with red berries prior to them turning black.

It was quite pleasant whilst the sun shone but as soon as it was replaced with shadow the temperature drop was very noticeable. When you are moving the body remains warm but sat down i soon chilled. I was packing up to leave when i noticed a bird rustling the leaves in the tree adjacent to where i was sat. At first i thought it was a wood pigeon as these are numerous here. I grabbed my camera just in case i managed to get a good view of the bird when it suddenly dropped to the floor no further than 10ft away.
To my great surprise it was a Jay. I have seen Jay’s in here before but i havn't seen one which remained in the vicinity for more than a few seconds. Usually they fly to a branch, spot the human and then disappear rapidly.
Luckily this one stayed a little while and i managed to take 6 shots with my compact camera before it left. Below are the two better ones of the bunch.

Walna Scar Shepherds Meet 2014

Another year and another Shepherds Meet. First weekend in November is when this particular meet is held. It varies in venue from three areas which provide the Heaf. A heaf is the area of fellside that is remembered by the Herdwick sheep. When sheep stray onto a neighbour's heaf, they are gathered and returned at the “Meet". Well that’s what used to happen before the days of Land Rover and trailers.

Today it’s about showing your best stock, winning the coveted silverware, having good crack, (that’s slang for chatting btw), downing a few beers and maybe settling an old score or two.

Sheila and i help out as best we can and give something back to the local’s who have contributed to us enjoying the area so much. We helped man the gates, relieving folk of a few quid upon entry to the event.

Friday night we arrived at The Newfield Inn in Seathwaite which had a Halloween Party going in full swing. It was 18 degrees C outside and with the pub being very full the heat was almost unbearable.
It was nice to chat with so many locals and to see them enjoying the event.

Saturday we headed off to Torver where the Meet was to take place. Usually the HQ is The Church House pub but it has now closed down. The village hall took on the hordes for lunch and The Wilson’s Arms took on the evening event of Singing, poetry reading and of course the beer swilling.

Cloud over Old Man of Coniston from Broughton Moor.

On the event field the Shepherds were having their Herdwick’s and Swaledales judged and had made an early start. Later the hound trail folk arrived for their racing day. Alan Linnet had a display of photographs of past Meets and there was also a Pet competition as well as a Shepherds crook judging. The homemade cakes and biscuits, tea and coffee all went down well as did the lunch provided by The chef and staff from The Wilsons.

Weather wise we were lucky. We had a heavy shower in the morning and then one which included hail later in the afternoon but for the best part it was fine. The later one had some running for cover but as is the norm the Shepherds and the sheep carried on in the sousing rain as though it didn’t matter.

List of winners and categories will be published. TBA

Here are a few photo’s from the event field and surrounding countryside.

 Swaledales.

 Anthony Hartley and Andrew Birkett and Herdwick's, Turner Hall Farm Seathwaite.

 A trio of Herdwick tups

 Showing Swaldales. (David Cooper fence dancing)

 The Old Man of Coniston

 Shepherd’s crook

 Trophy stall

 Showing and Judging.

 The pet competition

 Overall Herdwick Champion. Glen Wilkinson from Tilberthwaite.

 By hook or by crook

 Just Champion Herdwick

Harter Fell in Mist from The Cross.

Just This and That really.

An invite from Martin Banfield to join him on a wee walk from Failsworth into Manchester.

Roughly (From Memory) the route that we took. 

Martins blog will include a more accurate trod along the Brook area.

I decided that i would travel to Failsworth from home on the new Metrolink from the centre of Rochdale. I hadn’t been on this route before so it had that feeling of exploration about it.
Its quite a meandering route and i was surprised that it takes over 1/2hr. But i suppose it has to follow the urbanisation to ensure it gets passengers to pay for the service rather than the quickest route.

Anyway it was a pleasant journey, through Milnrow, Shaw, Oldham, Chadderton, Hollinwood before alighting a bit early at Failsworth. Due to my disliking of being late i was particularly early, 1/2hr in fact.

After i finished reading The Metro newspaper and returned it to its stack on the station platform Graham appeared across the way. Graham is a Challenger and a regular on Martins walkies.
Then Peter from the LDWA and Martin and Rick arrived and Don also LDWA a few minutes later.

Rick, a walker, musician, Morris man and a mate of the missing JJ is always up for a bimble that includes a visit to the curry emporium This and That.

L-R Rick, Moi, Peter, Don, Graham and Martin.

Photo kindly nicked from Martin.

So the 6 of us headed off in the general direction leading us to the Rochdale canal. This goal attained, i was surprised that we headed in the opposite direction from Manchester. I didn’t say anything derogatory about Martins map reading and very shortly he pointed out this fact and that we were heading for Moston Brook.

Moston Brook has recently been an urban project to bring a green area back to life from what used to be a waste tip. They have done a good job but it still needs a lot of money spending on it. Our path was a muddy one with the occasional duck boarding across the boggier bits.

It was all pleasant walking and numerous feathered friends were spotted. Grey Wagtail, Goldfinch, Magpie, Crow and Kestrel.
The brook was relatively clean considering its environment and history and it eventually ended at a culvert. We could see no light at the end of the tunnel and decided that we wouldn’t “DO” it this time but wait for a warmer and shallower passage sometime in the future.

Away from the brook we passed numerous delightful car scrap yards, body shops, sprayers, tyre services, fly tipping etc and eventually regained the canal a few hundred yards west of where we initially joined it.
This time we headed in the direction of Manchester.

As with many canal walks, especially those heading into a city, there is much industrial archeology to view as well as the decay left behind from demolition and of course, urban squaller. Many of the old mills survive and have been turned into apartments and such like. I quite enjoy looking at local historical remains.

As we approached the city centre our way was blocked by bridge building works adjacent to Bengal Street. The 2 workmen just shook their heads sideways when we asked if we could go across. I think we could have gone, quite safely but it was a no no.

We had to detour quite a bit through the now delightfully modernised canal basin which leads to the Ashton canal and the rebuilt Islington for the towpath into town.
Town was exceptionally busy as we headed towards Shudehill and our goal of This and That.
I think we did the last mile in about 4 minutes, the aroma of the curry quickening our pace.

Three of our party had not sampled the delights of this establishment before and on first impressions i can understand it putting a few off but by the end of the meal all were in agreement that it was first class.

 Were going where!

 Ballet dancing through the boggy bits hidden by the Autumn fall.

 The footpath alongside Moston Brook

 The Brook disappears but Martin has spotted a Japanese sniper or was it Len?

 Back on the Rochdale canal and heading for Manchester

 An unusual pair of ducks. (Any suggestions of what they are will be welcomed)

 Modernised old mills

New Islington info.

This and That Curry

Thanks for the invite Martin. It was great to be out after a spell of working on the house. Have a good time in Madeira and we look forward to reading the story in due course.

Magnetic Declination.

Magnetic declination is not such a big thing in the UK because being a small island the variation is negligible.
But in other parts of the world there is a huge difference.

I was a little taken back when i realised that between the Outer Hebrides and the east coast of Scotland that there is a 3 degree difference.

So if you are in need to know what the declination is in your local area or if your planning a longer trip that needs careful navigation then this website may be of assistance to you. I hadn’t come across it before and so thought i would share it.

http://magnetic-declination.com

Apple new os x Yosemite (Updated and success)

Warning. Do not upgrade your imac or laptop to Yosemite unless you are fully aware of what the consequences are for you. If you are happy with Maverick then stay with it.

Why?

Well i saw the new release and just as i did with the previous releases i just updated without going to deep into the changes.

So whats up?

Well you cannot go back to Maverick without a load of hassle if you find it doesn’t suit you. As i found out.
If you use iphoto as everyone probably does in OS X it is now linked with Aperture. So after upgrading to Yosemite i had to upgrade iphoto. This was fine, as it was a free upgrade.

But Aperture would not upgrade unless i paid £54.99!!!!!!!!!!

I very very rarely use Aperture, iphoto does pretty much all i need. So i thought Damned Cheek, i’m not paying £55. If i ever need to use an Aperture like piece of software i will use a freebie.

Wrong!

Now that iphoto has upgraded and linked itself to Aperture,  as soon as you launch iphoto you get a message telling you that some of your photo’s are in Apertures library and you have to upgrade Aperture before iphoto will launch.

Bloody Naughty Apple.

I don’t want to pay out £55 to upgrade Aperture, a piece of software i rarely use, but i need iphoto. I am in a catch 22 situation and i feel i am being mugged by Apple.

I don’t want to uninstall Aperture because i don’t know what damage i might cause.

Anyone got any suggestions. Please keep it clean. Thanks.

UPDATE 22nd October 2014.
I have iphoto working.

How?

When i clicked to open iphoto from the dock i got a message to say cannot open library because Aperture needs updating. It seems for some reason that by clicking iphoto it defaulted to Aperture library first. Surely if you click iphoto it should default to iphoto library.

By holding down the option key and then clicking iphoto in the dock it brings up an option menu to chose which library you want to open. In my case i had 2 options, iphoto and Aperture. I clicked iphoto and it opened. I found all my “Events” were all over the place, not sorted by date as they were previously but this was easily corrected.

At least i have iphoto working and i havn’t spent £55. Why getting to this point has taken me hours to achieve when all i did was a simple upgrade. It beggars belief. We are not all Apple Genius’s. But i hope that by posting it here some other Mac users can save themselves some time and frustration.

itunes 12.0.1 has now updated itself 6 times and keeps on telling me to update it. It doesn’t clear itself after updating so i have had to suspend auto updates.

UPDATE 24th OCTOBER 24th 2014.
 Yesterday in the Apple store Manchester, i spoke with one of the trainers about my issue with Aperture. He fully understood the reason why i wasn’t going to pay £55 to upgrade and if i had taken my disc and licence number in with me it could have been sorted out there and then.
As it was, i was advised to use the Apple online chat support and take it from there, and if it wasn’t sorted out to go back into the store.

After an initial online chat with Mac support i was passed on to someone else and then had a telephone chat with another chap who then passed me on to someone else. You know the way it works.
So 1 1/2 hrs later i ended up speaking to a chap (name withheld) who worked directly in Aperture and did not deal with online or telephone chats.
He clearly explained the problem and the fact that even though i had purchased Aperture 2 on a disc, that by upgrading to Maverick i had upgraded Aperture to V3 as well. But that version would not work with Yosemite.

I explained that although i understood, i wasn’t going to pay £55 on top of my original purchase price  to get it to work because i didn’t use it often enough to warrant the outlay. But i still expected to use what i had.

He also cleared up the issue about Aperture future. Aperture is not being deleted but will not be developed further. Apple will still support Aperture for the foreseeable future.
A new piece of software will be coming out next year called Photo’s which may incorporate some of Aperture features.

I am kindly being sent a redemption code so that i can go into the App store and download the latest version of Aperture. Success.

I must admit that even though it has been a trial of persistence i am pleased with the attitude of all the people that i have dealt with in the Apple organisation.
I am also lucky that i don’t have a full time job or otherwise i would not have had the time to spend sorting it out and i probably (being a bit more affluent) would have just paid the money.

Boli 5 Litre water tank.

 For the last couple of years i have been using a Platypus 3 Litre water tank on backpacking trips.
I have found it a very useful piece of kit. That’s down to the fact that for an overnight camp i only have to fill it the once. A bonus once your settled in the tent.
The 3L has for some reason been deleted from the Platypus range which now only comprises the 2L and 4L in the tank models. Why Platypus have decided to ditch the 3L is beyond me as i have found it perfect.

Platypus tanks.

• The 2L weighs 66 grams and costs around £21
• The 4L weighs 103 grams and costs around £26

You have to be prepared to take some stick with the Platy version as it looks like a ladies handbag. (See image below), but who cares.

Then i came across the Boli 5 Litre collapsable water tank and although i am not in the market for a replacement tank right now, i thought i would share it with readers who may be, as the spec. and weight of the tank is excellent for such a capacity and the price is outstanding.

Boli 5 Litre water tank.

• Boli 5L water tank weighs just 69 grams and costs £6.99. 

That’s quite a saving on both weight and on the wallet.
 You may think that 5 Litres is too big, but in reality you only have to fill it with enough for your requirements and the tank rolls away and weighs so little when stored in the rucksack.
In comparison it weighs the same as the Platypus 2 Litre.

I think its great value for money and a viable alternative to the more expensive offerings. Ideal too for  D of E groups.

Available from Amazon here.

Defeet Dura Etouch gloves.

 Winter is approaching and soon we will be wearing gloves again. The trouble with wearing gloves on the hill means that if you regularly use your smart phone as a GPS, or have a touch screen stand alone GPS or even, God forbid, that you need to use your phone to make a call, then you will know that you have to take at least one glove off to carry out any function.

The Defeet Etouch gloves have now resolved that problem. They are smart phone sensitive and will work on your touch screen.

Defeet are made in the USA and are usually associated with biking gear. They are readily available here in the UK and mine are from Evans Cycles and cost £16.99. If i had been a little more astute then i could have got them for £14 online.

Colours.
I have shown bright colours here in the image so that the silicon rubber palm grips are visible to the reader. Alternative colours available are Black, Blue, Red, Ocean Blue, and in Hi Vis there are Green, Yellow and orange.

The gloves are touch screen sensitive thanks to conductive thread that is woven into 3 finger tips. The index finger, middle finger and thumb. So using the phones zoom features for example where 2 fingers are needed is easy.

Usually biking gloves have gel padding for comfort but these havn’t and therefore are ideal for hiking. They do have silicon rubber blobs on the palm and along the fingers which are great for keeping hold of walking poles in the damp.

The gloves are not fully waterproof but they are toasty and make good liner gloves for those really wet or bitterly cold days out. They have good dexterity and performing simple tasks like getting money from your pockets, opening a flask or sandwich box, operating a camera for example can be done easily.
Fit wise they are close fitting but not overly tight. Obviously they do need to be a close fit to make the best use of the touch screen property.

Material.
40% Cordura, 32% Coolmax EcoMade, 20% Nylon, 7% Lycra and 1% Silver AG.
The face material Cordura is robust and abrasion resistant.

Aclimatise Merlin Smock

It seems an awful long time ago that i was initially involved in this new waterproof smock.

This post is not a review as i did reviews on the prototype some time ago and i took a version on the 2014 TGO Challenge with great success. In fact i thought that it would have been released in May but it didn’t happen due to further trials.
The only noticeable difference from the prototype is the addition of the 2 Napoleon pockets and the coloured zips.

A link to the web site is here LINK which gives all the details for any readers interested and going off the comments on the earlier review i guess there are quite a few.

Merlin smock (photograph from official webpage)

A discount of £40 is offered to purchasers for a limited time. Just put itsmagic14 into the relevant box when ordering.

A puddle and a Dow

Getting the Scarp II pitched late on Saturday afternoon was a wind swept affair and i decided to use the cross over poles to avoid any potential strong wind deflections during the night.
As it happened, as soon as the tent was up the wind died to nothing and didn’t re-appear again for the rest of our stay.
The purpose of our trip up to the Duddon valley in Cumbria had nothing at all to do with walking, more to do with socialising, drinking, eating, music, fund raising and drinking some more. You know the way it is, oh there’s thingy, not seen you for ages, can i buy you a beer and then, well it would be rude not to reciprocate and so before you know it the beers are lining up and the small wee hours are getting closer.

We awoke on Sunday morning rather bleary eyed and a tad de-hydrated and with a bit of a sore head.
When i spoke to our hosts Anthony and Hillary at Turner Hall Farm it seems we were not alone with the Paracetamol treatment.

Anyway, we lay in our tent listening to the silence of the morning. Just the call from a lone high soaring Buzzard occasionally breaking that silence. It had been a very warm night and too warm to even sleep in my bag and an even warmer morning. We eventually pushed ourselves to get up and the walk i had planned for the day got very close to being put off. However, a bacon sandwich and a couple of cups of coffee convinced us to grab the day and get out.

Alcohol and walking are not good companions and for the first hour i felt very laboured and the beer was seeping through every pore. It was an incredibly humid day with not a breath of breeze. As we slowly made our way from Seathwaite village to Seathwaite tarn  the tops were becoming blanketed in mist. Along Caw and White Pike and along the ridge to Dow Crag there was an inversion. We spoke to a backpacker who had earlier spotted us and our tent and asked us a few questions about the tent. We had a number of people ask about it on the campsite later too. The backpacker was heading across the Walna Scar to Coniston where he would catch a bus and then a train home.

Temperature inversion at White Pike.

With only a thin baselayer between skin and rucksack i was surprised to notice just how wet with sweat i had become. I was dripping. By the time we reached the tarn dam i could have done with a change of top.
Mist was rolling over the Swirl How - Brim Fell ridge line, cascading down towards the tarn before turning back upwards to Grey Friar. It was an eerie silence and so atmospheric, it just needed a few flashes of lightening to finish it off.

View of Seathwaite Tarn and cascading mist, the ridge line covered.

We didn’t go over the path across the dam wall but instead took the narrow path on the tarn’s right hand shoreline. We followed this until we met up with the first stream coming down from the crags on the right. The beck is called Bleaberry Gill and there is no path alongside either bank. We didn’t find any Bleaberry’s either.
From the shoreline the route looks very easy but in places it is a little tricky. Not for the person who has vertigo issues. Easier routes are possible but i wanted to stick with the Gill.

 View down Seathwaite Tarn from Bleaberry Gill

 The route upwards follows the Gill

View taken from about 3/4 of the way up the gill across to Harter Fell.

With care we made it to the top of the beck and into the large catchment area which feeds the Gill. With all the dry weather we have had of late the ground was quite firm but i think it would be a rather boggy area after a period of rain. Today we had luck on our side and the moorland was quite pleasant.

We followed the Gill as one of the goals of todays walk was to go to the small unnamed tarn which lies between Bleaberry and Near Gill’s. I had never been to this tarn in all the years of coming to this area.

Looking at the map, if you follow the Gill to its source and then just continue in the same direction you should come straight to the tarn but in reality this is not the case. The upper reaches are made up of many small boggy drains rather than one channel and we headed off slightly more east than was necessary and that meant we had a longer route to get to the tarn. More circular.

Sheila was looking a bit tired and so it became a pleasure to come over a rise and see the tarn. It was a real disappointment. More a black muddy puddle and certainly not worth all our efforts and certainly not one to backpack to either. The gill on the other hand is clear water and a few pitching spots can be found. The views are excellent.

The Puddle. 

At this point we had to decide what to do next. We couldn’t see the top of Dow but i knew it was only a short march upwards to it. Sheila was struggling a bit and so i suggested heading for the path which runs parallel to Far Gill and from there decide whether to go up Dow or head back down to Seathwaite Tarn.
She said “Just keep going straight up the front of Dow”. And so that’s what we did. A few short stops on route to regain our breath had us close to the craggy summit. It was covered in mist but it was drifting around. One minute you could see and the next you couldn’t.

As we scrambled to the very top of the crags we met our first walkers coming across the crags the opposite way. We let them past as they seemed in more of a rush than us. The back marker was not keen on going across the final craggy top and decided to opt for the easier route around a lower trod.

We sat on the top for a short period listening to the silence and watching the mist swirl in and out. The odd Raven glided past and let out that echoing croak as it disappeared into the gloom. The sound was bouncing around the crags and seemed very strange when visibility disappeared.

Dropping off the ridge slightly we took the opportunity of having lunch in what we call Mick’s bothy. Its a wind break just to the east of the summit and a few years ago it was a bit higher than it is currently. During fell races it was possible with the addition of a tarpaulin to get well out of inclement weather here.
 The walk along the ridge from Dow to Brown Pike was a grey one mainly in mist and care was needed not to stray too far to the left as the drop off is not recommended. The path is a well used one and if you stick to it then the route is a fine one with spectacular views down the gullies and to Goats Water. We were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of Blind Tarn for a few seconds and just long enough to take a photo.

Blind Tarn.

Blind Tarn lies in a magical spot and the old Mine of Goldscope (Name may be wrong, i will check it out ) is just above it. I love the idea of the mine name but gold was never found. It is more than likely just copper or a slate mine. I remember 20 years ago spending a weekend up here and investigating the mine and the many adits in the area. Unfortunately that was before the digital era and i have no idea where the photographs are.

As we walked off the top of Brown Pike we dropped below the cloud level to see the Walna Scar Track now looking quite huge. No longer can 4wd vehicles or scrambling/trials bikes use it any more and the work which was carried out a few years ago is still in good condition. Quite a few mountain bikers crossed over the watershed as we dropped down to meet it.

Dropping down off Brown Pike towards the Walna Scar Road. White Pike and Caw are the 2 peaks in the distance.

It’s an easy walk back down into Seathwaite from the cross roads passing the Walna Quarry and following Long House Gill. It was good to be out of the cloud but it was still a very warm and humid afternoon. The steepness of the track is such that it tends to pull you down and in places you have to almost run.

 Harter Fell from Seathwaite

The Scafell and Bowfell ridgeline from Seathwaite. Mist Free

Back at the tent it was great to get the new stove on the go and get a brew. Considering we were feeling a bit fragile when we set off on this walk we were both pleased with the day.
Later is was great to get a good sunset and it just finished it off perfectly.

Route; 10km with 680M of ascent.