Hiking thread

JOGAMIGMOG said:
Just booked a long weekend in Fort William with a view to scaling Ben Nevis mid-March. Any tips? Best time to set off, parking, clothing, food etc. Cheers.
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As others have said you can park at the bottom, about £10 and you’ll need coins from my last visit if I remember correctly.
Depending on your fitness levels it’s going to be between 5-8 hours up and down and going in March you’ll get all weathers I expect. Take plenty to eat and drink plus extra clothing to change into if it pisses down, trust me it will.

As someone else has said if it’s clear the view will be unbelievable. I’ve done it 3 times and got a clear window only once for about 5 minutes and it was breathtaking, good luck and enjoy it mate.
 
I’m on a walking holiday at the moment - cyprus
0EF88288-2564-401A-AE90-2D9F458BDEA5.jpeg
Beach stop for lunch… it’s a bugger.

Company called Inntravel, Mrs JASR been using it for decades , me since we got together.

We even used them for Honeymoon - Azores.

Thoroughly recommend , self guided detailed walks, sometimes hotel to hotel (luggage goes by car) sometimes with a car. The hotels/places to stay they use are normally small with excellent food, or in villages with excellent small restaurants.
 
I remember reading about a walk along the Norfolk coast. The idea was you walked by night and dossed on the beach during the day. Always fancied doing that, but I am now too old and knackered. Retired walker!
 
Went hiking in the Peak District at the end of October for the first time in more than fifty years — yep, you read that right, last did it with my first serious girlfriend, a lass from Hazel Grove.
Went out first day (had a whole week's great hiking, circuits planned out with my mate), hiked along Mam Tor ridge, lovely weather, crisp autumn day, very lucky, stupendous views of course, fairly mild walking really (nothing too strenuous about the gradients), came down off the ridge, heading for Hope for some sandwiches and preferably a good pint or two, stood saying hello, hello, hello to passing hikers to be polite, boot well ensconced in a particularly deep piece of turf, turned abruptly to go without lifting my foot, and completely buggered my knee like a fucking clown!
By God but it was painful! My mate says he heard it pop. At first I thought I'd done my cruciates (I think subconsciously I wanted to be in the same company with heroes like Lakey), nothing as dramatic. It fucking hurt for the whole of the first day, and I was limping badly for the rest of the week, but the woman who saw me in Buxton hospital was barely able to suppress a yawn. She must see this kind of thing a hundred times a week. She said, no, you can't have a crutch, you can put your full weight on it (which I could!), you've strained your outer ligament fairly fiercely, you might have pinched your cartilage at the front with the kneecap, you just rest it, put an ice pack on it at night, and that's it!
I was well pissed off about ruining the holiday. No matter, my mate was driving, and we made it into a pub visiting holiday for the rest of the week. Which was pretty good too (terrific pub in Chapel-en-le-Frith, excellent pint, and everybody very friendly, forget the name, I'm afraid).
And my knee, I'm a bit ashamed to say, is just fine…
 
Managed to do 3 Ethel's around Monsal Dale, each of which was also a historical site of significance - bronze age fort, iron age fort and a Roman fort. Ten miles and 550m of ascent.

Absolutely knackered now though but glad I got out. Love this time of year for hiking, before the masses wake up from their hibernation and start plodding out into the dales.
 
inchy14 said:
As others have said you can park at the bottom, about £10 and you’ll need coins from my last visit if I remember correctly.
Depending on your fitness levels it’s going to be between 5-8 hours up and down and going in March you’ll get all weathers I expect. Take plenty to eat and drink plus extra clothing to change into if it pisses down, trust me it will.

As someone else has said if it’s clear the view will be unbelievable. I’ve done it 3 times and got a clear window only once for about 5 minutes and it was breathtaking, good luck and enjoy it mate.
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Hey mate can you take dogs up? Whats the wildlife sheep etc like up there my mutt would be chasing them forever, I can put her on a lead but she loves running, bloody Spaniel!
 
finally got up Mam Tor on Wednesday, rewarded with views of about 10 feet :/
Oh and the wind, I'm near 14 stone and could barely stay upright
 
Good thread. I'm taking this up as I'm too old to be running. Fancy some places that are a short train ride away, probably this week as I'm off work. I've done the West Highland Way before and Ben Nevis.
 
malg said:
Good thread. I'm taking this up as I'm too old to be running. Fancy some places that are a short train ride away, probably this week as I'm off work. I've done the West Highland Way before and Ben Nevis.
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Hebden Bridge and Todmorden are less than 30mins from Victoria and have some good pubs and hills nearby to walk up before the pubs open.
 
malg said:
Good thread. I'm taking this up as I'm too old to be running. Fancy some places that are a short train ride away, probably this week as I'm off work. I've done the West Highland Way before and Ben Nevis.
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Thing about running, mate, which an awful lot of people don't realise. I ran a fair bit from the age of twelve or so up to about fifty. I'm naturally what they call an ectomorph (well, I'm not now, because I've got a bit of a belly these days!) but I was the natural shape for middle-distance, say 10k or so. Tall, stringy, that sort. I'm not saying I was a great runner, but I was decent.
A lot of people who run don't know how to run. They think they're being virtuous, but they're fucking themselves! Specifically, they're fucking their ankles, their knees, their hips, and crucially their spinal column. You've got to have a natural, smooth rhythm, not jerky, all the limbs well coordinated along with the upper body, and minimal use of energy for maximal kinetic efficiency. You've also, of course, got to have good shoes (which doesn't necessarily mean fuck-off expensive ones that look good, but the best adapted for you and your feet).
And — this is vital — you run only on grass or dirt tracks if you possibly can (I realise that this isn't an option for many people. Sometimes I watch people in the street and I feel like gently stopping them and saying, “You know, you're buggering yourself and you don't even realise it. Take up another sport, friend…” Of course, I don't, because it's basically none of my business).
Hiking is a balanced way of getting fairly fit. If you go with a mate, and you can share banter along the way, it's also fun. And if you like the countryside, you see things that no motorist, even no cyclist, ever sees. You can only see those things in the slow rhythm of walking. I used to go hiking in my teens, and have more or less done it all my life. I've hiked in Patagonia, New Zealand, Iceland, Jasper National Park Canada, etc., etc. Plus the Lake District, the Peaks, Lewis and Harris (Outer Hebrides), the south Wales coastal path, in the UK. In France I've probably hiked most in the Drôme, which is in some ways my favourite place on earth. Because I like my creature comforts too, and after a hard day's hiking, there's nothing better than having a good, long hot shower, changing into clean clothes, and then moseying out to find the best restaurant in the village, and having a fine meal, accompanied by a few glasses of good wine.
Then sleeping the sleep of the just, and getting up the next morning and doing it all over again.
Hiking — excellent choice by you. I loved playing squash, and played it up till about fifty, and was then buggering my hammy and all of that in the last years, and I hung up my racket. It was time. It's a young man's sport, really, unless you're technically good. Which I never was. Loved the haring round the court like a demon bit, but I was never coached, and I never ironed the things out of my game that I should have. Still miss it (and I'm now sixty-nine!).
Just a tip, though. Three years ago, I discovered a sport I'd never so much as thought of practicing. If you have any access to a rowing club, give it a try. It is absolutely glorious once you get the hang of it. When you get your rhythm right, that boat just flies over the water like a bird. You can do it solo, or in a pair, fours or eights (the last I have never done). Even fours, when everyone's synchronised, it's an astonishing feeling. You feel the people power in the boat, and it just surges over the water.
Of course, it can be pretty expensive. No idea what it costs in the UK, but in France you're looking at about £200 for the year (that's rock bottom, in a very small club), ranging up to £600-700 easily for the year's subscription. I've mainly done sea rowing, but also river rowing (which poses different kinds of technical problems). It's very good for you, a very balanced sport, which requires the whole body (which is not what people imagine, because they've seen Olympic rowers with huge pecs and generally built like a brick shithouse). Everybody can row at their own level.
Edit: just realised that like a moron I've been using the wrong term. I've done exclusively sculling, not rowing, and that's what I was talking about. I always get the two terms confused…
 
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Lovebitesandeveryfing said:
Thing about running, mate, which an awful lot of people don't realise. I ran a fair bit from the age of twelve or so up to about fifty. I'm naturally what they call an ectomorph (well, I'm not now, because I've got a bit of a belly these days!) but I was the natural shape for middle-distance, say 10k or so. Tall, stringy, that sort. I'm not saying I was a great runner, but I was decent.
A lot of people who run don't know how to run. They think they're being virtuous, but they're fucking themselves! Specifically, they're fucking their ankles, their knees, their hips, and crucially their spinal column. You've got to have a natural, smooth rhythm, not jerky, all the limbs well coordinated along with the upper body, and minimal use of energy for maximal kinetic efficiency. You've also, of course, got to have good shoes (which doesn't necessarily mean fuck-off expensive ones that look good, but the best adapted for you and your feet).
And — this is vital — you run only on grass or dirt tracks if you possibly can (I realise that this isn't an option for many people. Sometimes I watch people in the street and I feel like gently stopping them and saying, “You know, you're buggering yourself and you don't even realise it. Take up another sport, friend…” Of course, I don't, because it's basically none of my business).
Hiking is a balanced way of getting fairly fit. If you go with a mate, and you can share banter along the way, it's also fun. And if you like the countryside, you see things that no motorist, even no cyclist, ever sees. You can only see those things in the slow rhythm of walking. I used to go hiking in my teens, and have more or less done it all my life. I've hiked in Patagonia, New Zealand, Iceland, Jasper National Park Canada, etc., etc. Plus the Lake District, the Peaks, Lewis and Harris (Outer Hebrides), the south Wales coastal path, in the UK. In France I've probably hiked most in the Drôme, which is in some ways my favourite place on earth. Because I like my creature comforts too, and after a hard day's hiking, there's nothing better than having a good, long hot shower, changing into clean clothes, and then moseying out to find the best restaurant in the village, and having a fine meal, accompanied by a few glasses of good wine.
Then sleeping the sleep of the just, and getting up the next morning and doing it all over again.
Hiking — excellent choice by you. I loved playing squash, and played it up till about fifty, and was then buggering my hammy and all of that in the last years, and I hung up my racket. It was time. It's a young man's sport, really, unless you're technically good. Which I never was. Loved the haring round the court like a demon bit, but I was never coached, and I never ironed the things out of my game that I should have. Still miss it (and I'm now sixty-nine!).
Just a tip, though. Three years ago, I discovered a sport I'd never so much as thought of practicing. If you have any access to a rowing club, give it a try. It is absolutely glorious once you get the hang of it. When you get your rhythm right, that boat just flies over the water like a bird. You can do it solo, or in a pair, fours or eights (the last I have never done). Even fours, when everyone's synchronised, it's an astonishing feeling. You feel the people power in the boat, and it just surges over the water.
Of course, it can be pretty expensive. No idea what it costs in the UK, but in France you're looking at about £200 for the year (that's rock bottom, in a very small club), ranging up to £600-700 easily for the year's subscription. I've mainly done sea rowing, but also river rowing (which poses different kinds of technical problems). It's very good for you, a very balanced sport, which requires the whole body (which is not what people imagine, because they've seen Olympic rowers with huge pecs and generally built like a brick shithouse). Everybody can row at their own level.
Edit: just realised that like a moron I've been using the wrong term. I've done exclusively sculling, not rowing, and that's what I was talking about. I always get the two terms confused…
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Done 25 years in the Army so I done a lot of running/tabbing/cross training. Rowing sounds good, but to be honest I'm now a bit lazy. Hiking is easily accessible for me so that's the direction I'm going in for now.
 
malg said:
Done 25 years in the Army so I done a lot of running/tabbing/cross training. Rowing sounds good, but to be honest I'm now a bit lazy. Hiking is easily accessible for me so that's the direction I'm going in for now.
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You could also try some river kayaking, you're just steering more than paddling, great way to get around and get a new perspective
 
Sky Blue Thinking said:
Hebden Bridge and Todmorden are less than 30mins from Victoria and have some good pubs and hills nearby to walk up before the pubs open.
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Did the first stage of the Pennine Way last summer, Edale to Hadfield and really enjoyed it.

I like to do my running & cycling but it has made doing more of the Pennine Way a real tempting thought - I see it as a project to do all the legs of it over the next couple of summers.
 
A very good walk starts from Widdop near Hebden Bridge. As a bonus, there is an excellent pub there called The Pack Horse Inn that does good food and beer. You might decide to fuck off the walk and stay there. But if you do FGS have a driver with you who likes soft drinks. Because this is a car job, Widdop is in the middle of nowhere.

Anyway, you follow the Pennine Way to 'Wuthering Heights'. You can come straight back or descend to Haworth. (More pubs, including at least one selling Timothy Taylor.) Then back either the same way or via Oxenhope. (Large Scale Map advised.) This is a moderately strenuous round and too much for an old git like me nowadays, but I highly recommend it. Especially the pubs. Best done on a bright, sunny day, but I have done it in snow and it was still fun.
 
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