A blog of my travels

Rhinos in Chester 2010

Christopher — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:26:48 +0000

In the summer of 2010 Chester was in the grip of Rhino Mania! 62 rhinos created by the regions artists, along with 116 mini school rhinos, took up residence – though it seems a few had left the confines of the city’s walls, one had even made it as far as London.

I just had to go. More photos can be found in the photo gallery.

Find out more about the Rhino Mania! from their official website, facebook and twitter.

Lions in Bath 2010

Christopher — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 19:45:57 +0000

It seems that King Bladud’s Pigs have been chased out of Bath by a pride of lions (though a couple of brave pigs have remained!).

The giant pride of 100 individually decorated, life-size lion sculptures took up residence in Bath during the summer of 2010, I just had to go!

The Lions are due to be rounded up in October – when some of those that have escaped the city will hopefully be reunited with their friends. More photos can be found in the photo gallery.

Find out more about the Lions in Bath from their official website and Spot’s twitter feed.

Elephant Parade London 2010

Christopher — Mon, 31 May 2010 18:38:52 +0000

Hunting Elephants in London…

Elephant Parade is a conservation campaign that shines a spotlight on the crisis faced by the endangered Asian elephant. Brought to you by www.elephantfamily.org, the event sees over 250 brightly painted life-size elephants (each is decorated by a different artist or celebrity) located over central London – I think I have found 53 so far (31st May)!.

They are due to be rounded up and on parade later in June – might have to go and see some of the 200 I have yet to find. More photos can be found in the photo gallery.

Walking the Vanguard Way III

Christopher — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:10:58 +0000

I had made good progress heading south so the walk today was shorter than planed, though with the good weather and beautiful South Downs I dawdled a while in places – remembering the days of walking the South Downs Way.

This is certainly a walk to do from North to South, and most enjoyable it was too – thanks to the Vanguards and their excellent website and their fantastic route directions.

Center of map
Route

View the map in Google Maps, or here is the Google Earth KML file.

More photos (from all the days of walking) can be found in the photo gallery.

Walking the Vanguard Way II

Christopher — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:10:55 +0000

The end of the first day had left me within touching distance of Ashdown Forest, though my legs were having second thoughts about it – they had become a little too used to the train and tube.

Thankfully I could leave the busy towns, roads and pony paddocks behind me today and enjoy the splendours of Ashdown Forest and the beauty of the South Downs in the distance. This was an area I knew well, having spent quite some time on other walks around Ashdown Forest and along the Wealdway.

Center of map
Route

View the map in Google Maps, or here is the Google Earth KML file.

More photos (from all the days of walking) can be found in the photo gallery.

Walking the Vanguard Way I

Christopher — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:10:22 +0000

Squeezing onto a commuter train at just gone 7am I stuck out a mile, plenty of tuts and rolled eyes as I tried to ease my way in with rucksack and walking stick – but nothing was going to stop me and the 3 days of walking.

Thanks to the Vanguards there is a way out of Croydon, allowing you to head south over the North Downs, through Ashdown Forest, arriving on the South Coast in Newhaven – theVanguard Way!

More photos (from all the days of walking) can be found in the photo gallery.

Center of map
Route

View the map in Google Maps, or here is the Google Earth KML file.

Going for gold on National Trails

Christopher — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:08:42 +0000

A National Trails Register was recently launched with certificates for completing trails!

I have quite enjoyed walking some of the National Trails, and have guidebooks for a few more, though I hadn’t quite realised that there are 18 trails spread across England, Wales and Scotland.

The Long Distance Walkers Association (LDWA) has set up the register for people completing at least 5 of the 18 National Trails, with certificates at 5, 10, 15 and 18 completed – which is over 2,800 miles if you complete them all. The first recipent, Allan Castle, completed the final Trail, The Speyside Way last May – 30 years after setting off on the South Downs Way (reported in OUTDOORSmagic.com). Here’s to more walking…

National Trails list:

No.	Trail	Length (miles)	Completed
1	Cleveland Way	110
2	Cotswold Way	102
3	Glyndwr’s Way	132
4	Great Glen Way	73
5	Hadrian’s Wall Path	81
6	North Downs Way	151
7	Offa’s Dyke Path	177
8	Peddars Way & Norfolk Coast Path	93
9	Pembrokeshire Coast Path	186
10	Pennine Way	268	May 2008
11	Ridgeway	86
12	South Downs Way	100	September 2007
13	South West Coast Path	630
14	Southern Upland Way	212	July 2008
15	Speyside Way	65
16	Thames Path	184
17	West Highland Way	95
18	Yorkshire Wolds Way	79
	Total Mileage	2824	580

Striding Arches

Christopher — Sun, 03 May 2009 20:21:30 +0000

While walking the Southern Upland Way, I came across a seemingly abandoned arch on the top of Benbrack (during day 4 of the walk so I feared I was hallucinating from the exertion of walking).

Quite a while later it all clicked into place – it was better signposted from a road than approaching by walking!

Striding Arches is an artist-led project ‘which celebrates and interprets a little known area of Dumfries & Galloway in south-west Scotland’. Andy Goldsworthy’s red sandstone arches ‘stride’ around a natural amphitheatre deep in the Southern Uplands.

The Arches are formed from 31 hand-dressed blocks of red sandstone from a nearby quarry, each arch stands just under four metres high, with a span of seven metres, weighing approximately 27 tons, and is totally self-supporting.

So that explains it! Glad I didn’t have to carry a piece up there.

Ecclefechan Tart

Christopher — Sun, 03 May 2009 16:18:42 +0000

Spending a bit of time again in Scotland, and it allowed me to find another delicacy that would go well with a nice cup of tea – Ecclefechan Tart.

The tart was traditionally made right across the south of Scotland, and I am wondering where it was hiding while I was walking the Southern Upland Way, however it is named after the town of Ecclefechan situated midway between Lockerbie and Annan in Dumfries and Galloway.

Ecclefechan Tart gained national recognition in late 2007 when Sainsbury’s promoted it as an alternative to mince pies for Christmas. The tarts proved to be very popular with over 50,000 packs sold in November alone, and I can quite understand why. The tart has a texture reminiscent of pecan pie but is spiced with cinnamon and lemon peel and studded with raisins.

Delicious!

Getting a virtual walking fix – The Outdoors Station podcast

Christopher — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:49:09 +0000

The withdrawal symptoms were starting to take their toll, and my feet now get blisters just walking to the pub, but thankfully I can now get a virtual outdoors fix – The Outdoor Station autumn series 2008 podcast has just started.

I had never heard of the podcasts until a chap left me a message on this blog. I quickly got hooked with the coverage of The European Outdoor Trade Fair at Friedrichshafen – well all that talk of gadgets was bound to get my attention. I now have a long wish list to drool over during the winter.

There was a great little series on the Cape Wrath Trail – which is now on my list of long distance walks to do, and a fabulous podcast on Cicerone Press
‘The Book Of The Bivvy’ – which was so good it even got me thinking about the possibilities bivvying could bring me and I went out and brought the book.