A long period of dry weather recently gave my son and me a chance to go climbing at High Crag, on the moors not that far from Stump Cross Caverns. We did some fun climbing, on a glorious day, and on a great crag that we had to ourselves.
Continue reading “Father and Son Bouldering at High Crag (Stump Cross)”
My son and I had a great bouldering trip to Almscliff last weekend. He had fun playing among the rocks and skilfully climbing up some relatively challenging lines. I enjoyed trying a few problems that I had found challenging on previous attempts and some problems I had not come across before. Moreover, I loved spending time with him sharing an activity that has been such a large part of my life. Continue reading Father and Son Bouldering at Almscliff
Simon’s Seat is a large outcrop of millstone grit in a commanding position on the edge of Barden Fell. I’d been to Simon’s Seat a couple of times before and was mulling over walking up it again. It occurred to me that I’d never approached Simon’s Seat from the north via the pretty hamlet of Skyreholme. As I looked over my map, I realised that if I walked up Barden Fell from that direction, then I could extend my walk into a loop so that it also took in Trollers Gill. This is a fantastic limestone gorge and one of my favourite places in the Yorkshire Dales. I was excited about trying this walk out and, although the weather was not the best when I came to do this walk, it was still a good day in great scenery. Continue reading To Simon’s Seat and Through Trollers Gill
On my last bouldering trip, I succeeded in completing just one problem that I had failed to climb on several earlier visits. That might not seem like much, but it was enough. After a long period in which my climbing had been stuck in a cycle that alternated between knock-backs and slow recoveries, even this small achievement felt good and like progress. It was what I needed to feed my optimism about my climbing.
Continue reading “Just a Little Bit is Enough”
I’d enjoyed my wild camp near Malham. It had been in a fantastic setting and had gone well. I’d pitched my little tent and had my dinner in golden sunshine, under a blue sky. My mood wasn’t dampened by the clouds that formed as the sun began to set, nor by the wind growing stronger and colder. I simply accepted that I wouldn’t be doing any stargazing that evening, and went to bed early. Yet in the early hours of the next day, I woke up to find my tent full of silver light. I peeked out to see a full moon shining through in an opening in fast-moving black clouds. When the moon sank out of sight, I zipped my tent up against a raw wind and huddled back in my sleeping bag. A few hours later, I opened the tent again to find a low, slate-grey sky and a dank, sharp wind. This day was going to be different from the sunshine, crags and valleys of the first day of this walk.
Continue reading “My Two-Day Walk from Settle to Grassington – Part Two”
This was a splendid walk along a pretty valley and across a moor full of fascintating lead mining history. As a bonus, it gave me the chance to visit the remains of a henge. Continue reading A Walk Through the Mining History of Wharfedale
A few weeks ago, I was puzzling over where to go for a walk. I wanted to do something new, but I’d ruled out doing several of the routes on my “to do” list of hikes in the Yorkshire Dales because I wanted to do them when the conditions were better. After looking over my maps for a while trying to decide which walk I might repeat, I realised that the most interesting option would be to bring together in one hike the highlights of a few different walks. It would be like doing a dot-to-dot puzzle of great limestone features in Wharfedale. This I could do by walking a loop that started and ended in the town of Grassington, and which took in a waterfall, a strid, a gorge, and plenty of limestone pavement. Continue reading Linking Together Some of the Best of Wharfedale
he greatness of Yorkshire has been getting serious recognition recently. In August, Yorkshire was bestowed the accolade of being Europe’s Leading Destination 2013 at the World Travel Awards. Yorkshire will host the opening stages of the 2014 Tour de France and the route through this iconic English region was announced in October. October also saw Lonely Planet declaring Yorkshire the third best region in the world to visit. For me, a big part of Yorkshire’s greatness is the beauty of the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors, with their wealth of amazing walking and climbing. Continue reading Yorkshire Grit
the Severe climber 