Christopher Somerville

john

Rannoch Moor and the Old Military Road, Scotland

May 132023

First published in: The Times Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window

At Victoria Bridge near the Inveroran Hotel a cuckoo was calling from the trees by the river. A still afternoon, perfect for the hatching of the first hungry midges of the season. I sprayed on Smidge, and set out across Rannoch Moor to trace the faint and mysterious thoroughfare known as the old military road.

Rannoch Moor, a great expanse of unbroken blanket bog, loch and rough heather plateau, is one of the wildest places in Scotland. Major William Caulfeild supervised the building of the road across the waste in two summers, 1751 and 1752. The English were not exactly welcome hereabouts, and three soldiers had to keep guard against ambush for every squaddie labouring with pick and shovel on the road itself.

Nowadays Caulfeild’s road has been more or less absorbed back into the moor grass, bog and heather. I had to get my eye in, letting my gaze roam across apparently trackless moor until it snagged on a darker groove in the grass, or caught the faint curve of an embankment.

The old military road is a well-engineered ‘wild road’, running in long straight stretches with occasional deviations. The cuttings are supported with stone walling and there are frequent side scoops showing where the soldiers quarried the rocks and pebbles needed for the road.

Across the wilderness of the moor I followed the old military road. Direction-finding was helped by a series of sighting stones on successive skylines. Sprays of blotched leaves as slim as penknife blades showed where heath spotted orchids would be blooming come full summer.

At a block of forestry the character of the old military road changed from an open moorland track to a black peat slutch, both sticky and slippery. But there was better walking in the valley below for the homeward trudge.

Thomas Telford built a new road across Rannoch Moor, now the route of the West Highland Way, early in the nineteenth century – a proper level road, broad and stone-surfaced, crossing streams and rivers by solid stone bridges. By then William Caulfeild’s old route was already half reabsorbed into the moor. I squelched down to the West Highland Way, bog-hopping and stream-scrambling, and turned for home along its cobbled roadway. Wood anemones along the roadside were shutting their petals for the night, and the mountains to the east stood in soft evening sunshine, their high corries shining.

How hard is it? 6½ miles; easy gradient; moorland path, then cobbled track. NB An adventurous walk in a wild place. Not recommended in mist. Old Military Road/OMR is squelchy underfoot. Also faintly marked in places; use a good GPS or map/compass. Look for occasional, prominent marker stones on skyline.

Start: Victoria Bridge car park, Inveroran Hotel, near Bridge of Orchy PA36 4AU approx. (OS ref NN 271418)

Getting there: Signed off A82 at Bridge of Orchy station.

Walk (OS Explorer 377): Left along road; cross bridge. Just before Forest Lodge, left along drive (272421; ‘Loch Etive by Glen Kinglass’). At end of trees, right along forest edge. In 250m, OMR veers left away from trees (271424), aiming for right-hand slope of Stob a’Choire Odhair. In 600m, when almost level with top of forestry on left, OMR swings right (271430). In ¾ mile, after crossing Easan Dubh, OMR bends right (276442). In 1 mile OMR reaches forestry on right (282456). Follow fence; in 500m it bends right (281461). Follow it across several streams to West Highland Way (283462); right for 3 miles to car park.

Lunch/Accommodation: Inveroran Hotel, Bridge of Orchy PA36 4AQ (01838-400250, inveroran.com)

Info: visitscotland.com; ancientmonuments.uk; roads.org.uk

Hoby, Gaddesby and Frisby-on-the-Wreake, Leicestershire

Walks No Responses »

May 062023

First published in: The Times Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window

A cool morning above the Leicestershire Wolds, and neighbourly conversations developing over the garden fences of Hoby. The village, perched on a ridge overlooking the valley of the River Wreake, trails its mellow red brick buildings along a street as bendy as the snaking meanders of the river through the meadows below.

I followed a path beside the Wreake. A family picnicking by one of the river bends watched their children splashing in the shallows. I passed the handsome square tower of All Saints church at Rotherby, and then the crocketed spire of Brooksby’s Church of St Michael – just two of the dozens of churches on the Leicestershire Wolds built and embellished by medieval wool wealth.

This is long rolling country, with shallow descents to gravelly rivers and gradual climb to the next ridge. The stony track of the Midshires Way ran south past a sand and gravel quarry, the conveyors and elevators dribbling their loads onto ever-growing cones of pinkish diggings. On the opposite side of the track an old quarry flooded for nature conservation showed the other side of the extraction coin with its sailing mallards and reedbeds a-chatter with warblers.

From the ridge we had long views over mile upon mile of cornfields, the farms isolated like cargo ships in these seas of wheat and barley. A patch of sky blue linseed among the green acres made a striking contrast, the delicate five-petalled flowers gently stirring in the wind.

At Gaddesby we detoured to St Luke’s Church, where a line of gurning little faces looked down from the wall, some medieval stone-carver’s humour that spanned the ages. An apple and a bit of chocolate underneath a spreading chestnut tree, and we were heading north over the undulating corn fields on the Leicestershire Round footpath. Skylarks ascended and poured out song, yellowhammers wheezed in the hedges, and little black spiders ran for shelter into the cracks of the sun-baked clay soil.

In Frisby-on-the-Wreake we passed the stump of the old preaching cross and found the homeward path across the ridge and furrow pasture. In the willows by the river cattle sheltered from the hot afternoon sun, and a cream-coloured bull exchanged loving nose-licks with his dappled grey bride-of-the-moment.

How hard is it? 8½ miles; easy; well-marked field paths

Start: Blue Bell Inn, Hoby, Melton Mowbray LE14 3DT (OS ref SK 670175)

Getting there: Bus 128 (Melton Mowbray-Leicester)
Road – Hoby is signed off A607, Melton Mowbray-Leicester

Walk (OS Explorer 246): From Blue Bell, left along village street. In 200m, right (‘Brooksby’); in 50m, left (kissing gate, ‘Rotherby’). Path between cottages and river; cross river (671169); cross railway to road at Rotherby church (675165). Right to Brooksby; left at road (672161). Cross A607 (671359) and on, following Midshires Way (yellow arrows /YAs and yellow topped posts/YTPs). In 1½ miles, approaching Carlton Lodge Farm, right (686141, stile, YTP) across fields to road (689135). Cross into Pasture Lane. In 300m, just beyond Rose Cottage driveway, left through hedge (692135, ‘Frisby on the Wreake’, YTP). Follow Leicestershire Round/LR for 2¾ miles to road in Frisby-on-the-Wreake (694175). Right; fork left to corner of Main Street and Water Lane (694177). Right; follow LR for nearly 1 mile to corner of Rotherby Lane (682171). Fork right off LR, on path aiming for Hoby Church. Cross railway (677133), then river; follow LR into Hoby.

Lunch: Blue Bell Inn, Hoby (01664-434247, sites.google.com/site/bluebellhoby

Accommodation: Star Inn, The Green, Thrussington, LE7 4UH (01664-424220, thestarinn1744.co.uk)

Info: Melton Mowbray TIC (01664-480992)

Warburg Nature Reserve & Nettlebed, Oxon

Walks No Responses »

Apr 292023

First published in: The Times Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window

It was a glorious sunny morning in the Oxfordshire Chilterns, with a slight nip in the air and the prospect of a day’s unbroken blue sky. A green woodpecker’s cackle followed us down the lane.

Behind a screen of trees stood the ruin of St James’s Church, its narrow Romanesque windows blank and open to the wind, Saxon doorway arches rising from a nave strewn with nettles. Fat 18th-century brick buttresses bore witness to the centuries-old struggle to prevent the church collapsing before its final closure in 1874.

From the church the rutted track of the Chiltern Way Extension bore away west between flinty fields and among the beech trees of Wellgrove Wood. Strong sunlight silvered the beech trunks and cast a green glow on box bushes, but nothing could penetrate the pink-grey gloom of the yew grove on the slope before Nettlebed.

A lively place, Nettlebed, a village of immaculate houses and gardens, with a famous folk club whose fixture list reads like a Who’s Who of musical heroes.

This area of the Chilterns is a patchwork of farmland and woods interspersed with old stretches of common land, some still carefully tended by people who enjoy common rights, others neglected and run wild. Primroses and cowslips grew in the mossy verges of Nettlebed Common, where a tree creeper scuttled up a beech tree with bowed back and bent head, intent on levering insects out of hiding with its sharp hooked beak.

There were bluebells under the trees of Berrick Trench, and a dark-edged bee-fly, like a bee with a long sharp proboscis, busy pollinating the primroses. Steeply up to the grassy saddle of Russell’s Water Common, and then down through the quiet glades and flowering slopes of Warburg Nature Reserve.

Warburg is an absolute jewel in the Chiltern crown, a clutch of sheltered chalk valleys where orchids flourish, rare gentians bloom in autumn, and herb paris with its sinister black whiskers grows under the trees in spring. The three Wildlife Trust members we met were installing deer fencing; they had been coppicing and weaving hazel hedges earlier in the week. Such voluntary labour and skill safeguards and enhances this wonderful remote spot.

How hard is it? 6 miles; easy; field and woodland paths

Start: Warburg Nature Reserve car park, Bix Bottom, RG9 6BL (OS ref SU 721878)

Getting there: From A4130 (Wallingford-Henley) to Bix village (signed). Left along Rectory Lane; follow ‘Bix Bottom’, then ‘Warburg Reserve’.

Walk: Back along road to pass St James’s Church ruin (727869); right (‘Crocker End’) for 1 mile to Crocker End (711868). Ahead along road, then left side of green for ⅓ mile to road (706868). Ahead into Nettlebed. Right along Watlington Street (702867); in 100m fork right (Mill Road). At electricity substation (703872) left into trees. Follow white arrows to 2 houses (703876). Right before first one (yellow arrow/YA). In field beyond pond, half left to gate (704880, YA). Ahead through trees. At Westwood Manor Farm, cross byway (708883, YAs); across hill to metal gate (708887, YA). Through trees; across byway (708889); right up hill (kissing gate/KG, YA) to road (711890). Right past 5 Horseshoes, then Russell’s Water Common. At left bend, ahead (718886) beside hedge, then along track. Opposite Lodge Farm Cottage, right on track (723882, unmarked). In 25m, left (KG, YA, ‘Nature Reserve’). In 400m at gate, ahead (722881) downhill to car park.

Lunch: 5 Horseshoes, Maidensgrove RG9 6EX (01491-641282, thefivehorseshoes.co.uk) – closed Mon, Tue.

Accommodation: White Hart, Nettlebed RG9 5DD (01491-641245, thewh.co.uk)

Info: Warburg Nature Reserve (01491-642001, bbowt.org.uk); nettlebedfolkclub.co.uk

Salcombe Mouth, Dunscombe Cliff & Salcombe Regis, Devon

Walks No Responses »

Apr 222023

First published in: The Times Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window

A brisk day on the east Devon coast, with a grey and blue sky racing over the white houses of Sidmouth. From the coast path just east of the town the sea gave the impression of inexorable power as it picked at the sandstone cliffs, staining its shallows a dusky red.

All the flowers of spring were out along the cliff path – primroses, daffodils, celandines, coconut-scented gorse, a feast of yellows. The strong west wind whistled in the blackberry scrub, the waves sighed gently on the shore far below. Beyond the deep cleft of Salcombe Mouth, Higher Duncombe Cliff stood tall, capped with rock faces of orange and yellow exposed by recent falls.

A long flight of steps led down to the valley bottom, handing over there to a slog of a climb by zigzags to the cliff top once more. An oil beetle hauled its shiny carapace up the path among clumps of violets and just-emerging speedwell. Over in the valley of Lincombe we heard the first chiffchaff of the year broadcasting its two-tone claim to ownership of a few square metres of ash saplings and briar bushes: tzip-tzap, tzip-tzap, a proclamation of spring.

Robin and wren contested bragging rights nearby. A pair of jackdaws jousted in the wind, their playfulness contrasting with the furious cries of two herring gulls as they divebombed a circling buzzard.

Down at Weston Mouth we passed the old market gardens of Weston Plats, overgrown and neglected since the days when famous early spuds were grown in these sheltered cliff nooks. A steep path led inland to Slade House Farm where donkeys of all ages and stages find sanctuary. Oldsters trotted and brayed, foals raised their angelic little faces to the visiting children.

In snug little Salcombe Regis daffodils were out in the churchyard. Here lie two eminent scientists who loved this delectable spot – Sir Norman Lockyer (1836-1920), discoverer of helium; and Sir Ambrose Fleming (1849-1945), designer of the radio transmitter with which radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi made the first transatlantic transmission in 1901. Marconi took the credit; Fleming nursed his wounded pride in dignified silence. One hopes the beautiful little village where he chose to be buried soothed his spirit.

How hard is it? 5 miles; moderate/strenuous; clifftop and field paths.
NB: steep climbs and descents; many steps, slippery paths, several stiles.

Start: Salcombe Hill car park, near Sidmouth EX10 0NY (OS ref SY 139881). NT car park – £3, card only (members free).

Getting there: Car park is opposite Norman Lockyer Observatory, Salcombe Hill, between Sidmouth and Salcombe Regis (signed off A3052, Sidmouth-Seaton).

Walk (OS Explorer 115): Past NT payment sign; left on tarmac path; in 150m ahead on stony path to Coast Path (139876). Left; follow Coast Path for 2 miles to Weston Mouth (163880). Left inland (fingerpost/FP, ‘Dunscombe’). In 250m path rises to gate, then FP (162884). Fork right (‘Donkey Sanctuary’). In ½ mile at top of rise by sanctuary buildings, left (161892, 2 stiles, FP ‘Salcombe Regis’). Through sanctuary grounds to road (159851). Dogleg left/right (FP ‘Trow, Salcombe Regis’) and on. In 5th field (153889) half left to stile into road (152888). Right into Salcombe Regis. At road, left (149888), fork left past church; at Southcombe House fork right (148886, ‘South Combe Farm, Coast Path’). In ¼ mile fork right uphill through trees (145883, FP ‘Sidmouth’); at top of climb cross track (143882, FP ‘Salcombe Hill, Car Park); ahead to car park.

Lunch: Donkey Sanctuary, EX10 0NU (01395-578222, thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk)

Accommodation: Blue Ball Inn, Stevens Cross, Sidford EX10 9QL (01395-514062, blueballsidford.co.uk)

Info: visitdevon.co.uk

Byrness, Cottonshope & Raven’s Knowe, Northumberland

Walks No Responses »

Apr 152023

First published in: The Times Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window

The friendly and hospitable Forest View inn at Byrness lies in a wild corner of the Cheviot Hills. From the forestry hamlet I followed the Pennine Way up through the trees, and soon turned off on a forest byway that dipped to the lonely valley of Cottonshope.

By the road I found a red flag fluttering and a notice warning of live firing on the adjacent Otterburn Ranges. But a call to Range Control elicited a courteous ‘That’ll be ok today, they won’t be over your way at all.’ A rattle of machine gun fire and the pop of a rifle sounded occasionally from some far-off valley, interspersed every now and then with artillery fire much further away, a curiously feeble and hollow sound, like a giant punching an empty biscuit tin.

I walked up the road to the lonely farm of Cottonshope, where a faint path climbed through rough grass pastures, swerving in and out of the boundary of Otterburn Ranges, up to meet the Pennine Way on Raven’s Knowe.

What a splendid view from the cairn up here. To the northeast the rounded bulk of Cheviot lifting gently to the cloudy sky, the flanks rolling and tumbling down to where I stood. South and west, lower ground with hills and forests running to the Scottish border. To the east, the barely perceptible path up which I’d come falling away into the Cottonshope Valley. South from Raven’s Knowe it was all forest, great swathes of the coniferous cladding that has adhered to the Redesdale hills since the area was planted between the world wars of the last century.

I turned for home along the boardwalks and squelchy corners of the Pennine Way, accompanied by a flittering meadow pipit. Catcleugh Reservoir came into view, a wedge of steely water among the trees. The Pennine Way descended among tuffets of bilberry and sphagnum, before suddenly slanting precipitously down a staircase of rocks.

Down in Byrness the little Church of St Francis held a stained glass window in memory of those who died constructing Catcleugh Reservoir late in the 19th century. It depicted men labouring with pick, shovel and wheelbarrow, with a little girl seated at their feet. In the background a dark, ominous train bears down on them. A very poignant and touching memorial.

How hard is it? 7½ miles; moderate/strenuous; forest and moorland tracks on well-marked Pennine Way.
NB Between Cottonshope and Raven’s Knowe, path veers in and out of Otterburn Ranges boundary. Ranges may be closed if live firing; ring Range Control (01830-520569) before setting out.

Start: Otterburn Green, Byrness NE19 1TS (OS ref NT 764027)

Getting there: Bus 131 (Newcastle-Jedburgh), once a day – nexus.org.uk
Road – Byrness is on A68 Between Otterburn and Jedburgh.

Walk (OS Explorer OL16): From Forest View, right along Otterburn Green; past village hall and on. At A68, by church, left along cycleway (771023, ‘Pennine Way’/PW). In 50m cross A68 (take care!); left up path. In 100m, go through hedge (PW); on through gate into trees (769026); continue up PW. In ⅓ mile, at 3rd major crossing track, right off PW (773030). In ¾ mile, left along Cottonshope Road in valley bottom (773030). In 1½ miles, just past farm sheds, left up track beside range flagpole and notice (789049). Follow clearly seen route for 1¼ miles over moorland to cairn on Raven’s Knowe (781061). Left along Pennine Way for 2¾ miles back to A68; retrace steps to Byrness.

Lunch/Accommodation: Forest View Walkers Inn, Byrness NE19 1TS (07928-376677, fortestviewbyrness.co.uk) – open 12 April–8 October 2023

Info: Otterburn Ranges Range Control access info: 01830-520569;
gov.uk/government/publications/otterburn-firing-times

Cautley Spout, The Calf & Bowderdale, Cumbria

Walks No Responses »

Apr 012023

First published in: The Times Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window

At noon under a blue sky, hens were clucking and sparrows chirping at the Cross Keys at Cautley. This old temperance inn is a pub with no beer (you’re welcome to bring your own), but it’s got just about everything else, including home cooking, enough books to stock an extremely erudite library, and that indefinable air of welcome and comfort that a weary walker dreams of finding.

But first we had to earn our ease. The Cross Keys backs onto a wonderful view of Cautley Spout, a waterfall that tumbles some 700 feet down a dark rock cleft in the eastern flank of the Howgill Fells. A track led through sheep pastures to the foot of the fall, and from here on it was a steep puff up a path of rocky steps. It was the first time I’d ever used a stick on a walk, and I certainly was glad of it.

Halfway up we sat to admire the eastward view, the white fall sluicing down beside us, the glacier-sculpted valley opening symmetrical scree slopes. Sun splashes and cloud shadows slid across the fells. The twisting stream of Cautley Holme Beck wriggled away far below towards the green valley of the River Rawthey, with the humps of Bluecaster and West Baugh Fell as an eastern wall.

At the top we crossed the fall, suddenly diminished to a trickle hardly wide enough to wet the boots. A stony track led off west beside Force Gill Beck into a silent upland, the heart of the Howgills. Green and gold carpets of opposite-leaved saxifrage grew close to the chattering beck. A lonely sheepfold had been nicely restored, and sheep had congregated there as though the shepherd might return at any moment.

Up on the skyline a tremendous westward view suddenly burst out, fold upon fold of east Cumbrian hills towards the Lake District. We turned along the ridge on the broad track of the Dales High Way, followed by a long descent to the secret valley of Bowderdale and the homeward path.

Few walkers come through Bowderdale. Few suspect its existence – a beautiful, wild valley between high fellsides, haunted by ravens, a fitting place to set the seal on this stunning hike into the Howgill Fells.

How hard is it? Moderate with one steep climb; 6 miles, ascent 500 m/1,650 ft; upland paths. Path beside waterfall very steep with rocky steps.

Start: Car parking bay on A683 at Cross Keys Inn, Cautley, near Sedbergh LA10 5NE (OS ref SD 698969)

Getting there: Bus 54, Sedbergh – Kirkby Stephen (Tues, Thurs, Fri)
Road: M6 Jct 37, A684 to Sedbergh; A683 towards Kirby Stephen.

Walk (OS Explorer OL19): Down steps; cross River Rawthey; left on path to Cautley Spout. Steeply up beside waterfall. At top, left across Swere Gill (680975); follow path on right bank of Red Gill Beck. In 600m, just beyond sheep fold ruin (676971), fork right up path beside Force Gill Beck, then up to meet Dales High Way/DHW on skyline (669967). Right; follow DHW to The Calf trig pillar (667970) and on. In 600m at tarn (671964), follow path as it bends right and descends into Bowderdale. Either follow it to bottom of dale, or in ⅔ mile turn right at small cairn (677980 approx) on grassy path short-cut to dale bottom (680982 approx). Right on path to foot of Cautley Spout (683975); return to Cross Keys.

Lunch: Picnic, or Cross Keys (check opening times)

Accommodation: Cross Keys, Cautley (01539-620284, cautleyspout.co.uk) – delightful, welcoming inn. Check opening times before visiting. Accommodation any time by prior arrangement. NB Temperance inn – no alcohol served – BYO!

Info: cautleyspout.co.uk

Stodmarsh NNR and Grove Ferry, Kent

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Mar 252023

First published in: The Times Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window

‘Keep an eye out for the beavers,’ advised a man festooned with wildlife cameras whom we passed in the car park at Stodmarsh National Nature Reserve. ‘Lots of signs around – look for those toothmarks of theirs, eh?’

We didn’t see any of the recently reintroduced rodents on our walk round the East Kent reserve under cloudy winter skies. But evidence of their presence was widespread in the shape of young trees felled with a curious hinged effect, the severed parts gnawed white and smooth with fine patterns of chiselling by beaver incisors.

The first creature we did see was another species of aquatic rodent, a little grey-brown water vole scuttling along the bank of the Lampen Stream. We heard other voles too, plopping into ditches at our approach. So much of nature is secret, hidden or only momentarily glimpsed, especially in the ‘downtime’ of winter. But if you have an eye for the birds, Stodmarsh NNR is bursting with overt life, loud and proud.

In the still grey afternoon, perched in the Reedbed Hide, we looked out on a bay between enormous stretches of creamy-white reeds – the reserve has the largest area of reedbeds in the southeast of England. Shoveler drakes with snowy breasts and chestnut wings went dabbling beside their drab brown mates, their long spatulate bills giving them a solemn air of consequence. Among them swam teal with yellow flashes on their afterparts, and breasts very delicately patterned in ash-grey and black.

A sudden panic had them all dashing into mid-pool with agitated squawking and a might clatter of wings on water. What had caused the upheaval? ‘Probably a fox,’ grunted one of the twitchers from behind an immense telescopic lens. ‘Spooked ’em and scarpered’.

We followed a broad and muddy path north between reed pool, ditches and sodden green acres of freshwater marsh. Stodmarsh’s watery landscape was formed partly through subsidence of old mine workings below ground, a reminder of the now-vanished Kentish coalfield.

Seduction smells of Sunday roast emanated from the Grove Ferry Inn, where we turned back along the wide and muddy River Great Stour. An angler on the far bank hooked a roach and lifted it out, a wriggling strip of silver. We watched another hunter of the waterways, a big marsh harrier, cruising low above the reedbeds, looking for frogs or water voles.

The light began to seep out of the afternoon as we followed the homeward path, serenaded by the harsh pig-like screech and snuffle of a water rail creeping through the reeds, another winter sound of this magical place.

How hard is it? 4¾ miles; easy; flat walking, can be muddy. Bring binoculars!

Start: Stodmarsh NNR car park, near Canterbury CT3 4BB (OS ref TR 222609)

Getting there: Reserve is signed from A257 (Canterbury to Littlebourne).

Walk (OS Explorer 150): From bottom right corner of car park pass info board; follow track for ¼ mile to cross bridge to T-junction (223610). Left; follow ‘Reedbed Hide’ signs to hide (222612). Return to pass bridge (don’t cross); follow path (‘Footpath’, yellow arrows) past Undertrees Farm. In ¾ mile pass Marsh Hide (226618); in ½ mile dogleg right/left across track (233623, red arrow); follow ‘Grove Ferry car park’ signs for ⅔ mile to road (236630). Left (Grove Ferry Inn is opposite); in 40m, left (‘Stour Valley Walk’). Follow riverbank path. In 1½ miles path veers inland (221620); follow it past Tower Hide (222617), then follow signs to car park.

Lunch/Accommodation: Grove Ferry Inn, Upstreet, Canterbury CT3 4BP (01227-860302, groveferryinn.co.uk)

Info: Stodmarsh NNR – 0845-600-3078; explorekent.org

Glen Meavaig & the Eagle Observatory, Harris, Outer Hebrides

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Mar 182023

First published in: The Times Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window

A windy spring morning in the Isle of Harris, cold and grey. Gunsmoke cloud drifted along the mountain ridges above Glen Meavaig, one of the prime locations in the Outer Hebrides for spotting a golden eagle.

Maybe it was beginners’ luck, but as soon as we set off up the glen we saw our first golden eagle, a big black shape cruising the air above the peak of Sròn Smearasmal, keeping close to the ridge before diving low beyond the skyline. As it turned out, we would not see another until the end of the walk, a splendid view of a bird gilded by evening sun as it glided out across Loch Meavaig.

The cold, clear Abhainn Mhiabhaig came rushing down among rocks spattered white with the droppings of dippers and wagtails. Deep purple violets and pale pink milkmaids grew among the pale wiry moor grass, insectivorous butterwort and fluffy white bog cotton like rabbits’ tails in the wet squelchy peat.

Boulders of coarse grey gneiss wore wigs of heather and peat. Grey knobbly outcrops of the three billion-year-old rock rose on either side to tall mountain slopes and craggy ridges.

The curve of the glen sheltered us from the worst of the wind as we came in sight of the dark rippling waters of Loch Scourst. Beside it stood the North Harris Eagle Observatory, a modest wooden hut with picture windows looking out across the loch to the crumpled flanks of Cathadal Granda.

Golden eagles nest close to Glen Meavaig, the actual locations of the nests kept secret to frustrate any selfish fool out to steal the eggs. Two are laid, hatching in early May. Of this pair, only one generally survives. An eagle chick can’t regulate its own temperature, so the female adult broods it while her partner searches for food, their roles reversing every so often. The chicks grow like billy-o; by the time the young eagle leaves the nest in late July at ten weeks old, it is the same size as its parents, and often heavier.

Eagles aren’t the only attractions of Glen Meavaig. Red-throated divers nest around Loch Scourst, merlin hunt the moorland. As we sat eating our sandwiches by the loch, a bird hidden among the rocks maintained a silvery trilling call – a ring ouzel, keeping its conspicuous white bib well out of view.

From the observatory we followed the stony track north up the glen, over a low pass and down past Lochan an Fheòir to the lonely shore of Loch Bhoisimid. Wind furrows raced across the steely water, and there was not a man-made sound to be heard.

How hard is it? 8½ miles there and back; easy; good 4X4 track all the way.
NB To avoid complications, main place names are given in Anglicised form. Maps and road signs also give Gaelic form.
Deer stalking season may stretch from 1 July to 15 February.

Start: Roadside car park at Meavaig, north Harris, Outer Hebrides HS3 3AW approx (OS ref NB 100062)

Getting there: Bus W12, Tarbert to Hushinish (schooldays and some summer days only – check with Lochs Motor Transport, 01851-860288, lochsmotortransport.co.uk)
Road – car park is on B887 (Bunavoneadar to Hushinish), signed from A859 Tarbert to Stornoway.

Walk (OS Explorer 456): From the car park walk up the track, past the hide at 100088 and on past Lochan an Fheòir to the south shore of Loch Bhoisimid (105127). Retrace steps to car park.

Lunch: Picnic

Accommodation: Hotel Hebrides, Pier Road, Tarbert, Harris HS3 3DG (01859-502364, hotel-hebrides.com)

North Harris Eagle Observatory: www.north-harris.org; visitouterhebrides.co.uk/see-and-do/wildlife/bird-of-prey-trail

Info: visitouterhebrides.co.uk; visitscotland.com

Bledington, Church Westcote & Icomb, Glos

Walks No Responses »

Mar 112023

First published in: The Times Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window

If you were looking for a clutch of Cotswold villages that typified everything enticing about this part of the world, you could hardly do better than those that look into the Evenlode Valley between Stow-on-the-Wold and Chipping Norton.

Bledington is the perfect place to start, a collection of fine large houses and thatched cottages in the beautiful local stone that weathers to a rich creamy gold. From here our path ran across the wide fields of the vale, ribboning across the corrugations of medieval ridge-and-furrow.

We passed Gawcombe Farm’s scrubby preserves and followed a muddy green lane up to the neighbouring villages of Nether and Church Westcote. A blackbird sang for nesting time in the hedge at Church Westcote, then gave a chakker of alarm and fell silent as we passed.

Dark slaty blocks of cloud were slashed across great pillows of white on a pure blue field of sky. We passed through a plantation of young oak and silver birch, where stacks of abandoned logs gave off a fruity savour of damp moss and rot. Dogwood twigs glowed a brilliant crimson as the low afternoon sun glanced across them.

The mellow walls and gables of ancient Icomb Place stood ahead on the ridge. Beyond them we came to St Mary’s Church at Icomb, its tower topped with a little pitched roof of stone, as though a tiny house had been plonked on top. Inside, exquisitely worked hassocks lay ready for the knees of worshippers. One was embellished with birds we’d seen or heard today – chaffinch, tree creeper, nuthatch, goldfinch and wren.

Sir John Blaket lay recumbent in effigy, stone sollerets pointed like winklepickers, moustaches overflowing his helm, a martial hero of Agincourt. Less honourable residents of Icomb were the Dunsden brothers, the original Tom, Dick and Harry, highwaymen of the 18th century who ended their careers behind bars and dancing the hangman’s jig.

Out in the open air we descended from the ridge into the vale once more. The first skylark of the year poured out a silvery song high and invisible over a turnip field, and a black horse cantered neighing around its sunlit paddock as though injected with pure essence of the oncoming spring.

How hard is it? 7¼ miles; easy; field paths

Start: The Green, Bledington, Oxon OX7 6XQ (OS ref SP244227)

Getting there: Bus 802 (Kingham to Bourton)
Road: Bledington is on B4450 between Stow and Chipping Norton

Walk (OS Explorer OL45): Follow Church Street. Right beside church; follow ‘Oxfordshire Way’/OW signs. In 1 mile, left across footbridge (235221, yellow arrow/YA). Follow path (‘Diamond Way/DW on map) across fields. In ½ mile meet green lane (230214); left for ¾ mile to road at Nether Westcote (227203). Right; in 100m fork right down path (226203, fingerpost). In 50m fork left on path to Church Westcote. Right at road (221204) past post-box. At ‘Middlemarch’, right down track (220207); in 100m, left over stile (YA). Follow DW. In 200m into plantation (218209); keep ahead at fork (YA) and on. In ½ mile cross OW (216216); in ½ mile pass reservoir on right; in 50m fork left uphill (215223). In 30m, right (gate, YA) to Icomb Church (214226). Return along path and on. Approaching Middle Farm, left (217226, fingerpost) on path across fields. In ½ mile cross Lower Farm drive (225227) and on; in ½ mile, right down driveway (233229). In ½ mile at right bend, left (234221, kissing gate) on OW/DW to Bledington.

Lunch/Accommodation: King’s Head, Bledington OX7 6XQ (01608-658365, kingsheadinn.net); Feathered Nest, Nether Westcote OX7 6SD (01993-833030, thefeatherednestinn.co.uk)

Info: Stow-on-the-Wold TIC (01451-870998)

Chobham Common, Surrey

Walks No Responses »

Mar 042023

First published in: The Times Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window

The sixteen hundred acres of Chobham Common form a scrubby stretch of heathland across north Surrey. The track we were following south across the common was floored with sandy yellow soil. It was a grey winter’s day, still and cold. Pine trees, broom and dormant heather added to the sombre effect. But there were signs of spring, too. Pussy willow buds, soft and furry, were just appearing on their twigs, and the gorse bushes were spattered with yellow flowers.

Two young girls clopped past on ponies, one of the animals sporting dayglo pink ear warmers. It was hard to imagine the fear in which travellers in olden times ventured the crossing of the common, an expanse of wilderness notorious for its footpads and highwaymen. ‘A vast tract of land given up to barrenness,’ wrote Daniel Defoe in 1724 in A Tour thro’ the whole Island of Great Britain, ‘horrid and frightful to look upon, not only good for little, but good for nothing.’

Goldcrests went flitting through the bare treetops. We watched a treecreeper dropping down to the base of a silver birch to start another upward scuttle, looking and listening for insects hiding in interstices of the papery bark.

From Burrowhill Green we headed north along a skein of tracks, gravel and flint crunching underfoot and the seashore murmur of the M3 motorway growing louder. On through the underpass, and then a straight climb among gorse and birch to the summit of Ship Hill.

A stubby granite cross marks the spot where Queen Victoria reviewed her troops on a summer’s day in 1853. Eight thousand men and fifteen hundred horses took part in a mock battle, swirling their noise and colour among the hollows of the heath. Among the gallant participants were the officers and men of the Light Brigade, destined to be decimated in the Crimea the following year during their famous charge at the Battle of Balaclava.

Also present were great barrels of molasses, brought to sweeten the tea of the soldiers. Long after the Great Camp, a rumour persisted that the barrels had been buried to await the soldiers’ return; and locals who prospected for them rejoiced in the nickname of ‘treacle miners’.

How hard is it? 6½ miles; easy; heath tracks

Start: Longcross car park, Chobham, Surrey KT16 0ED (OS ref SU 979651)

Getting there: Off B386 (Chertsey-Bagshot) beside M3 at Longcross

Walk (OS Explorer 160): Path south. In 50m fork right. In ¾ mile pass post (blue arrow/BA); in 100m, dogleg right/left (975638) across track. On under power lines. In ⅓ mile (973632, house on left) dogleg right/left (BA) to Gorse Lane (972631). Right to Four Horseshoes PH (972628). Return up Gorse Lane. At right bend, ahead into wood (972631). Just past electricity substation, dogleg right/left (973632, BAs). In 200m, left (974633, BA). In 100m, right (BA on tree) with field on right. In 300m cross trackway (973637). At road, left; cross Staple Hill Road (970639, BA, fingerpost). Ahead for ⅔ mile via Chickabiddy Hill (968644), to cross M3 through subway (970647), then B386 (970650 – take care!). Ahead for ½ mile to memorial cross on Ship Hill (965655). Return to cross track (967656); ahead on track. In ½ mile round right bend; in ⅓ mile ahead at junction (974658, bench on left). At next junction, right (974655) for ½ mile to T-junction (969651). Left through underpass; left to cross Staple Hill road (973646); left for 800m to car park.

Lunch: Four Horseshoes, Burrowhill Green GU24 8QP (01276-856257, fourhorseshoeschobham.co.uk)

Accommodation: The Inn at West End, Woking GU24 9PW (01276-858652, baronspubs.com)

Info: surreywildlifetrust.org

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