Just photos – no particular theme
We’d started yesterday’s outing relatively early in the day – there was plenty of time for another visit before heading homewards. Little Moreton Hall isn’t far from Biddulph – it ought to be good for a few photos, and perhaps an ice cream on this warm afternoon. It needs no introduction – must be Cheshire’s most-photographed building…
It’s a bright sunny day – far too good to stay at home. “How about Biddulph Grange? We could get some oatcakes on the way”. No further discussion required. The gardens at Biddulph are wonderful – different compartments connected by unlikely hidden tunnels and stairways – great fun! (The oatcakes – bought on the outward journey, and sampled when we’re home again, are pretty good too.)
It’s quiet in Leominster. Really quiet… We’re not complaining.
Priors Holt, at the entrance to Nut Batch on the Long Mynd, is a good place to start a short walk. It’s also generally reckoned, amongst those who know of such things, to be the model for children’s author Malcolm Saville’s “Witchend”, the home of the “Lone Pine Club”. “Where’s the lone pine?”, asked my wife. I guess the club predated the Forestry Commission’s activities in these parts – there’s no sign of it.
The same body’s forest track provides an easy, gently graded route (beware of bmx bikes…) to the summit ridge of the Mynd , where we’re at last free from the trees. As ever, the views into mid-Wales are extensive, and there’s something of Arcadia (capital: Bishop’s Castle) in the middle distance, where lush pastures are encircled by hills.
We’ll return by a route we’ve not tried before, skirting the forest’s south-west flank, before entering the plantations and following a fairly clear path downhill. It’s probably a very clear path in the winter, but at this time of year it’s very nearly impassable, with head-high bracken, and interlocking brambles grabbing us in a most unfriendly manner. At least we found the (a) lone pine. Note to self: bring machete next time.
We would have spent longer, and walked a little further, on the Hope Bowdler hills – at least as far at the Battlestones. But as we took in the view from the ridge, a shower was approaching from the south-west, immediately downwind. We didn’t hang around – and sure enough, we needed the wipers briefly as we drove away. In the event, it was only a little drizzle in the wind – we perhaps wouldn’t have been soaked, but it had looked rather ominous…
We’re wandering around Attingham this afternoon – the walled garden provided colour, the rest of the estate just shades of green.
We’ve left Skye – we will be stopping in Edinburgh on the way back. We’ll have to have a look at the new trams… We did!
Visit “They’re back!” on Geoff’s Rail Diaries for more on this splendid new modern tramway
We drove through a heavy shower (it was supposed to be “mostly dry”) on the way there, had to don the waterproofs briefly while we were out on the headland, and drove into another heavy shower as we left. But between the showers, it was good to be out on An Àird, the wing-like peninsular at The Braes, looking across to Raasay. Last year I climbed Ben Tianavaig, the striking peak immediately to the north. I wouldn’t have wished to be there today…
North of Portree there’s a ridge – a line of hills frequently seen in photographs but, I suspect, infrequently visited. The photographs in question are of the Old Man of Storr, with the Storr Lochs and the hills in question behind. The highest point, Sìthean a’ Bhealaich Chumhaing, is just 1286′ above sea level – but that sea is less than half-a-mile from the summit – it’s a splendid airy viewpoint which makes this scenic walk well worthwhile.
I’d be doing this one on my own (just as well…). The household authorities were going shopping in Portree – if I left my car at the north end of the Storr Lochs, I’d have a lift to the start. I’d rather have done the walk in the opposite direction, but that wasn’t going to be quite so easy to organise. Having done the walk, I realise it would be much better walked north to south – route-finding would have been easier (there are a couple of moderately tricky spots going south-north, where it’s important to find the right places to descend from lines of crags). It would have involved less ascent too!
I set out from Portree along the very pleasant path to the Black Rock, continuing by the curiously named “Bile” (a raised beach, apparently) to the start of the ridge proper. There is no obvious path over squelchy moorland which must be crossed before reaching the grassy sheep-cropped ridge, where no path is needed – it’s excellent walking. The main peak comes first, followed by two lesser tops, Creag Ulatota and Fiurnean. The last stretch back to the power station road is a long slog across a pathless sodden moor of tussocky grass, making for slow and hard going, and damp feet. Only once did I see a bootprint. Back at the car, there’s a sign – the Scottish Rights of Way and Access Society proclaims a footpath to Portree, 6.5 miles. Wishful thinking! If there was a path, it would be a truly excellent walk. And it may be 6.5 miles as the crow flies – but I reckon I walked nearer 8…
