Walk 15: City of London Building Blocks

Date: Monday 21st November
Route: Tower Hill to Mansion House via a very winding route!
Distance: 4 miles-ish

Life, live music and laziness seem to have got in the way of walking recently so a rare day off on a Monday seemed the perfect opportunity to start wandering again (especially as we are going to be walking the West Highland Way next year and we really need to get a few miles of training under our belts).

A very murky November day, complete with stereotypical pea-souper style fog, sent us into the City of London, following a walk called Building Blocks from the Time Out Book of London Walks (until it got even darker and murkier and we retreated to the pub, to be honest). The walk was put together by Dan Cruickshank - of many BBC2 and BBC4 programmes about architecture fame - and is described as "a potted history of British architecture" within the Square Mile.  

If you're looking to cover lots of ground this probably isn't the walk to do, but if you don't mind a lot of map-reading and meandering up and down roads and alleys with names like Savage Gardens, Bevis Marks and Pudding Lane, this is an interesting wander, with some interesting juxtapositions of old and new, churches, chop houses and Costa Coffees.

The walk starts at the Tower of London and the nearby Roman wall (see photo of the impressively skirted Trajan above), before heading up to the first of many churches on the route - St Olave's, with some pretty nasty skulls above its gate, referenced by Dickens (who seems to crop up time and again on this walk) and the burial place of Pepys and his wife.

It then continues past a number of other churches, early merchants' buildings, an 18th century synagogue tucked away in a courtyard, the modern architecture of the Lloyd's and Swiss Re ("Gherkin") buildings and the very pretty and Christmassy Leadenhall Market.

After a couple of Wren churches, the walk leads to The Monument to the Great Fire of London, also designed by Wren and well worth the trek up the spiral staircase on a less foggy day (also a contender for "world's stickiest hand-rail" when we climbed it a couple of years ago - hopefully the recent renovation will have included the liberal application of Mr Sheen!).

Once you have taken a look at the 18th century houses of 1&2 Laurence Poutney Hill, the walk continues on to the narrow alleys of Ball Court and Castle Court for Simpson's Tavern and the George & Vulture, two of the oldest chop houses in the capital (and still both serving food and drink in well-preserved surroundings). The slightly-less-than-lovely architecture of the NatWest Tower and the Barbican Centre (without wishing to sound too Prince Charles) is followed by the huge symbols of banking, commerce and power of the Bank of England, the Royal Exchange and the Mansion House.

If you do the whole walk, as described, you continue on to The Guildhall, St Paul's Cathedral, Dr Johnson's House and The Temple (of Da Vinci Code fame) and walk something like 7 miles in total - probably a more appealing idea when it's not so foggy and chilly and if you're not as out of practice as we are. A lot of the churches and buildings on the route are open for you to look around, if you don't mind feeling like a character in a PD James novel, but even if you don't go into any of the buildings, this is an interesting walk, where you're never sure if the next corner will bring you a 17th century church, an over-priced sushi bar, a narrow alleyway, a coffee chain or a marble-covered multi-national bank HQ.

Walk 14: St Albans and Gorhambury Park

Date: Monday 29th August
Route: St Albans Circular via Gorhambury Park, Potters Crouch and Verulamium Park
Distance: 9.3 miles

Trying out different walks from different walk books means that you're never quite sure how a walk is going to be until you get out there and do it. No matter how descriptive the text, or how well-drawn the maps, it's not until you start down the path that you really get a sense of whether a walk is good, bad or indifferent.

Unfortunately, today's walk fell into the indifferent category - not because of St Albans itself, more because of a combination of pretty dull tarmac paths the whole way round, large stretches of walk with motorway views and/or noise, a flooded road and the ultimate disappointment - a lunchtime pub without chips!

This one is from the Rough Guide to Walks in London & Southeast England, which is generally not quite as detailed in its descriptions as the Time Out Guides, but has come up with some great walks in the past (see the Wendover walk below as an example).

The town of St Albans has plenty of history, from medieval buildings to the mainly Norman cathedral and the remains of Roman Verulamium. The walk starts out promisingly, skirting the Cathedral before heading into Verulamium Park, an incongruous mixture of ornamental ponds, municipal greenery and random bits of Roman masonry alongside the (not hugely impressive) River Ver.

On the other side of the park is the Verulamium Museum and a Roman Theatre, but after this point the walk gets out into the countryside. The path through Gorhambury Park is clearly signposted (virtually every single gateway by the side of the road has its own "private" sign) but ultimately it's just a tarmac road that passes through a nicely manicured park, with occasional glimpses of the manor house. The best bit about this stretch of walk is the ruin of Francis Bacon's house, which English Heritage maintain in a state of picturesque decrepitude.

From the ruin onwards, the path leads under the M10, over the A4147 and along a lane flanking the M1 (see photo above) - it's noisy, there's nothing to see apart from the lorries coming to tip large quantities of wood at the recycling centre and the most exciting part is wading through the flooded section of lane en route to the pub, the Holly Bush at Potters Crouch.

The final third of the walk adds to the excitement with a path alongside a wood (the only unpaved section of the walk), a footbridge over the M10, a track across a field and a path between fences in what the guide book accurately describes as a "1970's housing estate" before returning to Verulamium Park.  

Obviously, if motorway noise, housing estates and tarmac do it for you, you will love this walk! Sadly, I don't think I'll be returning to St Albans for a while.

Walk 13: Henley and Hillsides

Date: Sunday 28th August 2011
Route: Henley to Middle Assendon, Bix Bottom and back
Distance: 8.8 miles

19 years ago, I was outside for most of the day, dodging showers and puddles and looking forward to seeing Nirvana at the Reading Festival. No Nirvana today, sadly, but Bank Holiday Sunday still included plenty of dodging showers and puddles, sturdy footwear and even a pint of cider! There was also a rock 'n' roll connection to today's walk, albeit somewhat tenuous (more of which later).

Walk 6 from the Time Out Book of Country Walks Volume 2, which kept us busy for a few hours earlier, is an old favourite, starting off from the town of Henley, but quickly leaving the town to head over the hillsides of the Oxfordshire Way.

In the last few weeks the fields of the Chilterns have not only been harvested but the persistent rain seems to have led to an explosion of fruit and fungi by the wayside. Today we came home with a container full of blackberries and hazelnuts foraged from hedgerows (I predict a crumble). If we had been braver, we could have supplemented that with mushrooms (or maybe toadstools?!), elderberries, rosehips and sloes.

The walk itself boasts those type of rolling hillside views that never translate too well into photographs - and because of this does include occasional slightly taxing uphill stretches - but is generally easy to follow and well worth the infrequent effort.

Because we did the shortcut (8.8 miles) version (rather than the full 13.7 miles), we left the main walk about an hour in, after passing the Rainbow Inn at Middle Assendon, then walked along quiet country roads to the farm at Bix Bottom, before heading back over the hillsides and through woods full of acorn-laden oak trees to Henley. The rock 'n' roll bit of the walk is the final pathway alongside George Harrison's fence (complete with razor wire on top) - I did say that it was tenuous! Good opportunity to plug the forthcoming George Harrison documentary by Martin Scorsese though - click here to see more.

The disadvantage of the doing the short walk is that you miss out the lunchtime pub stop (and probably arrive too early for lunch at the Rainbow), but if you start off at around 10am you will be comfortably back in Henley in time for a pub lunch at the Argyll, with its hop-laden beams and suit of armour.

Great walk, great views, not quite as crowded or noisy or muddy as the Reading Festival (and no Nirvana) but a great way to spend a Bank Holiday Sunday, nonetheless.

Walk 12: Farnham Circular

Date: Sunday 31st July 2011
Route: Farnham to Charleshill and back
Distance: 10.1 miles

Given the beautiful but intense sunshine today, we wanted to do a predominantly shady walk and this hybrid woodland walk from the two volumes of Time Out Country Walks certainly fit the bill. It is one of the variants of the Guildford to Farnham walk from Volume 2, but the whole first section comes from the Farnham to Godalming walk from Volume 1, so effectively you will need both books.

The walk starts off near the busy A31 near Farnham Station, the start point of the North Downs Way, which goes all the way to Dover via Canterbury - and presumably gets a bit hillier at some point. Pretty much the whole first hour of the walk is on flat ground and even when there are climbs or descents in the rest of the walk these are pretty minimal, certainly not a patch on the Dales that we were walking in last week. The whole walk is very easy to do.

The traffic noise soon dies away as the path follows the River Wey and enters woodlands. The next stretch is on the Moor Park Heritage Trail, which contains frequent information about the Moor Park estate and its role in World War II, a woman who lived in a cave on the estate etc. Further on, the path reaches a bridge over the Wey and local shops at Tilford, then makes its way to the Donkey pub at Charleshill (complete with donkeys in the back garden!). After lunch, it's more woodland - this time through the Forestry Commission's Crooksbury Wood then finally back to Farnham via the North Downs Way. 

A key theme of the walk seemed to be fruit and nuts - at various points along the way we encountered bramble bushes, pine cones, hazelnuts and beech nuts strewn over the path, and finally a row of trees laden with fruit that looked like tiny red, yellow and black plums (we were too chicken and suspicious to taste them, in case they turned out to be poisonous - if anyone can identify them from the photo above, all ideas gratefully received!). We also saw a young stag on the path at one point.  

This is a very non-taxing walk on good, sandy paths through different types of woodland, with plenty of shade and a good pub lunch. Pleasant and easy rather than wildly exciting.

Yorkshire Dales Walk 6: Bolton Abbey

Date: Friday 29th July 2011
Route: Bolton Abbey to Barden Tower then back along the River Wharfe
Distance: 7.5 miles

The last walk of our week in the Yorkshire Dales had a lot in common with our first - beautiful scenery, an easy path beside the River Wharfe, Yorkshire Dales ice cream, fantastic weather and outstanding hillside paths.

This one came from the Pathfinder Guide (although there is a variant in the AA 1001 Walks Guide too, which misses out the Barden Tower) and was an outstanding way to round off the week.

The walk starts off at the Bolton Abbey car park, then heads off over the hills, climbing up through woodland and over open pastures before rejoining the road near the Barden Tower. It seemed fitting that as we entered the woodland, a hare sat in the middle of the path, before turning tail and heading off into the distance - the next stage of the walk took us on to Lower Hare Head and Middle Hare Head. The views from the tops of these hills are nothing short of breath-taking, with green hillsides and wide-open spaces in every direction.

The 15th century ruins of the Barden Tower sit at the bottom of the hill, not far from Barden Bridge. The walk turns right before the bridge but you might want to make a slight detour to the other side to pick up a Yorkshire Dales ice cream from the handy kiosk (apparently all of the Dales ice cream kiosks are staffed by glamorous, blonde Eastern European ladies) before heading along the riverside path.

The Wharfe is wider at Barden Bridge than at Burnsall (see Yorkshire Dales Walk 1 below) but the path is just as easy to follow - and quieter - until you reach "The Strid", which, thanks to a handy car-park and the strange sight of a very wide river being forced through a very small gap in the rocks, is suddenly full of people. The Strid comes complete with multiple warnings about the danger of trying to jump over the rocks - frankly, the moss on the rocks and the very foamy, Guinness-like appearance of the water just past the Strid should be enough to put anyone off.

The path continues on alongside the water until the car park and cafe at the Cavendish Pavilion, a welcome lunch stop, before heading off over the footbridge to follow the river on the other bank (school holiday activities for the kids including a bouncy castle and a kite-making workshop are, of course, another alternative!).

From here, it is only a couple of ups and downs then the 12th century ruins of Bolton Priory come into view. One last footbridge (or stepping stones for the adventurous) and you are on the path up to the Priory, half of which is still used as a church; the other half of which is in picturesque ruins.

This is a fantastic walk, with a great combination of hill-tops, riverside walking and beautiful scenery. A perfect way to end a week of brilliant walks, which have surpassed all expectations and will be difficult to leave behind (sigh).

Yorkshire Dales Walk 5: Around Malham

Date: Thursday 28th July 2011
Route: Malham Tarn to Malham Cove then through Malham Village and on to Janet's Foss and Gordale Scar, then back over the moors to the Tarn
Distance: 6.25 miles (though this might not include the Gordale Scar section, which is a mile)

One of the most spectacular and understandably popular walks in the Dales, this circuit around Malham appears in slightly different forms in various walk books. We opted for the route suggested in the AA 1001 Walks In Britain, which starts and ends by Malham Tarn (a free car park alongside the highest lake in England on a breathtaking country road above the village of Malham).

The Pathfinder Guide suggests a version that starts and ends in the village of Malham, where there is a large car park and visitor centre, however this includes some uphill/ waterfall scrambling and a strong likelihood of getting wet at Gordale Scar, which we found pretty off-putting (walking is supposed to be enjoyable, right?!).

From Malham Tarn the Pennine Way heads into a quiet rocky valley, descends and eventually emerges onto the strange landscape of limestone boulders (or grikes) above Malham Cove, immediately (and topically) recognisable to anyone who has seen Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1. This flat rocky area, with cracks between the rocks, is not just a unique and slightly alien landscape, it is also a fantastic place to sit down and drink in the spell-binding views of the surrounding rolling green hills. Even if you don't normally click on any of the links in this blog, try the Malham Cove link above for a fantastic clip from The Trip with Steve Coogan having the place ruined for him.

Then it's down again (400 steps!) to the bottom of the cliff and Malham Cove, an immense rock face, from which the trickle of water doesn't seem big enough to justify the size of the river that flows alongside the straightforward and very busy path into the village.

Many visitors don't get any further than the Cove and the pubs of Malham, but the path to Janet's Foss is an easy, flat and very pleasant track alongside a beck that leads into shady woodland and winds up to the Foss itself, a waterfall where leaping fish can occasionally be seen.

Once out of the woods, the walk detours slightly to take in Gordale Scar (more spectacular falls in the midst of rocky cliffs), before returning to the road and starting the trip back to Malham Tarn (or Water Sinks, as the car park is also known). There is a snack van in the layby near Gordale Scar, should you feel the need for urgent refreshments/ ice cream.

Having come so far down, inevitably there is a need to climb again and this all kicks off once you leave Gordale Scar. Thankfully this is all on easy-to-follow paths and the climbing is not horrifically steep, but you will be definitely be pleased to make it to the ladder stile on top of the hill that sets you on the path back over the hillside and down again! The views at this point are all pretty breathtaking (the photos don't really do them justice).

The moorland section is very clear but quite exposed; after a short while the path dips down to join up with some small ponds then heads right to rejoin the car park at the Tarn.

Fantastic walking, great sights and amazing views - a highly recommended walk.



Yorkshire Dales Walk 4: Aysgarth Falls and Bolton Castle

Date: Wednesday 27th July 2011
Route: Aysgarth Falls to Bolton Castle and back
Distance: 6 miles

After two days of hard-going uphill and down dale walks - which have taken their toll on our calves - we wanted a slightly easier walk, so opted for this one, walk 13 from the Pathfinder Guide.

It sets off from the National Park Visitor Centre at Aysgarth Falls, starting off with a trip to the Falls, where the roaring water of the River Ure can be heard before you can see it. There are postcards in the Visitor Centre, which show the Falls in full flow and looking very impressive, however I suspect that none of these were taken at the end of a (thankfully) dry July.

From the Falls the path continues on to Bolton Castle, mainly on an easy-to-follow but frankly pretty dull enclosed path called Thoresby Lane. Although very green and straightforward, the defining features of this stretch seem to be lots of wayside thistles and occasional castle views. Thankfully, this is a walk of two halves - and the second half is a lot better!

It all starts getting better as you get closer to the castle, which looms over the hillside, looking mightily impressive (and in decent-ish condition for a building dating from 1379). The village of Castle Bolton is very pretty and the closer you get to the castle the more detail is revealed.

If you have plenty of time (and £8.50) to spare, you could quite easily spend a few hours at the castle (there are various furnished rooms - including one where Mary, Queen of Scots stayed - plus falconry displays, a maze and loads of building to climb over and get great views of the surrounding countryside). If you have less time or just want to get on, you can still wander into the castle tea-rooms (dominated by a massive fireplace) or shop (dominated by the usual collection of tea towels, model castles etc).

From the castle, the views out over the countryside are very impressive - lots of green rolling hills, dotted with cows and sheep and as the walk continues you get to see these views from different angles. The route leads through a number of pastures and meadows - dodging cows, sheep and associated dung/ droppings - to the village of Carperby, then back to the wood above Aysgarth Falls, where the path is fringed by raspberry bushes.

In summary, an easy but not overwhelming walk, with a couple of good sights on the route and great views in the second half especially.

Yorkshire Dales Walk 3: Pateley Bridge and Brimham Rocks

Date: Tuesday 26th July 2011
Route: Pateley Bridge to Brimham Rocks then back alongside the River Nidd
Distance: 9 miles

Probably the longest walk of the week, this is again taken from the Pathfinder Yorkshire Dales guide and has many of the ingredients of a perfect walk - beautiful countryside and views, most of the climbing out of the way in the first part of the walk, interesting stuff to look at (and in this case clamber over), a National Trust cafe on hand for that all-important cup of tea half-way round, then a second half that is pretty much flat or downhill all the way, finishing up with a stretch of peaceful riverside path.

The walk begins from the town of Pateley Bridge, quickly leaving the shops behind to climb up the "Panorama Walk" - whilst this is a pretty taxing uphill start, the views get better and better, the higher you get. A large part of the first half of the walk is on the Nidderdale Way, which is bordered by wild flowers and much greener and less exposed than the Pennine Way of the Pen-y-ghent walk.

After passing through woodland containing Fell Beck, it is not far to Brimham Rocks, an odd collection of giant gritstone boulders which sit amongst the heather in weirdly configured stacks - rather than trying to work out which one is the Dancing Bear and which The Anvil, you may well find yourself wondering why they are still standing and how they keep balanced!

There is, of course, a National Trust giftshop, where no doubt all of these questions can be answered - further down and to the side is the refreshment kiosk where instead of dispensing wisdom and touting jam/ membership, it is more about dispensing cups of tea and pasties to visitors with an eye on the next picnic bench likely to become free. Climbing about on the rocks is pretty much expected and gets you good views both over the surrounding countryside and over the site itself.

Once past the NT kiosk the path leads round to the car park and out onto the road, which is the first place this week that the Pathfinder Guide has (slightly) failed us. Unfortunately, the signpost for Smelthouses, which it tells you to follow, has currently disapppeared, so the only indication of the path is a Nidderdale Way logo on a post. It's easy to miss this if you are looking for a sign to Smelthouses, but luckily the Ordnance Survey map makes it clear that if you've walked down to the crossroads on the road you've gone too far (we did - so we turned round and went back again).

Once back on the right path (which did indeed "wind attractively downhill through woodland and across fields"), the way back was very straightforward, passing Fell Beck again, then joining up with the peaceful River Nidd, which it followed all the way to Pateley Bridge, passing a reservoir and with a few welcome benches en route, just the thing for weary legs.

A highly recommended walk in beautiful countryside with a lot of variety.

Yorkshire Dales Walk 2: Pen-y-ghent

Date: Monday 25th July 2011
Route: Pennine Way from Horton-in-Ribblesdale to the summit of Pen-y-ghent then back via Bracken Bottom
Distance: 5.5 miles

This isn't going to win any awards for the longest walk of the week, but there is a fair amount of climbing and descending to make this challenging enough, the first "tough" walk in the Pathfinder Guide to the Yorkshire Dales (walk 26), getting up to 694 metres.

Whilst the guidebook is full of useful info - why a hill in the Dales has a very Welsh name, for example (Celts forced out of their homes by Roman and Teutonic settlers) - this is a very straightforward, well-signposted walk and you could quite easily leave the guidebook at home.

From the car-park in Horton-in-Ribblesdale, it's a right turn, then it's easy to find the Pennine Way signposted just past the Pen-y-ghent Cafe (the checking-in place for the Three Peaks Challenge for the uber-energetic). The Pennine Way is very easy to follow, a very obvious and well-maintained path that rises slowly over the hillsides, surrounded by dry stone walls, sheep and ever-improving views (though Pen-y-ghent itself can look a bit daunting until you get closer to it).

Before the path veers off to the right and up the hillside you can make a quick detour along the path to Foxup to take a look at the Hull Pot, a giant hole in the ground that fills up with waterfalls in wet weather (no spectacular photos today, but frankly would rather have the nicer weather!).

Tracking back to the Pennine Way, the path becomes noticeably steeper (and harder-going). This is probably the most difficult part of it, however, as once you get to the edge of the escarpment and take a sharp right the ascent is less steep. All the hard work pays off when you get to the summit and suddenly you are surrounded by breathtaking views, not just behind you (where intensive quarrying takes the edge off the view slightly), but also ahead over the continuation of the Pennine Way route.

The wall at the top has a few benches and a trig point; many people seem to use the wall as a good leaning post and picnic site (those that aren't dashing off to climb the other two peaks that day!). The path continues on along the hillside and down, over a couple of rocky sections, where a bit of clambering is needed, and then leaves the Pennine Way to veer off to the right through fields, down to the main road and back to the car park. The Pen-y-ghent cafe is ideally situated for cake and pint-size mugs of tea - also Three Peaks ties, camping supplies and all manner of walking books.

Many people seem to do this walk in the other direction, but I think the guide gets it the right way round, having seen more than a few walkers struggling to clamber up the rocky sections. This is a very straightforward hill walk - up, along and down! Whilst it doesn't have as much going on as a more traditional country walk in terms of architecture or wildlife, it definitely helps to burn off those hearty holiday breakfast calories and rewards you with views that you wouldn't get on a lower level walk.

Yorkshire Dales Walk 1: Wharfedale



Date: Sunday 24th July 2011
Route: Burnsall to Linton and back again
Distance: 6.5 miles

After a hectic few days, our first walk in the Yorkshire Dales surpassed every expectation - fantastic scenery, an easy route and unexpectedly lovely weather made this the perfect start to a week of walking in an area that we haven't really walked in before.

We chose to kick off with a "medium" difficulty walk from the Yorkshire Dales Pathfinder Guide - walk 12 - accurately described as "an agreeably relaxing walk through some of Wharfedale's finest scenery."

The walk starts and ends in Burnsall, a riverside village complete with a shop, tearoom, pub (The Red Lion) and two competing car parks (£2 or £3 - your choice!). The very straightforward riverside path follows the River Wharfe along the Dales Way, with the option of either crossing the river on a suspension bridge or on stepping stones (the dire warnings about "no heroics" on the stepping stones from the guidebook were fortunately not needed today, with relatively low water levels and only a bit of will-power needed to prevent succumbing to the slightly vertiginous waters!).

Once over to the other side, the path continues to follow the river until turning into a track to Linton Falls, then over the bridge and Falls to the part of the village near the church (and a handily situated ice cream kiosk). From there the route heads away from the river and up onto the hillsides, with more spectacular views over the rolling countryside, through the main part of Linton Village, along the beck, opposite the village green and pub, then alongside a dry stone wall and over fields to Thorpe Lane.

En route to Thorpe Lane the number of walkers diminishes rapidly and the walk feels much more remote (albeit with good signposts and stiles). The lane is bordered on both sides by dry stone walls and wild flowers, with rolling hills to either side and occasional cyclists the only real traffic to contend with. Chaffinches brighten up the hedgerows and swallows swoop around catching flies as the pretty village of Thorpe/ Thorpe-in-the-Hollow is left behind in favour of more fields and beautiful views.

After a few fields and multiple ladder stiles, plus a horse standing in front of the gate we have no option but to pass through, Burnsall appears again, with the prospect of more river views, cake and a welcome beer. Let's hope this week has started as it means to go on!