Who are the hill-walkers and ramblers of DiS? Anyone been on some good walks recently? Anyone accomplished any walking challenges, or got any walking challenges on the wishlist that they’d like to do? Any walks that you think should be on everyone else’s wish list?
I went on a last-minute trip to Llyn Ogwen yesterday given there was a good weather forecast and ticked off a couple more of the Welsh 3000s doing a round of Pen Yr Ole Wen, Carnedd Dafydd, Carnedd Llewellyn and Pen Yr Helgi Du… was happily surprised to find a light dusting of snow on the top of Carnedd Llewellyn - but fortunately not enough to stop progress on the route.
Realised this now takes me to 10/15 of the Welsh 3000 summits - so now have a goal to try and get the rest of them ticked off in 2024. One of them will mean the Crib Goch Snowdon Horseshoe route with the exposed scrambling, which will definitely be a bit of a high adrenaline one.
I wish I had more time to get out walking - I’d also love to do a coast to coast, and as a former very low key fell running participant I’d love to attempt the Bob Graham round of the Lake District - but at a walk not a run and definitely over several days and not within 24 hrs.
To get out in the hills more was one of the main draws of moving up from Cambridge to Manchester so that some of the big stuff is easy to access - but there are still never enough days in the week to do as much as I would like
Big walks like that I don’t get to do all the time, but I kind of got a big love for them when I was a kid – especially during the school breaks, my parents would usually take us on a good few walks. Most recent I did was Moel Siabod with my dad, my cousin, et my uncle.
I think we did Moel Siabod on NYD 2020 - before the year turned to shit.
Funnily enough my parents dragging me up lots of hills was something I did NOT appreciate as a kid. Took a few years of living in London before I realised the error of my POV.
I think a lot of the appeal when I was younger was more that they’d take me and my sibling with our cousins and we’d just talk about daft shite the whole time (my cousin once tried to make a breadcrumb trail near to a lake in an attempt to lure swans into the forest, where they would adapt to the new environment and evolve into a new species of animal). I think it was probably my 20s (spending most of my time cooped up in some job or another) when I really felt an appreciation for the actual places and the memories of the outdoorsy smells and sights and what have you.
Who uses hiking route apps, and if so which? Swapped from maps/guides to apps years ago, and although I get slight guilt ref inauthenticity (which is stupid), I definately find I’m more present in the place, or maybe differentially present (not viewing the geology with an eye to navigation).
If I have a spare day, I will inevitably fill it with a walk, my absolute favourite thing to do. Don’t get many spare days though.
Where I live (Lewes) I’m in the South Downs National Park, so there’s a lot of good walking very close by, mainly stick very local. Next plan is to do the Lewes Three Peaks in a day, I’ve done each of them separately countless times, but never all at once, should be straightforward enough, it’s just finding the time.
I wish I could get more into this. I tend to just go on rambles around the Chilterns with podcasts on. Been to mid Wales a few times lately and it makes me really want to walk up some bit ol’ hills.
I really enjoy following @GoldFlakePaint’s adventures around Scotland on insta.
Love a good walk and especially this time of year as used to head to Lake District in October half term growing up but unfortunately not been back for ages. Remember Helvellyn and Fairfield horseshoe being stand out ones.
Is a lot harder now as rely on public transport most times. So mainly just walk the Malvern Hills unless I’m on a holiday. I did enjoy costal walking when I was down on the Isle of Wight a few years ago, public transport was so good so was able to more or less pick my walks up from the day before meaning I did Ryde to Yarmouth (via Ventnor and the Needles). Only downside was a few parts paths were closed so walked fields with limited views.
Like others, I’ve got the OS Maps app and pay for the premium version so I get all the proper maps. Find it very handy for planning routes and that, much better than Google or Apple or whatever.
In Switzerland over the summer, we used Swiss Topo a lot, which is basically the Swiss version of OS Maps except completely free.
Started the Camino last year, and need to get back on it. We also did the West Highland Way in June. Fantastic trip, but the hardest walking trail I’ve ever done.
love the idea of doing a longer multi-day trail walk, but always get a headache thinking about the logistics of transport to/from start/end points - how workable was the West Highland Way for that?
