Autumn Days

Ben Ledi from Ben Gullipen

I have been out of commission for a few days after a minor operation but have taken the liberty of getting out and exercising on local walks. The days have been dull with mainly mist and low clouds but by chance I have happened on some periods when the sun and skies have teased us with interludes of autumnal splendour. I had loaded Snapseed, an editing app for smartphones, and this gave me scope to test the app which had been recommended. I had seen the remarkable results in the hands of a pro. I am still trying to understand all the options available but it certainly provides considerable artistic license.

Like many others, I have largely put my cameras to rest as smartphone cameras have improved. They are simple to operate and swift in use and eliminate the weight and complexity of a camera and the manipulations to transfer the shots onto the computer. The results from a smart phone are usually good in terms of exposure and focus; the rest is in the eye of the photographer. I have recently observed one of the best and realise there is still much to learn.

Ben Vane and Ben Ledi from Lime Craig

Crainlarich Munros

Campsies from Lime Craig

4pm, golden hour on Craig Mor

Braeval sunset

Morning Webcast

My path through Torrie Forrest

Ben Ledi from Torrie Forrest

Loch Venachar

Stuc a' Chroin in cloud from Ben Gullipen

Callander

Making America Lesser Again

Space for Trump in the rubble

November the fifth is fireworks night in the UK when tradition has it that we celebrate the failure of the attempt to assassinate King James 1. This year it coincided with the American Presidential election which celebrated the failure to assassinate Donald Trump by decisively giving him a second term as the American President. The old British custom of burning effigies of hate figures would no doubt appeal to the 47th President. 

The world has reacted with a muted astonishment but it was always a strong possibility. Trump had created several populist narratives that appealed to the emotional beliefs of the majority of American citizens. Despite the worldwide influence of American companies and the financial and military muscle of the USA, the majority of its citizens have an island mentality and are deeply rooted in a small-town culture, think of Ebbing, Missouri. They are cut off from the rest of the world by the two largest oceans, the American Dream is ever more elusive and most working Americans don't have long holidays. They are less worldly and globally aware than Europeans and Asians. 

Donald Trump is the master of tapping into their distrust of the educated elite who dominate the institutions of American society and who have more progressive, or woke, political instincts than the majority of the American voters. They do not want to be swamped with more immigration, resent the cost of living increases as wages stagnate, and do not want to lose their freedom to burn gas and oil or shoot guns. They have little in common with a more inclusive and progressive Europe in which the UK is far more closely aligned on social, environmental and economic issues.

The reaction to Trump's victory has more than a whiff of hypocrisy. Presidents, Prime Ministers and Oligarchs have fallen over each other to congratulate and reassure him of their desire to work alongside the USA. It is a response to their fear of economic retaliation that he has threatened to weaponise against countries and regimes that are not prepared to make unilateral deals with him.  Contrary to Trump's promise to make America great again, there is a lot of evidence suggesting that his direction of travel may have the opposite effect as it withdraws its trade and environmental agreements and diminishes its military involvements. This will have serious consequences for the wider world economy, climate change, and international cooperation. Paradoxically, it may make America lesser again as its trade declines and a new world order takes shape.

There are several main concerns about what happens next.

Climate Action requires the nations of the world to work collaboratively to ensure that the targets have been set or met by all of the nations working together. Trump has shown by his statements that he is dismissive of climate change and has no commitment to climate action. He has given strong support to drilling for oil and gas and claims that America has more oil and gas than the rest of the world which is beautiful. His threats to withdraw from the Paris Agreement and COP will result in serious damage and give license to other non-believers to follow suit. His motorcades are a visible example of his disdain for any environmental integrity. 

The United Nations and NATO are both essential organisations to ensure peace and protect the weaker nations from poverty, provide relief from emergencies, tackle famine and disease and challenge the activities of tyrants and despots when they seek to expand their empires, carry out genocide or infringe human rights. Trump has little regard for the United Nations which he sees as competition to American hegemony and he sees NATO as an expensive tax on the USA which must be funded more fully by Europe. 

Ukraine and Gaza are wars that have resulted in thousands of unnecessary deaths and show no sign of finishing. Negotiations are difficult with unrepentant aggressors and determined defenders of sovereign territories. American arms manufacturers provide the vast majority of weapons being used by Ukraine and Israel. Trump's claim to settle the Ukraine war in 24 hours is a craven solution that would trade Ukrainian territory under the threat of cutting the supply of weapons, This would be the opposite solution than in Gaza, the further supply of American weapons will continue to enable the destruction of Gaza, where 45,000 citizens have already been killed and over 70% of buildings and infrastructure have been destroyed.. This is despite the United Nations 1947 agreement to partition Palestine into two states, Palestine and Israel, and their support for a ceasefire. Netanyahu is seeking to eliminate the possibility of a two state solution and Trump is likely to be supportive. This would be despite a motion from 52 countries, mainly in the Middle East, to stop the supply of weapons to Israel which are largely provided by the USA. Trump's belligerence could detonate a far wider conflict in the Middle East. He has shown little respect for the United Nations and its agencies who are charged with providing humanitarian relief and medical aid.

Tariffs are his favourite word because increasing tariffs will restrict imports from other nations particularly those whom he feels damage American business. In this respect, he negotiates and behaves as a transactional businessman. Someone who always wants to win a deal rather than secure a long-term relationship or establish a new initiative which will give wider long-term benefits to all sides. Trump is for the short term and for his own interest. These align with populist opinion in the United States and he uses this as a justification for many of his policies.

Economic policy in Trump's second term. is about reducing taxes and huge reductions in federal spending. Elon Musk has inveigled his way into being the frontrunner to deliver savings in government departments and agencies. We know how effective he has been in downsizing Twitter into X or should that be x and in the process losing millions of users and 79% of its value according to Google AI. The savings in federal spending are assumed to be achieved by reducing the number of departments and staff employed by federal agencies but the majority of the spending is on military, welfare payments and medicare. This could be a revelation to Musk who will face his armageddon if he fails the antichrist.  Meanwhile, oil and gas companies will be given new licenses and the Rust Belt will be magically reinvigorated as was promised in 2016 but with little effect. A film starring Frances McDormand as a released felon reprising that day in Butler, Pennsylvania is more likely than Trump rescuing the Rust Belt. 

Russia and China relationships will be revisited by Trump. They are the two nations with the resources and military strength to challenge the USA. Trump believes that he has the acumen to make deals with them that were beyond the capacity of previous Presidents who have been controlled by the federal establishment. In the case of Russia, he sees an opportunity to allow Putin to carry out and retain land from other nations such as Ukraine and Georgia in exchange for terminating the war by the USA reducing its provision of weapons to Ukraine. Relations with China will be based on the threat of increased tariffs for imported goods and securing more beneficial trade deals. The consequence may well benefit the United States as well as Russia and China but will have repercussions across the rest of the world. He believes in bilateral transactions rather than negotiated and nuanced treaties that engage a far larger number of nations.

Immigration is the other big-ticket policy. Trump promises to significantly reduce the number of unauthorised immigrants. Under President Biden, this achieved a high in 2023 of 3.2 million according to statista. This compares with 2.6 million authorised immigrants in 2022. Mexico and Central American countries dominate both legal and illegal immigration to the United States. Trump has promised the mass deportation of 10 million or more illegal migrants and said that there is no price tag on this. The American Immigration Council has put a price of $88bn per annum to achieve this over ten years. That's over nine times the value of X(x), formerly known as Twitter, each year. Elon will have his work cut out to find the savings or cryptocurrency to pay for this. It is a reminder that Trump seldom worries about detail when making announcements, they are aimed at giving oxygen to the emotional concerns and self interest of a third of the electorate. Remember that more Americans didn't vote than voted for Trump  The impact of losing the immigrant workforce, let alone the damage to their families and children's education is not part of his narrative but could seriously damage the  American economy.

The Department of Justice is headed by an Attorney General appointed by the President. Trump will select someone known to be supportive and loyal. He/she will be expected to suspend his 34 felony charges and criminal convictions and pursue those who have taken action against him, some of whom Trump has named already. It suggests that Justice will become a controversial issue with constitutional implications. This will extend to International agreements that stand in the way of Trump's disruptive agendas.

All of these consequences suggest that the USA could become far more insular.  The growth of gated communities in many towns and cities to protect the wealthy could be upsized to make America a gated country as it erects borders and removes itself from trade agreements and global organisations. Trump is more likely to make America a super-sized Dingley Dell than great again. Is it worth the effort of other nations to genuflect on President Trump? Trump's America will not be the UK or Europe's special or beautiful friend. It is more likely to be the End of the American Dream, particularly with the cast of disruptors that Donald Trump Jnr is advocating for key positions. As a film, it would be a cross of Dirty Dozen with Ocean's Eleven and a box office hit but without a star-spangled cast, just junketeers.

At half mast

Loadpot and Wether Hills

Wether Hill summit

Tuesday, 5 November 2024

Ascent:       624 metres
Distance:    12 kilometres
Time:          3 hours 9 minutes

Wether Hill     675m    1hr 13mins
Loadpot Hill   672m    1hr 40mins

On our final day of the November fog fest, we decided to clear some Wainwright hills east of Ullswater, I had two to climb and Keith had four. We dumped John's car at the car park east of Pooley Bridge where the High Street ridge emerges and I drove us up to Howtown where I found a parking space after the cattle grid half a kilometre beyond the hotel. We walked up to the hotel and followed a concrete track alongside Fusedale Beck, Steel Knotts to our right, Bonscale Pike to our left and our objectives for today lost in the low clouds ahead.

Beyond Cote Farm, the track gives way to a path that climbs steadily initially. Hundreds of birds took off from some rowan trees along the beck and swarmed in what would have been a murmuration had they been Starlings. My Merlin app on bird sounds confirmed that they were smaller and skittish Redwings. The incline of the grassy path increased and we entered the clouds as we reached 500 metres and began the final ascent to the ridge a few hundred metres south of the undistinguished Wether Hill. There were not even sufficient stones to rebuild a small cairn.  It was colder on the summit ridge and we began the simple trot across to Loadpot Hill which boasted a trig point and little else. We ate some food whilst waiting for Keith to search for the true summit on the plateau that serves as the high point. John and Keith continued to Bonscale Pike and Arthur's Pike whilst I returned to find the path back to Fusedale.

The descent was quicker than I had expected, after emerging from the cloud there were reasonable views of Steel Knotts and Beda Fell, which I had hoped to climb but I had assumed Keith and John would be back at his car about the same time as I would arrive in Pooley Bridge. I dawdled through Howtown recalling the beautiful summer's day when we had lunched there with Aileen after she had dropped us at the Kirkstone Pass so that Gregor and I could run the High Street ridge. My Merlin app identified both Fieldfare and Redwing above the woodland. The journey to Pooley Bridge was held up by a flock of sheep but I was still there before 2pm, an hour and a quarter before the others arrived. I could have climbed Beda Fell. 

I drove Keith back to Glasgow, pleased that I had finally fitted an adapter and holder for my phone that could be used as a satnav device in the car. I was home by 6pm, the golden hour, but I could hardly see a thing in the mix of fog and nightfall. November high pressures may keep the wind at bay and temperatures reasonable but they make you realise that visibility is the most important condition for hill walking.

Path up Fusedale

Pensioner's day on the fells

Loadpot Hill

Steel Fell and Beda Fell on descent

Fusedale

Howtown Hotel

Traffic calming

Mellbreak and Hen Comb

Mellbreak

Monday, 4 November 2024

Ascent:       789 metres
Distance:    13 kilometres
Time:          4 hours 21 minutes

Mellbreak North Top   509m    1hr 14mins
Mellbreak                     514m    1hr 38mins
Scale Knott                   338m    1hr  57mins   
Hen Comb                    506m     3hrs 09mins
Little Dodd                   362m     3hrs 27mins

It was day 2 of the November fog fest, we decided to visit Loweswater and climb the two steep peaks that Keith and I had yet to climb on our second Wainwright Round. It was mild with no wind but the fells were smothered in cloud. We parked by the Kirkstile Inn and wended our way up a splendid track leading to Mellbreak, the impressive pyramid of a hill that overlooks Crummock Water. 

There is an easy option to head along Mosedale and climb by a path to the col between the twin peaks. We took the steeper route up a path through the scree and rocks on the north face. Time was on our side so there was no pressure and despite the poor visibility the day had an autumnal calmness that was surprisingly enjoyable. We crossed to the higher southern summit before descending to Scale Knott, a Birkett, a hill of over 1000 feet in the Lake District. Keith collects hills of all denominations and we were accomplices although it was hardly difficult, a mere 200 metres away from the path with a minimal ascent and some Herdwick sheep posing on the summit.

We dropped down to the wetland between Mellbreak and Hen Comb where we had almost 2 kilometres of boggy ground to cover to reach the path up Hen Comb. John and Keith took a more direct route to the summit whilst I battered through the boggy ground to reach the path that gave a steep but reasonable route. We emerged on a summit and took some time for food and drink before an easy descent to Little Dodd, the Birkett at the northern end of Hen Comb. 

There is a good path down to Mosedale where we crossed the beck and found the excellent track back to Kirkgate Farm and the Kirkstile Inn. We took some time to look around the large churchyard, builders were working on replacing the roof slates. It was still early and we had thought about another couple of hills but returned to Keswick and spent an hour in the outdoor shops before calling in for a fish supper. 

We returned to the Youth Hostel and spent much of the evening talking to other guests including a couple of Glaswegians whom I found much in common with.

Track to Mellbreak

Whiteless Pike over Crummock Water

Scale Knott above Crummock Water and Buttermere

On Hen Comb

Mellbreak north top

Whiteside and Grasmoor

Lakeland Barn

Haweswater Wainwrights

Branstree: Artle Crag Cairn

Sunday, November 3 2024

Ascent:       963 metres

Distance:    17 kilometres

Time:          5 hours 32 minutes

Tarn Crag                  664m      1hr 43mins

Gray Crag:                638m      2hrs  9mins

Branstree NE Top     673m     3hrs 38mins

Selside Pike              655m      3hrs 56mins

Branstree                  713m      4hrs 34mins

I made an early start to collect Keith from Glasgow and to head for the Lakes for three days walking. We made it to Haweswater by 11:30am after a slow 20 miles on the narrow single track roads beyond Penrith. We jiggled our way through the remote and tranquil Lakeland villages of Askham, Butterwick and Bampton and the  bucolic scenery of Mardale. It was my first visit to this remote part of the Lakes although I had always intended to visit Mardale after browsing photo books of the Lake District as a child. The villages, hotels and houses looked unchanged from the 1950s. Haweswater was flooded in 1935 by Manchester Corporation to provide a water supply for Lancashire and has a rugged wild appearance compared to the more tamed lakes elsewhere in the National Park. 

The long singe track to the road end of Haweswater brought us to a crowded car park and we struggled to find a place amidst the land rovers and other vehicles that had gathered for the last open day for trail bikes and land rovers to have permission to test their driving skills on the Gatesgarth Pass that climbs to 582 metres as it snakes its way to Longsleddale. John had already arrived and it was almost noon as we began the long ascent up the rocky path that had been chiselled over the Gatesgarth Pass. 

I had previously climbed these hills from Longsleddale and knew that they were amongst the boggiest hills in the Lakes. I had warned John and Keith and I wasn't wrong. We decided to paddle out to Tarn Crag and Grey Crag first and savour the higher drier hills of Braintree and Seaside Pike later when we hoped the hill fog may have lifted, our optimism is unbridled. Keith took us on a short cut from the top of the pass to the col between Braintree and Tarn Crag. The path might have been quicker and certainly easier but hill walking is not about making things easy, it is gymnasium for nature's freeloaders.

The ascent of Tarn Crag was a walk up a slow moving horizontal waterfall over grassland. The flat and undistinguished summit of Tarn Crag is embellished by a tall surveying pillar that was built by Manchester Corporation when constructing the Haweswater Dam. We continued across to Grey Crag and met a couple of other walkers, the conversation turned to the vast number of hill classification schemes that had sprung up in recent years. Keith had disappeared to bag a nearby Burkett, or was it a Nuttall but probably not a Marilyn or a Hewitt, or was that the other way round. The confusion stemmed from three factors: imperial or metric measurement, random or rule based classification and height drop between adjacent possible summits. All the classifications provide some excitement for the tick box fraternity. We had some food and drink before beginning the long up hill and down dale squish to Branstree. Well, not quite, we traversed across to Selside Pike once we reached a suitable height and took in the North East Top of Branstree that is higher than the nearby Seaside Pike. The consolation was the firmer ground conditions.

The last leg was the trek back to Branstree with its two cone shaped cairns but the true summit a couple of hundred metres away and is a stone ring in the ground that presumably once held a trig point. There were no rocks in the vicinity to erect a cairn so we began the quick descent to the Gatesgarth Pass as the November light combined with the hill fog made for an eerie descent on the rocky path back to Haweswater. It was one of those occasions that changing footwear and socks was essential before the drive to Keswick. 

There had been a diesel spillage on the A66 and a diversion so it well after 6pm before we were able to enjoy the splendid facilities of the Youth Hostel. A hot shower, well equipped kitchen, a bar and helpful staff make it a near perfect base.  Youth hostellers nowadays are not Generation Z or even Millenials, we are mainly the generation called baby boomers but I would prefer to stick with Youth as a descriptor, it has  the promise of more exciting times ahead. 

Bog trotting in Mosedale towards Tarn Crag

Surveying Pillar on Tarn Crag

Selside Pike

 

Ben Challum

Beinn Challum summit

Wednesday, 30 October, 2024

Ascent:         1035 metres

Distance:      14 kilometres

Time:           4 hours 18 minutes

South top            998m    2hrs 13mins

Ben Challum.     1025m  2hrs 29mins

Ben Challum is one of those hills that is easily forgotten, I had usually climbed it with Creag Mhor and sometimes included Beinn Sheasgarnach or the nearby Corbetts. It must be one of the only Munros not on the blog, I last climbed it at the start of my fifth round before I retired and started the blog. Mark had chosen it as my first Munro on Round 5 and after climbing Creag Mhor refused to let me climb Beinn Sheasgarnach on the basis that it would lead to me trying to do a quicker round than the 80 days taken for the fourth round. 

Today, it was just Ben Challum from Kirkton Farm. I started early and intended to be down the hill in time to listen to the budget. The weather oscillated between fog and blue skies as I travelled up and parked at an empty layby on the A82 to walk over the River Fillan to Kirkton Farm. This is part of the West Highland Way and it was highly unusual to see no walkers on the WHW. The path to Ben Challum circles the farm and heads up an old track past a cemetery to cross the Fort William railway line.

It steepens and runs alongside a plantation of pines the fence keeps out the deer and provides the route of the path. The path was extremely wet, some sections were 10 centimetres deep in water with odd fence posts scattered on the bog to prevent that sinking feeling. It was a slow plod and the fine views visible lower down gave way to a hill fog that persisted all the way to the summit.  Above 700 metres, a cold wind was blowing from the northwest so I put on a jacket and dug out some gloves for the final steep ramp to the 995m top and then the ridge to the summit. There was little to stir the imagination other than another tick on the list and the possibility that the hill fog may disappear by the summit.

There was no such luck. I had little recall of the final narrow ridge between the top and a final climb to the summit.  It is quite a barren summit and the cairn was looking partly wrecked and needed a bit of rebuilding before I began the descent. I passed a couple on their ascent, they thanked me for my footprints that had guided them over the boggy sections. There was little to see on the the descent because of the fog and lower down the landscape had no intrinsic attraction nor was there any wildlife before reaching the railway line where a flock of small birds were feeding on the rowan trees. 

I was down just after 1pm and listened to the Chancellor's speech on the way home. After Rachel Reeves rant about the mess and unfunded projects left by the previous government and a slew of taxes to plug the funding gap, she segued into an impressive list of investments she would be making funded by a change in the borrowing rules. Rishi Sunak was making his final speech as Tory leader and gave a full-throttle response that must have made the Tory benches ask why they were having a leadership election. As ever, he was selective in his evidence and too anxious to have Hansard publish an upbeat abstract of his legacy. It was probably fair as Rachel Reeves had played the same game. The budget and the arguments from the opposition were a bit like climbing Ben Challum: boring, foggy and bogged down in a mess.

Fort William line, Ben Lui in distance

Cloud over the Crianlarich Munros

The path along the fence

Regenerative planting

 

Place Fell, Lakes

Place Fell

Friday, 25 October, 2024

Ascent:         538 metres
Distance:      7 kilometres
Time:            1 hour 46 minutes

Place Fell        657m     58mins

After three days of visiting my childhood territories and spending time with my sister and brother, I headed home. I have always found it hard not to visit the Lake District on the journey between Lancashire and Scotland. I had suffered a back spasm the previous week and had not exercised for a week apart from a fast promenade along the Lytham waterfront yesterday. I scanned the map for a hill that would not be too taxing. Place Fell is an impressive hill overlooking Ullswater and the hamlet of Rooking. I had yet to climb it on the latest Wainwright round. It looked a perfect fit, although driving up the M6 in the grey clouds made me doubtful. I had not climbed Place Fell since the Karrimor (OMM) International Mountain Marathon in 1992, it was towards the end of a long day and I don't recall much about it.

Despite being in the game of buying a bike, I gave the enticing cycle shop in Stavely a miss and drove through Troutbeck and down the Kirkstone Pass to Patterdale where I found a large parking area managed by the hotel. It was noon as I began the walk on a mild autumn day, Place Fell was circled by a halo of blue skies although Helvellyn and the hills to the south were enveloped in clouds that seemed to be heading north towards me. I set myself a steady pace on the road to Rooking passing a family of three and a woman escorting her elderly mother on the steep path that starts from Rooking and is signposted to Boredale Hause and Angle Tarn. 

The path climbs steadily with stone steps through the bracken. It gives good views back to Ullswater and the Helvellyn range and a direct view to the sombre-looking Brothers Water and Kirkstone Pass. There was no back pain and apart from a couple of photo halts, no pace dropping, and I was at Boredale Hause within 30 minutes. Two girls of about twenty were on their descent from Angletarn Pikes and encouraged me to go there but I had climbed them a couple of months ago so I hooked to the left to start the steep climb to Place Fell. It is a good path with a 260-metre ascent to be made, a steeper section below Round How and then a half kilometre across a flattish ridge to the rocky summit of Place Fell. The guidebook had said 1 hour 35 minutes for the ascent but I was up in less than the hour. 

I had entered the clouds at about 500 metres and stopped to put on a jacket. I was hoping the clouds would disperse and they did for a fleeting few seconds just after I reached the beautifully constructed trig point that sits erect on a rocky plinth. I ate an orange and drank some water hoping that the clouds would break but no luck today, it was retribution for all the sun-kissed days of September.

I began the descent and bumped into three men nearing the summit, I had passed them on the way up. They asked where I was from and on telling them Scotland they said I didn't sound as if I did. They were from Preston and I discovered that the father of one of them had been brought up on the same estate as myself. The coincidence continued when he told me he had bought a £3000 bike at the Ribble Bike shop in Clitheroe the day before. I had been there two days ago but had yet to decide whether to buy the bike I had been measured for,  it certainly wouldn't be as pricey as his. Another five minutes further on the descent I met a family from Stockport whom I had passed on the track to Rooking. They wanted a break from the climb and regaled me with their recent trip to Scotland with stops on Skye and Stirling. They had been mesmerised and intended to go again next year. I recommended some places for their next trip before I finally extricated myself and began to run down the path to catch up on time. 

As I emerged from the cloud below Round How another couple appeared, I had spoken to the man earlier as he was struggling to get the car park payment machine to work. He was a farmer from Hexham and on hearing I was from Stirling told me his family had originated from Stirling. His wife prolonged the conversation as we discussed the felled sycamore tree on Hadrian's wall, Alnmouth, Armstrong's Cragside House and climbing the Wainwright's. This was the fifth Wainwright they were climbing and they had recently made it a mission to climb them all. They were surprised that I had climbed them all and began to ask questions. I showed them a route down Place Fell to the north and encouraged them to take this and walk Wainwright's favourite path alongside the shores of Ullswater back to Rooking. The conversation was endless and I half expected to be invited for a weekend in Hexham. Place Fell was shedding its cloud cover so I encouraged them to see it in all its glory so that I could escape. 

I had lost 35 minutes to these enjoyable conversations during the descent so I ran most of the way down to Rooking where I paused to take a photo of a glorious Lakeland house decorated with a couple of pumpkins. It was almost 3pm, I changed my shoes and began the journey home. I was delighted to tune in to a 5 Live discussion with Helen Lewis and Armando Iannucci, both wonderful raconteurs, on the meaning or non-meaning of political words and phrases. I reached Hamilton before five and stopped to buy some provisions when the car computer told me to take a rest. The rain and darkness had fallen by the time I continued. Another interesting day had been hewn out of what could have been a tedious journey home. 

Path to Boredale Hause, looking back to Patterdale

Helvellyn view

The final romp to Pace Fell

Perfectly built Trig Point

On the descent

Looking to Boredale Hause from Rooking

Rooking Lakeland House

Lytham and Ribble

Lytham Promenade

Ribble Gravel Bike

I decided to visit my sister and brother, the first time I had been to my home town(city) this year. I intended to visit the Ribble Bike emporium that had started life in Preston but had moved to Clitheroe where a well-equipped shop had all the bikes on display and facilities to measure you for a new bike. I also had a yearning to visit Lytham where I had spent many a day as a toddler when my parents cycled there on the family tandem with me strapped into a rear metal caged seat.

The first evening, I spent time with my brother-in-law at the local cricket club while my sister was at a Pilates class. The beer was from a microbrewery in St Helens and called Howzat. Not out; it was an excellent pale ale, and we stayed for a second innings.

The next morning I drove to Clitheroe, a douce town in the Ribble Valley that is the HQ of the Ribble Valley Council. It boasts a healthy town centre, fine sandstone buildings and a well-healed population. The Bike shop was a couple of miles away in a new commercial centre next to furniture showrooms, fast food outlets and Screwfix.  I spent half an hour drooling over the complete range of bikes before an assistant became available to measure me for a bike and help me consider the options. 

Was it to be a CGR bike (Cross, Gravel, Road) or a Gravel bike? An aluminium, steel, titanium or carbon frame and what groupset? Did I want an electric bike? It used to be a lot easier to choose a bike in the 1960s - a Dawes, Claud Butler, Holdsworth or Mercian frame ideally with 10 Campag gears, Mavic wheels, Werinmann brakes, Stronglight chainset, Christophe toe clips and a Brookes saddle. All for £21 for a Dawes and up to £30 for a Holdsworth.  The price range at Ribble Bikes was from £1099 to £7000 and Ribble is supposedly among the best value bikes. 

Whilst looking at the bikes and waiting for the assistant I chatted to another customer who lived in Derbyshire but was Scottish. He was green with envy when he heard that I had lived near Aberfoyle for 36 years, he referred to it as Gravelfoyle, one of the best places in the UK for trail riding. He convinced me to get a Gravel Bike and encouraged me to spend as much as possible because Ribble bikes were excellent value. He had brought his friend to the shop who was being measured for his bike as we spoke. I still have to decide which Gravel bike, both carbon and titanium are lighter and more expensive, steel had been my first choice but I am currently thinking of aluminium with a better groupset. I would have liked to choose the colour but that cost an extra  £350. That would have bought 12  Holdsworths back in the day. 

On leaving the Bike Shop, I decided to visit my brother who had just returned from a ten-week tour of northern Europe from France to Denmark, up the Norwegian Coast to the Arctic Circle and back via Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Austria, Germany, Holland, Belgium and France. I drove from Clitheroe by the less travelled roads to the Ribble and Hodder valleys, taking in places that had been the backdrop to my early years. I had gone trout fishing on the River Hodder, walked along the frozen River Ribble in the deep-frozen winter of 1962, cycled around the Trough of Bowland, written a university geology dissertation on the area, and raced half marathons and 10k races during my running days. It was a trip down memory country lanes. I crossed the river Loud where I had camped for the first time with my dad as an 8-year-old and where my parents had their Ruby Wedding celebrations in the hotel. I  spent the afternoon with my brother and invited everyone for an evening meal at Great Eccleston. It was close to the market garden where my father cycled 15 miles to work every day after leaving school before he joined the army and spent the war years in Africa, Greece and Italy with the Eighth Army.

The following day I persuaded my sister and her husband to make a trip to Lytham, the salubrious residential town facing Southport on the other side of the mud flats of the Ribble estuary. As a youngster, I had spent many summer days here when my parents would cycle out on the tandem and where I would play in the paddling pools, admire the windmill, and discover ice cream. It was a fine but breezy day, the tide was out and the mud flats were no more appealing than yesteryear, nor had Southport got any nearer. 

Blackpool is only 5 miles away but is socially and economically more distant. It has declined from the UK's top holiday resort with a wealthy, rapacious business community to a tumbleweed seaside town with the highest level of deprivation in England. It is a sad reminder of the days when the pleasure beach, donkeys on the sand, saucy postcards, and sticks of rock made a holiday. Only the trams, the tower, and the annual Strictly pilgrimage maintain any sense of pride today. 

Unlike Lytham, where the well-maintained and busy 5-mile promenade along the shore to Fairhaven and St Anne's was alive with dogs and their elderly owners, the centre of Lytham was buzzing with baby boomers bursting the capacity of busy cafes. My sister was welcomed by an Italian cafe owner with the brio that Italians are famous for, and we had an excellent late lunch. 

Returning to Preston, I became perplexed by the numerous new housing developments and a road network that baffled me and Google Satnav. The logical morphology of a twentieth-century town has been exploded by thousands of new houses and the school catchments have about as much logic as most social media posts. It was time to return to the simple logical geography of the part of Scotland where I am fortunate enough to live. 

Lytham, then @ 5

Lytham, now @ >5, with sister

Lytham Windmill

Ribble Estuary and Southport if you put your specs on

Spitfire at Fairhaven

Mute Shadow

Ribble Estuary and some timeless Beach Art