October in the Wye Valley

We had a brilliant weekend in the Wye Valley back in May this year with our tent.  So much so, we wanted to take the whole family there for a weekend and chose the most perfect autumn weekend to do it!

So off we went; 8 dogs, 7 people, 3 caravans.  down to Dr. Neils Meredith farm campsite inbetween ross-on-wye and monmouth again.  This was the first time all three caravans had been away together so it was quite an event!

Arriving Friday night in the dark, we were the last to get there, but Kay had a pan of stew all ready for us to tuck into once the 'van was set up.  Early to bed so we can take everyone on a long 7mile walk the next day.  We awoke to the most glorious day, mist was visible at the lower end of the campsite, the sun was breaking through the low clouds and it was looking like a beautiful day.

The walk was one we had done from the AA walks guide in May when we had visited.  A circular walk, starting from Goodrich castle carpark, down to the river, along the bank, and back over coppet hill.  It has great views of Symonds Yat Rock and the valley in some gorgeous countryside.

Our walk was brilliant and pleasent until we were accosted by the rudest 'gamekeeper' shouting abuse towards us while striding over the brow of a hill.  He had fired his gun seconds before which stunned us stationary, and trying to gather 2 of the dogs up, as they were spooked.  All in all, it wasnt a pleasent experience, with the young 'gamekeeper' mis-quoting the countryside code with regards to dogs, mis-quoting legislation with regards to walkers on public footpaths, and basically being offensive!

I am writing several letters to specific people/groups about the incidence; herefordshire council (responsible for the marking and maintenance of public rights of way and signs along them), the ramblers association, the national gamekeepers association, the kennel club, any relevant government associations/departments, and if i can locate an address; the estate where i belive he worked.

I am investigating whether or not he commited an offence against the fire arms act of 1968, whether he acted with 'assault' towards us, and whether the self errected signs poorly positioned are actually in breach of the law or countryside code.

Despite this altercation, we enjoyed the rest of the walk, and took the opportunity when we got back to the castle to sneak a 15min look around the castle.  The most complete, medieval castle still standing in the UK.

On the Sunday, we thought we would stay away from gamekeepers, and took to the riverside in Symonds Yat East for a walk to the 'wibbly wobbly rope bridge' and back.  We parked in Symonds Yat east (blue blob on map) and walked the foot path all along the river bank until we meth the rope foot bridge over the river (from wales to england).  this was a lot of fun trying to tempt some of the dogs over it, and Kay wasnt too sure either!

We all had a fab time, bloody brilliant weekend and cant wait to all do it again... maybe without being shot at next time though!

The Roaches - Staffordshire

the first big family walk of the autumn/winter and it was 27degrees, and we had to carry enough water for the pack of dogs as well as ourselves.  not that im complaining, it was lovely!

The Roaches is the name given to a prominent rocky ridge situated above Leek and Tittesworth Reservoir in the Peak District. It has spectacular rock formations rising to a 505 m (1,657 ft) trig point.  It's really popular with walkers and rock climbers for obvious reasons!

We did a circular walk from Roaches gate to Five Clouds Quarries, Docksey Pool, Roaches highest point, Shawside and returned between Hen Cloud and the Roaches.  it was supposed to be 4 miles but Robin and his handheld GPS and Anna and her iPhone app vastly disagreed and put at 5miles.  the views of Staffordshire were glorious from the rock edges themselves.

I have wanted to visit the roaches for a while, and next time would definitly like to take in the walk to 'Luds Church' which can be linked in to amny roaches walks with ease.  Lud's Church is a deep chasm penetrating the Millstone Grit bedrock created by a massive landslip on the hillside beyond the roaches to the North West.

From canvas to caravan...

3 years on the trot our summer camping week with the kids has been a washout!  Dispite the glorious weather the week before or the week after, we always choose the worst week in the world to go camping.  In fact, since we had bought the Mojave 5 tent just over 12 months ago, it has been up 7 times, and it had to be put up in the garden to dry 6 times due to crap british weather.  The tent is clearly cursed; this was the approach Anna took that finally won me over into buying a caravan.  That and the fact I had owned one previously, and Anna's family all have caravans.

After some searching on the web, some sundays visiting caravan retailers, we found the one we loved.  so whats the first thing you do when you find the thing you have spent hours and hours looking for?  Yes, you look some more to tryu and get it cheaper.  And we did.  And it was a year newer.  And we got loads of free stuff thrown in.

Here she is (are caravans 'she's' like boats and cars?  who knows!)  the Swift Charisma 560.

'She' has an end washroom with huge shower(!), a side convertable single for alex, which also can be bunk beds, and a double convertable at the front for us.  The 'kitchen' even has a microwave!  the small porch awning is simple to put up and can be secured enough that the Dogs can sleep in it in good weather (and in the bathroom when its colder).

We picked her up from Glossop and towed her with ease to the 'lock-up' (must be said in an east-end accent everytime).  We also joined the Camping and Caravanning club, so decided to use one of their 'club sites' for our first trip the following weekend to the bakewell club site!  it is unbelievable how much space and storage there is in a caravan!  its brilliant.

Gone are the days of packing everything into tiny bags, moving stuff away from the sides, trudging down to toilet blocks to go to the toilet or brush your teeth, or airbeds that go down in the night.  we need to get a little better at erecting the awning and skirt though!

Bakewell was great, and we are booked for a weekend in Ross on wye and a weekend in Yorkshire in October - who cares if it rains - we have hot and cold running water and a double shower!

North Wales adventures

Not updated in a while!  things got chaotic - including moving house, a monsoon in Wales, climbing Snowdon with 3 kids and 2 dogs, buying a caravan and all sorts of other stuff!

Speaking of Wales - that was the destination for our weeks camping this year.  A weekend in Bala, followed by 6 days on the Llyn pennisula.  sounds idyllic? far from it!

Bala was awesome - On the Saturday we took ourselves and our Dogs off to walk around Alwen reservoir which was a 7 mile glorious path around the reservoir.  It reminded me of Canada so much, but more to the point it reminded me of why I miss living in Wales.

On the Sunday, it was less serene.  Our Sisters and partners, as well as us, had hired a white water raft at the national white water center in Bala for a 3 hour delve into the world of river rafting. I can not describe how awesome it was!  we were all wet suited and booted, Mum n johnny had camera's at the ready and we were in/on the water for about 3 hours in all.  Photos' were brilliant, but video is better for this...

http://vimeo.com/27456105

After the hectic weekend  we packed up the tent, and the kids, and the dogs and headed west, to our second campsite near Cricceth.  As we drove through snowdonia we discussed that we might take the kids for a walk up Snowdon, and would they like that? 'yey' came the replies.  After a day at the beach and the best sandcastle building known to man, we packed a pack lunch for everyone and head off to Pen-y-pass to 'climb Snowdon' with the kids and dogs.  we didn't think for a minute we would get any where near the top so Anna and I didn't even pack our walking boots. 

Oh, how little did we underestimate the mountain climbing prowess of 3 kids in wellies and a pack-a-mac!  they were knocking blocks off the people with hundreds of pounds worth of gear, and strode to the top in just under 4 hours on the miners track.  The dogs did brilliantly too!  When we did get to the top the view wasn't great - well actually it was non existent as we were above the cloud line, but we still managed to bag the highest Geocache in all of England and Wales.  After a cup of coffee (or hot chocolate) we started our way back down as the sun came out!  the kids were amazing, and have now got the mountain climbing bug!

it was a bit chilly at the Summit point - but we made it!

By the time we had got back to the car, we were all starving!  so straight to the pizza parlour in Beddgelert for a super size ham and a supersize pepperoni!

the rest of the Camping trip was a disaster!  the next day we went to llechwydd slate mines in the driving rain.  we had a fun day out but by the time we have 2 damp dogs, 3 wet kids and 2 soaked adults in the tent the wind had picked up and we were fearing for the tents safety!  after noticing a few others packing away their tents and bailing out before it go too rough, we decided to do the same.  a mercy call to my mum saved the day and we threw everything in the car, left the tent and few incidentals and ran!  the weather was that bad, the rivers burst their banks all along the journey to mums making the driving along welsh country roads an adventure as well!

we rescued the tent the next day but went back to Mums considering the amount of water in it!  much discussion was then had about the benefits of a caravan...

Wye Valley - May bank holiday weekend

After a very busy few months for us, we wanted to head off for a long weekend with little more than walking, camping and the odd geocache thrown in for good measure.  We wanted to visit somewhere neither of us had been before but also within weekend travelling distance - this left the south west area for us to work within!  The Wye valley and the Forest of Dean has been on my list of places to go for a while so we homed in on that region.

We started scouring the t'interweb for some campsites in that neck of the woods.  Using the brilliant and ace website ukcampsite.co.uk there were plenty to choose from.  what an ace website that is! well worth using for any of our future camping trips i think. We chose the rural and quiet looking 'meredith farm campsite' ran by Dr. Neil (not sure what kind of doctor he is mind you). 


thats our tent - right down there all on its own!!


The site is a certified 'caravan and camping club site' and on its 15 acres it is limited to 5 vans and a total of 15 pitches (although im pretty sure there were more than that on the sunday evening).  The cost per pitch is £7 a night (thats tent, 2 people, 2 dogs, and car for us) this was a welcomed change from the normal procedure for campsites to charge per person, extra for a larger tent, extra for dogs, extra for a second car, extra for kids, extra most things!  Dr. Neil met us when we arrived and showed us the pitches he thought we would like after we spoke on the phone when booking.  He was full of advice for walking and where to go!  On saying that, the site is a little on the 'rustic' side with only 2 toilets and 1 shower in a wooden building and might not be to everyones standards. It got a bit busy for the washing up area and the hot water tank takes 15mins to heat up when someone has used it.  we on the other hand loved our small but nobbly pitch down the bottom of the meadow next to the stream.  For most of the weekend the dogs were left to their own devices while on the site as we were away from the main group of people, which was a real bonus.  Our dogs are pretty well behaved anyway and dont wander off or anything but not having to worry about them was another tick on the list for us!  on site is an honesty shop of fresh farm eggs, home made jams and some essentials for camping that people sometimes forget and there were plenty of leaflets and walking guides to borrow.


Anna and I cooking dinner - i was having curry!


So, base camp establised and tent was erected by 5pm in the evening sunshine.  Dogs fed and the relaxing weekend began with camping curry while we planned our first days adventure.  We decided on a walk along the river near Goodrich which had the added bonus of a few geocaches to pick up where we were there.  Starting from the carpark at Goodrich castle we headed onto the Coppet hill estate and down to the river Wye.  We followed the river for a mile or so through woodland and open meadows and bagged our first cache at the rivers edge near a monument to a boy who lost his life in the river, despite being a strong swimmer.   When we reached the area below Symonds Yat rock (where we decided we would explore the day after) we headed up the 'character building' climb over Coppet Hill.  With a trig point at its highest point of 188m it this whole walk felt like training for our return to Snowdon in August!  The dogs spent 80% of the walk off the lead, in and out of the woods and river, which was perfect for them (they thought it was their birthday!)  6.75 miles, total ascent of 260m, two tired doggits and the need for a pint of shandy signifies a great walk in my book!  Before we went for the shandy, we had worked out the coordinates for our first puzzle cache and needed to go find the cache close to Goodrich Castle.  it tooks us a few minutes to walk to the site and confirm we had worked it our correctly (!) and we dropped off a geocoin we had picked up at east midlands airport moving it a whopping 139km which was cool.  we also bagged a quick cache and dash round the corner before my shandy radar started beeping!


Visiting the memorial linked to the Geocache we were hunting down


Day two saw us back in a similar area of the region, but this time on the other side of the River.  Symonds Yat rock is a great view point across the wye valley, a breeding ground for Peregrine falcons, and also a great spot to review where we had walked the day before.  The view from the Rock is very well photographed, and i took the opportunity to take some shots of the amazing views.  Later in the day i will realise i have had no sd card in the camera all weekend and go in a bit of a huff - shortlived though - school girl error(!).  On top of Symonds Yat Rock was an 'earth cache'.  Kind of like a geocache but with no actual container to hunt down.  Instead you relay some estimates of geological or natural information to assist in the data collection of interesting sites across the world.  at this earth cache they were interested in the height of the river to the view point and information about Peregrine falcons we may have seen.  I think this adds another dimension to the geocaching world and i will be seeking out some more of these to look into in the future.

Cup of tea and piece of cake from the log cabin on the Rock down, and it was time to venture into the Forest of Dean for a woodland trail walk.  We could tell the dogs were tired from the day before as they were not venturing far from the track as they normally would.  Normally they must walk twice the distance we do with all the extra exploring they do and all the back and forth up and down they do.  The trail was really enjoyable and apart from a section near some muddy bog areas where frogs and newts were spawning the dogs were off the lead all the way again.  After the walk Anna and I fancied some pub grub so we headed into Wales and to Monmouth for a bite to eat before heading back to camp.


Symonds Yat Rock - no photo's of the gorgeous view due to forementioned 'faux pas' with the camera!


Bank holiday Mondays are often joked about as being horrible and wet and this one didnt dissapoint.  i was awoke at 5:30 by the dogs pacing in the tent, and heard the rain.  it was still pee'ing it down as packed away a very wet tent at 11am.  Due to the weather we headed straight home and to beat the traffic which was for the best as it was still raining when we got home.  Only 3 days at work this week before the tent comes out again for the Dog show....

New iPhone app to try out this weekend

iMapMyHike is a new app designed to load or map walks.  Using the internal GPS of the iPhone it can track routes taken by marking the path along an interactive map.  It records paramters such as duration, distance, pace, speed and elevation.

from MapMyHike you can search millions of hikes on the database, bookmark them and then navigate the trails on the app.  if more than one of you from a group are using teh app you can see their whereabouts on the map as well (might be a bit extreme tieing another iphone to Betty so we dont lose her as much!).

its not had the best of reviews - a bit mixed if people like it or not - so i will give it a bash while camping/walking this weekend and see how we get on.  as long as it doesnt interfere in our Geocaching whilst we walk we are onto a winner!

1st camping expedition of the year! Easter 2011

We dusted off the tent and away we went - as the weather was so gorgeous we packed the car thursday evening to make sure we got the whole easter weekend to chillax!  Our destination was Shrewsbury county show ground and the TAG dog agility show.

Now it was my first ever dog show trip, but with Anna and her family veterens at it there was lots of experience around to answer my stupid questions!  Anna's family run a dog training school which includes obidience but mainly teaches the art of 'dog agility training'.  I thought this would be a great opportunity to test out my new zoom lens with lots of Dogs jumping over things and running through things!

The weather held out all weekend and it was bloody glorious - factor 30 was needed every day, and Betty and Wilma (along with skip, jack, della, badger, hugo and millie) regularly needed a dip in the Severn to cool off.  My lens worked realy well too, outshining the kit lens in a comparison, I took some ace photos!

Im taking Wilma to agility training this week as she got so excited during the weekend and apparently she will be ace at it!

Geeky Treasure Hunting = Geocaching

The concept is simple - while your out walking the dogs, or taking a stroll down the river or similar why not make it more interesting and seek out some buried treasure!  ok so treasure in the loose sense of the word, as far as i know there is no pot of gold located at a geocache site, but its 'treasure' hunting no less.  And, to appeal to my geeky nature; its all about GPS and Gadgets!

I was aware of geocaching but only recently did Anna and I look into it properly.  Once we had found that there is an official iPhone App and we had viewed the introduction video's on http://www.geocaching.com/ website we were all excited about having a go.  After a few minutes familiarising ourselves with it all we had created an account and we realised there was a geocache hidden less than 500m from our house!

There are currently 1,351,307 active geocaches around the world, some are tiny little things with just a small log book to sign your username in, some are larger containers where people leave items that you can swap (these are the ones Alex likes the most!).  Part of the fun is seeking out the location, the walk to find it and then when you are near, the hunt is really on to find the well hidden container whilst not alerting non-geocachers to its presence!  In just a week we have 'found' 8 Geocaches with more local ones to attempt as well as plans to incorperate geocaching into our camping trips and weekend dog walks.


 A medium cache - room for swaps, log book and more!

A micro cache - just enough space for the log book and pencil



Most people use handheld GPS devices it seems, but the £6 iPhone app is proving to be accurate enough for us to use (and cheaper than a £300 GPS unit!). It allows direct access to 'nearest caches', searches by postcode and then you can log your finds direct to geocaching.com from within the app; even including a photo if you want!  Genius! 

screenshots

official iPhone App tutorial



We are officially hooked and are looking for any opportunity to go grab a cache!

Snowdon ascent - April 2011

I got a phone call from my Mum while we were wandering around the Caravan and outdoor show at the NEC. She was asking if Anna and I would like to help them out with a job they had recieved over a weekend. The job, as she put it, was to join them in shooting a short film about a charity walk. 'Easy!' we thought. It turned out that the charity walk was a man's personal challenge to walk 47 miles in 47 hours from his house in North Wales, to the top of Mount Snowdon to raise money for BLESMA 'British Limbless Ex-Servicemen Association'. The idea was we would follow the team on day 2 filming their walk from Llanberis to the foot of Snowdon, and then the following day film them setting off and then get the train to the top to meet them there. Well, Anna has always wanted to climb Snowdon, and it had been years since I had done it so we actually got excited and told my Mum we would walk up Snowdon with them!



Mike and the team at the start of the final day of the 47 challenge

My Mum and Step-dad, John, filmed Day 1 on the friday - 26 miles (a marathon!) from Rhuallt to Llanberis. We took over on Saturday in the glorious weather in Llanberis, through Betws-y-coed, Capel Curig and to Pen-y-pass - a mere 13 miles for the team to trek. Snowdonia is one of the most beautiful places in the world -FACT!

A = Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon)
B = Garnedd Ugain
C = Crib Goch
D = Y Lliwedd

1 = Snowdon Horseshoe
2 = PYG Track
3 = Miners Track (the route we took in green)

We were up at 5:30 on Sunday to get to Pen-y-pass carpark early but the weary team, which included ex-servicemen with prosthetic limbs, took longer to muster on the final day. Nevertheless, we set off on Snowdon's 'Miners Track' while it was still fairly cool. The Miners track is one of the most common 'ascents' of Snowdon, mainly due to its 'gentle' start, and also because of the stunning route along the banks of Snowdon's two lakes with the summit always and ever-present in view.

By the time we had rounded Llyn Llydaw we were really starting to climb, or so we thought.  It wasnt until we stopped at the top of Llyn Glaslyn for a short break we assessed the magnitude of what was to come; a 170 meter scree to scramble up to meet with the Pyg Track before the final push through the 'zig-zags' to reach the horseshoe path.  The summit was only a short walk up some more forgiving steps.

The view was absolutely breath taking (literally and metaphorically!).  There was a slight haze on account of it being so hot that day, but we could see for miles in every direction. the rest of the charity team all made it and there was even champagne that had been carried all the way up to celebrate the acheivement.  The team raised £11,500 for the charity and after a weekend of walking they deservedly took the snowdon mountain railway down to Llanberis (and the nearest pub!).


View from the Summit looking down towards the route we walked up

Anna and I decided to amble our way back down the Miners Track, which was a different kind of difficult compared to the way up.  we also got some more time to take in the views when not having to 'jog ahead' to get the next filming shot set up!

Just over 6 hours in all, 753meters ascent, 7miles in distance - and now Anna is planning our next trip to Snowdon - with the Dogs perhaps? The Llanberis route with Alex? Crib Goch with Michael? The Pyg Track?

Weekend In Yorkshire!

This weekend we set off up North to the gorgeous village of Luddenden to catch up with Anna's cousin Kirsty and Meg the dog!  Luddenden is not far from Halifax in the Pennines; which yes did mean hills!

Betty and Wilma soon got re-acquainted with Meg and it quickly became time to head off for an afternoon walk.  Kirsty had planned a stroll up the the 'rec' recreation grounds, over to the moor top, around the tops and down to Jeruselum Farm and back along the river to the village.  One thing for sure;  Its bloody steep in Yorkshire!




Meg heading up the hil to the 'Rec' - Stolen from Kirsty's Facebook Photo's!


It was a really lovely day and if I wasnt so bloody knackered climbing up to the top I would have remembered to take a photograph!  Plenty of swimming for the doggits, although Meg was not quite as keen as Betty and Wilma to dive in the water.  A real mix of moorland, woods, riversides, and lanes it was a really lovely few hours on saturday; especially as we took a well earned pause in the 'Lord Nelson' for a pint.  We revisited part of the walk again in reverse on the Sunday followed by an ace brekkie brunch before heading back home!




I think this is where we walked - if not completly correct its pretty close!


Kirsty introduced us to a great walking app for the iPhone during our visit.  Its called 'Footsteps' and is a nice little app to monitor walks like the one we did - especially if your interested in pedometer functions, calories burnt, and distance travelled. It is quite customisable to your specific weight, step length etc which makes it more accurate.  it also allows you to graph your progress over time which looked good!  at 59p it was must buy for us!  You can also listen to your iPhones music through the app while you walk (or jog!).  Here are the two screen shots of the weekends expeditions;

Left - Saturdays longer walk (in km) Right - Sundays less strenuous walk (in miles)

Outdoor leisure show and the caravan and boat show!

We have tickets for both the Outdoor leisure show and the caravan and boat show at the NEC this weekend.

Looking forward to mooching around all the gear and stands!


-- Post From My iPhone

Lazy Saturday Stroll - Downs Banks

The Downs Banks is a local national trust nature reserve in Stone.  Brilliant for dog walking (and picnic's in the summer) we go there a lot on weekend walks with the 'Pongos'.  What was intended to be a quiet stroll turned into a 'party' affair when Robin and the Collies were found at the car park when we arrived, and we were joined by Sal and Reece with their two mutley's shortly after!

The Downs Banks used to be where the local Joules brewery used to grow their hops, but was given to the National Trust  after the second world war in memory of those who died. The woodland walk is great for the dogs; there is gated sections and loads of places to run off the lead and explore.  Betty and Wilma love the stream too!

The Downs Banks was also the birth place of what we like to call 'Where's Alex?'  This charts the uncanny abilities and genius hiding skills of Alex who is second only to his idol, Wally (of Where's Wally fame).  Alex can blend into the surroundings like a Costa Rican Chameleon..... in custard.  See examples below!

I bet you cant see him, can you?!

Staffordshire Moorlands - Furnace Forest

Todays adventure took us close to Alton and Dimmingsdale which are near Cheadle, to one of the Staffordshire moorland walks available via their website. Furnace forest, once part of the Earl of Shrewsbury's estate, is where Alton Towers was built by the 15th Earl.  Today, however, it gave us a great trail throught the woods while being soaked by the feburary drizzle! 



The route we took was a slight detour from this map but still a very enjoyable walk, even with the weather!


Today we went all out; 6 adults, 1 child, 5 collies, 2 springers, and 1 staffy! The walk itself was about 4 miles with some steep ups and downs, and when your up against the rain like we were it took us 3 hours or so to complete (with a lunch stop). 


Pond and Millhouse - close to the start of the walk.


We met up at the Ramblers Retreat cafe carpark and set off towards the old mill.  There were plenty of dammed pools and some fast flowing streams all the way round the walk.  The paths varied from sturdy bridal path to completely boggy trails.  Some of the climbs and downs were a bit slippy but that was down to the weather!  at one point we got a great view across the valley to Alton Towers.

The adults walked the 4 miles.  To Alex, who takes two steps to our one, this obviously meant he walked 8 miles today.  Betty and Wilma and their doggy companions on the other hand must have done about 10miles with all the exploring they did.  The whole walk was very dog friendly and we only had to be cautious about putting them on leads for a short section through a livestock field.

One of the dammed pools - and a few wet doggits!

Unless you are feeling really flush I wouldnt bother with the ramblers retreat.  It was a bit too posh inside for us bedraggled lot, but there is a hatch outside with some sunhouses and umbrella's but the prices were a bit steep even for coffee!

We are definitely going back to this walk in the spring to see it all in a different light with less rain and slightly more sun!

Meet the Doggits

Betty & Wilma - litter sisters and both about two and a half years old.  Anna rescued them both when her friend found them at the end of a country lane when she couldnt choose between them.  They dont go everywhere with us (I think they might struggle with the carabina's on a GoApe course!) but they are often the reasons we go places. 

It took me a while to remember which one was which, but now its easy peasy!  Wilma has a completly white tale and a small white splodge on her face.  Betty has a half brown, half white tale and an all brown face; Betty Brown and Wilma White!  told you it was easy! Thats Wilma on the left in case you still couldnt tell.