Lake District Part 3

Helm Crag 
(l of centre with a pimple on it)

HELM CRAG DAY - WEDNESDAY

I'd decided that I couldn't come to the Lakes and not climb at least one hill/fell/crag. My knee was holding up (reasonably) well. Anne was looking forward to a morning mooching around Grasmere and its surrounds and having decided Helvellyn was probably a tad too much, I decided to climb Helm Crag, a rocky promontory just outside Grasmere. At 405m it's comfortably less than half Helvellyn's 950m and several of the near fells like Dollywagon Pike at 858m, but it's still a decent climb and should give good views. And it wasn't far - less than one and a quarter miles in a straight line from the front door, although nothing's straight here. With another roasting day forecast, I decided that setting off early was the best plan, and left the cottage at 6.30am with plenty of fluid with me and a frozen bottle of water in my pack also. Despite a couple of unintentional detours (I had three guidebooks/leaflets and each one gave me a different way), I eventually ignored the one that said "...ignore the path on your right..." and went up it.

Yup - that way

It turned out, this was the right way, but it was immediately steep. Well cut stony steps initially turned my mind to Frodo, Sam and Gollum heading into Mordor in Lord of the Rings although I was rather brighter, and there were no orcs in attendance here. I had to stop for a breather a few times, but eventually the path became more of a rocky track before a final scramble to the top of the crag. 

At the summit!
Grasmere behind me

I'd made it up by 7.50am, not bad going for an old git with a dodgy knee. I had the place to myself, and the views were wonderful. Looking back down to Grasmere I could just see lake Windermere peeking out in the distance. To one side I had the valley we'd climbed to Easdale Tarn, and on the other the fells of Seat Sandal, Dollywagon Pike and beyond, Helvellyn. As I sat there an RAF Hawk screamed up the valley towards Thirlmere BELOW me!

I mooched around for a bit, visiting the rock formation a little further along known as the "Howitzer"   an uncanny resemblance to from certain angles. 

Helm Crag summit with Grasmere behind

A distant view of Easdale Tarn
where we'd been on our first day

The "Howitzer"

Grasmere

After about 20 minutes I saw a woman arrive at the top not far away from me - I'd have said in her 50's, with walking poles and pack. We had an amiable chat and I remarked that it was a steep old climb up. She said "Oh it's not too bad. I was going to climb Dollywagon Pike (a mere 858m remember) but I was doing the cool run so I'm just going along this ridge, round the fell and back down". Turns out she was 61and was walking about 8 miles or so, and for here this was an "easy" day - she went out about 3 times a week apparently!

I left her to crack on, but as the day was still young,  and I was feeling good, decided to follow her route along the ridge for a while rather than head back down. The map (a proper OS map now) now showed me there should be a path I could take down into the valley to return. Ambling along the ridge was sublime. I passed two other walkers (a couple) and that was it. The weather was gorgeous, the views immense and all I had for company were buzzards, jackdaws, a few scraggy sheep, a distant pheasant and a few other birds - plus some annoying horse fly type insects who thought my legs looked a bit tasty. I passed prominences on the ridge called Gibson's Knott, Moment Brow and Moment Crag heading for the Pike of Carrs, wondering how these landmarks got their names, when I came to the path down that I was looking for.

There followed a long initially steep but shallowing decent from the rockiness of the crags, into a wide green valley occupied increasingly by sheep, wheatears and vibrant foxgloves. It was as peaceful as anything - or it was until  a number of F15 Strike Eagles came screaming through  - this time above me - but not by much. Seems like this is a regular loop for them, much like the Mach Loop in North Wales. Indeed they'd been a regular occurrence over Grasmere all week, but too quick  and with me in too much cover to catch the. Here though I heard them coming and set myself up to catch them.

On the walk down

Eventually I cam to habitation and a proper road, albeit still a mile or two from the village, and made my way across footpaths to the Travellers Rest where we'd eaten a couple of days before, for a well earned cup of tea. After a 20 minute walk back into Grasmere, it turned out I'd walked almost 10 miles, but I felt pretty pleased with myself, and even better, the knee was still in one piece.

Anne meanwhile had enjoyed herself bumbling around the village taking it easy and paying a visit to the famous gingerbread shop.

After half an hour icing the knee as a precaution, we wanted up a lane to Allan Bank, once an abode of William Wordsworth, now a National Trust  place, where we just sat in the garden overlooking Grasmere for an hour or so, availing ourselves of free tea, and reading a book in some dappled shade. Very grown up like.

That evening, we ate out at our local, Tweedies, where I had an enormous plate of fish and chips washed down with a couple of very nice beers. 

A very pleasant day indeed.

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Lake District Part 2

Windermere with distant Cumbrian hills

ON THE WATER - MONDAY

Well you can't seriously "do" the Lake District without a boat trip on Windermere can you?

We made the short drive into Ambleside from Grasmere (about 10-15 minutes) parking at Waterhead at the northern end of Windermere. We paid for our tickets at a little booth by the pier, taking the "red" offer (a round trip to Bowness-on-Windermere) where we could hop off and then get any red ticketed boat back to Waterhead. 

The views across windermere were fabulous. Less fabulous was the evident scum and algae on the water at the pier. If you weren't aware there is real and valid concern that Windermere's water quality due to sewage means the lake is in danger of dying. Just Google it and you'll be inundated, but here's just one example.  Out in the middle of the lake, this was less evident, but you can't help but see it up close to the shoreline.

Anyway, once out on the water we took the gentle ride on the diesel electric boat Swift down to Bowness - about 5 miles along the 10.5 mile length of Windermere. Boats aplenty adorned the lake along with paddle boarders, kayakers and various wildfowl.

Disembarking at Bowness the sun was doing it's best to roast us, and we headed off to find a cooling iced coffee, which wasn't too hard as the place is festooned with cafes and coffee houses. In all honestly, it was so hot, and so busy we decided not to stay too long, and caught the boat back to Waterhead and Ambleside fairly quickly. The views coming back were even better. 

Tourist boat with the Langdale Pikes behind

Approaching Waterhead with the Fairfield Horseshoe behind

We caught a shuttle (looked and felt like a converted milk float, £2.50pp one way) into Ambleside where we found a spot for lunch at the Giggling Goose cafe. We then walked a few yards and found the rather quirky Bridge house - basically a one up, one down house on a small bridge! We wandered around Ambleside for a bit (lots of outdoor shops and cafes) before calling it a day, walking the mile or so back to Waterhead and picking up the car.

The quirky Bridge House, Ambleside

That evening we'd booked a meal at the Traveller's Rest, a pub about a 20 minute walk along the road from Grasmere. We had a gentle stroll arriving about 30 minutes early for our booking, expecting to have to have a drink before being seated, but were ushered into the small restaurant straight away. It was fairly rustic (think church like pew seats and all used wooden tables), but the food was excellent, the beer exceptional and the service friendly and efficient. The sort of place you'd definitely go back to.

MORE LAKES - TUESDAY

Tuesday dawned like all the days before it. Hot and sunny. We drove towards Coniston before turning off down an increasingly narrow road towards a place called Tarn Hows (why Tarn comes first for once and not Hows Tarn I don't know). Parking at an already filling up National Trust car park, we walked down to the lake. It's an easy walk around on a gravelled and sometimes stony path, and as you come around the far side you get absolutely stunning views of the lake with the fells of the Old Man of Coniston and Wetherlam behind. It took me a good while before I could walk away from such stunning views.

Tarn Hows with the fells of 
The Old Man of Coniston and
Wetherlam behind

We then drove down to a place called Brantwood down more very narrow lanes on the eastern side of Coniston Water, primarily on the recommendation of a few people for it's great cafe, although it's also a house and gardens and the place where poet, artist and writer John Ruskin once lived. We only stopped for the cafe though, and the fruit scones with cream and jam were majestic. From there it was on to Coniston itself, and a walk down to the boating centre on an increasingly hot day. Anne availed herself of the chance to get her feet into the water whilst I took yet more photos of the Old Man of Coniston.

Cooling off in Coniston

After our Coniston visit it was back home, a cool off before nipping out for some drinks - we'd now homes in on Tweedies Bar and Lodge as our "local", not least as it had an enormous beer garden. It did a pretty fabulous range of beers too I might say. A very popular place tools a result.

After dinner we wandered a little more around Grasmere and nipped to St Oswald's Church where William Wordsworth is buried. This is the heart of Wordsworth country and there are at least three places within a mile or two where he lived at various times. 

The grave of William Wordsworth
in Grasmere

So far it's fair to say that we were loving our time in this part of the world. The scenery was of course marvellous, but with the added bonus that you could actually see it, as we'd barely seen a cloud in the sky since we'd arrived.

With my knee feeling rather chipper, (although I was still on the anti-inflammatories and having half an hour icings on it each evening), I'd decided that I was going to attempt to get up a bit (only a little higher), and for Wednesday's excursion I'd set my sights on Helm Crag, a rocky promontory just outside Grasmere, standing at around 405m. Anne had sensibly declined the chance to do this, and was going to wander around Grasmere and do some window shopping and perhaps visit some of the Wordsworth oriented cultural places in the village.

But you're going to have to wait until Part 3 for that...

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Lake District - a new favourite place: Part 1

Tarn Hows with the
Old Man of Coniston (l) and Wetherlam (r) behind

GETTING THERE - FRIDAY

I'm not yet sure how many parts this blog post will run to, but it's likely to be more than 1! There's a lot to catch up on from our week away in Grasmere in mid June, so without further ado...

I've never been to the Lake District. Well, strictly speaking that's not true. We passed through with an overnight stop at Penruddock near Ullswater in about 1971 on our way to Scotland on a touring holiday the first year my parents bought a small caravan. Them, three kids and and two dogs in a small tin can. Anyway, all I saw of the Lakes was a dusky Ullswater for an hour or two before we set off for Scotland the following day. 

Anne has been, but it was a long time ago.

We've talked about going for a few years, but one thing and another - oh, and Covid. Anyway, I overcame my procrastination earlier this year, bugging my younger (but still old) brother about the best places as he's been a regular visitor over the years. He recommended his favourite place, Grasmere. After searching his recommended holiday cottage links we duly found a small cottage, for a reasonable price, slap bang in the middle of the village for a week in the middle of June, hoping for decent weather, although being the lakes, that could still mean snow, rain, gales and flash flooding at any time!

Suitably packed for all eventualities we set off, but as it's a long way, made a slight detour to break the journey overnight at my sister in-law's in Solihull. We met them on the Friday afternoon at Coughton Court National Trust and spent a pleasant afternoon wandering the grounds, and walking along the river. 

Coughton Court, near Redditch

STILL GETTING THERE - SATURDAY

After an early(ish) breakfast we pointed the car north (or rather east) before heading north up the M6 toll and thence to the M6. It was pretty much M6 all the way then until the final 30 mins or so. Again we broke our trip up just after turning off the M6 to visit Sizurgh Castle, another National Trust place. More gentle wanderings, and wa walk up a smallish hill to see a vista of the distant Cumbrian hills that were our eventual destination. 

Sizurgh Castle, near Kendal

Driving up past Windermere and through Ambleside, the traffic was heavy - turns out there was a Lak District Ultra Event going on the Saturday for fitness lunatics - 114km run anyone? Those of a less inclined nature could stick to any one of 14km, 25km or 50km events or some vast open water swimming and cycling craziness. 

Arriving about 30 minutes before our allotted check in time, we found the place ready and waiting. It was lovely. Comfortable, well furnished.....but sadly lacking any outside space to sit. Partly I guess we were to blame for not reading the online info correctly (although it does mention an "outside courtyard" (ie parking area), and it was a shame given the continued outrageously hot forecast. Still the village green was about 20 seconds stroll away.

A view from near the centre of Grasmere

Dumped the bags, had a quick wander around the small (but busy) village - it seems everywhere is busy in the Lakes, and pooped into the nearest hostelry for a thirst quencher (or two).

SUNDAY

We had a sort of plan of the places we wanted to go during our week, but it wasn't fixed in stone. I was recovering from some sort of injury to me knee the week before when it had swollen to almost twice it's normal size after a round of golf to climbing Helvellyn and Scafell wasn't going to happen, although stronger than usual anti-inflammatories had worked their magic.

Anne's not one for steep hills (or any hills for that matter), so gentler ambles were more on our radar. You'll see how that went out of the window in a later post....

With another glorious day in the making, we set off for Easdale Tarn, a relatively short walk on paper, and described in some guides as an easy walk, and in others "not pushchair friendly with some steeper sections). It's basically a follow the path route. Soon out of Grasmere we found the path and followed it for a while before it started ascending. As we rose the views impressed but in the heat the steeper sections meant several stops, and for those used to fairly flat walks, it was a bit of slog (Anne might want to call it something else!). Anyway, we made it. It's clearly a popular place as there were lots of people around. Some swimming, some picnicing , some walking through. We found a quiet spot, had our picnic and took our shoes off and dangles our feet in the wonderfully cool water, whereupon our feet were instantly set upon by myriads of small fish giving us an instant, and free pedicure.. The view up there were spectacular, even though we weren't that high at around 300m. 

Easdale Tarn Panorama

View from Easdale Tarn

Easdale Tarn Fish Pedicure

Luckily the walk back down was MUCH easier than the walk up, although by mid afternoon, very hot indeed and we were glad to get back to the cottage to get refreshed and find some shade. It was a pretty impressive start to our week, and although a good work out, very much worth the effort.

I think that'll do for this first post. Part 2 takes in Windermere, Tarn Hows, Coniston  and some eat and drink recommendations.

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A mixed bag

As always, my best intentions on blogging regularly* have fallen by the wayside, with no post since 7th March, so here's a brief, mixed bag update of sorts

* not that I have any/many followers, but I suppose it's also a diary/reflection thing of sorts, albeit a very limited one.

Life's too short

Soon after my last post in March, we lost my wife's brother after a relatively short illness. At 70 he'd previously been fit and well living a full and active life, playing golf, motorbiking, walking and being a Dad/grandad and loving music and beer. He may have been my brother in law, but he was like a brother to me. To lose him so quickly was a shock to us all - he seemed as one of his daughter's said, "indestructible". But there you go. He wasn't. None of us are, and it brings our mortality front and centre. I still find it hard to believe he's gone. 

Live life to the full, because you just never know what's around the corner.

Sunshine at last

After what seemed like months of rain (actually it was months of rain), the weather finally broke a couple of weeks ago, and what a relief it's been. Sunshine and warmth lifts the mood so much. The garden's run away with growth, new wildlife is around in abundance. I can get my shorts on for golf and the BBQ can be broken out of it's winter wrapping.

We've had some fabulous days out recently. We did a swift overnighter to our favourite place - St David's in Pembrokeshire. We did the four waterfalls walk near Neath in the Brecon Beacons (now reverted to it's original Welsh name, Bannau Brycheiniog), and we visited the Wales Ape and Monkey Sanctuary, which actually isn't that far from the waterfalls area, although we went a week later than our waterfall visit.  

Whitesands beach, Pembrokeshire

Sgwd yr Eira on the Afon Felte
You can walk behind this waterfall if you're steady and have non-slip footwear!

We walked on the Heritage coast on the South Wales coast near Monknash and last week went to the enchanting, if quirky Dewstow Gardens and Grottoes near Caerwent, between Newport and Chepstow. 

Heritage Coast, Vale of Glamorgan

Dewstow Gardens and Grottoes

In between all this, I've managed to get plenty of golf in. I've enjoyed it though my form hasn't quite returned to it's best, but it's great to be out on the course.

So we've been pretty busy all told. There's a holiday coming up with a visit to the Lake District, somewhere I've never actually been, so that'll be fun and definitely worth a post of it's own who we get back. There's also some other trips later in the year to look forward to so hopefully plenty to update on in due course.

And then to top everything off so far this year, my better half and I are celebrating 30 years of marriage. To be honest, I don't know how she's managed to put up with for this long, but personally, I wouldn't have it any other way.

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Tenerife - exceeded expectations

We've only been to the Canary Islands once before. Back in February 2020 seeking some winter warmth after a Far East Asia cruise was cancelled due to Covid and just before the pandemic hit the UK shores we had a weeks holiday in Lanzarote with friends. There was little or no sun. Instead we had a week of sand being blown over from the Sahara in an event called the "Calima". Orange skies, sand in the pool and generally being sandblasted for the best part of a week. Our friends called it "Lanzagrotty" and not without reason. It was OK, but it wasn't fun.

So trying again for some respite from the British winter menu of rain and cold my wife and I booked a week all inclusive in Tenerife in late February this year. The brief was a week of chilling in (hopefully) some sun and warmth. For one week we didn't much care about location, hotel or anything else really, but after some limited research we booked the Hovima Costa Adeje on the island's south coast.

Mt Teide (9,000ft)pokes out from the clouds on approach to Tenerife

I don't know why we're never considered Tenerife before. Perhaps because I had preconceived ideas about the place being one long strip of commercialised, tacky bars and eateries, black sand beaches and people trying to flog timeshares at every corner whilst being full of drunken Brits, although as far as Brits go, the nationalities we saw and heard were very varied and in the main (apart from late at night, not overly drunk). Whilst some of those pre conceived opinions are true (to an extent), we were pleasantly surprised with Tenerife and enjoyed a great week away. And just to be clear, black sand beaches aren't really an issue for us anyway - one of our favourite UK beaches is the black slate sand beach in Abereiddy in Pembrokeshire.

The roughly four hour flight went smoothly from Cardiff airport - whilst this regional airport has its detractors one benefit is that it's never really busy so there's usually plenty of space in the cafe's and bar or somewhere to sit! However, the day we flew there were just four flights out, and one of those was to Scotland - hard to see how this is sustainable.

Our arrival at Tenerife South was uneventful and the TUI app on my phone gave great info about our transfer bus number and location - no need to go looking for reps. As an aside, the TUI app has become a really useful app on my phone. The bus journey to the hotel was relatively easy and not too long with only a handful of drop offs before us.

Hovima Costa Adeje front of hotel

View from our room on the 6th floor

The hotel was fine and lived up to it's decent Trip Advisor rating. All staff from reception to waiters, cleaners and entertainment were friendly and helpful. The rooms were OK although soundproofing wasn't great from the room door to the corridor and therefore noisy when there were cleaners or people in the corridor. But we had a sea view (just), and the bed was comfortable. The all inclusive buffet was fine with plenty of choice, although as is often the case, the all inclusive drinks were less than stellar - with an especially limited and poor quality choice in cocktails unless you wanted to pay extra.

Whilst we were away during England's half term, our hotel was adults only (yay!). Whilst there were some younger couples there, the clientele was predominantly from the mid to older age groups (we're in our early 60's and felt pretty young by comparison with a significant majority of guests!!!!).

The pool area was great, plenty of sunbeds available and one of the pools was heated. The weather on the first day was cloudy but warm, but thereafter we had decent sunny days with the temperature in the mid 20's at it's highest. Certainly warm enough to sunbathe all day and cook up a nice colour. Evenings were cooler, but still ok for me to be in a short sleeved shirt whilst my wife donned a light cardigan - but she feels the cold much more than me. I'd have worn shorts in the evening, but the hotel dress for dinner required men to wear long trousers during the winter season.

The hotel evening entertainment ranged from the excellent - a superb 3 piece band playing 80's covers with an outstanding guitarist, to a truly awful Tina Turner tribute act. Still, the punters seemed to like it. Daytime entertainment was the usual mix of pool activities, darts, yoga, - all sorts. The multi lingual entertainment team were enthusiastic but not pushy if you said no thanks.

Sunset over the island of La Gomera

The hotel was a short three or four minute walk from the beach and promenade. The many beaches were actually pretty nice - sand varied from quite light coloured to dark-ish to black and fine grained to coarse grained. The sea was surprisingly warm - we only paddled, but it was MUCH warmer than UK sea temps. I'd have happily gone in sans wet suit - not something I'd do in the UK!

Playa de Pinta

The promenade follows the coastline here west towards a small village called La Caleta about 2-3 miles away and East a few miles to Los Cristianos via Playa de las Americas. The westward walk was nice and pretty at times. The first part adorned by restaurants and bars which were doing a decent trade. Eastwards we didn't go far, but the impression I got, and the hotel TUI rep confirmed was that the closer you got to Playa de las Americas the tackier it got. Either way, for a week away in the middle of winter, I couldn't fault it. There was something for everyone and it felt overall nicer than our stay in Lanzarote a couple of years ago.

Playa de Pinta again

Hotel sunset

The highlight of our trip was an impromptu excursion we booked having not intended to do anything other  than sit by the pool and go for short wanders.  The trip was called "Teide by Night" and took us up into the National Parc with several photo and cafe stops along the way before a 3 course meal and then an hour's stargazing in one of the best places in the world to see the night sky with the 9,000ft Mt Teide, Spain's tallest mountain looming over you. At over 7,000ft where we got to, it was also cold. I don't know what prompted me to pack my Rab down jacket for this trip, but I'm glad I did! If you every go to Tenerife I highly recommend this trip - we booked via out TUI rep, but I think it can be booked independently too. The downside was a long haul back to the hotel at the end of the trip - it took us almost two hours on the bus back to get back arriving back at about 11.30pm, but it was definitely worth it.

If we come again, I'd also probably book the whale and dolphin watching trip that ran a couple of times a day from the marina and goes a couple of miles offshore where there's apparently a thoroughfare for migrating cetaceans.

Canadian coffee specialty - a baraquito
Consensed milk, liquer 43, coffee cinnamon

Whilst Lanzarote just felt like mile after mile of lava fields and volcanic rock, the admittedly relatively little we saw of Tenerife suggested a much more varied and interesting landscape, of castle scrub, hilly forests and volcanic desert. I'd like the opportunity to explore a little more of the island if we come again. 

Rocks in Teide National Parc

Mt Teide

The holiday certainly ticked our boxes.

• winter sun - tick (enough to get just a little sunburnt)
• winter warmth - tick
• relaxing - tick. I read five books in the week
• nice photo opportunities - tick
• too much to eat - tick
• too much to drink - tick

Sunset over the Bay of Biscay on the way home

We would certainly go back to this part of Tenerife.

More photos here

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Stile Cup 2023 - The Results Update!

So it's done! The #StileCup2023 is finished, with @Northlakesuk's double stone stiler just winning out by just 0.9% over @jenscotney's Peak District sloper. @PeterGWeather (Peter Gibb's - the former Met Office/TV weatherman, came in a creditable 4th overall, but had the distinction of trouncing my entry in round 1). I'm still not bitter....much 😂

Congrats to the winner., commiserations to everyone else who took part.

Key takeaway from this year is that whilst "swank" (fabulous landscapes, cute dogs etc) might get you through round 1, it's the actually stile that counts with 3 out of the 4 finalists (but arguably all of them) focusing on the still rather than the surroundings.

Roll on the 2024 competition!

If you want to be in it, make sure you follow @LakesStiles on Twitter.

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Stile Cup 2023. Crashed and burned

Sad reading - 3rd of 3 - by a stretch

Well, my #StileCup2023 competition lasted less than 24 hours as I was well beaten into 3rd place in a 3 horse race in round 1 as you can see from the photo at the top of this post.

I'm gutted to have succumbed in round 1 for the second year running as I though I had a decent chance of at least progressing with this year's entry, and even the organiser had the grace to say (after voting closed) that they thought it was worthy of progressing.

But that's the way the cookie crumbles. Interestingly there were only just over 200 votes cast in this group, so the fact that the group winner has over 10k followers compared to my just over 400 clearly has no bearing.

Looking at the group winners, it's hard to see any discernible pattern for those that progress further in the competition. As I said previously, a decent dog or distant landscape clearly helps, rather than a good stile, with some pretty ordinary ones (in my view) making the cut. However, I'm not bitter (much), and I've now got plenty of time to start searching for next year's entry on my travels whilst voting for what I think is the best stile in the remainder of this year's comp.

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It's back! Stile Cup 2023

Twitter as a platform comes in for a lot of criticism (sometimes rightly so), but for me one of it's greatest outputs is the annual #StileCup - this year #StileCup2023, run by the @LakesStiles Twitter account. The premise is simple and straightforward. Anyone can submit a photo of a stile by the designated closing date (it was earlier this month), and then by some dark magic, photos are randomly assigned to groups of three or four, and posted to Twitter, whereupon anyone who sees the post can vote for their favourite.

This goes on round by round in this knockout form until a winner is decided.

I first entered last year but disappointingly got the boot in round one (I wrote about it here) but have upped my game for this year's competition with a shot of a stile I came across whilst on holiday in Austria in September, which I'm hoping can at least make it to round 2 and improve my record in this competition.

Things can get quite tense, especially towards the latter stages of the competition, where lobbying for votes is an absolutely accepted norm (hint, hint - vote for me - it'll be under my Twitter name "Statto1927").

Interestingly, although it's called the "Stile Cup"and therefore ostensibly about the stile itself, you can certainly genuinely enhance your chances of progressing by ensuring that your photo of the stile also includes a cute dog (two is better) a fabulous landscape or nice sunset - as it seems in many cases people vote for the general content rather than only the actual stile. 

To see the quality of what you might be up against, see this tweet of the 2021 final 4, eventually won by Quintin Lake (bottom left shot). 

As an aside, @QuintinLake is well worth a follow. He's the chap who walked and photographed the entire coastline of Great Britain in his project "The Perimeter" over a period of 5 years.

All in all, the Stile Cup is a fabulous piece of social media fun that enlightens many for a week or so over this period of the year.

I'd urge you to get out and follow @LakeStiles, and me, and vote for my entry when you see it!!!

Thanks

Twitter: @Statto1927 

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Wales and the World Cup: Qatar 2022

Wales

Source: The Independent/Getty Images

Well, the dream is over. Wales are out of the World Cup in Qatar after failing to get past the group stage with what can only realistically be described as fairly insipid performances against all three of their opponents - USA, Iran and England. 

A 1-1 draw vs the USA in match 1 was a game of two halves. Wales were awful in the first period and only a Gareth Bale penalty saved blushes as a point  was salvaged in the second half.

with expectations high(wish) that that would be put behind them and they'd beat an Iran side trounced 6-2 by England quickly faded, and it looked like a point would be all they'd get until to (very) late goals by Iran meant defeat and the unlikely scenario of having to beat England by 4 goals to stand any chance of progressing.

Of course that never happened, and it was pretty much all England as our rivals from across the border made easy work in a 3-0 win, and that was that.

So what can we make of it all?

Whilst I am bitterly disappointed (as an Englishman who now considers himself more Welsh than English)  that Wales never really turned up in these finals, you have to accept that even getting to Qatar was an exception achievement for a country of just over 3 million people, the second smallest nation at the World Cup other than Qatar who qualified automatically as the host nation.

For so many supporters of Wales, now known as Y Wal Goch or The Red Wall, getting to a World Cup is somethings they've never known, 1958 being the last time it happened. The success of the team in getting to the semi-final of the 2016 Euros, and then the finals of the 2020 Euros and now the World Cup  finals in Qatar 2020 means the at the other end of the spectrum, younger supporters might feel this is the norm for Welsh football. It's not, and the achievement of team managers over these latter years - the late, great Gary Speed, Chris Coleman, and Rob Page cannot be underestimated. Yes, they've had some exceptional players in their squads. Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey at their peak were sublime, but the key has been getting the rest of the squad, often drawn from Championship or even League 1 level to perform as greater than the sum of the parts.

It's been an exceptional few years for the country's national team. Anyone who has been at a Wales match to experience first hand the amazing support of Y Wal Goch - well, I can vouch for the fact that it sends shivers down your spine, especially when the fans sing the national anthem unaided by music or some screechy would be diva. Trust me, you don't get that anywhere else.

So, on the one hand, the experience of getting to the finals has been incredible. For those that managed to get out to Qatar it must be an experience that will live with them forever.

But that said, and as I set out at the beginning of this post, the disappointment in the performances in our three group games has been palpable. The team didn't perform anywhere near their best, collectively or individually in any of the group games, and with one goal (from the spot) in those matches we didn't deserve anything either. Several of those players are now probably done in their careers in a red shirt. Neither Gareth Bale or Aaron Ramsey looked fit or had any real impact in any of the games (Bale's penalty aside). Joe Allen was wrapped in cotton wool until the England game but couldn't influence the game unduly. Those three have been outstanding servants for Wales, but it wouldn't surprise me if we don't see them in a Wales shirt in any significant or meaningful way again. 

But there are some excellent and exciting players coming through. Ethan Ampadu has significant tournament experience now even as a youngster. The likes of Brennan Johnson and Dan James who come in for a lot of stick are pacy and attack minded. Kieffer Moore is a great front man. Neco Williams has bags of potential and quality. And it was really pleasing to see two Cardiff City players in the World Cup squad - Ruben Colwill and Mark Harris, with Colwill even getting some minutes on the pitch in the England game. There's no time to stop and think with the Euro qualifiers just round the corner starting in March, but there's still room for optimism.

Much as it will incense my Welsh pals, I still have a soft spot for England, and I'd like to see them do well,  but I'd much rather have seen Wales do well and get out of the group stages, even at England's expense

Let's hope that Wales can keep this great run of qualifying for the finals of major tournaments going.

Bring on the Euros!

Twitter: @Statto1927 

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/people/simon_hiscocks/ 

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Lord of the Manor: A week in the Peak District

We're just back from a weeks family holiday in the Peak District. Until 2019, this trip was an annual occurrence, but after changing venue to North Devon in 2019 due to lack of our preferred accommodation availability and then a break for Covid in 2020, it's taken us until now to get back to Derbyshire.

Winster Hall dining room on Halloween

Our bedroom!
(Very creaky floorboards!)

Our base for the week was the impressively named Winster Hall, a three storey Grade II listed building dating back to the mid 1600's. Although it has clearly had work done (a nice kitchen and conservatory), it still retains much of it's old world charm and is an impressive building from the front. A large stone flagged, and dim dining room greets you as you enter through the solid wooden front door, draughty sash windows, creaky stairs and floorboards are par for the course. We even found some round pin electric sockets! It was however comfortable, well equipped and warm, and importantly able to accommodate up to 16 people (the most in our party at any one time was 15).

Situated between Matlock and Bakewell in the old lead mining town of Winster it was reasonably based for our break, although a little further south than we'd have liked, but not inconveniently so.

With a mix of ages from 6 to 73 and a range of mobility within the group, our activities necessary had to be adapted to suit. Days of 10 mile hikes across the peaks and valleys are probably behind (most of) us. A gentle amble at Carsington Water (although there wasn't actually much water in it!), and couple of miles along the Monsal Trail into Bakewell were comfortably flat, and punctuated as always by coffee stops.

Carsington Water reservoir - worryingly low on water

Bakewell

Later in the week, we were able to get into some more traditional walking as we completed circular trails around the Chatsworth Estate (plenty of deer to see), Birchen Edge and Stanton Moor, and although none were overly taxing or longer than about 4.5 miles, they definitely required walking boots, cake stops and raincoats.

Nelson's Monument on Birchen Edge

The Three Ships near Nelson's Monument
L-R: Victory, Defiance, Royal Soverin (sic)
The names are carved into the rocks

The Eagle Stone near Baslow Edge

The weather wasn't great, but one cataclysmic downpour at Chatsworth apart that soaked us to the skin in about a minute flat, we managed to avoid the wet stuff, although the sun was in generally short supply until our last day. The temperatures held up nicely, with just a hint of frost on the last day.

Chatsworth House

We enjoyed a couple of meals at the local inn, the friendly Miners Standard a short walk top the hill from Winster Hall, with what must have been a parliament of owls hooting madly in the dusk on our walk up. They'd probably do a better job than that other parliament.... 

The group by Wednesday

The Cork Stone, Stanton Moor

All in all, we had a hugely enjoyable week, and are already looking forward to returning to the Peak District next year.

There are more photos on my Flicr page in the Peak District 2022 Album.

Looking towards Matlock from Stanton Moor

Twitter: @Statto1927 

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/people/simon_hiscocks/ 

Instagram: simon_hiscocks