Murton Pike is magnificent. No matter how many times I climb this, the highest of the three pikes that seem to guard the Eden valley from the long ridge of the Pennines, I never fail to be impressed. We hadn’t been up the Pike since before lockdown and Sunday was a good clear day, withContinue reading “Return to Murton Pike”
Tag Archives: #ThePennines
A Stroll in the Westmorland Dales
The village of Orton’s original name was Sker-Overton, changed to Orton in the local dialect. I found this out when I was researching my novel Villain – the third in the series which brings some reality back to the legend of Robin Hood. My book starts on the wild moorlands above Orton, before my villains returnContinue reading “A Stroll in the Westmorland Dales”
Walking the old railway at Kirkby Stephen
One of the loveliest short walks from Kirkby Stephen is along what was once a stretch of the line of the South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway, devised in the 1850s to take coke over Stainmore from the North-East coalfields to the iron furnaces of Furness. The railway line closed around fifty years ago, andContinue reading “Walking the old railway at Kirkby Stephen”
A North Pennine Ramble
For a while I could almost have thought I was back on northern Dartmoor in the old days when, apart from the ancient tracks, there were fewer paths. In recent years, paths have sprung up on Dartmoor, from tor to tor and from antiquity to antiquity etc. In those golden olden days we used toContinue reading “A North Pennine Ramble”
Far From the Madding Crowd
Wandering through the quiet fields yesterday with just the cries of curlews, I thought of the line from Gray’s Elegy, which gave Thomas Hardy the title for his novel. I happen to be re-reading Far From the Madding Crowd at the moment (I recommend the Oxford University Press edition which has restored many passages missingContinue reading “Far From the Madding Crowd”
Walking the Old Ways 