Country Walking magazine April 2016

April 2016 £4.20

ISSUE 353 CRICKHOWELL ◆ CLARE BALDING ◆ INGLEBOROUGH ◆ ONLY ON FOOT ◆ KENT COAST ◆ CHALK STREAMS ◆ WATERPROOFS ◆ GEAR GUIDE

Britain’s best-selling walking magazine

Only on foot Stunning experiences, incredible views: discover the UK that’s for walkers’ eyes only

BRECON BEACONS YORKSHIRE DALES KENT COAST BERWICKSHIRE NORFOLK & MORE

UNDERGROUND, OVERGROUND Mighty Ingleborough as you’ve never walked it before!

PLUS

27 ROUTE CARDS

all with Ordnance Survey Surv maps

● Trig points turn 80 ● Chalk streams ● Walking festivals ● New puzzle page!

www.livefortheoutdoors.com

APRIL 2016

FREE!

32-PAGE GUIDE TO ALL THE BEST WALKING GEAR YOU CAN BUY

‘I OWE WALKING EVERYTHING’ Why Clare Balding walks 5 miles a day

WATERPROOF JACKETS Buy the right one and swear by it: 14 tested

WALK AUSTRIA

Make friends in high places

COUNTING MILES?

Must-read Fitbit v GPS v apps test

BREATH OF THE

go dragon Only y on foot

Kick off your incredible summer of walking with a long weekend in the Welsh hills and three gorgeous days packed with lush views.

W O R D S : J E N N Y WA LT E R S

PHOTOS: TOM BAILEY

HERE CAN BE no better way to explore the world than on foot. Planes, trains, automobiles, bikes, horses, camels: nothing brings you closer to the sights, sounds, scents and stories of Britain’s amazing countryside than your own two feet. And few places offer a pick ’n’ mix of attractions as extraordinary as the tiny town of Crickhowell in the Brecon Beacons. Three view-laden walks start straight from its high street – to Table Mountain, Mynydd Llangatwg and Sugar Loaf – to pack out a long spring weekend with 28 miles of unforgettable panoramas with no car required. And that’s not all – you’ll also visit ancient hillforts and quarries, tread past Britain’s rarest trees, discover subterranean churches and, if you’re very lucky, see the breath of a Welsh dragon. u

32 COUNTRY WALKING APRIL 2016

DISCOVER Brecon Beacons

VIEWING BALCONY Walk up high on a velvet-green ledge around the Llangatwg scarp, with a vista across APRIL 2016 COUNTRY WALKING 33 park the national to Sugar Loaf.

Walk with the

Only y on foot

SNOW GOOSE Discover the wild marshland horizon that inspired a conservation hero and one of the most evocative nature parables in literary history‌ WORDS: NICK HALLISSEY

42 COUNTRY WALKING APRIL 2016

PHOTOS: TOM BAILEY

DISCOVER The Wash Coast

GOOD BOOK AND a good walk have a lot in common.

Both have a story to tell; both have settings, scenery, characters. And both can take you somewhere entirely different. A place you can only reach in your mind – or on foot.

And sometimes there’s a place where a good book and a good walk come together with a special kind of energy. The East Lighthouse, beside The Wash on the Lincolnshire/Norfolk border, is a perfect example. Listen: ‘In this lighthouse there lived a lonely man. His body was warped, but his heart was filled with love for wild and hunted things. It is about him, and a child who came to know him, that this story is told.’

These early lines from Paul Gallico’s novella The Snow Goose set the scene perfectly. This is a place where both a real person and his literary echo came to take themselves away from the world and care for nature beneath a measureless sky. A sky that is really only seen at its massive and beautiful best when you see it on foot.

First published 75 years ago in 1941, The Snow Goose is the story of Philip Rhayader, a gentle but reclusive artist who lives in a remote lighthouse on marshland at the edge of eastern England.

Reviled by fellow humans due to his hunched back and withered arm, he isolates himself and seeks solace in his painting, and in caring for the migrating birds that rest and feast on his marshes.

His world is changed when he meets a young local girl, Fritha, who seeks his help after finding

t ON THE TR AIL OF A BOOK

A pair of binoculars and a copy of The Snow Goose will transport you to Philip Rhayader’s world. You can also find the 1971 BBC film adaptation (starring Jenny Agutter as Fritha and Richard Harris as Rhayader) on YouTube.

a snow goose wounded by shotgun pellets.

Together the pair nurse the snow goose back to health, and all three learn a priceless lesson about companionship. But it’s a harmony that is soon shattered by the onset of war. Philip’s sailing boat is requisitioned to help with the evacuation of Dunkirk, and Philip ventures off to save as many souls as he can. It’s a short, compact tale, but it has inspired many other writers including Michael Morpurgo, who cites it as a major influence on his most famous book, War Horse.

In the book, Philip’s lighthouse is on the Essex coast, but you’ll find the real thing much further north, between Sutton Bridge and King’s Lynn, at the point where the River Nene joins the vast sea inlet of The Wash. Gallico moved the setting to Essex because of the evacuation plotline (he needed it to be closer to France) – but he knew the real location very well. u

q BEACON

IN WHITE

The East Lighthouse marks the start of the Sir Peter Scott Walk, a 13-mile walk along the sea walls of The Wash.

APRIL 2016 COUNTRY WALKING 43

WANDERING FREE Crossing the moon-like surface of the limestone pavement beneath the unmistakable tiered profile of Ingleborough.

Explore sensational caves, dripping with stalactites...

Underground

46 COUNTRY WALKING APRIL 2016

DISCOVER Ingleborough

Overground

Only y on fo ...walk limestone pavements with vast views, and ot

get to know Yorkshire’s favourite hill inside-out.

W O R D S : J E N N Y WA LT E R S PHOTOS: TOM BAILEY

DIGGING DOWN A lesser-known and beautiful view of Ingleborough, from deep inside its intricate cave system.

THERE ’LL BE BLUEBIRDS OVER . . .

Enduring national symbols known the world over, the White Cliffs of Dover still bear the scars of their wartime service.

DISCOVER Kent’s defensive coast

Bastion

Only y on foot

BRITAIN From Hastings to Hellfire Corner and everything in between: step into the past with the ultimate time-travelling trail on the fortified frontline of Britain.

WORDS: PHILIP THOMAS

PHOTOS: TOM BAILEY

APRIL 2016 COUNTRY WALKING 57

LIFE IN ABUNDANCE Chalk streams (like Hampshire’s Itchen, pictured here) have 66 COUNTRY more than 50 species WALKING APRIL 2016 per kilometre.

DISCOVER Chalk streams

Clear waters rising

Only y on foot

As beautiful as any of the world’s most precious environments – and rarer than most – a chalk stream offers the most enchanting and English of walks.

WORDS: GUY PROCTER

PHOTO: ANDREW PARKINSON/WWF

LOSE YOUR EYES and imagine walking by a river. Make it the most perfect scene you can muster.

Sunshine glints off water so bright it seems lit from beneath. The current busily knots and unknots, solving puzzles set by the streambed below. Fronds of underwater foliage sway in perpetual slow motion.

Perhaps a trout carves silently from one patch of shadow to another. The bankside turf is well-drained and spongy. You’re making great progress, and there’s no thirst a few palmfuls of this cold, clear water couldn’t slake. What you’re picturing is an English chalk stream – something rarer, more distinctive and more precious than you might think. There are fewer than 250 chalk streams in the world, and around 90% of them are in England.

I’m walking the banks of the River Nar at Castle Acre in Norfolk, halfway along the Nar Valley Way, which meanders by this chalk stream from its source at Tittleshall down to Kings Lynn. Charles RangeleyWilson of the Norfolk Rivers Trust has joined me: “There’s something about the clear water of a chalk stream and the richness of weed,” he says.

“It’s a watery paradise, and I just love it.”

There’s no doubt the Nar is a well-loved chalk stream. Meandering through land largely owned by a handful of well-funded estates, it’s escaped the pressures of farming close to its banks and it’s never been dredged or straightened by people who thought it might be an idea to float things down it for profit. u APRIL 2016 COUNTRY WALKING 67

WOW MOMENT The thrilling path to the Torregenkopf.

Right: Liz (centre, in blue top) with her newfound friends.

DISCOVER Austrian Alps

Friends in

high places Whatever your ability, a walking holiday with a group can help you unlock the world’s most amazing sights – as CW’s resident ‘walking widow’ discovered in the Austrian Alps…

WORDS: LIZ HALLISSEY

PHOTOS: NICK HALLISSEY

Y NAME IS LIZ Hallissey, and I am a walking widow.

If the surname rings a bell, that’s because I share it with my husband Nick, who for nine years has been happily waffling about walking in the pages of this magazine. So you might assume that I also share his joy of heading out on epic walks in the backwoods of Yorkshiredale or up the east face of Ben Monstrous.

But not quite. I do love to get out, but not so much on high ground. It’s a confidence thing.

A stamina thing. I’m happy trotting through a nice bit of woodland, with the promise of tea at the end.

Mountains and full-day hikes have just never done it for me. Until Nick took me to Austria.

That might sound odd. Austria is lumpy. It has Alps. And if I’m the kind of person who struggles with a Lake District hill, I should probably have a substantial problem with Alps. But Nick’s clever idea was to take me on a group walking holiday.

The idea held a few terrors for me at first. I was afraid of being surrounded by superfit peak-baggers who would leave me whimpering in the dust as they bimbled merrily to the top of Der Deathfang.

I was worried about privacy too. I like my downtime if I’m on holiday, and the idea of being permanently engrouped, having to be pleasant and polite company all the time, sounded an alarm bell in my head.

As it turns out, our Austria trip was the most aweinspiring, confidence-building, friendship-forming and just downright happy holiday I’ve ever had. No one judged me, no one left me behind, and I learned so much that I could cheerfully call myself someone who loves walking in the Alps. I’ve climbed a klettersteig. Seen a marmot. And developed a taste for a ridiculous fizzy drink called Almdudler.

Our base was the town of Mayrhofen in the Zillertal (Ziller valley), two placenames I’d never

even heard of before. As Alpine honeypots go, Mayrhofen is mainly known as a ski resort (it calls itself the world’s largest skiing valley), so Nick says it lacks the summer walking stardom of places like Zermatt or Chamonix. But with that comes (Nick assured me) a greater freedom; fewer crowds; the sense of a place you really get to discover for yourself.

We went with HF Holidays; they are one of the biggest players in the group-walking market and well set up to cater for walkers of all abilities. Our group came from everywhere – mostly British, but with a handful of Americans and Australians, ranging in age from 40s to 70s. Uniting them was a simple love of using their feet in beautiful places, and a joy in meeting like-minded souls. Most told me they walk independently in the UK, but prefer the reassurance of a group-walking package when they travel overseas.

They pretty soon grasped that I was not entirely sure of myself, but they could not have been more encouraging. Some might move faster than others on a walk, but I never felt left behind. As Jenny from Chelmsford put it: “I think we’re all just people who like stopping to look around. A lot.” u

APRIL 2016 COUNTRY WALKING 73

Expert advice on the kit that makes a difference YOUR COMPLETE BUYING GUIDE TO

OUR TESTERS

JACKETS

O

ur waterproof jacket test is, paradoxically, one of the most enjoyable ones we do in Country Walking. It’s when we seek out bad weather and stay in it for as long as possible. But it yields magic moments when we find a jacket that genuinely keeps us dry and as warm as we want to be, in the teeth of all that nature can throw at us. It means that no day is a write-off; that you can get a walk in, whatever the weather is doing. And very few days are universally awful: we can’t count the number of days that have started out rotten but suddenly brightened into something beautiful for at least a precious 20 minutes. So a decent waterproof unlocks bad days and turns them into good ones. Feeling comfy, dry and protected when the wind and rain are howling? That’s a perverse pleasure of walking, that is.

About our reviews We’ve chosen 14 jackets which should be widely available on the UK market at the time of going to press. Nick and Rachel tested seven each, but in many cases the jackets come in both men’s and women’s versions (indicated by blue and pink dots ), so bear in mind you may find your perfect option in the other gender section of the test.

78 COUNTRY WALKING APRIL 2016

SNUG ’N ’ DRY A good waterproof means a bad day doesn’t have to mean a bad walk.

NB: WE ALWAY SPECIFY THE RECOMMENDED RETAIL PRICE (RRP) FOR CONSISTENCY. YOU MAY SEE THESE ITEMS SOLD FOR CONSIDERABLY LESS IN STORES AND ONLINE.

Country Walking always tests products for both men and women.

Our reviewers Nick Hallissey and Rachel Broomhead have notched up thousands of miles on foot, so they know the value of good kit at the right price. This test took them to the National Forest, the Lake District, the Nene Valley and the Brecon Beacons.

Waterproof

Buying Guide Waterproof jackets HOOD Look for three points of adjustment: one at the back and two at the sides, by your jawline. And a firm peak will keep rain out of your eyes.

Some hoods can be rolled up or even removed, but generally the makers assume that if you’ve put a waterproof on, you want the hood ready instantly, so they don’t bother with that.

ZIPS Where there’s a zip, there’s a chance of water ingress, so look carefully at the precautions your jacket takes to protect them. Most jackets have a flap of fabric above and below the zip.

The more secure (and usually pricier) option is a layer of waterproof tape over the top of the zip. This keeps the zip flush with the outer fabric.

VENTING Your jacket should close snugly around you to keep out wind and water, but allow you to vent heat when you’re warm. Look for adjustable cuffs, a drawcord-adjustable hem and under-arm ‘pit-zips’.

POCKETS Most jackets come with ‘handwarmer’ pockets, but they are often useless if you’re wearing a rucksack with a hip-belt, as you can’t access them. Thus a chest pocket becomes more important for stowing maps, routecards, phone or GPS.

WATERPROOFING LENGTH The perfect waterproof jacket for walking is longer at the back (to cover your hind quarters) than the front (to leave your thighs with room to move unimpeded). Look for the phrases scooped back or drop tail, which mean a longer back. Some technical jackets have a shorter cut to facilitate scrambling. If the front is long, it may have a two-way zip, which allows you to unzip the jacket upwards when you need to lift the thighs on a steep ascent.

You can take it as read that if a jacket appears in this guide, it has at least passed our waterproofing tests over several weeks of use. All of these were still beading water properly after multiple walks. And we’re confident that if you have a problem with any of these, the makers have a good enough customer service setup to offer repair or exchange within a reasonable timescale of purchase.

Turn over to read the tests…

APRIL 2016 COUNTRY WALKING 79

27 ROUTES with Ordnance Survey Maps

Britain’s est

WALKS APRIL 2016

SOUTH WEST SOUTH EAST

MIDLANDS

PHOTO: © REBECCA COLE/ALAMY

EAST

NORTH WEST

MISTS OVER THE MERE Vapour rises from the waters of Windermere as the morning sun warms the fells of the Fairfield Horseshoe. Find this picturesque perch on Walk 16.

Sights to savour

Link landmarks in the Peak District l Explore woods & waterfalls on Dartmoor’s fringes l Seek out Spring in the Yorkshire Wolds... plus more great walks

NORTH EAST

WALES

SCOTLAND

IRELAND

Britain’s est

WALKS

SOUTH WEST SOUTH EAST

Find a great walk near you...

MIDLANDS EAST

01 Cornwall Fowey & Gribben Head 02 Devon Okehampton

NORTH WEST

FAMILY WALK

NORTH EAST

03 Somerset Ham Hill & Montacute 04 Wiltshire Marleycombe Hill

WALES

26

05 Kent Dover to Deal

SCOTLAND

06 Kent Deal to Richborough

24

07 Buckinghamshire Bottom Woods

IRELAND

25

08 Herefordshire Bromyard 09 Warwickshire Wilmcote 10 Staffordshire Norbury 11 Derbyshire Higger Tor

16

FAMILY WALK

12 Cambridgeshire Boxworth 13 Norfolk Castle Acre

17

15

14 Cheshire Pale Heights

23

11

14

15 Greater Manchester Werneth Low 16 Cumbria Fairfield Horseshoe

19

18

10

CHALLENGE WALK

08

17 South Yorkshire Roche Abbey 18 North Yorkshire Ingleborough

13 09

21 22

20

12 07

19 North Yorkshire Hunmanby 20 Pembrokeshire Herbrandston to Dale

23 Conwy Mynydd Garthmyn 24 Borders St Abbs & Coldingham Loch 25 Borders Eyemouth 26 Stirling/Perth & Kinross Glen Lochay 27 West Sussex Coombes

How to use your routes WALK INFORMATION An estimate of how long the route will take, based on a pace of about two miles per hour, with allowances made for slower, hilly routes.

TERRAIN: Min 2,000ft ascent, sustained steepness and rocky or boggy ground.

A B

NAVIGATION: Good map-reading and compass skills required in places.

DISTANCE: Route is between 8-12 miles from start to finish.

TERRAIN: 3,000ft+ with sustained steep ascent/descent; possible scrambling.

W

N

S

E

92 COUNTRY WALKING APRIL 2016

GRADE Our routes are graded easy, moderate, challenging or occasionally extreme, depending on distance, terrain, elevation and ease of navigation. Easy and moderate walks are usually less than 8 miles with relatively gentle gradients. The table below shows how we grade our more challenging walks:

E

TRAILZILLA ID (on reverse of card) We upload all our walks to Trailzilla.com so subscribers can use the unique code displayed on the back of each route card to download and print the route.

For a full list of 2015 walks, visit www.lfto/countrywalkingroutesindex If you spot a route which needs updating, email cwroutes@bauermedia.co.uk

S

GRADIENT PROFILE Check the ascent and descent (hilliness) of the route with a quick glance at this profile.

27

u West Bay, Dorset, Sep 2015, Walk 4 – Point 2 Keep hedge on R to reach stile. u Wichenford, Worcs & Stoke Bruerne, Northants Dec 2015, Walks 9 & 10 – Trailzilla reference numbers are TZID28294 and TZID28295 respectively.

W

ABBREVIATIONS We have abbreviated left to L and right to R.

03

06 05

01

N

OUR EXPERTS All our routes are written by experienced and knowledgeable walkers who are experts at finding the best walks in their area and describing them clearly.

CLASSIC ROUTE

Route updates

challenging

22 Powys/Monmouthshire Sugar Loaf

02

extreme

21 Powys Llangatwg Escarpment

04

A B

NAVIGATION: Sound navigation skills required; route may be trackless.

DISTANCE: Route is more than 12 miles from start to finish.

MAPS (on reverse of route card) Follow the red route marked clearly on the map.

It’s essential to take the relevant Ordnance Survey map with you in case you get lost and inadvertently leave the area covered by our map.