Blog :: Geograph Britain and Ireland

Blog Entries by Geograph Users

Back roads from Okehampton to North Tawton

1 months ago

A walk along the Devonshire Heartland Way (DHW), and then the Tarka Trail from just outside Okehampton to North Tawton. It was a chance to collect some new squares and use these two long distance paths. The DHW was little used, and very muddy in places. The Tarka Trail was mainly on roads with a final stretch beside the River Taw. It took four hours You can see this trip plotted on a map on the Geo-trips page Link

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Not quite Ten Tors on Dartmoor

2 months ago

A seven mile walk which visited ten named tops on Dartmoor, but not all were named as tors. The walk was timed for the Tuesday after the Ten Tors expedition - why should young people have all the fun? - but there was no need for overnight camping, and the walk was rather shorter than the 35 or 45 or 55 miles of the weekend expedition You can see this trip plotted on a map on the Geo-trips page Link

geo-trip walk

Snowdon via Miners' and Llanberis Paths

2 months ago

Snowdon from Llanberis. First caught the Snowdon Sherpa bus to Pen-y-pass then walked up via the Miners' Track and down the Llanberis Path. You can see this trip plotted on a map on the Geo-trips page Link

geo-trip walk

Remember the Battle of Tewkesbury

2 months ago

Today, 4th May 2014, is the 543rd anniversary of the Battle of Tewkesbury, a significant battle in the Wars of the Roses. Margaret of Anjou, Queen of the Lancastrian King Henry VI and their son Edward, Prince of Wales were marching north aiming to cross the River Severn at Tewkesbury to meet up with supporters in Wales. As the Lancastrian Army headed north it was being pursued by the Yorkist Army under King Edward IV. This pursuit culminated in the bloody battle at Tewkesbury which...

battle of tewkesbury

The 2014 season begins

2 months ago

After summarising my winter activities and spring plans, I can now update with the good news (for me anyway) after a couple of weeks of long days I took my first long trip, extending my gap between points by almost ten miles. I used a ruler on the map to measure where I could go, and at the time the shortest journey was to Kent as opposite Cheltenham, either Dover (the longest) or Dungeness, which was a lot easier. Photo I plumped for the compromise, still adding more than the...

seaside kent sussex dungeness lighthouse

The source grounds of the Afon Irfon

2 months ago

14 Apr 2014 A walk to start the season, with relatively little ascent but some tough terrain. Starting from the Tregaron-Abergwesyn mountain road near the turn-off to Dolgoch hostel Photo, I took the forestry track onto Bryn Crwn Photo, gaining height over Nant-ystalwyn farmhouse at the bottom of Dyffryn Tywi Photo fairly quickly. The landmark waterfall Photo visible from the road is mostly above this track, with a few further cascades after passing the...

geo-trip walk elenydd wales geographing trip report

Tighnaspeur - a circular walk

4 months ago

This was to be quite a significant walk for me as it involved completing my final grid square in the eastern block of the island. Furthermore, it was a 'green' gridsquare - and little wonder! Not only is it situated in one of the remotest parts of the island, but it has nothing within its 1 km square to entice the everyday walker. The Abhainn Staoin (bending/crooked river) flows diagonally NW to SE, almost dividing NR 4252 in half, but otherwise there is nothing but contours and a small...

Looking ahead

5 months ago

I was delighted this week when it was as light at 5pm as it was at midday (OK, we all know it's really 1pm and 6pm, but this country has to be out of step with the rest of Europe), as after a couple of months hibernating and only able to do the odd trip south at weekends when there was little or no traffic slowing me down I could now start the first ventures beyond the main red blob on my map again. My Fuji compact, bought after the Olympus had finally stopped producing uncorrupted photos,...

planning driving maps

Keeping the momentum

9 months ago

Following my last entry I had about six weeks before the clocks go back (less time now) and wasn't going to make a fool of myself trying to get anywhere really ambitious to get held up and it get dark before I made it there. As it happened I found a few old road signs in Henley on Thames after checking because there was one known there, none were new to me but better condition, plus one which may or may not be council issued which certainly was new to me, no way to river. In the end the one I...

willesden cricklewood henley-on-thames geotrips norwood sutton southall

Little Minch circuit by kayak

9 months ago

For four years or more I've nurtured an ambition to paddle across the Little Minch. The chart has sat open in my front room for uncounted hours as I fantasised about seeing for myself the islands, skerries and buoys that make this bit of sea amongst the most interesting. So when I got a week of holiday at the beginning of September, I packed a sleeping bag and tent into my kayak, along with 4 days' worth of food and a camera, and headed out from Bornesketaig. It only took half an hour...

geo-trip boat trip completing a hectad

Mission complete

10 months ago

July 29th actually saw the completion of a two year mission here, after uploading about 4,000 archives over winter 2010 I began making specific Geographing trips, with ambitions to get into all the compass points and adjacent myriads. I was very busy last year doing a trip a week on average during the long days, sharing the driving, and knocked off myriads SZ, TV, TR and finally TM after having driven into a field the first time and having to return to actually cross the line on the following...

myriads breaking records long distances

Hyskeir and Rum kayak trip

12 months ago

I'm normally wary of using the word "remote", as it's such a subjective thing. To a Londoner, the Scottish Highlands probably seems very remote, but for those of us who live there, it's England and the south that seems remote. However, even in my book, Hyskeir qualifies as "remote", with the nearest habitation more than 10km away across often rough seas. I'd had my eye on Hyskeir for a couple of years before I got free time and good weather co-temporally. The idea was to get out to the...

geo-trip boat trip completing a hectad

The new season

13 months ago

This year I set myself three simple goals for the photography season (April-September while the clocks are forward), to beat the distance between two squares, ideally enough to potentially beat two myriads horizontally or vertically (nowhere like diagonally which adds 50 miles), from 122.8 miles to beyond 125, which I did shortly after, adding one just short of 130 in Ashford. South of London is now completed unless I do the old run using Waterloo Bridge when it was still free to cross during...

pre-worboys sign essex braintree

Overzealous Policing

13 months ago

A lovely day in the sunshine, a chance to go out and about taking photos in the countryside. Today – Saturday 1 June 2013 – I decided to head out to West Somerset. I hadn’t been there for a while, and there were a few Geograph squares just north of Wimbleball I thought I’d go and have a nice long walk in the sunshine there. Parking at around 3:30pm and making sure my GPS satellite was on, I headed out from the lake towards Withiel Florey and Treborough, as I got back to where I started at...

Glas Bheinn's spurs

13 months ago

OK, so I'd just learnt this new term 'spur' and was keen to get as much usage out of it as possible; plus there were several gridsquares I wanted to bag in the area and the forecast for the day looked good. Not having been able to persuade any friends to come a walk with me (they've all grown wise to what that term means!), and knowing I'd be doing a lot of gratuitous walking, I set off solo on what was to be a long day's walk. I'd come prepared with enough food for an army. Reluctantly...

Walk Islay 2013 - Ascent of Beinn a' Chaolais, Jura

14 months ago

It was the day we'd been waiting for all week, which doesn't sound like a long time, but in a week of unsettled weather with several walks having had to be modified or cancelled, the highlight of the week, the long awaited ascent of Jura's lowest Pap was anticipated with anxiety. Would the weather put paid to this eagerly anticipated event? The forecast had looked good for Friday all week, but often it changes at the last minute. I logged onto XC weather the night before and peered over my...

Gortantoid to Finlaggan

14 months ago

This is the last in my latest series of walks. It's taken a lot of photo manipulation and working out which photo relates to which gridsquare, so a lot of time. Don't expect to see me on here for about another year! Just kidding, this thing is far too addictive for that to be the case. Sadly, though, there's only so much manipulating that can enhance boring photos and so I apologize in advance for the lack of interest in these photos; the weather was poor and, whilst the scenery was more...

The new season 2013

14 months ago

The new season officially kicked off two weeks ago, with the clocks going forward, allowing my freedom to go wherever I wanted given the opportunity before it got dark. The first was a shortish run to the Sussex border as there was a gap without any red squares it was easy to fill in, and a week later finally got to Cuckfield to get this wonderful pair of signs only found because of Dave Spicer. Photo I have a list of trips for 2013 now, that was the first, mainly as old signs are...

ambition hectads pre-worboys sign

Glen Beanie circular walk, Glen Shee

15 months ago

Our plans to do some hillwalking had been thwarted by the heavy snowfall of recent weeks, but we remained undeterred from doing some serious walking - my daughter and I that is. I simply revised my 'wish list'. Unlike when I am on Islay, constantly perusing the maps for gridsquares yet unvisited, I was looking at a totally green map and so could choose anywhere, as long as it wasn't too risky. I chose Glen Beanie. originally my wish list had included a circular trip which took in both Loch...

Liverpool - one hour ashore and one hour afloat

15 months ago

On what was - for me - a rare foray south of Hadrian’s Wall, I had the opportunity to visit Liverpool – opportunity in this case meaning just two hours. Using the ferry from Woodside to the Pier Head, this involved a short cruise on the Mersey, followed by one hour to explore a little of Liverpool’s waterfront - with the much-photographed Royal Iris of the Mersey performing ferry duty between Birkenhead and Liverpool. Photo Photo Photo Photo In Greek...

city town centre economy tourism river docks sculpture architecture

Loch Cam and Loch Drolsay Circular Walk, Islay

15 months ago

This was to be my third or fourth visit to what is known as the Sorn Valley in the centre (ish) of the island. The area is difficult to access and some gridsquares are therefore really only accessible by repeating some parts of previous walks. This is not a complaint, of course, particularly when the weather is as glorious as it was today. Angus, the friendly farmer of both Scarrabus and Balole farms met us at the deer gate Photo and welcomed us, advising us that we need not fear...

Into the new year

15 months ago

I was stymied from posting for most of January due to 'upgrading' to Windows 8 and then discovering that my machine wouldn't run for more than a few minutes before freezing. However, I did eventually get started and was able to post my January backlog then move on with February - blessed relief to be back on site. On the 12th of January I filled in some of the local scenery that I have been neglecting since the 1970s with a wander round Worcester - Photo Photo Photo...

industrial archaeology steam railway steam engine colliery

Giur-bheinn and Margadale Circular, Islay

15 months ago

Having my daughter home for the Easter holidays, combined with (finally) glorious weather meant that I just couldn't wait to be out. This was a reconnaisance walk for the forthcoming Walk Islay week on which I'd been asked to lead a walk up this modest hill. Being one of my favourite hills and being near one of my favourite ruins, I decided to combine the two and make it into a circular walk. After much research and enquiry, I've recently discovered that 'Giùr' is an Islay word for crouching...

In the lee of Beinn Dubh, Islay

15 months ago

We nearly didn't go on this walk. The cold north-easterly wind did blow and we had planned to walk on Islay's eastern shores; well, not shores exactly; that just sounded better. I had worked out a circular route, starting at Ballygrant quarry, walking up the track to Lossit Farm, down to the bothy at Baleachdrach and then southwards at the foot of Beinn Dubh to Lochs Fada and Leathann and back to the road and the car. It was all familiar territory to me, although I have only done all the...

Ancient Ileach company on Mother's Day

15 months ago

Feeling a little sorry for myself as it was my first Mother's Day on my own - not that we had ever made much of a fuss about it in our family - I decided to pack a picnic and gain some more Islay gridsquares. After all, that was my favourite thing to do and I didn't mind doing it on my own so would be less likely to indulge in a bout of self-pity. Perhaps my least visited area of the island is the Rhinns peninsula. I'm not sure why. But I had long ago noticed on the map the curious name of...