The Vagabond Hiker

Hiking, trekking, and climbing the world

Lakeland Lockdown, Part 1:

The Southern Lake District

More than two years ago (it scarcely seems so long!) I wrote a short blog post based on nine days spent on the Eastern edge of England’s Lake District, unsure of when or even whether I would return to explore in more depth this amazing area. Last month, with no end in sight to the Lockdown and Hastings having lost its interest, I followed in the footsteps of Melville’s Ishmael:

Some years ago–never mind how long precisely–having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world

Certainly the Lake District can be considered one of the watery parts of the world. For the past 5+ weeks I have rambled over much of the more southerly portion from my base on Lake Windermere, exploring its fells and dales. This coming month — once the rains subside — I will continue my explorations of the northerly portion from my new base in Keswick.

During these trying times of armchair travels, enjoy with me some of this amazing scenery. . .

Morning mist in Kentmere Valley. I did two hikes from Kentmere, this one circling the valley, and a second mainly up on the fells.
A black-faced lamb in Kentmere Valley. Overgrazing has degraded much of the Lake District. Indeed, George Monbiot called it a “sheepwrecked” landscape.
Dry stone walls and bluebells in Kentmere Valley
A wooden bridge across Easedale Beck, virtually William Wordsworth’s back yard when he lived in Grasmere!
Helm Crag from Easedale
Grasmere from Helm Crag. In late May I did the first of several horseshoe hikes here.
Waterfalls along the Sour Milk Gill, heading up to Easedale Tarn and High Raise, the second of two hikes from Grasmere/Easedale
Easedale Tarn, on my way to High Raise
Codale Tarn vista from the High Raise loop
Atmospheric view descending from High Raise (762m, 2500ft)
Columbines (Aquilegia vulgaris), one of my faves
Vista of Lake Windermere from Brant Fell, a 10 minute walk from my apartment. At more than 10 miles long, Windermere is the largest lake in England.
Home Farm Pond along the Dales Way near Brant Fell. My weekly local 5 mile loop hike passed this picturesque spot.
Clouds and Windermere from School Knott. This high point was about 2 miles from my apartment.
Wood Cranesbill (Geranium sylvaticum)
High Green, Troutbeck. Troutbeck village was only a few minutes’ drive from my apartment. I walked a couple variants of the Wansfell Pike loop from here.
Perhaps Tree-mallow (Malva arborea)
Rydal Mount, Wordsworth’s house from 1813 until his death in 1850. It was a convenient starting point for several hikes I did, ranging from an easy circumambulation of Rydal Water and Grasmere to the iconic Fairfield Horseshoe.
Rydal Water (l) and Grasmere (the lake, not the village!), from the climb up above Rydal Mount and then traversing two minor peaks known as Sour Howes and Sallows.
Cotton grass (Eriophorum vaginatum)
A view towards St Sunday Crag from Fairfield. The Fairfield is a classic 10 mile horseshoe route popular with both hill walkers and fell runners.
The Vagabond Hiker on top of St Sunday Crag (841m). This extension was a bit more than I had bargained for, with my knees paying the price the next day.
Steps End, Rydal. I simply love the palette of greens here on a sunny day.
Grasmere
A gorgeous Copper Beech (Fagus sylvatica f. purpurea) along Grasmere
Dove Cottage, Grasmere, where Willam Wordsworth wrote many of his best-known poems.
Yellow Iris (Iris pseudacorus)
Foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea). Beautiful, but the entire plant is toxic.
Windermere from Loughrigg Fell, just west of the outdoor mecca of Ambleside
Coniston Old Man from Walna Scar Rd, the trailhead I used for this iconic traverse
Coniston Old Man summit vista showing the path down to Low Water
Coniston Water from the Old Man summit. Ruskin’s house is along there somewhere. . .
Malodorous Woundwort (Stachys sylvatica)
Old (l) and New Dudgeon Gill (r) Hotels and the Langdale Fells seen from Side Pike. Some of the most rugged topography in the southern Lakes, I hiked here four different days.
Oxendale Beck, Langdale. A beck is a stream through a valley whereas a Gill (from the Norse Ghyll) is a stream cascading down a ravine.
The Langdale Pikes and Valley from the Crinkle Crags
Harrison Stickle. The red line denotes my route, the highlight of a day of scrambling in Langdale.
Pavey Ark and Stickle Tarn. Pavey Ark features several climbing routes and a popular, easy scramble known as Jake’s Rake.
“The Band, ” heading up on the traverse of Bow Fell (r), partially obscured by clouds
Bow Fell summit block and black lamb
The Vagabond Hiker on Bow Fell summit (902m). Scafell Pike, the highest point in England, is just above my right knee.
My lunch view on the Bow Fell descent showing the Pike of Stickle (the clear protuberance). Some challenging scrambles on the Pike of Stickle remain for a future endeavor.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of my Lakeland Adventures next month.

Mountain Light,

The Vagabond Hiker

Walking Hastings Country Park

UPDATE 20 April: Well, Penzance is out this year as the hosts at my cottage are in residence as they cannot at present return to Spain. Instead, I will spend 6 weeks in an apartment at Windermere Lake in the Lake District. Also, my scheduled June group trips to the Baltic countries and Poland were cancelled; I will spend another month here in Hastings before leaving for the Lake District later in May. The flowers here have been absolutely gorgeous! Here is the link to the PDF of a PowerPoint that I made. Enjoy! The Vagabond Hiker

This spring is certainly shaping up differently than any of us expected. Already my trips to Jordan, the Azores, and Tunisia have been either cancelled or delayed until 2021. While I hope much of my remaining travel itinerary can go forward this year, during lock-down we should appreciate the nature around us. For me that means walking in my local park.

The wonderful 800+ acre Hastings Country Park & Nature Reserve surrounding my apartment fits the bill perfectly, and is a big reason I chose this area for my English sojourns. Although I have already shared a few photos on my blog (see my 4 December 2019 post), with spring here I thought I would share a few woodland and meadow scenes – and of course wildflowers! – that I’m enjoying in the coming weeks as I meander through the complex network of park trails.

Fingers crossed in May I’ll be heading out to Penzance in Cornwall to enjoy the wonderful landscapes in South West England.

Stay safe,

The Vagabond Hiker

View to East Hill and Rocklands (upper right) where I’m staying for seven weeks. Hastings Old Town is just beyond. Gorse, seen here, is prevalent all over southern England.
A stream-side path in Ecclesbourne Glen, the nearest of three glens that bisect the park.
A Beech on a rock
A stream in Fairlight Glen
Waterfall, Fairlight Glen
Lesser Celandine (Ficaria verna), a species of buttercup
Common Dog Violet (Viola riviniana). Unlike the very similar Sweet Violet, Dog Violet has no smell.
Wild Primrose (Primula vulgaris), true to its name the “first rose” of spring
An bizarre-looking old Oak tree in Ecclesbourne Glen
Wood Forget-me-not (Myosotis sylvatica), so small I almost missed them!
Bluebells and Wood Anemone. The bluebells are just beginning to bloom.
Blackthorn flowers. Blackthorn can be distinguished from Hawthorn as the latter tree flowers after leafing out.
Greater stitchwort (Stellaria holostea)
Warren Glen vista down to the English Channel
Detail of Red Dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum), a non-stinging variety
Magpies, common yet attractive
A wild Exmoor pony. In February the park introduced a new herd of six to help manage the landscape around Warren Glen after the previous herd was moved on to greener pastures.
A fox here at Rocklands. I suspect someone is feeding them as they seem to be bolder than I would have thought possible.

Day hikes on Cape Verde

Located just off the coast of Africa, over 1000 miles south of the Canary Islands, the Cape Verde (Cabo Verde in Portuguese) archipelago is a walker’s paradise. Our KE group spent almost two weeks exploring its rugged coastlines and fertile terraced volcanic slopes and immersing ourselves in the islands’ Creole Portuguese-African culture. Our trip started in the largest and most populated island, Santiago. A short flight then took us to the nearby island of Fogo, known for its wine and its eponymous volcano, the high point of the country at 2829m (9280 ft).

Topographic map of the Cape Verde archipelago. Our hikes were on Fogo in the Leeward islands to the south and Santo Antao, the northern most windward island.
Fogo, the highest point in Cape Verde. Our first hike skirted its western slopes.
Lava formations near Cha das Caldeiras, which translates as “Caldera Plain”
A crater near Cha das Caldeiras on Fogo, the high point of our short hike on the first day
Early morning on our hike to the summit of Fogo. We started early to beat the heat.
Unknown yellow flower on Fogo
A bit of scrambling on Fogo’s summit block
The Vagabond Hiker on the summit of Fogo, 2829m
View north from Fogo’s summit
Our third hike on the island of Fogo was through the Monte Velha forest towards the north coast
Trying out the zoom on my new Panasonic Lumix on this Cape Verde sparrow I saw on the Monte Velha forest walk. We also saw lots of Eurasian Kestrels throughout Cape Verde, but they were somewhat more challenging to photograph.
Road building Monte Velha forest. These rugged cobblestone roads were all over Cape Verde, some made originally by slaves

After three hikes in Fogo’s arid landscape, we flew to Sao Vicente and next morning took a short ferry to the most northerly island, Santo Antao. The group spent a week walking amidst the sub-tropical jagged mountains. Santo Antao is the second largest island and an absolute haven for hikers. (Due to the coronavirus, I chose to return to the UK after the first two outstanding walks). I hated to leave Cape Verde, a beautiful and remote walking destination with stunning views of rugged coastlines set in the middle of the turquoise blue ocean.

Our first hike on Santo Antao was from the village of Cha d’Orgueiro down to the coast
Another view of the Cha d’Orgueiro village to sea walk
Apple of Sodom plant. We saw a lot of these, which have some medicinal uses, on this hike
Detail of the flower of the Apple of Sodom
Joe looking out at the landscape on the Cha d’Orgueiro village to sea walk
The Vagabond Hiker on the Cha d’Orgueiro village to sea walk. The water channels reminded me of those on Madeira last year. Photo courtesy of Joe.
The small beach we reached after more than 1000m (3300 ft) descent
Of course, we then had about 400m (1300 ft) to ascend to our vehicle.
Cliffs and sea looking west into the sun
Our second hike on Santo Antao began just above the village we were staying in, Cha de Morte. It’s named for the one cemetery on the island which is nearby.
Some of our group near the start of the 1000-plus meter ascent to a plateau near the Topo da Coroa
We saw several locals getting water with their donkeys from a rare spring. Rainfall has decreased dramatically from when the Portuguese discovered these uninhabited islands in the fifteenth century.
Rock formations at the pass onto the plateau
The plateau and some goats. In the past it was much greener; now it is green only in autumn after the short rainy season.
An unidentified purple flower on the plateau above Cha de Morte
Some cave dwellings along the plateau. The high point of Santo Antao is Topo da Coroa, just visible in the background
A panorama shot looking back down from where we started at Cha de Morte
View back up to the plateau. Much of the trail we hiked this day was built by slaves.

Although I made it back to England without any problems, as I write this the other eleven are still hiking on Santo Antao. I am not certain when my next blog post will come. I have cancelled my next two trips, to Jordan and the Azores, which were to take place in the coming month. Instead, I will spend the next seven weeks here in Hastings, then take a train out to the far west of Cornwall (assuming travel within the country is permitted) where I have rented a cottage near the Southwest Coast Path for five weeks until mid-June. My current plan is to post from that special part of England. In the mean time, stay safe while enjoying the outdoors,

The Vagabond Hiker

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