Great Britain – Page 5

Walking Hastings Country Park

April 1, 2020

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.

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.

Warren Glen vista down to the English Channel

Detail of Red Dead-nettle (*Lamium purpureum*), a non-stinging variety

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.

East Sussex and the South Downs Way

December 4, 2019

Rain during the last two days here on Lanzarote gave me time to pull together some of the photos from the south of England I’ve taken this past year. Throughout 2019 when I haven’t been traveling, Hastings and the surrounding area of East Sussex on the south coast of England have been my home. Interesting topography, a relatively convenient location, and the English Channel all contributed to my choice. In 2020 I plan on even more extensive travel, centering on Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Africa. Between trips, however, I will once again find myself on England’s South Coast, so I thought I would share some of my photos, including highlights of a two day circular hike on the South Downs Way.

Hastings Pier and a spring storm. This photo was from an AirBnb rental on the Grand Parade in St Leonards, the town immediately adjoining Hastings to the West.

A late afternoon view from the balcony of another AirBnb apartment I rented in St Leonards. These sea front apartments were reasonably priced in the off season, but were too expensive for me during the summer.

Warrior Square in St Leonards, allegedly the largest waterfront garden in England

Rocklands on East Hill seen from Hastings Country Park. I discovered Rocklands from hiking in the area and have made it my home in Hastings ever since. The apartment building is to the right of the brick Rocklands House, partially hidden by a chestnut tree.

Sunrise from the balcony of my apartment in Rocklands. The property is surrounded on three sides by the park. Very peaceful as it allows neither children nor dogs, it is only a 15 minute walk down (and about 20 minutes back up!) to all the amenities of Hastings Old Town.

Another coastal view in Hastings Country Park. The yellow shrubs are gorse. At over 850 acres, the park is a fantastic and diverse area for hiking, picnicking, and simply enjoying nature. And some days there is sun!

Church Square, Rye. I spent a long weekend in the nearby ancient town of Rye, attending a chamber music festival.

Castle Water, Camber. Within a short walk of Rye, it is a great location for watching both resident and migratory birds.

The restored Bodiam Castle, a National Trust property about a half hour drive along country lanes from Hastings. Nearby Hastings and Camber castle are just ruins, but Bodiam gives a good sense of medieval life, at least for the fortunate few.

Eastbourne, from the start of the South Downs Way. It is the next good-sized town, a half hour drive west of Hastings along the coast. The South Downs Way traverses about 100 miles along the chalk downs of Sussex and Hampshire, from here to Winchester. I walked a 21 mile, two day circular portion.

View of chalk cliffs and the English Channel along the Seven Sisters, South Downs Way

Panorama of Cuckmere Haven and Seven Sisters Country Park from the South Downs Way, which headed inland here.

A picturesque cottage along the South Downs Way

Inland forest path along the South Downs Way

The bucolic Alfriston seen from the north loop of the South Downs Way

Unidentified pink flowers along the South Downs Way

Deans Place Hotel, Alfriston, where I spent the night. Decidedly not slumming!

I’m in the process of making some changes to this website. The most obvious is that I replaced the increasingly cumbersome Archives at the bottom of the Homepage with a drop down hierarchical Categories menu listing the continents and countries from which I’ve blogged. At least I’ll be able to find some of my earlier posts now!

I’ve tentatively planned most of my travel for 2020 and will share it with you in a couple of weeks in a year-end blog post. In the meantime, enjoy an active Holiday Season with family and friends!

The Vagabond Hiker

Hikes & Scrambles in the Highlands of Scotland

May 26, 2019

One doesn’t associate abundant sun with the Scottish Highlands, so the fantastic weather I experienced during my first three days was bound to end. As I type this blog the rains are pelting down and the fine weather is just a fading memory. . .

With Maggie on three days and by myself for another week, I explored some of the best of what the Glencoe area has to offer the walker as I hope the following photos will attest.

Glencoe Lochan, a short walk from the Village of Glencoe. There are many easy paths to explore around the village.

A pleasant broken scramble on A’ Chailleach. It was a great afternoon warm up with Maggie, featuring plenty of escape routes and unlimited easy to moderate scrambling options to choose from. The long, steep descent on the “grassy” slopes was less enjoyable.

Hidden (aka Lost) Valley from the trailhead on the A82. The eastern and central of the Three Sisters that overlook the Pass of Glencoe from the south are seen here.

Waterfalls along the stream as I headed up into Hidden Valley, a pleasant morning excursion even with clouds and light rain.

After an hour I reached the “hanging” Hidden Valley, seen here. The view towards the headwall and Bidean nam Bian – at 1150m the highest point around Glencoe – was completely obscured by clouds.

On returning to the trailhead, I took this atmospheric shot looking west along A82 and the Pass of Glencoe

Buachaille Etive Mor, the Queen of Scottish Mountains, from the A82 trailhead a few miles out of Glencoe. Its highest peak, Stob Dearg, is seen on the left. I did a hike with Maggie and a solo scramble from this trailhead. The hike was a traverse of several peaks on Bucky. The normal ascent route up the Coire na Tulaich towards the obvious col is clearly seen here.

View north from Stob na Doire toward Ben Nevis, the large round dome. All the exciting scrambling and climbing on the Ben is from the north while the Pony Track is along this southern side.

Aonach Eagach, the most famous knife edge ridge scramble on the Scottish mainland, as seen from Stob Coire Altruim (zoom). The 3 1/2 km notched ridge is just begging to be traversed. Sadly, the weather never did cooperate enough for me to attempt it.

Looking back east along our Buachaille Etive Mor traverse route from Stobna na Broige. A very pleasant hike with fantastic views on a sunny day.

After a descent from the ridge, the River Coupall provided a great place to cool our feet.

A slightly different angle on Buachaille Etive Mor’s Stob Dearg from the A82 trailhead. Here I did a scramble called the Curved Ridge, which began with an approach around the base of the cliffs to the left here.

My first attempt on the route missed the Curved Ridge altogether! It ended near here with some sketchy scrambling on steep, loose rock. Rather than continue, I retraced my route and eventually made the summit by the Curved Ridge proper. I descended by the normal hiking path.

Stob Dearg summit view east toward Rannoch Moor

Stob Dearg summit view north with the dome of Ben Nevis in the distance

A final tough hike I did went up the Coire nan Lochan to the eponymous peak at its head. Here the central and western of the Three Sisters are seen from the trailhead along the A82.

View up the Coire nan Lochan with some of the many waterfalls.

Pool and waterfall along the Coire nan Lochan

View toward the A82 with the east end of Aonach Eagach. I saw six red deer (what we call elk), but they were feeding too far away for a good photo.

View of the Three Lakes from the beginning of the eastern ridge of Stob Coire nan Lochan. Many walkers chose these picturesque lakes as a worthy objective for the day.

Higher up all was in the mist. Here I am looking up the eastern ridge approach on Stob Coire nan Lochan, my objective for the day. The summit is far away in the mist. . .

Some misty scrambling along Stob Coire nan Lochan. Nothing difficult, but route finding can be tricky descending in the fog.

Exciting view south from the summit of Stob Coire nan Lochan towards Bidean nam Bian

The Vagabond Hiker on the summit of Stob Coire nan Lochan (1115m). I relaxed on the summit for nearly an hour, but it never did clear.

Some great hikes and scrambles, but in almost two weeks I feel that I have barely scratched the surface of what the Glencoe area, let alone the Western Highlands, has to offer. I never did climb Ben Nevis (less than an hour drive from my cottage to the trailhead), largely because I wanted to do it by The Ledges, a moderate scrambling route, rather than join the conga line along the Pony Track, and the weather just didn’t cooperate. Well, there’s always the next time. . .

Now its back to the sunny south of England for 10 days until my next adventure, with Maggie in the Spanish Pyrenees. Until then, keep hiking.

The Vagabond Hiker

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