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.

La Gomera – jewel of the Canaries

(with two bonus Tenerife hikes)

La Gomera is known as the Walkers Island due to a labyrinth of wonderful footpaths which snake through pockets of cloud forest, timeless villages and colorful flora. Its uninterrupted coastal views and dramatic volcanic landscapes make it the perfect destination for a Canary Islands walking holiday and a distinct change from my hikes on nearby Lanzarote (see by previous two blog posts from there). I spent six days walking this wonderful island with a KE Adventures group of 14 clients and a very knowledgeable, enthusiastic guide. We flew into Tenerife South airport and took the one hour ferry from Tenerife to the port of San Sebastian, the largest town on La Gomera. After a somewhat less than restful night at our hotel – due to Carnival – we transferred up to the Garajonay National Park for our first hike. . .

Physical Map of La Gomera. Roughly circular and about 14 miles in diameter, this rugged volcanic island has not had an eruption in millions of years. Red triangles indicate the towns and villages where we stayed. Garajonay National Park is seen in the center.
Some of our group of 14 clients and one guide heading through the cloud forest of Garajonay National Park on day 1
View from Alto de Garajonay (1484m), the high point on La Gomera. Strong winds from the southeast on our first couple of days walking brought a shroud of Saharan sand and disrupted flights in Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote.
A zoom photo of a kestrel cowering from the wind at Alto de Garajonay. Buzzards were observed huddled in the forest rather than soaring this day.
A derelict vineyard house of typical Gomeran dry stone architecture in the village of Chipude where we stayed after our first day’s walk. The village, not this house.
A small parish church in Chipude’s square. Unlike in mainland Spain, the Canarians don’t seem to understand the concept of a plaza. If a town or village does have one, it is usually simply a large expanse of cement or paving stones.
The village of El Cercado at the start of our day 2 walk
Barranco del Agua, one of many deep ravines we crossed during the week
A forest path near Las Hayas, Garajonay National Park. Many of the paths at higher elevations were reminiscent of the island of Madeira (see my blog post from last March), with laurel and heather trees among many other species.
Our first view of Vallehermoso, where we stayed for two nights. Although the winds were reduced somewhat, visibility on day 2 was still fairly poor.
Coastal view from near the Hermitage of Santa Clara, seen on our circular walk from Vallehermoso on day 3.
Vallehermoso in the morning of day 4. Our guide’s family was from this picturesque town.
Another view of Vallehermoso, with Roque Cano on the right
A Tangier Pea (Lathyrus tingitanus)
Some of our group approaching the Mirador de Abrante on day 4. The desert-like landscape was quite a change from the cloud forest at higher elevations.
Atmospheric cliff-side view from the Mirador de Abrante as the mist rolls in. We hiked the very steep trail down to Agulo, seen below.
Coastal view from Agulo with the hamlet of Lepe and the fishing harbor of Hermigua beyond
Upper Hermigua, seen on the morning of day 5. Overall this town extends several kilometers along the valley.
A zoom photo of Pico del Teide (3718m, or 12,200 ft) taken from above Hermigua. This was our first view of the highest mountain in Spain, on the island of Tenerife.
Coastal view from above Hermigua. By day 5 the usual northeast trade winds had cleared the air.
Completing our circular walk on day 5, this is a view across Hermigua valley and beach, clearly showing the terraced agricultural fields that predominate on La Gomera
Pericallis steetzii, an aster endemic to La Gomera, seen at the start of day 6. For this final day hiking, we completed more than 12 miles on the long distance GR131 that crosses six of the Canary Islands.
Detail of Blue Tajinaste, another Canarian endemic, with a bee
Vista from the Mirador del Morro de Agando, one of the most spectacular viewpoints on the island
Detail of the laurisilva forest at Garajonay National Park. The laurel branches contain whole ecosystems.
Vista of Pico del Teide with Blue Tajinaste in the foreground
An old holloway in Garajonay National Park. The park occupies about 15 square miles in the center of La Gomera and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986.
Landscape looking south as we descended on the GR131 to San Sebastian. More farming terraces are evident here, as were signs of sheep and goats, although we never actually saw many. Most of the younger generation have left the hard rural life of La Gomera for the city in Tenerife or mainland Spain.
The port of San Sebastian. We had come full circle on the island!

After a week on La Gomera, rather than return to depressing weather in England, I chose to extend my holiday with four nights in Vilaflor, at 1400 meters (about 4600 ft) the highest town on the island of Tenerife and one of the highest in Spain. It is located on the southern flanks of el Teide and is a convenient base for any number of walks. Although I didn’t climb el Teide due to the red tape, I did go on a couple of wonderful nearby hikes. . .

The town plaza in Vilaflor, start of my first hike, the popular Paisaje Lunar
Vilaflor from near the start of the Paisaje Lunar hike
Abandoned-looking farm seen on the Paisaje Lunar loop hike
Paisaje Lunar trail through the Parque Natural Corona Forestal. The pine trees are Pinus canariensis and this nature reserve contains perhaps the largest surviving tract of these trees.
A rock formation in the Parque Natural Corona Forestal.
Lunar landscape at about 2000m (6560 ft) elevation, which gives the walk its name. It is a bit reminiscent of Bryce Canyon in Utah (zoom)
A fine example of Pinus canariensis, seen on the return loop
My second hike was the traverse of Alto de Guajara, the fourth highest mountain on Tenerife at 2717 meters (8914 ft). Here Pico del Teide, the Parador at the trailhead (bottom center), and the Roques de Garcia (on the left) may be seen.
From the Alto de Guaraja summit, Gran Canaria may be seen above the clouds. My first visit to the Canaries was two weeks on that island – 31 years ago!
Another view from the Alto de Guaraja summit. La Gomera is the island visible behind the rocks in the center of the photo.
A female Gallotia galloti galloti, the Southern Tenerife Lizard. I had just woken her up, which is why she stayed still for this photo.
Utah-like rock formations on the descent from the peak. I couldn’t resist some illicit scrambling.

After a 15 hour layover at Heathrow, later today I leave for my first “city break” in 2020 – Lisbon. Following three days in the Portuguese capital, I will spend nearly two weeks walking on the Cape Verde Islands, located in the Atlantic off the coast of Senegal, about 1000 miles south of the Canaries.

Wherever you may happen to be, keep walking and enjoying nature.

The Vagabond Hiker

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