Tag Archives: hiking

Oct 12 2026
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Daily Post, Landscape

Housey Crags

Sunday 11th October 2026, 9.40am (day 5,526)

Housey Crag, 11/10/26

Coming all the way to the north-east of England only to see 90 minutes of football would have been a bit of a waste, whatever the result. I stayed over and allowed myself the opportunity to be somewhere very beautiful by 9.45 the following morning. 400 million years ago all this area was apparently a volcano the size of modern-day Mount Etna: Housey Crags are the remnant of one of its old lava vents, massively eroded.

Of all the blog’s 4,500-plus pictures taken in England, this is the second-most northerly, behind only the one in Berwick (10/7/21). For more pictures from the day, see my County Tops blog.

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Sep 21 2026
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Daily Post, Landscape

Stoodley Pike, once more

Sunday 20th September 2026, 12.30pm (day 5,505)

Stoodley Pike, 20/9/26

It’s a stock local shot, from a stock local walk, but all the same, there are worse things to do on the last Sunday of the summer than to trundle out in the direction of Stoodley Pike. Not that I actually climbed up to the monument itself today, but it doesn’t photograph any better there than it does from below.

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Sep 09 2026
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Daily Post, Landscape

On the Miners’ Track

Tuesday 8th September 2026, 1.05pm (day 5,493)

Down off Yr Wyddfa, 8/9/26

Begging the pardons of Kinder Scout and Broad Law, which both might feel they qualify, but it was time I went up a proper mountain, and Yr Wyddfa (a.k.a. Snowdon), the highest peak in Wales at 3,560 feet, is a big pointy beast and definitely counts. I will additionally note that Wales can offer alcoholic beverages at its highest point thanks to the summit cafe, though I stuck to tea. No summit views today though, thanks to cloud up high, so let’s choose this shot featuring the day’s walking companion — my sister Vicki making a second appearance in a fortnight, seen here on the way down.

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Jun 30 2026
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Daily Post, Landscape

I can see the office from here

Monday 29th June 2026, 1.05pm (day 5,422)

Walker and Manchester, 29/6/26

Well, it’s somewhere over there, anyway. But far enough away to be mostly out of mind. Better and more uplifting things were to be found today on the summit of Kinder Scout, in the Peak District; you can read more about this on my other blog.

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Jun 23 2026
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Daily Post, Landscape

View from Hillesøya to Håja

Tuesday 23rd June 2026, 11.30am (day 5,416)

View to Håja, 23/6/26

Climbing to the summit of Hillesøya, the sibling island to Sommarøy, made for some needed exercise in the morning, for me, Clare and the two hikers you see here, as well as a bunch of others who hauled themselves up its rocky and awkward slopes. Still, it’s undoubtedly an easier walk than Håja, in the background. This pointy little island apparently inspired the shape of the ‘Arctic Cathedral’ in Tromsø, which can be seen on the left-hand side of the first picture I took of the city back in March 2017.

One full day to go here, and you’ll probably be seeing another landscape tomorrow — but there are reasons for that.

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May 12 2026
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Daily Post, Landscape

Manchester, from Scholes Height

Monday 11th May 2026, 12.55pm (day 5,373)

Manchester and wind turbine, 11/5/26

This is the view from a cattle grid at the end of Crowthorn Road, above the village of Edgworth, passed on my latest County Top walk (see my other blog) — a good walk with decent views, as you can tell. That’s definitely Manchester over there. There is one thing I would remove from this composition: and no, it’s not the wind turbine.

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Apr 26 2026
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

On Oxenhope Moor

Saturday 25th April 2026, 12.35pm (day 5,357)

Ewe, lamb and moor, 25/4/26

Too nice a day to spend it inside whether that was home, the pub or on a train somewhere. And I needed the exercise, hence my walking north from home over the moors to Oxenhope — where, OK, I might have visited a pub, but only after walking 7½ miles to get there. For a chunk of this journey I was being closely watched by various specimens of Ovis aries, both mature and young — the lambs are definitely out.

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Apr 09 2026
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Art and architecture, Daily Post, Landscape

The Uffington White Horse

Wednesday 8th April 2026, 10.20am (day 5,340)

Uffington White Horse, 8/4/26

The Uffington White Horse is 360 feet long (110m if you insist) and may be over 3,000 years old. Most of the hill figures carved into the chalk downlands of southern and eastern England are modern imitations but this is the real aboriginal deal. Like most art, it’s designed to be seen straight on, not at some oblique angle from just above its top right-hand corner. But it’s still mighty impressive. Whomever it was first dreamt this up and then managed to organise its production — I say, good for them.

For more pictures from today’s walk see my other blog.

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Dec 22 2025
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Daily Post, Landscape

Horse power

Saturday 20th December 2025, 11.55am (day 5,231)

Fiddlers Ferry, 20/12/25

Actually the pun in the title is inaccurate, as the Fiddlers’ Ferry power station, on the banks of the Mersey between Widnes and Warrington, has been decommissioned; the cooling towers are scheduled for demolition at some point in the future. This view will pass into history at that point. I doubt the horses care, though. Taken on the way to bag my 111th County Top, that of Warrington.

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Sep 09 2025
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Daily Post, Interior

Drying out day

Monday 8th September 2025, 2.10pm (day 5,128)

Drying boots, 8/9/25

However you interpret the title of this post, as I get older the idea of a Day of Recovery is becoming more appealing. I needed it — and the boots certainly did, after Friday’s sogginess and then, two days stuffed into a pack. I think they’re feeling better after a day sat around doing very little. As am I.

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