Yuppee Magazine; My Edinburgh City-Break

Here's an account of my three-day Valentine's break to Edinburgh, my latest article for Yuppee Magazine. We focused on the Royal Mile, Edinburgh's popular tourist area, and hit all the key attractions whilst still having enough time to take it easy and enjoy a break away. It was fab, and another example of a great UK holiday. Read about it here

Weekly Walk #6 Abbots Ann Circular

It can be hard to find time to exercise in a busy work week, especially when you're catching up after a holiday, but thankfully, there's always a short circular walk to hand, be it a lap around the park, local woods, or simply around the block. This week, for weekly walk #6, I crammed in a short walk of the Abbots Ann estate after work, and was back in time for tea.

I parked in a tree lined car-park opposite the church and crossed over the road to walk a path opposite the graveyard. I came out in the village and took a turning up a residential street to emerge at the start of the Abbots Ann estate.

Now the walk really starts to feel like a circular as you follow a long winding path all the way to a barn and private woodland at the end. You can take a path to the left soon after emerging to cut out most of the walk and head straight back to the village, but I felt like pressing on.

I walked towards a road and farmhouse, before turning left to follow the edge of a field, and eventually took a right between trees into a second field, which I followed to a style at the end. I saw a hawk or maybe a buzzard as I walked the tree lined path, and followed it for a while as it swooped from branch to branch. If only my camera battery hadn't run flat.

As my camera died, here's the style in summer

I followed the path until I could see where I started back on the far left hand side, and followed the path to the road. I turned left and then almost immediately right to head through a small gate that looked like someone's garden, but was in fact a footpath between houses. I followed the path to the end and turned left through a tree lined path alongside the road, until I reached my car.

Another summery shot of the estate

It was a simple, short walk, but got my heart beating, and gave me the delight of fresh air and a few animal encounters; a healthy way to unwind after work.

Weekly Walk #5 My Not So Romantic Valentines Retreat

Quite a lot of people take valentines retreats for long romantic weekends, and I suppose that's what my recent holiday looked like, besides the fact me and my girlfriend had booked without valentines in mind. In our not so romantic approach to our holiday, we took my weekly walk to Arthur's Seat.

I'd looked over directions from the net and had a good idea of where I wanted to go, but found my directions started over the Salisbury Crags and not the alternative summit path I had in mind. I went with my gut, and took the path to the right of the summit path up a grassy slope heading steeply upwards.

We soon found great views over Edinburgh as we continued up a rocky section towards the top. We kept in as the path split off, and climbed steep stairs heading left through a pass in the hillside, which looked a bit like the stairs to Sheloab's Lair in the Lord of the Rings.

We re-connected with the summit path and reached a plateau overlooking Leith. A friendly Scotsman passed in his kilt as he completed the walk for charity, and bid us farewell as we took the short walk to the summit, which had hand-rails to steady us against the wind. The final section was relatively steep but offered great views of the distant snowy mountains. I even got a bird to pose.

After a short rest, we continued down the other side of the summit and across an open section to zig-zagging stairs. I picked up my pace as I skipped my way down to the road at the base.

Instead of taking the easy volunteer path, we ascended again up the Salisbury Crags. The slope was steep and quite slippy, but once again gave spectacular views on the other side of Edinburgh.

The path descended gradually to the start of the summit path where we had begun. We headed back to the Royal Mile and warmed up over a Turkish Coffee, a slightly more romantic end to our hill climb.

Weekly Walk #4 A Walk By the Ramblers

Each week I take a walk near my home in Wiltshire and post my adventure here with pictures, this week setting out on a four mile walk from Lockerley, Hampshire.

I used the Ramblers 'Get Out and Walk' Booklet for the Test Valley area. The Ramblers are a great organisation who help walkers access thousands of paths across the counrty, and I even saw their handy-work in the form of an improved gate. I parked at Butts Green and set out though a narrow passage past a garden and into a field.

I passed a farm house up to a silo and entered another field, to find a complication not written in the guide; a field full of cows. I took a wide route around, but found myself sinking rapidly into boot sucking mud. I skipped quick as I could into the grassier field, which was fun, until an angry cow appeared behind, and I thought it best to quickly edge out of sight.

 

I found easier terrain after the farmer's field and headed down through a gate and along a narrow, hedged lined passage. A few gates and fields later and I found myself at Telegraph House, a former Telegraph signal station. I continued into Gatmore Copse before taking a track to a hill top path overlooking Lockerley where I began.  

I was delighted to have two Buzzards soar overhead as I strolled down the hill. They'd almost passed by the time I reached for my camera, but I caught a passing shot. It proved no guide can guess the delights you might encounter whilst walking in the country, and had me thinking of joining the Ramblers myself.

My Top Five Beers of the Winter Ales Festival

I went to the National Winter Ales Festival in Manchester last week. Have to say the top beers for me, were;

• Brentwood, BBC 2
• Marble, Stouter Stout (Pint at the Marble Arch was yummy too)
• Heart of Wales, High as a kite
• Red Willow, Heartless
• Okell's, Olaf

Find out more of what I got up to in this article on Yuppee Magazine.

http://www.yuppee.com/2013/02/02/winter-ales-festival-two-days-sampling-in-manchester/

A Mad Dash - Weekly Walk #3

I'd been looking forward to a two hour walk from Old Sarum, an Iron Age Hill Fort and site of the original Salisbury, so was disheartened to discover I only had an hour before the car-park closed. I decided to give it a go, and set out to see how far I could get.

I set off at my fastest pace down the hilly car-park road, and took a narrow path along open fields. I soon crossed a busy main road and continued towards a cottage.

I charged ahead on the sandy path and admired the towering fort behind me, before I ran out of time (and breath) and decided to call it quits and head back for a gentle amble.

I took lots of pictures of the view overlooking Salisbury Cathedral.

I'll complete the walk one morning to give me lots of time. There were great views on the first quarter, and I look forward to discovering what the rest of the walk has to offer.