Wigtwizzle - Norman Smith's Travel Blog.: April 2018

Bluebells in Old Spring Wood.

This is a set of photos I took in Old Spring Wood which is just outside of Thorpe Salvin in South Yorkshire. They look pretty good but I think they were still a week or two away from their best. A couple of weeks before I was in the woodland when the wood anemone and celandine were out so I feel I have been blessed this year by seeing the it at it's best. Neighbouring Hawk's Wood is renowned for it's snowdrops and wild garlic; I saw the snowdrops but I fear I will miss the garlic this year as it will be out at the moment and I can't get down.

I have included a nice little poem about a bluebell forest although I must point out that Old Spring Wood has birds aplenty and its never quiet!

In the bluebell forest
There is scarce a sound.
Only bluebells growing
Everywhere around.

I can't see a blackbird
Or hear a thrush sing.
I think I can almost
Hear the bluebells ring.

- O. Enoch

Old Spring Wood bluebells

Bluebells and fungi

Old Spring Wood bluebells

Leaves on tree stump

Old Spring Wood bluebells

Hadrians Wall

There's no better place to get away from the hustle and bustle of The Lakes than taking a drive up to Hadrian's Wall. Both are now National Parks but they are as different as chalk and cheese. Me and Sal were the only people in the car park and we only met two other people in the couple of hours we were out which would beggar belief in The Lakes. The similarity it does have with The Lakes though is that the view is always the same but never looks the same from one day to the next due to the changeable light and weather conditions.

A lot of the wall is built on The Whin Sill or Great Whin Sill which is a tabular layer of the igneous rock dolerite which runs through County Durham and Northumberland. It lies partly in the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and partly in Northumberland National Park and stretches from Teesdale northwards towards Berwick and is one of the key natural features of the North Pennines. A major outcrop is at the High Force waterfall in Teesdale and Bamburgh Castle, Dunstanburgh Castle, Lindisfarne Castle and stretches of Hadrian's Wall all strategically take advantage of high, rocky cliff lines formed by the sill.

It was a windy day with sunny intervals and fast moving clouds when we were there which made it ideal for photography. We parked near what is considered to be the best preserved part of the wall; the Walltown Crags area. Its only a short stiff walk up to the wall and then you can follow the crest for as far as you wish. There are two trails which run roughly parallel; Hadrians Wall and The Roman Military Way so you can go off on one and return on the other. The Military Way doesn't have the ups and downs of Hadrians Wall it tends to stay on a more even keel but this means it lacks the interest and the far reaching view over Northumberland which the wall has. The Pennine Way also follows this part of the wall before veering off northwards to The Cheviots and Kirk Yeltholm on the border with Scotland.

I adore wild places and Northumberland must be the wildest area in England. Apart from the odd farm, there aren't any signs of civilization for as far as the eye can see. The view northwards just seems to go on forever and the light changes by the minute. I suppose the only evidence of man's meddling in this area is the large conifer plantations which spread right up to and beyond Kielder Forest on the Scottish Borders but even they seem to add to the wildness of the area.

You really do get the feeling that you are alone though and still in the world of a bygone age and I love it!

Hadrian's Wall near Walltown

Hadrian's Wall looking west

Hadrian's Wall looking east

Hadrian's Wall near Walltown

Walltown Crags

Walltown Crags and The Whin Sill

View north over Northumberland

The Whin Sill

Walltown trees

Rydal Water, yodelling and a cheese overload!

I went on this walk with Sal who was up at the caravan for a few days. It is a popular walk and rightly so and, surprisingly, she hadn't done it. Anyone with a reasonable fitness level can do it and, if it's your first visit, there's a visit to an impressive cave which was originally known as Loughrigg Quarry. You can walk it in either direction although I must admit that I usually follow the higher path to the cave and then return via the lake shore.

Due to chatting too much and not paying attention, I turned the wrong way when emerging from the woods so we ended up on the lake shore path which was no big deal. They say variety is the spice of life so why not do it in the opposite direction. Looking back I think this was the better way as we had the view of the Grasmere fells in front of us whilst returning on the higher path. Also, once we had climbed up to the cave, the path was downhill all the way to the car park. The view towards Grasmere is magnificent in autumn when all the trees have changed colour.

The weather was changeable but that didn't spoil our enjoyment as the sun usually appeared when we needed it for photos. Plus we both had good coats on so we didn't get wet when the showers struck. As always, the cave was busy with people of all ages which included a group of male pensioners who thought it would be a good idea to hold a yodelling competition!

The cave is a man-made cavern, which was formerly known as Loughrigg Quarry. The cave has been hollowed out of a rocky outcrop and it overlooks Rydal Water and, over two hundred years ago, it was a busy working quarry supplying excellent quality roofing slate to the surrounding local villages. There is still plenty of spoil about today which is evidence of its past size and importance. There is another large quarry just around the corner but this is nowhere near as impressive and is usually just bypassed and ignored.

Our intention was to carry on our walk to Grasmere shore but a longer spell of rain reared its ugly head so we made a swift retreat back to the car park. We did call in Grasmere for a coffee and a spot of lunch on the way back and I do wish I had taken a photo of our meals for this blog. I write this blog a week later and I still don't think I've recovered from our saturated fats overload. We both had cheese melts (mine had a layer of ham in as well) and I have never experienced anything like them. Its unusual for me to leave part of a meal but I just couldn't take anymore cheese! It has certainly been a talking point since then.

The company was great, the views were great and the cheese was great up to a point and that's what the Lakes and walking are all about.