RUMBLINGS…

The programme for the 2011 South Pennines Walk & Ride Festival is now available, as a printed leaflet, a PDF download or to view on the festival website at www.walkandridefestival.co.uk

With more than 120 events, this is our biggest annual celebration of the outdoors yet – so big, in fact, that to glean the full details of every event you’ll need to be sure to check the individual event pages on the website. In fact, there are even more events on the website than we could fit into the printed programme!

Despite our best efforts the South Pennines remains something of an undiscovered jewel in the north of England, offering cracking routes for walkers, cyclists and horse riders. Perhaps it’s because two National Parks butt up to our boundary, distracting oiutdoors folks. The area might not have such a prestigious designatio, but it does have just as much to offer the discerning outdoors-goer!

The festival will run over two weeks, between September 10 and 25. A special launch weekend in Marsden hosted by the town’s Walkers Are Welcome group will offer a feast of guided walks and other events, including a Roman soldier-led adventure on to Marsden Moor, storytelling, boatlegging, a lengthy National Trust-led walk on to the moor, cream teas, slide shows and more.

This year’s festival features a strong food an drink theme, with many walks and cycle rides visiting terrific South Pennines pubs, cafes, breweries, bakeries and more to give visitors a real taste of the area – did you know that there’s a vineyard in the Holme Valley? That you can enjoy a brew in Compo’s cafe in Summer Wine Country? And even forage for your own wild food on a couple of events.

The South Pennines is rich in industrial history – this is where the heart of the Industrial Revolution was in the 17th and 18th centuries, and secretive wooded valleys hereabouts hide the romantic ruins of long-quiet mills and ancient causeways while the high moors offer terrific riding and walking opportunities on ancient pack horse tracks.

Other key events during festival fortnight will include the first Calderdale Cycling Festival, put together by the area’s tourism unit and CTC Calderdale, and a series of fundraising events for the Sue Rider Manorlands hospice near Oxenhope.

For further information help yourself to a copy of the programme by clicking the link below:

wr-fest-programme-low-res.pdf

Copies can be found in tourist information centres, railway stations, libraries, outdoor shops, council offices and more, in and around the South Pennines.

Visit the festival website at www.walkandridefestival.co.uk

Seems like this is almost a follow-up to my last blog rant, about the Scottish government’s inability to see the harm that the erection of dozens of useless turbines in wild areas will cause to the environment, the tourist industry and just about everything else that Scotland has going for it.

One of the other great environmental insults to Scotland’s wild treasure’s is being inflicted in the name of another big business – golf. You probably know that American dollar collector Donald Trump is creating a luxurious golf courses among otherwise unspoiled sand dunes at Menie, just north of Balmedie on the north east coast.

This only a few short miles away from where I finished one of my early TGO Challenge backpacking expeditions across Scotland – two weeks to walk across what it’d take Trump a few minutes to fly across in his private jet, and seemingly even less time to convince the Scottish government that he should be allowed to trash the area.

I chose the location of my finish point – Forvie Kirk – because it’s a peaceful, unspoiled spot, one where I could reflect on the fortnight among the wildness before heading back to work.
(more…)

Phew… tickets for the pacific Crest Trail talk have sold so well that we’ve had to change the venue.

The talk will now be held at St Peter’s Church in Stainforth. It’s much easier to find that the village hall, being just a stone’s throw from the car park and visible to those coming into the village from the campsite.

This wonderful, generous offer by our vicar, Roger, means that we can accommodate twice the numbers and still serve tea and coffees.

That means that tickets are still available in the Craven Heifer in Stainforth, and are now available once more at Cave & Crag, and at Castleberg Sports in Settle. Only two quid a pop folks.

Other fine refreshments will be available in the Craven Heifer immediately after the talk.

Many thanks to everyone for the fantastic level of support we’ve had for this event.

John Manning

A project I’ve been working on closely in recent months is drawing closer to fruition – you can download a programme for the 2009 South Pennines Walk and Ride Festival here (note: download starts immediately).

The festival will take place from September 12 to 27, and features an incredible 108 events, ranging from short nature walks to yomping great strides over the South Pennines moors, from introductory mountainbiking courses to road cycling adventures and orienteering events of all levels to, for the first time for this particular festival, two horse riding events.

Most of the events are free of charge, and only a handful require pre-booking. Most are reachable by using the area’s excellent public transport network, both west and east of the Pennine watershed.

It’s the ideal opportunity to discover and explore the South Pennines, an area of deep valleys and expansive moorlands, rich in industrial and natural heritage, wedged between the more crowded Yorkshire Dales and Peak District National Parks.

(more…)

This is Sierra Jane Manning, born on Monday, March 16. This is supposed to be a (rare, occasional) outdoor blog but I suppose her name is as good as an excuse as any!

The birth was perfect and very swift. As Sierra was two weeks overdue, Steph was due to be induced but there wasn’t even time for that; less than four hours after contractions began, Sierra was delivered in the induction suite before there’d even been chance to get to the labour room.

In fact, Sierra was very nearly born on the ward’s bathroom floor. Steph delivered with only the lightest gasp of gazanairre – there wasn’t time for anything such as proper pain killers. Thankfully she didn’t need stitches afterwards either. Mother and baby came home yesterday and are doing perfectly; Sierra’s feeding well. No doubt I’ll get a hunger for outdoorsy again soon but for now every thing’s family flavoured and it tastes great.

Sierra’s name, of course, refers to the Sierra Nevada in California, the “range of light”. Steph and I hiked there along the John Muir Trail a couple of years ago. It’s one of the most beautiful places on Earth, and a place that holds special memories. Sierra is a fairly popular name in the US – and it’s also a very beautiful name! Ron “Pathfinder” Strickland who I met on the Pacific Crest Trail in 2004 suggested it a few weeks ago during a Skype chat we had… to him we say a very grateful “thank you” for such a beautiful suggestion. We owe you a pork pie Ron – it’s on its way, also via Skype!

And congrats to the wags at TGO who correctly predicted that Sierra’s name might have a PCT connection – by the way, the fluffy rabbit’s great folks!

To everyone who’s sent messages and presents, Sierra says “thank you - see you at the bar!”