Swiss Alpine Pass Route

The Swiss Alpine Pass Route runs for 200 miles  between Sargans and Montreux over 18 mountain passes. It is also called the Via Alpina 1 for the part between Sargans and Lenk.

My wife Jan and I walked it with 3 friends in two 8 day sections, the first from Grindelwald to Montreux in 2006 and the second in 2013 from Sargans to Grindelwald. Both trips were in Late August/early September.

I wrote daily blog posts at the time and have combined these, illustrated with mobile phone pictures as well as the black and white photographs that I took on my Mamiya film cameras. There's lots of other information there as well.

Here is the link to the new web page: Swiss Alpine Pass Route

Lake District Trek - Threlkeld to Braithwaite

Today was the first day of my annual hill walking trek with old friend Al from Gloucester.

It's just 5 days this time as I wasn't sure my bad back would last the usual 8 days.

We started from the Horse and Farrier in Threlkeld. Jolly nice Snecklifter on draught. The forecast was for a sunny day but it was overcast with low clouds on the hills.

We stayed in Threlkeld so that we could climb Blencathra and I could take some photos from the top. Unfortunately, the view extended for all of 20 yards, so no pictures.

The descent wasn't that interesting either as there was no view until we were quite low. 

As we made our way down to the river we started seeing bridges half washed away by the December storms. Then further on our route was completely blocked by fencing, 2 bridges had been washed away making the path impassable. One of the bridges was an enormous old metal railway bridge, it was sitting in the river bed quite a way from where it was 2 years ago when we walked over it!

The shortest alternative added just under 2 miles to our route but there was no choice.

We walked into Keswick and headed for the Oddfellows Arms, an old favourite in the town centre, for a swift Snecklifter. Then it was along to the Royal Oak in Braithwaite, our lodgings for the night.

I carried my Mamiya 7 camera all day but didn't take any photos, just the few snaps below on my Moto-X phone.

Tomorrow we head over Causey Pike to Loweswater to stay at the brewery!

View near Blencathra Centre

Waterfalls Above Keswick

Woods near Keswick

Keswick Oddfellows Arms Bar

Skiddaw from outskirts of Keswick

Cotswold Way Day 5

Al, Jan and I finished the first half of the Cotswold Way today by walking from Witcombe to Randwick.

Al was dropped off by his wife Carol as we are just a couple of miles from their house. We couldn't stay with them as they now have a dog and I'm allergic to dogs, cats, horses, sheep, giraffes, etc.

We left our hotel in Witcombe by 10.30am. It was an 11 mile day but relatively straightforward. Painswick Beacon was our first objective, reached in an hour or so. Should have been good views but the rain came in. We briefly watched lots of golfers getting wet as well as being entertained by a golfer chasing his runaway trolley down the hill. Fortunately for him it hit a divot and fell over just before a cliff, he was nowhere near catching it!

Lunch was in the Royal Oak in Painswick, a tasty home-cooked ham sandwich shared with Jan, washed down with an excellent pint of Exmoor Ale.

Next we headed for Randwick and the Vine Tree Inn, reaching it at 4pm, the end for this half of the Cotswold Way. I ended with a couple of pints of Hobgoblin before Al whisked us back to our hotel.

We walked 52 miles in 5 days managing about 14 miles to the gallon....... of beer!

I took 3 rolls of film in 5 days. Not the best return for a 5 day trip. I try not to take pictures on my film camera unless I think I can sell them so that's still pretty good. It will add a few shots to my Cotswolds collection. I didn't take any today, too wet or overcast.

Next year we hopefully finish the trek by walking the 50-odd miles from Randwick to Bath.

Painswick Beacon

Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling Hill from below

Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling Hill from the top

55 miles to go

Painswick Street

Painswick Church Yard Yew Trees

Painswick Church

Vine Tree Inn, Randwick

Cotswold Way Day 4

Today was our fourth day on the Cotswold Way. We drove back to 7 Springs this morning to resume our walk where we finished yesterday, well not exactly as the pub wasn't open!

It was 10 miles in total, starting in the rain but mostly dry with bits of sunshine here and there.

We walked a lot of high ground above Cheltenham, stopping for lunch at the Air Balloon pub, before coming down to our hotel near Gloucester.

I was able to take a few proper photographs too on my Mamiya 7 camera. I've now taken 30 proper black and white photographs in 4 days. I'm carrying just 3 or 4 rolls of Ilford 400 Delta a day but am still not using anywhere near that number.

All of the photos in my Cotswold Way blog posts were taken with a Motorola Moto-X phone. The ones posted in black and white I also took on my Mamiya so they will be available as proper darkroom prints at some stage, the others were just phone snapshots.

Dinner was interesting. We drove to the Royal William just a few minutes from our hotel. Timothy Taylor Landlord was a pleasant surprise so I tried it a couple of times to make sure it was in good form.

The menu had some unusual meats on it including Kangaroo, Buffalo, Ostritch and Wild Boar. I had something from the Specials board, Camel and chips. I've had Buffalo, Wild Boar, Horse, Donkey and Chamois, for example, but I've never seen Camel on the menu before (we lead a very sheltered life in the Peak District!). It tasted similar to beef steak but maybe a bit more chewy.

Tomorrow is our last day for this trip. We will have completed about half of the Cotswold Way.

Here are some shots from today.

Great Witcombe Church, near our hotel

Devils Chimney

Devils Chimney original

Cheltenham from Leckhampton Hill

Cotswold Way Day 3

After a very comfortable night at the Rising Sun in Cleeve Hill we had to don full waterproofs before we stepped out of the hotel door. It was wet and windy for an hour or so then dry and dull. Finally it was wet for the last 20 minutes before we reached the pub. Typical!

Not a good day for photos, I only took 2 shots on my proper camera, both of the same tree.

Fortunately, it was a short day, just 8.5 miles so we made it to the Seven Springs by 2.30pm. The Abbot was off so it had to be IPA to end the walking part of the day.

Tomorrow we walk to the hotel we are in tonight. That sounds a bit cock-eyed but we're here for 3 nights, using cars to ferry us between start and finish points each day.

View Above Cheltenham

Cheltenham from above

Cotswold Way Day 2

My day started, as usual, with an hour or so of stretches and exercises for my bad back before going down to breakfast at 9am. It was a jolly good full English breakfast at the Winchcombe Plaisterers Arms. Jan then drove us to Stanton to start the day's walk.

Before we started I took 3 shots of the church on my Mamiya 7 film camera, the light was better than yesterday afternoon.

From Stanton we walked back to Winchcombe. Sunny to start then jolly heavy rain for an hour or so before Winchcombe. Just about dried off before our lunch stop. We visited the Corner Cupboard Inn for a change and a very tasty light lunch and a pint.

From here it was quite a short walk to Cleeve Hill and down to the Rising Sun, our home for the night. Good views from the window of our very comfortable room.

Jan and Al collected our car from Stanton while I had a purely medicinal pint in the bar.

We've walked about 23 miles in 2 days, it will be about 50 miles by the time we finish on Saturday, our fifth day. Forecast is for showers for the rest of our walk. Hoping they're not too heavy!

Not a lot of photographs for my Mamiya 7 camera, just over 2 rolls so far - 21 shots in fact and only 4 today. I seem to be taking as many phone photos for my blog as proper photographs!

Winchcombe Corner Cupboard lunch stop

Hailes Abbey Ruins in the Rain

View from our Room at Cleeve Hill Rising Sun

Cotswold Way Day 1

Today, Tuesday 5th April, we started the Cotswold Way and it was a sunny day!

Jan and I met up with good friend Al from Gloucester, spending the night at the Red Lion in Chipping Campden. We also visited the 8 Bells for a couple of beers after dinner. What an excellent pub, so busy for a Monday night and friendly too.

The Cotswold Way is 100 miles from Chipping Campden to Bath. We are using our 2 cars to move our luggage between accommodation each day.

There seem to be 2 starting points, so we did them both. True to form Al had booked us as far from the starting point as possible!

We were up and away at the crack of 10.30am. It was about 1.5 miles to the church and back, the alternative start point. Then we walked to Broadway for lunch at the Crown and Trumpet. Good beer, nice snack lunch. Interesting walking too.

We finished in the small village of Stanton at about 4pm. Unfortunately, the only pub here closed at 3pm! Al's car was parked here so he dropped me off at the Pheasant Inn down the road while he went off with Jan to collect our car from Chipping Campden. After sorting out cars for tomorrow we checked in to the Plaisterers Arms in Winchcombe. Good beer, nice food.

Tomorrow we walk to Cleeve Hill.

Cotswold Way Official Start

Cotswold Way Alternative Start; the door of the church not the top of the tower!

Chipping Campden 400 year old Market Hall

Chipping Campden, edited to black and white

Chipping Campden Original

Jan and Al

Broadway Tower edited to black and white

Broadway Tower original

Broadway Tower

Stanton Church - days end

Snowdonia Trek The End

Tuesday 28th July 2015, our last of the 8 day trek in Snowdonia and the longest at 16 miles. As usual it was raining as we left the excellent Bryn Tyrch Inn in Capel Curig.

We needed to reach Conwy and our route was over the high moors then along the higher parts of the Conway valley to a pub for lunch. The rain persisted for the first few hours then becoming showers as we reached the more cultivated parts of the valley. The sun only came out a couple of hours after we finished in Conway! Over 8 days we had just 1 dry day and mostly it was persistent rain for many hours.

Finally, it's worth mentioning that we were jolly well looked after at the excellent Castlebank Hotel in Conway once again. The hotels for the last 2 nights plus The Golden Fleece in Tremadog and the Snowdonia Mountain Lodge were the undoubted highlights of our accommodation.  The Pen y Gwyrd Hotel near Snowdon was an experience as it was where the 1953 first successful Everest expedition stayed to train for their trip. In fact if they were to return there today I suspect they would recognise it immediately as you appeared to be stepping back decades as you wandered around all the nooks and crannies.

In total I took just 6.5 rolls of 120 Ilford 400 Delta film in 8 days, that's 65 negatives at 10 shots a roll. In Conway after we finished I took a further 2.5 rolls around the castle walls and harbour of the castle and town. I carried my Mamiya 7 camera for the first 6 days but my camera case, complete with it's all weather cover, was so saturated after day 6 that I didn't carry it for the last 2 days for fear of it happening again.

I will crunch some numbers and do a summary post as usual but not just yet.

Sunny Conway at Trek's End

We thought this was our first lunchtime pub in 8 days, unfortunately it was closed when we reached it at 1pm! The sign outside the door said Welcome - Open but Al's pose was a little premature. Our first pint of the day was actually after we finished, in The Albion pub in Conway.

Impressive waterfalls, a by-product of heavy rain!

All photos taken on Moto-X mobile phone.

Snowdonia Trek Early Morning Call

We originally planned to walk Moel Siabod today but in view of the weather forecast (similar to yesterday, wet and windy) we changed the route to lower ground.

Before the day started we had an early morning call in the form of the fire alarm going off around 7am. We quickly pulled some clothes on and grabbed a waterproof as it was raining. 

There were a dozen or so residents outside with us but no staff. After 10 minutes and still no sign of any staff from the Gwesty Ty Gorsaf Hotel in Blaenau Ffestiniog, no smoke, no flames, no fire brigade, we assumed it was a false alarm and returned to our rooms!

After getting re-dressed properly we had breakfast, paid and left. The hotel also doesn't do food on Sunday's and Mondays, I don't think either of us will be back.

It was raining as we started and continued for most of the day. We walked up through a working slate quarry. On the sodden moors at the top we stopped for a minute or two to watch a pair of Peregrine Falcons performing aerobatics. The male bird flying high then folding it's wings and plummeting towards the ground. Quite a sight. An Osprey yesterday, Peregrines today, maybe I should walk in the rain more often?

Fortunately, we managed to find a couple of pubs on our new route to escape from the rain for a few minutes. A bonus of doing a lower route.

I didn't even carry my Mamiya film camera today and put my mobile in a waterproof case inside my rucsac. Just took 1 shot on my mobile of the river in Capel Curig near our hotel.

Tomorrow is our last day and we walk the 15 miles to Conwy. The forecast looks vaguely familiar, wind and rain. Oh joy!

River at Capel Curig

Snowdonia Trek Horrible Day on Cnicht

Today we walked from Tremadog to Blaenau Ffestiniog over Cnicht, a small mountain just under 700 metres. About 15.5 miles but it took 8.5 hours, slowed by the weather, scrambling on slippery rock and old age!

It was raining as we left our hotel and hadn't stopped when we reached our next stop in Blaenau.

The higher we went the worse it became with winds over 40 mph behind the rain making my face feel like a pin cushion at times. Rain was running down my arms making my fleece sleeves very wet as well as blowing in around my face. Horrible weather!

Al fared better with his new Gore-Tex jacket and trousers but you can't always have new gear. Most of the time mine is fine.

I carried my Mamiya 7 camera all day with no chance to use it. Even in a LowePro case with a waterproof cover everything was wet.

Our hotel doesn't do food on a Sunday so we went out for an Indian. Now having a pint in the pub. Hope most of the gear is dry when we return to the room. 

We turned on both radiators and heated towel rail to Max to dry gear. Room may be more like sauna so sleeping may be a problem but gear should be dry!

Forecast for tomorrow is similar so having second thoughts about going over Moel Siabod. May find a lower route. Five wet days in six so far! So much for adding to my Snowdonia portfolio.

One highlight of the day was seeing an Osprey a few miles from Tremadog. I had no idea they were nesting in the area.

Welsh Highland Railway

Falls above Blaenau Ffestiniog

Photos taken on Moto-X phone

Snowdonia Trek in the Sun!

Today was the fifth of our 8 day trek around Snowdonia. It was also our first dry and sunny day!

We left our hotel in Beddgelert late, cooked breakfast wasn't served until after 9am. 

The first mile was through farmland then we were on a steep track up Moel Hebog. Bit of scrambling part way up too. Cold wind even when sun was shining.

Spectacular views from the top. I took a few shots on my Mamiya 7 camera. Nice sky so used an orange filter to darken it and put more contrast in the clouds. I was travelling light, just 1 camera and lens with 2 filters, yellow and orange,   and 6 rolls of Ilford 400 Delta 120 film, rated at 500 ISO.

The descent from the top looked easy on the map. The highest part was Access Land so we could walk anywhere. Then down steep rough terrain to an abandoned village and around a reservoir. 

We were within 2 miles of the end of the day but paths marked on the map were nowhere to be seen. Our way was also barred by barbed wire in 2 places, and so on. We eventually made it to Tremadog at 4.45pm, rather later than expected.

Snowdon from Moel Hebog

Al and Moel Hebog Summit View

Flowers above abandoned village

Ruined buildings beside reservoir

Porthmadog Coast