My brother loves a good hike. He also loves to climb a mountain, and throw himself off them. Unfortunately he lives 240 miles away, so rare are the opportunities for us to get out together. This weekend he was down this way, so we jumped at the chance to head outdoors.
After two days of dreary weather (though not, thankfully, the rains of Biblical-proportions that the media had threatened), we awoke to glorious sunshine. I had had two routes in mind- either Burbage or Howden Res. With my brother being a seasoned hiker, I thought the Burbage route might be too short to satisfy, so we opted for the latter.
I was sweating before I'd left the house (despite being clad in shorts and t-shirt), and the only cloud in the sky on our drive to Derwent was typically the one hanging right over our destination, so after previously poking fun at Phil for his "inappropriate" attire of full-length trousers and a long-sleeved top, I was eating my words as we got out of the car to the first drops of rain and rather cool breeze.
A bit of cold and rain wouldn't stop us though, and we were at the second dam in no time, at which point Phil lost his bearings and became convinced we were now on the other side of the reservoir and on the return leg. He couldn't have been more wrong- this was only the beginning. The wife will be thankful that we didn't carry on any further than this on our trip here a few weeks ago; from this viewpoint the trail is deceiving, and leads you to believe that the opposite side of the dam is only a couple of miles walk away.
In fact, the route twists and turns for about another eight miles, taking you through some beautiful countryside along the way. I commented in my last post that Howden felt a lot more open and natural than Ladybower, but then I didn't know the half of it. The landscape is sprawling, and access to it is unrestricted in the main.
Phil spotted a hill he wanted to climb, and after initially dismissing the idea we found a footpath that seemed to lead upwards. Ten minutes later we were at the summit, and our reward was the best views and complete peace and quiet; the perfect place to have lunch. By this time the sun had made good on its promise and we spent a good half-an-hour just laying around doing nothing.
Once back down- which as usual was harder than going up- we carried on the beaten track. The paths are solid and well-maintained, and in fact they appear to see far more use from cyclists than from hikers who, if anything, seem to head for the hills.
As I said, the route is very deceiving and just as you think you are about to turn a corner into the homeward stretch, you veer off in the other direction entirely. This air of unpredictability adds a certain pleasure to what one may (wrongly) assume might have been a rather dull walk. It is in fact anything but, with plenty of beautiful views to take in and many a side-route to hop on if you feel like having an explore.
When we finally got back to the visitors centre some twelve miles later, we had no doubt that we had earned the pie and peas on offer at the snack bar there, and devoured them with that sense of reward that comes from a good physical slog.
This won't be my last trip to Howden Reservoir. Its just a shame that the wife's knees aren't up to the whole route, as by turning back at the second dam as we did previously, you definitely miss the best of what the reservoir has to offer.
No comments:
Post a Comment