47-52 - The High Points of London Part 3 - 10th January 2013

Click here for part 1

Click here for part 2

Continued . . . . . . . . 

Canada Water Station, 6:20pm

Bethnal Green - Tower Hamlets

We had parked in the car park and headed for the underground station where I purchased my underground card and Darren topped up his Oyster card, it was straight onto the London Underground overground line, then the District line and then the Central line to Bethnal Green, from here it was a short walk to Tower Hamlets where we found the highest point and took some photos.

High Holborn - City of London

Walking back to Bethnal Green tube station we were straight onto the Central Line towards central London, getting off at Chancery lane Tube station for the highest point of the City of London, this can be found on the south side of High Holborn at the top end of Chancery lane, after a quick photo we continued along to Holborn tube station and back onto the Central Line.

Hammersmith and Fulham

After changing at Oxford Circus we joined the Bakerloo line to Kensal Green where we were able to find 2 high points in go. Firstly we walked along the Harrow road and found what looked like a high point up a side road BUT after consulting the map and a few road signs we worked out that the first high point of Hammersmith and Fulham was back on the main road DOWN the hill, this was because the borough border ran along the length of Harrow road and that was the highest point. we took our photos and stopped to look in an awesome dinosaur fossil shop.

Chelsea Rob in Chelsea 

About 50 yrds back along the Harrow road we arrived at the highest point of Chelsea and Kensington, just outside some cemetery gates. Again we stopped off for some photos, I was quite pleased to get a photo of me in my Chelsea football shirt standing on the highest point of the borough of Chelsea and Kensington.

Back onto the tube and we travelled a short distance to South Hampstead and then a short walk to the highest point of the City of Westminster, this can be found at the junction of Boundary road and St Johns Wood Park, It was a rather unimpressive place, odd posh houses surrounded by not so posh flats, plus it had the shortest double yellow lines we had ever seen.

City of Westminster

Walking along now to Swiss Cottage we were starting to get weary, a look at out watches show that this was taking ages, We had been travelling around London for nearly 14 hours now and you can imagine it was starting to get very tiring. Onto the Tube at Swiss Cottage we travelled north towards Hampstead heath Tube station. On Arrival at Hampstead Heath we had a walk of a mile to get to the Highest point of Camden, this turned out to be a bus stop on the edge of Hampstead Heath,

Hampstead Heath

We looked at out watches and it was time to make a decision, we still had 6 more high points to go and it was now approaching 10pm, do we carry on? it would take us at least another 2, maybe 3 hours to do the rest, and we had a LOT of walking to do to get to our next 2 High points and then we had the problem of how to get to some of the other high points as they were not on direct tube lines. So, do we carry on? or stop? we decided to call it a day, it would be a shame to rush the last ones and not enjoy them, we were both in need of Pizza and we made our way back to the car at Canada Water.

One last interesting thing happened on the route back, from Hampstead Heath we walked to Hampstead Tube Station, after making it to 30 High points across London, we were now waiting for a train on the deepest tube platforms in London, so from the highest points to the deepest, we certainly have covered a lot of London.

We both had such an excellent day and I laughed so much with Darren, it was awesome, Just 6 more high points to go and we will do those next month so watch this space.

 Distance travelled - 161.4 Miles - Not counting Tube Travel
Time Taken - 15+ hours
HP 1 (22) - Shooters hill (Greenwich) - 132mts
HP 2 (23) - Langdon Shaw (Bexley) - 83mts
HP 3 (24) - Westerham Heights (Bromley) - 245mts
HP 4 (25) - Westerham Heights (Kent) - 245mts
HP 5 (26) - Sanderstead Plantation (Croydon) - 175mts
HP 6 (27) - Clock House (Sutton) - 147mts
HP 7 (28) - Telegraph Hill (Kingston Upon Thames) - 90mts
HP 8 (29) - Lauriston Road (Merton) - 55mts
HP 9 (30) - Putney Heath (Wandsworth) - 60mts
HP 10 (31) - Richmond Park (Richmond Upon Thames) - 56mts
HP 11 (32) - The Vale (Hounslow) - 35mts
HP 12 (33) - Horsenden Hill (Ealing) 85 Mts
HP 13 (34) - Potter Street Hill (Hillingdon) 134mts
HP 14 (35) - Bushey Heath (Harrow) 153mts
HP 15 (36) - Bushey Heath (Old Middlesex) 153mts
HP 16 (37) - Wakemans hill Ave (Brent) 92mts
HP 17 (38) - More End Farm (Barnet) 145mts
HP 18 (39) - Arkley (Barnet) 147mts
HP 19 (40) - Bournwell Hill (Enfield) 115mts
HP 20 (41) - Pole Hill (Waltham Forest) 99mts
HP 21 (42) - Cabin Hill (Redbridge) 90mts
HP 22 (43) - Havering Atte Bower Farm (Havering) 105mts
HP 23 (44) - Marks Gate (Barking and Dagenham) 43mts
HP 24 (45) - Wanstead Flats (Newham) 15mts
HP 25 (46) - Bethnal Green (Tower Hamlets) 16mts
HP 26 (47) - Chancery Lane/High Holborn (City of London) 22mts
HP 27 (48) - College Park (Hammersmith and Fulham) 45mts
HP 28 (49) - Harrow Road (Chelsea and Kensington) 45mts
HP 29 (50) - St Johns Wood Park (City of Westminster) 52mts
HP 30 (51) - Hampstead Heath (Camden) 132mts

32-46 - The High Points of London Part 2 - 10th January 2013

Click here for Part 1

Continued . . . . . . . 

Richmond Upon Thames

Having completed 9 high points so far we were feeling good, we were well into our mission to complete all 36 high points and after the tea break at Putney Heath we were able to move onwards to high point (HP) 10. This next location was the one I was looking forward to the most, it was Richmond Park, we arrived and drove through the park towards the highest point of Richmond upon Thames, passing through a herd of deer it was a pretty awesome drive, we turned into a car park and walked to the highest point.

The Vale - Hounslow

At this point I must explain, This moment became one of the funniest moments of the whole trip, thanks to Darren reminding me of a certain famous youtube video featuring a dog called Fenton, it can be found here. Anyway, we laughed about it and decided to make our own version of this video, I have to say, I have not laughed that much in years, not only were we laughing after making the video but a women nearby had a chuckle too. so here is our tribute to the Fenton clip - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WKuu_YjA2o. Richmond Upon Thames scored an impressive 9 points.

Horsenden Hill - Ealing

Horsenden Hill - Ealing

After Richmond we headed across the river Thames to what I think must have been the worst of all the destinations, It was in the borough of Hounslow and there is not much I can say about it, it was a drab road with garages running along one side, we scored it a generous zero points. we stayed for literally seconds before moving on to our next HP in Ealing.

Horsenden hill was amazing, finally it was a proper hill, a hill where we actually had to park at the base and climb to the top. it was awesome, its a shame it was a little misty because the views would have been amazing, on the top there was a trig point and a few benches, it was wonderful to have such a nice HP to climb, It scored 10 out of 10.

Potter Street Hill - Hillingdon

Leaving Horsenden we travelled north towards Watford and the HP of Hillingdon,  This was an odd one, it was at the end of a dead end road, near a golf course and all I can say about it was that there were some nice green locked gates which led to nowhere, it scored a 4. quickly moving onward towards Harrow and our next destination.

Harrow and old Middlesex

The HP of Harrow is Bushey Heath, This also happens to be a Historic county high point, Back in 1974, the counties had a shuffle around and before that moment this was the highest point of Middlesex, this means that I get to cross 2 HPs off my list at this point. Bushey Heath is not noticeably hilly but it does have several signs that it is a HP, There is a Restaurant called the Alpine and a small road called Alpine walk, Bushey Heath scored a 4.

Wakemans Hill Ave - Brent

Moving back towards central London now we arrived at the high point of Brent, this turned out to be a drain cover in the middle of a Wakemans Hill Avenue, not surprisingly it scored a 2, it would have been a 1 but there was an interesting castle type building nearby. Straight on to Barnet now and 2 high points in 1 borough.

Mote End Farm - Barnet

The reason there are 2 highpoints in Barnet is because there is some confusion as to which is the highest point, according to the maps Mote End Farm is 2 ft lower than Arkley but Arkley looked like it was a Manmade hill, the official list puts them as joint top so who am I to argue, we did both. Mote End Farm turned out to be . . well, a farm, and Arkley turned out to be a water tower (I think). They scored 3 for the Farm and 2 for Arkley.

Arkley - Barnet

Bournewell Hill - Enfield

Bournewell Hill in Enfield next, this was in a surprisingly beautiful village, old fashioned gates marking the entrance to the village and a large open heath in the middle was the location of the HP. There was a school nearby and it looked like it was about to turn out so we got this one done quick and moved onwards to Waltham Forest. Bournewell Hill scored 7 points.

Pole Hill - Waltham Forest

The next HP was quite a long drive away, we stopped off at a Tesco for some food and to use the facilities, then made our was through Enfield town to Pole Hill, on the edge of Epping Forest in the borough of Waltham Forest, This was a surprise as it another real hill to climb, at the top there was a trig point and a pillar erected in 1874 to mark the point of the Greenwich Meridian, it could be seen from the Greenwich observatory so that true north could always be found, Pole hill scored a 9

Cabin Hill - Redbridge

Darkness was now falling and our next stop was Cabin Hill in Redbridge, this was a quick stop off at a woodland and it scored a 5, just a few miles away was the next HP, The Church at Havering Atte Bower Farm marks the high point of Havering, this was a quite a nice church so we stopped for some photos and headed on to the next HP.

Havering

Marks Gate

The HP of Barking and Dagenham is in the cemetery of Marks Gate, Sadly on arrival it was closed so we took some photos as near as we could and carried on to the lowest of the destinations in Newham.

Wanstead Flats - Newham

Wanstead Flats in Newham measures up at an amazing 15 mtrs (49 ft), Its one of high points which is in the middle of a flat road, there was a pub near by and it was difficult to decide where the HP actually was but we took some photos and moved onwards.

Next stop was not to be a high point, we were now aiming for Canada Water underground station where we would park up and move onto the underground, 24 down, 12 to go

To be continued . . . . . . . .

The Story so far

Distance travelled - 161.4 Miles - 10 hours
HP 1 (22) - Shooters hill (Greenwich) - 132mts
HP 2 (23) - Langdon Shaw (Bexley) - 83mts
HP 3 (24) - Westerham Heights (Bromley) - 245mts
HP 4 (25) - Westerham Heights (Kent) - 245mts
HP 5 (26) - Sanderstead Plantation (Croydon) - 175mts
HP 6 (27) - Clock House (Sutton) - 147mts
HP 7 (28) - Telegraph Hill (Kingston Upon Thames) - 90mts
HP 8 (29) - Lauriston Road (Merton) - 55mts
HP 9 (30) - Putney Heath (Wandsworth) - 60mts
HP 10 (31) - Richmond Park (Richmond Upon Thames) - 56mts
HP 11 (32) - The Vale (Hounslow) - 35mts
HP 12 (33) - Horsenden Hill (Ealing) 85 Mts
HP 13 (34) - Potter Street Hill (Hillingdon) 134mts
HP 14 (35) - Bushey Heath (Harrow) 153mts
HP 15 (36) - Bushey Heath (Old Middlesex) 153mts
HP 16 (37) - Wakemans hill Ave (Brent) 92mts
HP 17 (38) - More End Farm (Barnet) 145mts
HP 18 (39) - Arkley (Barnet) 147mts
HP 19 (40) - Bournwell Hill (Enfield) 115mts
HP 20 (41) - Pole Hill (Waltham Forest) 99mts
HP 21 (42) - Cabin Hill (Redbridge) 90mts
HP 22 (43) - Havering Atte Bower Farm (Havering) 105mts
HP 23 (44) - Marks Gate (Barking and Dagenham) 43mts
HP 24 (45) - Wanstead Flats (Newham) 15mts

23-31 - The High Points of London Part 1 - 10th January 2013

London, one of the largest urban zones and metropolitan areas in Europe is made up of 33 boroughs, each one of these boroughs has its own high point and is included in my list of places to visit, as you can imagine many of the high points in London are . . . how do I put this? . . . lacking in glamour? . . . . . . not so attractive? . . .  how about somewhat dull? yes I like that one, somewhat dull, therefore it would be silly of me to make special trips to visit.

When I first came up with the High Points challenge I discovered some confusion over the single highest point of London, I read in a book that is was High Holborn, a friend of mine who lives in London (Darren) pointed out that surely Alexandra Palace was higher and on looking into it, I worked out that High Holborn is the highest point of the City of London, there are of course 32 other parts on London, however Alexandra Palace was not one of them.

I started to researched the High Points of London and working out how to make it more interesting, eventually it came into my head about trying to visit them all in one day, is this possible? can I do it? it was going to be interesting whatever happens. I contacted Darren again and he was eager to join me so we set the date for Jan 10th

Shooters Hill - Greenwich

I headed up to London on the evening before the adventure, Darren lives in Bermondsey, this is perfect as it is very central and heading up the night before means we can set off early in the morning. The drive up was good, the roads were clear and I arrived much earlier than expected. Darren and I chatted for a while and then headed off our beds with our alarms set for 6:30 in the mornings.

January 10th
The alarms woke us up and we got ready and set off for hill number 1 of the day (high point number 22 of all the high points I am doing) , Shooters Hill in Greenwich, this was situated 7.4 miles east of Bermondsey and would take about 25 mins, the drive was easy, pretty quiet for London standards but it was only 7:30am and we arrived at Shooters Hill in Greenwich. The top of the hill was marked by a Victorian gothic water tower, there was a fog in the air so the views were not up to much but we took a few quick photos.

Langdon Shaw - Bexley

Darren and I decided we should score each of the high points out of 10, just to give you an idea of how much we liked each high point, we scored Shooters hill 3 points and then we headed off to high point 2 (or 23)

The next high point (HP) was in the borough of Bexley, heading south from shooters hill we drove the distance of 6 miles in about 20 minutes and ended up in Langdon Shaw. There is not a lot I can say about Langdon Shaw, it was a residential road, there was a school near by, we scored it a 3 again.

Westerham Heights - Bromley

Moving on we drove 19.5 miles to our next location, down to the M25, clockwise to Sevenoaks, then up to the HP near Bigging Hill. Westerham Heights is the of Bromley and the highest point we will visit today, and not only is it the highest point of all the London boroughs, it is also the highest point of Kent, This means I get to cross off 2 high points in 1 go. It was quite nice here, a country road but hard to tell where the actual highest point was, we gave it a score of 7.

Sanderstead Plantation - Croydon

The drive to our next HP was really nice, it was like driving through the New Forest, county roads and heathland and trees. after about 25 minutes and 9.2 miles we stopped at a road and walked into a small woodland called the Sanderstead Plantation, this was the HP of Croydon, it was quite nice here, a proper woodland and we scored it a 6.





Time to recap
HP 1 (22) - Shooters hill (Greenwich) - 132mts
HP 2 (23) - Langdon Shaw (Bexley) - 83mts
HP 3 (24) - Westerham Heights (Bromley) - 245mts
HP 4 (25) - Westerham Heights (Kent) - 245mts
HP 5 (26) - Sanderstead Plantation (Croydon) - 175mts

Clock House - Sutton

The next stop off was in the borough of Sutton, not too far at 5.1 miles, about a 15-20 minute drive. It was slowly becoming apparent as to how long this was all taking to do, Google earth said the whole thing would take about 9 hours but we were well behind schedule, still we carried on. Parking in a residential road we walked up a path into another woodland and found what we thought was the HP, for some reason it was called Clock House, we couldn't see a clock, or a house but I am sure it has its reasons, it was all pretty flat but I think we got it. This one got a score of 7.

Telegraph Hill, Kingston Upon Thames

Kingston Upon Thames next and a place called Telegraph hill, this turned out to be like a scene from 'The Hills Have Eyes', with random containers strewn about with their doors hanging open and dogs barking in the distance, otherwise eerily quiet and mud EVERYWHERE, we quickly took our photos and left as soon as we could scoring it a generous 1.

Lauriston Road, Merton

Onwards to Merton and rather uninspiring high point called Lauriston Road, This was (as you can guess) a road, quite a posh road, beautiful houses but pretty flat and nothing hill like about it what so ever, it was however the highest point, we scored it a 3.

Putney Heath - Wandsworth

The HPs were getting a little boring at this point, were there going to be many like this? just roads, or other odd places, never mind, we continued to our next one which was Putney Heath in Wandsworth. On arrival we were both pleased to see several things, 1 - a toilet (phew), 2 - A tea room (mmmm) and 3 - a nice looking highpoint, it was not that high but it was on the heath and was better than a street corner, we took out photos and got ourselves some food and a nice(ish) cup of tea.



So far so good, I looked at the time, we were a quarter of the way through and we have so far taken over 4 hours, eeeek, this is taking a LONG time. still we had to soldier on. 9 down and 27 to go

To bo continued . . . . . . . . .

The Story so far

Distance travelled - 72.4 Miles - 4 hours
HP 1 (22) - Shooters hill (Greenwich) - 132mts
HP 2 (23) - Langdon Shaw (Bexley) - 83mts
HP 3 (24) - Westerham Heights (Bromley) - 245mts
HP 4 (25) - Westerham Heights (Kent) - 245mts
HP 5 (26) - Sanderstead Plantation (Croydon) - 175mts
HP 6 (27) - Clock House (Sutton) - 147mts
HP 7 (28) - Telegraph Hill (Kingston Upon Thames) - 90mts
HP 8 (29) - Lauriston Road (Merton) - 55mts
HP 9 (30) - Putney Heath (Wandsworth) - 60mts

22 - Lewesdon Hill, Dorset - 29th December 2012

During the month of December I knew I would not get to climb many high points, this is my busiest time of year and there was no way I had the time to get away for the day to climb a hill, however with the Christmas rush over it was time to get back to climbing those hills.

Today it was going to be Lewesdon Hill which is the highest point of Dorset, It can be found about 6 miles north of Bridport and it was around a 100 mile drive from my home in Portsmouth.

Lewesdon hill from Pilsdon Pen

On leaving home my first thing to do was to pick up Chris as he was joining me for this walk, then we set off along the M27, A31 through the New Forest, the A35 to Bridport and finally the B3162 up to Beaminster and our car park. The Rain had started once we arrived at the car park so we put on the wet weather gear and set off.

Leaving the car we initially headed away from Lewesdon Hill, this was because we wanted to climb up Pilsdon Pen first. at 277 meters high Pilsdon pen is the second highest point in Dorset and it is also the site of an iron age hill fort, it was not far to the top and once there it was obvious this was a sight of archaeological significance. The top of the hill was a large plateau about the size of a football pitch, almost perfectly flat with a moat running around the edge.

Lewesdon Hill From Pilsdon Pen

We didn't stay to long on the top of Pilsdon Pen as it was raining pretty hard. so we headed across the plateau and down the other side now heading towards our final goal. We headed down the hill and through a few gates and then across a field finally reaching a road. the rain was pretty hard and the road was like a river, my feet were now wet but this was not a problem, we carried on.

Old Beeches on the way up Lewesdon

After a while we turned off the road and down a smaller lane, it was not long before I realised I had made a mistake and we had gone the wrong way to we headed back up the lane and a little further along the road to the correct lane, this new path headed up towards the hill and was very muddy.

After about 20 mins and plenty of puddle dodging we had arrives at the woodlands on the slopes of Lewesdon hill, we turned up the hill and before long we were at the top. Lewesdon hill was also once the location of an iron age settlement, there were a lot of trees about but you could see that is had once been the location of something man made, there were not too many views from the top with the trees but it was certainly worth the walk.

The Summit of Lewesdon Hill

Coming down the hill was just as muddy, we took a slightly different route but eventually rejoined the same path and after a short while we were back on the road. Finally the rain had stopped and we quickly made out was back along the road to towards the car park.

It was an excellent walk around the Dorset countryside even if the High point was not that high, Thanks to Chris for coming with me. 

21 - Brown Willy, Cornwall - 13th November 2012 - Part 2

Click here for Part 1

Continued . . . . . . . 

The wind was blowing at the top of Brown Willy however it was not that cold, the clouds were moving fast above me, it felt like they were just above my head but I expect they were quite a long way up, I stayed up the top on Brown Willy for about 30 mins as I was making a time lapse video and they always take a while to make. It was after I had finished the time lapse video while I was taking a few more photos I looked over to the west and noticed the light coming through the clouds, I could just make out where the sun was, it was just at the horizon and setting fast, a quick glance at my watch and it was 4:30pm.

I have several books about climbing the high points of the UK and in one of them it says that Brown Willy should take 1.5 to 2 hours to complete the entire walk, the other book states that the walk is 4 miles. this made sense to me, if I walked at 3 miles an hour then 2 hours should be plenty of time to walk the 4 miles, what I didn't take into account was the fact that I often stop off for photographs, also the people who write these books obviously walk at the speed of a harrier jump jet where I walk at a much slower pace.

Muddy Shoes

It had taken me 1.5 hours to walk to the top of Brown Willy, the sun had just set and I was some distance from the car park, daylight was fading fast. I have no problem with walking in the dark, I have a compass for emergencies and an Ordnance Survey map and GPS tracker on my phone so this was not an issue, what I didn't want is for a sudden mist to come along and make things difficult. Bodmin moor is notorious for mist developing in a very short time. It was time to pack up and get back to the car park fast.


From the top of Brown Willy it is only a couple of miles to the car park, it should take me just 30-40 mins if I walk fast however Rough Tor sits directly in the way and I had a choice to make, do I walk around the edge of Rough Tor or cut straight over the top? well as I started my descent down the muddy slippery paths I had a short time to think about it. The walk down the side of Brown Willy was fast, I knew where the worst mud was and headed straight over the first gate in just a few minutes. It was during the next section I started to notice the problem with my left knee, every 5th or 6th step was giving me shooting pains through my knee and slowing me down slightly, I pushed on.


The next gate was at the bottom of Brown Willy, I was now across the river and working my way up to wards Rough Tor, time to make a decision, What I did in the end was aim up the side of Rough Tor in between 2 peaks, I figured it was a compromise between the two routes. Passing some horses I now started to notice my right knee playing up, yes I was now getting shooting pains in both knees, perfect, with two knees hurting every few steps and the light disappearing fast it was quite an interesting walk, at least I hadn't thought about the beast of Bodmin moor yet . . .oh great, and now I had THAT in my mind, I was alone, it was nearly dark, there was no sign of life for miles around and there is me thinking about big mysterious creatures in the night, perfect.

I carried on, walking up the hill as fast as I could, thankfully I took my walking poles so I managed to keep up a good pace, soon I had made it to the top of the ridge between the two peaks and it was down hill all the way, in the fading light I could now see the car park ahead, it must have been just less than a mile away, 15 mins and I would be there.

The Night Approaches

I reached the car park very quickly, my knees had both stopped hurting on the way down and there had been no sign of the beast of Bodmin moor (shame, I could have made a fortune). There was just enough light to take a few photos and a small explore around the area of the car park, there is a memorial to Charlotte Dymond here, she was murdered on the moor back in 1844, I took a few photos of the bridge and then made my way back to the car.

I think this has to be the best walk I have done since I climbed Scafell Pike with Chris and Amy, the views are stunning, the scenery is amazing and it all makes for such a brilliant walk, I highly recommend it.

21 - Brown Willy, Cornwall - 13th November 2012

Just to the north of Bodmin in the north east of Cornwall lies Bodmin Moor, an 80 sq mile moorland and home to the highest point in Cornwall, Brown Willy.

I have been to Cornwall many many times and I have worked out that I have driven through Bodmin Moor along the A30 around 80 times however I have never stopped off on the moor for an explore, it was time to change this and I left home at 10:30am for the 188 mile drive to the car park near Camelford.

The journey was uneventful having done most of it many times before, driving along the M27, A31 past Ringwood, A35 past Dorchester, Honiton then onto the M5 for a short time and then the A30 past Okehampton. Just after Launceston I turned off the A30 onto a smaller road and past the village of Pipers Pool and Davidstow, finally turning left just before Camelford towards the car park. I arrived at the car park around 2:30pm and prepared for my walk.

I left the car park and headed south through a gate, across a field and through another gate where I crossed a bridge over a river and headed onto the Bodmin Moor, I could see several hills rising up ahead of me and from this point I could not see Brown Willy. After a very short time It had become apparent that the ground was very wet, my shoes were already damp and mud was splattered up my jeans but this was not a problem, I dodged the puddles where I could.

I made my way up in between the first 2 hills, on my left was Showery Tor and on my right was Little Rough Tor, My plan was to get to the top of the ridge between these 2 Tors and then turn west and head up to the top of Little Rough Tor. This was not a steep climb but the ground was scattered with boulders and mud ahead of me which slowed me a little, eventually a made my way up to the top of Little Rough Tor.

Up until now I had not seen Brown Willy and as I reached the top of Little Rough Tor I saw it ahead, an unmistakable peak beyond a shallow valley to the south of me, I took a few photos and continued west along the ridge to the top of the next hill. Rough Tor is an impressive sight, many large boulders protrude from the top of the hill, they look like they have been scattered there by giants, some balancing on top of others as if they are about to fall off and then to the west a hugh granite wall stands as if ready to hold back an approaching army.
There is a memorial on top of the Tor for the 43rd Memorial Division who fought in WWII, the Scouts also have recently visited to leave a poppy wreath. I stayed around for a few minutes and then decided to move on to Brown Willy, I headed south again and worked my way through and over the boulders which are scattered all over the slopes of Rough Tor.

Rough Tor

The boulders and rocks soon disappeared as I walked through the valley between Rough Tor and Brown Willy, it was around this time during my walk I noticed how alone I was, I had not seen anyone since the car park and could see no one around, just a few horses, cows and sheep in the distance, it was quite windy but down in the valley I could not feel the full force of the wind and it was actually very quiet, a feeling of remoteness was upon me, I couldn't see any signs of civilisation, just the occasional barb wire fence.

At the bottom of the valley I approached a river with a bridge and a gate, up until now I had been on National Trust land but Brown Willy is on open moorland and there were paths for me to follow from now on, I stopped to photograph the little bridge over the river and then crossed it to the gate, it was pretty muddy as I got near the gate and I carefully stepped on solid ground towards the gate but just as I reached it my foot sunk into a mud hole right up past my ankle, ewwwww, the water poured into my shoe and I was left with a horrible soggy foot, oh well, never mind, at least I didn't have to worry about it getting any wetter.

Once through the gate I started the climb up Brown Willy its not a steep climb, in fact its a very easy climb so it was not long until I was at the second gate and once through this it was even muddier for a short distance, further towards the top the path became strewn with rocks and boulders and the top was in sight.

Further up the path I walked and up the last few feet to the top of Brown Willy where I found a trig point and a pile of rocks marking the highest point, I had made it to the top, The views are magnificent, to the south and east are the rolling moors stretching into the distance and in the north-west lies the Atlantic Ocean, they are probably some of the best views I have seen on any of my highpoint climbs so I was very happy.



To be Continued . . . . . . . . . . 

Click here for part 2

18-20 - Walsall, Solihull and Coventry - 7th November 2012

Barr Beacon

Yesterday I visited 4 of the hills in the Birmingham area, today I was going to visit 3 more and the first to visit was Barr Beacon situated in Walsall to the north of Birmingham. It was easy to find Barr Beacon, I just kept driving up hill until I couldn't go any further, parking right on top of Barr Beacon I went for a walk around the area.




On top of Barr Beacon is a war memorial, it looks like a bandstand and when I got there it was totally covered in Scaffolding, apparently thieves have stolen all the copper from the roof so it was getting some much needed repairs. I had a really nice walk around the entire beacon, there are some radio masts and plenty of open areas, plus a few clumps of woodland which were turning a beautiful orange colour as winter draws in.



The views from the top are pretty awesome too, you can see all the way to Sedgely beacon in the west and over the rolling hills to the east. I couldn't see Birmingham to the south as the trees were in the way.

Meighs Wood

My next hill to conquer was in Solihull and what can I say about it, well, basically it was a tree stump in Meighs wood just to the north of the town of Meriden, there is not much more I can say about it really, I pulled up in a layby and wandered into the woodland for an explore but it was all pretty unexciting.

The highest point in Coventry

My last high point of the day was just a few minutes drive away, it was the high point of Coventry and is situated in the small village of Corley Moor. The actual high point is thought to be a manhole cover in the middle of the road so I parked in the centre of the village and wandered around the area, again another very uneventful high point to visit.

Corley Moor

The best high point in Birmingham was probably Barr Beacon and yesterday I have 2 other really good hills to climb with Sedgley Beacon and Rednal Hill, I was pleased to have those good hills to climb to make my trip worth while.