Walks with Children

Goat Fell – The Mountain Goat and the Eagle?

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Standing at 2,866 feet, Goat Fell is the highest mountain on Arran.  On our first visit to the island, we decided against trying to reach the summit.  It would have been by far the furthest and highest Rowan had walked, so we didn’t want to over-do it and potentially put him off days out in the mountains.  But for our latest visit, and with Birkhouse Moor under his belt, we decided he would probably be ok.  We just needed a decent mountain forecast during the week – and we were in luck.

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Brothers Water – Chilling by the Water

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Our first weekend away in Tormund proved to be extremely lucky with the weather.  After a brilliant day out exploring Birkhouse Moor and Red Tarnand a surprisingly comfortable night in the van, we woke to warm sunshine and wisps of cloud in the blue sky.  We had already decided to take it easy on the Sunday so after a bit of a lie, we started the day with a breakfast of kings in the fresh air.

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Wainwright Walk 15 – Birkhouse Moor and Red Tarn

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You may remember from my first Wainwright walk post, Cold Pike and Pike o’Blisco, we used to get around the Lakes in Old Peg, our brilliant old campervan.  We’ve missed having a van so last year, after much scrolling through eBay, we bought Tormund the Transit.  And our first trip (after the back garden) – the Lake District.  Travelling up on Friday night, we stayed at Sykeside Camping Park and after tea in the pub and a wander down the lane at the back of the site, we settled in for the night.

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Fallen Rocks – Where’s Pebble?

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One of the great things about Arran is just going for a drive and pulling in to different places to see what is there.  I suppose that can be the same anywhere really.  After a morning spent at Kildonnan looking for seals, we decided to drive round the island, pulling in wherever we fancied.  It was getting late when we drove into a picnic area at North Sannox.  It was a gorgeous spot.  After messing around for a while at the spot where North Sannox Burn enters the sea, we decided we head back to the cottage for some tea.  Before we left, I checked the information board and noticed that we could start a walk to Fallen Rocks from here.

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The Watkin Path – Plan B

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During the October half term holidays, we had a plan to get up early and head to the Pen-y-Pass car park on Snowdon.  We were going to take in the lakes along the Miner’s Track, have a picnic and head back, dependant on how far Rowan’s legs fancied walking.  We knew we would have to get up early as the car park fills up quickly, but knowing, 1. How popular a walk Snowdon is and 2. How rubbish we are at getting up super early, we had a plan B.  Now there is the option of the Snowdon Sherpa, a bus that can take you from other car parks and villages round the foot of Snowdon to the Pen-y-Pass, but the thought of taking our ruffing furry pair on a bus wasn’t appealing.  When we arrived at the car park, nowhere near early enough, plan B – the Watkin Path, was put into action.

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West Shore and Newborough – To The Beach

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A holiday in October means there is no guarantee of the weather (not that there is any time in the UK really).  The night we arrived in Wales, I stayed up late till high tide as we had arrived just in time for Storm Brian and the caravan site was on flood alert.  I wanted to go to bed knowing that we weren’t going to float off in the night – we didn’t.  The next day was still really blowy with showers so, not wanting to stay in the caravan all day, we drove to West Shore Beach at Llandudno.

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Betws-y-Coed – The Miner’s Bridge

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I seem to have been so busy recently I’m just finding the time now to sit down and write about out walk in Betws-y-Coed during our recent long weekend in North Wales.  The forecast for the day was sunshine and rain showers, so we decided to go for a stroll alongside the river, Afon Llugwy, at Betws-y-Coed.  Having visited before, we know that parts of the walk were in woodland, so if it rained, we would be afforded a bit a shelter.

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