Words are a poor substitute for experience, but it is our hope that through our blog, we have managed to share some of the joy and trials we encountered on the GR11, and also to have expressed some of the sheer splendour of the trail itself. The GR11 started with a dream, and through force of will took the shape of…
“Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness….”- ‘To Autumn’ by John Keats Ordessa- Pineto- Parzan- Puen de San Chaime Total mileage to date: 388/812km Week 5 was the week when things changed, we reached the half-way point of our trek, and September broke upon us, bringing mist, the drama of swirling clouds, cold and the first dusting of…
Skiddaw House hostel to Hesketh Newmarket So much for the sun! Damn forecast. We wake to low hill mist and high humidity, the midges aren’t too bad, but enough to make us pack up quick and head for the hostel. The hostel breakfast was amazing and we lingered chatting and drinking tea while veils of…
Langstrath-Borrowdale-Walla Crag-Castle Rigg By early morning the wind was still buffeting the tent and the sky was obstinately grey. But a nights sleep and the prospect of an easier day hiking down through Borrowdale put a spring in our step. We made tea and crunched granola in the lee of a large boulder before donning…
Great Langdale to Langstrath Sheltered in the campsite behind a hedge we didn’t get the bashing we expected overnight, and by about 11am the clouds started to clear and I was itching to get started. Our objective for the day was to climb up and over Stake Pass and descend into the wilds of Langstrath to camp. Hikers…
Scallop shells, the traditional symbol of the Pilgrim Where and why does a journey begin? Does it begin with a dream, an idea, a conversation, a guidebook or the first step? Does it begin with the glint of high snows on sunlit peaks, the glimpse of a trail winding into the forest, the sound of…
