Category Archives: Drove roads

A Fosdyke Saga

Posted on March 24, 2015 by McFadzean

HERE’S an interesting fact. Fosdyke Wash, which is a beach at the mouth of the River Welland, in Lincolnshire, is the nearest strip of coast to the most inland point of Great Britain. In other words, there is a place … Continue reading →

Posted in Camping, Drove roads, Environment, Footpaths, Hiking, Rivers, The Romans, Walking, Weather | Tagged , | 30 Comments

Days Like These, No 9: Clearing the Mind on the Cluanie Ridge

Posted on June 30, 2014 by McFadzean

THERE are mornings I wake up with a head full of heaviness and pull the flysheet back to reveal an outside world full of more heaviness. Today is one of those mornings. Fog fills Strath Croe. Trees drip drumbeats of … Continue reading →

Posted in Camping, Climbing, Drove roads, Environment, Hiking, Mountains, Walking, Weather | Tagged , , , | 25 Comments

A Pennine Trek, Part 3 – Hell and High Walking

Posted on September 20, 2013 by McFadzean

The concluding episode of McEff’s Pennine walk . . . Continue reading →

Posted in Camping, Death, Drove roads, Environment, Footpaths, Ghosts, Hiking, History, Mountains, Ranting, Walking | Tagged , | 26 Comments

A Pennine Trek, Part 2 – A Night Beneath Hangman Hill

Posted on September 16, 2013 by McFadzean

McEff continues his backpacking trip to Hexham . . . Continue reading →

Posted in Camping, Climbing, Death, Drove roads, Environment, Footpaths, Ghosts, Hiking, History, Mountains, Railway goods wagons, Walking, Writing | Tagged , , , | 15 Comments

A Pennine Trek, Part 1 – Moorland and Mustard Gas

Posted on September 12, 2013 by McFadzean

The first stage of a three-day walk from Bowes to Hexham . . . Continue reading →

Posted in Allotments, Camping, Charles Dickens, Climbing, Drove roads, Environment, Explosives, Footpaths, Hiking, History, Mountains, Northern Echo, Pennine Way, Running, Second World War, Walking, Writing | Tagged , , | 27 Comments

Day Return to Bloworth Crossing . . . and Beyond

Posted on February 12, 2013 by McFadzean

A walk along the mineral railways of the North York Moors . . . Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Climbing, Drove roads, Environment, Footpaths, Hiking, History, Industrial archaeology, Mountains, Railways, Walking | Tagged , , | 25 Comments

Hambleton Hills – A Walk and a Sonnet

Posted on December 18, 2012 by McFadzean

I’VE been delving into Wordsworth again – and like last time I’m going to set him tentatively aside. Despite the pertinent fact he wrote a sonnet entitled Composed After a Journey Across the Hambleton Hills – and that’s where I … Continue reading →

Posted in Camping, Climbing, Drove roads, Environment, Hiking, History, Mountains, Walking, William Wordsworth | Tagged | 24 Comments

Beinn Dearg – A Teenage Dream

Posted on August 10, 2012 by McFadzean

I LIKE Beinn Dearg. It’s a mountain with character way out in the backcountry. And I like the sound it makes when people pronounce its name correctly. It’s like the call of a bird or the noise of a rock … Continue reading →

Posted in Climbing, Cycling, Drove roads, Environment, Hiking, History, Mountains, Walking | Tagged , , , , , , | 14 Comments

The Green Trod – A Walk Along a Drove Road

Posted on June 15, 2012 by McFadzean

THERE are little doorways in our perception of the world and they open and close unexpectedly to keep us on our toes. I’m walking through Teesdale, across a plateau of bog and heather above the river Tees, when I behold … Continue reading →

Posted in Drove roads, Environment, Hiking, History, Mountains, Walking | Tagged , | 34 Comments