Thruscross Reservoir Walk

Went on a nice walk around Thruscross reservoir in the Washburn valley. The walk is about 4.8 miles long and took us about 3 hours. This included a lunch stop and walking with a 4 year old. There are good paths to follow all the way around. I have done this walk a number of times and it is never busy unlike Swinsty and Fewston reservoirs a little further down the valley. Today I think we must have passed may half a dozen people.

Today water was also being released from the reservoir. This apparently happens a only a few times a year and attracts canoeists as the river below Thruscross then becomes navigable by canoe.

Some photos can be found on my WEB Album.

Below is a map and an elevation/distance chart of the walk. Just click on them to open a larger image. I hope to replace the map with one from Google Maps when I have time to work out how to insert one into this blog.

Photos Lake Achensee, Tirol, Austria

Just added some photos from a trip made to Lake Achensee which is in the Tirol region of the Austrian Alps. We stayed in the village of Pertisau which is on the shore of the lake. We stayed in the Montana Apartments which were very spacious and very well kept. An extremely beautiful place with plenty of things to do. Two weeks just disappeared.

I will try to put some comments on the photos at some time. Click on the photo below to see the complete album.

Lake Achensee, Tirol, Austria

Camping at Beadnell Bay

Spent the weekend camping at Beadnell Bay in Northumberland. We stayed at the Camping and Caravaning site which is located right on the sea front. You walk straight out of the site across a road and you are on the beach. There are a lot of rock pools to search for sea critters, although we found nothing.

On arrival at the site we were given a choice of a number of pitches in both an upper and lower field. We decided on a pitch in the lower field as it was isolated from the road by the upper field and a drystone wall. They were trying to allocate pitches in the lower field to people with children which seemed sensible from a safety point of view. The pitches in the lower field were generally flat apart from the ones right up against the drystone wall which are on a slope. Being near the sea the ground was very well drained and even though it rained a lot at night there was no sign of any mud. Even though the site was full there was still plenty of room for ball games. The showers, toilets and washing up facilities were all very clean and well kept.

Click on photo below to get some more photos of the trip. The beach shown is at Bamburgh and there are also some pictures of the tidal causeway at Holy Island. The tide was out so we could not get across. There is also a picture of the Family Kmamsin on our pitch.

Beadnell Bay

Polaris Challenge

Added link to Mountain Biking Polaris Challenge web site. I hope to take part in the Autumn event in the North West of England.

Connect eXplorist 100/200 GPS to PC

Found this interesting site that explains how you can modify your eXplorist 100 or 200 GPS device so that it can be connected to your PC. This will then allow you to update the firmware and use OziExplorer to download and upload points of interest, tracks and routes.

I am also hoping that I will be able to use the downloaded information to produce more detailed maps using GPSVisualizer.

I hope to try and modify my eXplorist 200 sometime over the next couple of weeks. This will hopefully save me from having to invest in a new GPS device that I can connect to my PC.

Swinsty reservoir, Washburn Valley, North Yorkshire

Winter at Dob Park, West Yorkshire

An old photo of the stream at Dob Park Bridge in the winter

Mountain bike loops from Otley, West Yorkshire

A few short mostly on road loops I like to cycle around when I have a spare hour or so. Plenty of steep hills to get the heart pumping. I do these on my mountain bike as there are a couple of sections of farm tracks which would not be very forgiving on a road bike.

Routes

Booked Beadnell Bay

Just booked up for 2 nights at Beadnell Bay . Looks like a good site near the beach.

Camping at Haltwhistle, Northumberland

We decided to head up to Northumberland for the first May bank holiday. Having not ventured up this way for many years we thought it would be good to go and see Hadrian's Wall. Having joined the Camping and Caravaning Club we decided on Haltwhistle which still amazingly had a room left for a tent. The online booking system the Camping and Caravaning Club operate is brilliant. No more phoning or emailing campsites to find out if they have room and what there pricing structure is. Simply pick your site and dates, and you are told given availability and the price you pay.

Packed the car up on Saturday morning and headed up the A1 to Northumberland. We decided to take the more scenic route across the A68 (near Darlington) instead of going all the way up to Newcastle then across the A69.

Arrived at Haltwhistle campsite at about 14:00 and were greeted by a very helpfull site wardens who gave us a choice of a few pitches. Chose a pitch and just about managed to get the tent up in the very heavy wind. Luckily the guy in the caravan next to us lent a hand.

The site was idyllic with plenty of space for the kids to play. The forest setting provided plenty of amusement for the kids. The dog loved walk along the river through the forest. The weather was a little wet. Had a walk along Hadrian's wall near Walltown. Only had to pay a couple of quid for parking which was ok. We did not bother with the other attractions like forts and museums as they were quite expensive to get into when all you are doing is chasing your children around.

Having spent a couple of nights in Haltwhislte is was time to head home. Got soaked packing the tent away. This just adds to the fun. Tried to start the car; nothing. The battery was dead. Luckily a very nice man in a caravan drove his car over and gave us a jump start.

Overall a lovely quite campsite in beautifully surroundings. All the people we met were very friendly and helpful. The dog was also very welcome. A lot of other people had their dogs with them as well.