#hill walking

[hikinguk]

Burbage, Peak District

[encryptedlunacy]

Another walk (+1 shroom!)

[greencomfort]

Whiteash Hill, Fochabers (Scotland)

[lauraepartain]

On the steep, steep side of Ben Lomond | Scotland | April 2023 This was one of the first especially intimidating munros I saw while walking north into the Scottish Highlands. Unfortunately, our route would not have us climb this fabled mountain. This view however, amazed me nonetheless. Upon nearing the base where the mountain paths lay, I observed two very much windswept hillwalkers shuffle down the trail. “Did you climb Lomond today?” I asked. “Oh yes”, they reply in a Scottish accent. “Incredibly windy up there. I felt like I was going to be blown off the hill at any moment!” Scottish Hillwalking aint for babies. While I had a monumental ascent up the north face of Ben Nevis, Scotland left me wanting more. Another trip, perhaps. I’ll be doing a print and post card sale soon, y’all! What images should I add back to my shop? Everything will be printed in advance this time, so if you have any suggestions as to what should go to print, add a comment!

[3xplorholic]

🌄 Embrace the journey of life, every hill leads to new horizons. 🌿

.

.

📍 Theni, IN

[retrobassgirl]

Hiking in the Forest of Bowland

Here are a few photos taken as I up the Langden Brook trail with my husband Martin. We climbed up into Lancashire's Fiendsdale today. The area lies in the Forest of Bowland which is a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

The beautiful little building with conical windows is 'Langden Castle'. It stands at the confluence of two streams: One from bleak and lonely Bleadale and the other from wild Fiendsdale. The white flower is sub arctic cotton grass which grows wild up here.

I have included some sound clips of our walk here too.

Walking the trail:

Squelching through the puddles:

Birds by the Langden Brook:

Cotton grass flutters in the wind:

Jane xx

[virtualscotland]

I recently visited Galloway Forest Park in Dumfries and Galloway in the south of Scotland. The Forest Park covers 774 square kilometres (we didn't see it all 😂) and is the biggest forest in the UK. It has many beautiful walks, hiking routes, hill walking, cycling, mountain biking, rock climbing and ice climbing. We stuck to some of the more gentle walking routes and explored the beautiful scenery and nature parks within the forest, including wild goats and red deer!

[horizon5adventure]

[johndburns]

Kev Mitchell: Scottish Mountain Rescue | Podcast

John D. Burns talks to Kev Mitchell about the vital work carried out by mountain rescue teams in the Scottish hills and gets his expert advice on keeping safe in the mountains. Kev Mitchell Everyone who walks in Scotland’s hills relies on the back up of Scottish Mountain Rescue. None of us is invincible. A simple slip can lead to a broken ankle, a minor navigational error could lead to a cold…

[clivespage]

A good trek this morning.

[martyncrucefix]

Review of 'Modern Fog' by Chris Emery (Arc Publications, 2024)

Chris Emery’s most recent collection both presents, and intends to see beyond, the Modern Fog of its title. The poems revel in describing aspects of this world and – in keeping with the images on the book’s cover – the occasions for such descriptions arise from journeys (often walking – the cover shows a hand-holding rambling couple) and the highlights of such journeys are frequently encounters…

[hikinguk]

Gibson Knott & Helm Crag

Grasmere, Lake District

[serpentface]

The pylidaigh, a type of vampiric snow ghost, as imagined in folklore in and around the Highlands.

This is a ghost believed to come into being when a person dies in the snow and their body is not found before their soul (still trapped without its funeral rites) 'freezes' inside of it. The body then reanimates into a pylidaigh's twisted form. It looks like someone who slowly died of starvation, just a thin layer of flesh over bones. Its skin is as white as the snow itself, so pale it can blend seamlessly into a blizzard. Most of its body appears subtly stretched and lanky, save for its exceptionally unsubtle long, skinny arms, which drag on the ground behind it when it walks. After a big meal of blood, its belly swells like the abdomen of a tick.

A pylidaigh can only tread across snow and ice, and so doorways and windows are best kept clear of snowfall during the winter in order to prevent it from reaching inside. It mostly comes out to hunt during blizzards when there is little that can prevent it from catching its victims.

In spite of its fragile appearance, a pylidaigh is supernaturally strong, and can run at great speeds when it wants to. No mortal weapons can pierce its body, nor can any bonds known to craftsmen hold it in place. It is usually said that chains forged like iron but made out of ice can bind a pylidaigh and render it immobile, but this smithing technique remains tragically elusive to the average joe.

This ghost is either cast as a wildly dangerous but tragic figure, or one that is more simply malicious. In either case, it is described as experiencing nothing but bitter cold. It shivers endlessly. It retains distant memories of what it was to be alive, and it is motivated by a futile desperation to experience the feeling of warmth again.

In more sympathetic framings, it is described as using its freaky gibbon arms to capture its victims and pull them into an embrace, rather innocently trying to warm itself against their body. This inevitably fails, and the embrace becomes a bone crushing squeeze. When that too fails to warm the ghost, it rips out the person's throat and drinks their blood until the victim is as cold and drained as the pylidaigh itself.

In other cases, this more pitiable narrative of a ghost seeking warmth with no comprehension of its actions is discarded in favor of making it purely monstrous. Here it is a type of vampire with an insatiable thirst, practically a physical manifestation of the worst of winter itself. Some tales acknowledge both variants, suggesting a pylidaigh's violent attempts to warm itself may be initially devoid of malice, but turns into an act of furious jealousy of the warmth of the living after years of suffering.

The only (more or less) surefire method to permanently kill a roaming pylidaigh involves trapping it with fire. They are attracted to any source of heat, and will attempt to warm themselves with the flames (if not tempted away by a juicy living human body). The fire itself cannot kill them (as the sheer cold of their body is more powerful even than flame) but they can be trapped if kept near the fire long enough for the snow it depends upon to melt. This does not kill the pylidaigh either. The monster will remain in stuck in place (and potentially become a threat again if it snows more) for the duration of the winter. Only when the spring comes and all the snow melts does it revert into a normal human carcass (though mysteriously invulnerable to decay), at which point it can be cremated.

Pylidaigh in the wilds also revert to a human corpse during the snowless seasons, but will roam again each following winter unless it is burnt in the interim. It is of critical importance that any human corpse found in high mountain pasture is cremated- not only out of respect for the poor soul trapped as an earthbound ghost, but to prevent the threat of the possible dormant pylidaigh emerging next winter.

[greencomfort]

[lauraepartain]

NEW JOURNAL ENTRY UP! Click to read more about my 156 mile walk across Scotland, all shot on panoramic 35mm film. Enjoy, yall!

[julieconnelly]

Hillwalking & meditation

Hillwalking & meditation retreat. Despite the train strike, I managed to get up to Stirling, without any drama. I  got into a shared mini-bus up to Dhanakosa the Buddhist Retreat Centre. It had been a long time since I visited; (10 years) last time was a yoga retreat. I thought I would try the Hill Walking & Meditation course. We did 3 days of hillwalking and a lot of meditation it is an…