I live near the cotwold way at the southern end between bristol and bath

Painswick is fantastic


Have you been on hetty peglers tump or the long barrows at Nympsfield.

I think so, in the dim and distant past when we first moved to the area from suburban London and were playing tourist most weekends! Have been to Belas Knapp above Winchcombe much more recently. We tend to do quite a lot of our walks along the canal at Frampton on Severn or in the Cotswold Water Park near Cirencester. Cleeve Hill and Painswick Beacon are also very good for wild flowers in spring and summer.

While on one of your walks by Frampton on Severn if you should chance upon a madman with a Bristol Water tee shirt on say hi it will be me.
We have to monitor the canal for various things.

Hi Puffin,

Thank you very much for the photos Puffin. You live also in a beautiful region, quite different from the Alps, but quite scenic too.

I don't think you have to start a new post. This post can be for all kinds of walks from low level walks to higher grounds walks. I'm interested in reading about anything regarding walking and hillwalking. It's nice to discover different landscapes.

So Puffin, please, keep posting here (and don't forget some photos, that's nice !!!)

Greetings from the Alps,

Lionel

On Sunday 30th, with some friends and my nephew Florian, we went back to the Parmelan mountain to walk a new route. The last time, we were hillwalking there, the weather was very poor (mist and rain) but yesterday we enjoyed a beautiful sunny and warm weather.

So we climbed the Parmelan (1832 meters) by the Col du Pertuis. Beautiful route. Total ascent : 832 meters.

Here are some pictures I found on the web.

Arriving to the Col du Pertuis.



Second part of the walk (cliffs, rocky path and pine forest)



A view from the top, over the cliffs of Parmelan



"Un puits à neige" : a natural well full of snow all year round.



Over to the east, view of the Mont Blanc range.



Many "chocards" birds came very close to us to get some food : they love ham !!!



Then we finished the walk, exploring a cave where you can find ice all year round. We climbed down using a rope and head-lamps (we had no helmets !!!) and we walked for about one hour in the cave... exploring all the differents "rooms" and "corridors". My nephew Florian brought back home a block of natural ice... made in the "Glacière du Parmelan".

Oooh "Chocard" - Alpine Chough. Lovely! We have the (Red-billed) Chough here ("Crave à bec rouge") which has a longer bill. It isn't common though, and can only be found in a few places by the coast - West Wales, Islay, Colonsay, West Ireland, the Isle of Man and in recent years a pair have bred again in Cornwall.

This photo is one I took on a lovely Sunday morning in the middle of October (you should recognise it, too, Tiz and I promise if I ever meet that 'madman in a Bristol Water T-shirt' I won't push him in to the canal. )
It's Splatt Bridge on the Gloucester and Sharpness canal at Frampton on Severn in Gloucestershire.

I don't normally look at non RR threads but boredom at work drove me here! I'm a keen hillwalker, especially in Scotland where I've climbed all the Munros and photographed most, but on slides, not digital.

Perhaps a Riggies hill walk could be organised with the leader carrying a battery operated CD player?

An excellent website is Munromagic - plenty of pictures and good route info.

Aye Dave use it all the time it is very good. Its always open maps my munro books and munromagic checking out the routes.

I know that view very well Puffin.

Yesterday (Sunday 6th November) my friends and I, we climbed the Dent d'Oche (2222 metres high). There was already snow on the top (a thin cover of snow, about 5 to 6 cm). We climbed the south face of the montain but we couldn't go down the north east face as it was covered with snow and ice... so very dangerous. There was some very good scrambling but the rock was cold and slippery because of the ice and the snow.

Some pictures I found on the internet.



After this climb, we walked up a second montain : the Pointe de Pelluaz (1908 metres)

This is a view of Pelluaz in winter (the north face is a famous black ski run).



Anybody walked in Great Britan last weekend ?

Not hillwalking as visiting my elderly mother, but photos of NE Scotland anyway:

http://usera.imagecave.com/RRfan/NE_Scotland_Oct_2005/

Taken early last week. Proof we had excellent weather anyway.

Hi,

I'm hoping to be up Safwan Hill at the weekend, highest point on the Iraq/Kuwait border, I'll take some pics and post them, much colder here now, thankfully!

C

Hi Riglein,

Thank you for sharing your beautiful photos of Scotland !!! Very much appreciated.
Whenever you have more pictures, please do post them here.

Greetings from France !


Hi Colin,

Is Safwan a gebel (mountain) or a plateau ?

In winter, in the desert, the weather is much cooler, especially at night.

When I lived in Egypt, I went hillwalking in the Sinaï mountains and also in the Libyan desert. I experienced temperatures as 29°C during the day and only 2°C at night. I slept several times in the desert without a tent ... but hopefully my sleeping bag was resistant to temperatures as low as minus five degrees celsius. Mornings were also quite cold ... but invigorating !

I hope you have a great time in the Safwan area.... and that the place is peaceful so that you can enjoy it.

Will be waiting to see your photos !

Greetings from the peaceful Alps of France.

Lionel

It wasn't very good weather here last weekend so I'm afraid the only place we walked was round IKEA in Bristol (I hate that place - IKEA, not Bristol), and on Sunday we were assembling the resultant flat-pack chest of drawers. Then it seemed like a good idea to buy some more, so we can have matching units in both main bedrooms, so guess where we ended up AGAIN yesterday evening, having driven down the motorway in what seemed to be a monsoon! And it's not over yet - the wardrobe we want comes in a box that is too big to fit in the back of the (company) pick-up and will have to come home on the roof rack: that means yet another trip one fine day when it isn't going to rain. Eeek!

Hillwalking today in the Northern Alps of France : my nephew Florian and I, we walked up to the top of Pointe de Lachau (1962 metres). The weather was half sunny, half cloudy but quite mild for mid-November. The views from the top were excellent as most of the mountains in the distance were clear. The total ascent was 750 metres and my nephew Florian who is 10 years old walked very well and was very proud of his walk.

I found a winter picture of the Pointe de Lachau as it's a beautiful ground for free-ride skiing.



And I found a complete album of summer photos of the walk. Click below to enjoy the views we had today.

http://www.randos-montblanc.com/pages/albu...bum-lachau.html

We also stayed watching for twenty minutes a fight between two male "bouquetins". Very spectacular !!! That was the first time I saw a real fight like that.





We had a great day on the hills ? Did you walk this week-end ?

Found this article on the BBC website.....if only people would learn to respect the hills and take their litter etc back with them


Litter picker cleans up Ben Nevis

Robin's clean-up has been applauded
A mid Wales man known affectionately as "Rob the rubbish" was so ashamed by the litter on Britain's highest peak that he spent two days cleaning it up.
Robin Kevan, 66, of Llanwrtyd Wells, Powys, sprang into action after hearing about Ben Nevis on BBC Radio 5 Live.

The retired social worker filled six bin bags halfway up the 4,406ft (1,344m) Highland mountain.

Mr Kevan won the applause of the Mountaineering Council of Scotland, which called it a "selfless act".

He gained his nickname after taking to collecting litter in his home town, which is officially the smallest in the UK. He leaves his home at dawn and spends two hours cleaning up the area.

I'm not an angry old man, I just feel ashamed that Britain's highest peak has such a problem

Rob 'the rubbish' Kevan

He said he was astonished to hear on Radio 5 about Ben Nevis' problems.

"That sort of stirred me up," said the father-of-three.

"I went to Scotland on 3 and 4 November and went up the main access route and started litter picking."

He brought down empty crisp packets, drinks cans and bottles, cigarette packets, tissues and even wet clothes.

"If one person from Wales can travel to Scotland and pick litter then why can't people in Scotland do it?" he asked.

"I'm not an angry old man. I just felt ashamed that Britain's highest peak had such a problem and I wanted to do something about it.


Ben Nevis sits at the head of Loch Linnhe above Fort William

"I met people from Italy, Poland, Denmark and other countries when I was on the mountain and they couldn't believe why people dropped litter at such a beautiful place."

The Mountaineering Council of Scotland said litter was a growing problem on Ben Nevis, with people happy to carry full drink and food cartons up the mountain, but reluctant to carry empty ones down.

Kevin Howett, the council's national officer, said: "This was a really selfless act - fantastic," he said.

"If other people had that sort of motivation it would not take long to clear Ben Nevis.

"We have a saying, take only photographs and leave only footprints when visiting Ben Nevis."

Mr Kevan has written an article about his efforts for the BBC Action Network, open forum run for people to make contributions on issues that matter to them.