Lanzarote: Timanfaya Guided Tours

Lanzarote's Timanfaya National Park covers an area of just under twenty square miles on the western side of the island. The Montañas del Fuego (trans. Fire Mountains) lie at its heart and these were at the centre of the six-year long series of eruptions from 1730 to 1736 that altered the course of Lanzarote's history. Huge swathes of fertile agricultural land and nine villages were destroyed, the economy was devastated, and subsequently a large number of the island's inhabitants were forced to emigrate, many of them travelling to Cuba and other parts of the Americas. Incredibly, given the scale and the duration of this cataclysmic event, nobody was killed by these eruptions.

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Foel Fadian

Foel Fadian is a hill of relatively small prominence on the fringe of the Cambrian Mountains in mid-Wales. North of its summit, the ground drops away into the fertile farmland of the Dyfi Valley and rises again onto the southern face of Cadair Idris, which stands on the horizon like a fortress guarding the entrance to Snowdonia. To the south, the Cambrian Mountains themselves stretch out before you, vast rolling uplands of moor and heath that have the curious distinction of forming the first proposed National Park to be rejected in England and Wales.

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Cadair Berwyn

Having finally got the northern edge of Kinder under my belt, it was time to turn my attention back to Wales and another oft-postponed trip, the summits of which had been worrying away at me and demanding to be climbed since late spring. This was a ridge walk to Cadair Berwyn, described on Wikipedia as "the highest significant summit in Wales outside the National Parks". As a bonus this walk started and ended with a charming cafe that does a mighty fine mug of coffee and a spectacular waterfall, which is well worth a visit on its own terms even without heading into the hills that surround it.

Following the Afon Rhaeadr upstream

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Cadair Idris

The start of the Minffordd Path

For some of the walks I have planned out I don't want to risk doing them unless the weather conditions are as near to perfect as possible; not necessarily for safety reasons - though that is a prime consideration in any trip, of course - but more because the location itself is special in some way or it involves a significant journey to get there. Cadair Idris is one of those places for me. It's a name that's lodged in my imagination since I read Susan Cooper's "The Dark Is Rising" series of novels as a teenager (and again, with equal pleasure, as an adult); and when looking at possible routes it became clear that not only is the mountain itself quite beautiful but that it affords some wonderful views, particularly down to the coast.

I was itching to get there and for several days had been keeping a close eye on weather forecasts. Various sites, both mountain specific and general, were pretty unequivocal that the outlook was due to be clear blue skies and sunshine towards the end of this week. I needed no second bidding to book a couple of last-minute leave days and we set off to Wales yesterday morning around 6:30am. It was a beautiful morning here in Manchester and in Cheshire too. Luminous mist lying low across the fields and the dazzling sunshine above that made sunglasses a necessity as we drove along the M6 and then the M56. When we hit Denbighshire, however, fog filled many of the valleys and the sunlight made little impact on its grey demeanour.

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Cressbrook Dale and the Monsal Trail

The Dark Peak is justly famous for its heather and peat-blanketed uplands and the dark gritstone edges, scoured by centuries of wind and rain, that gaze menacingly down on its vast reservoirs - this is many people's first image when someone says they're going walking in the Peak District and it's probably usually mine too. It's not the whole story though, as picturesque towns like Bakewell and Matlock bear witness, and the fertile farmland in which they lie contains some real hidden gems for the hiker.

We ventured back into this territory late last year, when we had a friend staying with us who was temporarily using a wheelchair. A search for accessible outdoor locations led us to Tideswell Dale and we made a note to return and explore the area further.

That short outing brought us, albeit much later than we planned, to Cressbrook Dale last month. We left the car at a free roadside parking spot by the River Wye on the lane between Monsal Head and Cressbrook village. 

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