Monday 27 October 2014

Walking in Devon, England

THE SOUTH WEST COASTAL PATH

In February 2012, having tired of the hustle and bustle of busy London, I moved to the coastal town of Torquay in Devon, about three hours by rail south-west of London. I soon learnt that there was plenty of local good walking to be enjoyed.

The South West Coastal Path is a long-distance walking trail that begins at Minehead on the Somerset Coast, then follows the foot of England around Land's End in Cornwall, along the coast of Devon overlooking the English Channel, and finishes its 630 mile (1,014 km) journey at Poole Harbour in the county of Dorset. The walk is rated by Lonely Planet as one of the top walks to be found anywhere in the world, and has been voted Britain's best walk by readers of Walk magazine.

I've only walked a small portion of the path—Dartmouth to Lyme Regis—66 miles (106 km), but it's been a wonderful experience so far. I've done other long distance coastal walks in Australia—around the rugged west coast of Kangaroo Island off the coast of South Australia, and the wild and muddy South Coast Track in Tasmania. Both those walks were true wilderness experiences. 

The South West Coastal Path never approaches anything close to wilderness, but it does give you an appreciation of the English seascape that most people don't get to experience. You pass around dramatic cliffs, overlook rocky islands, plunge into thick forests and stroll along pleasant stretches of sandy beach. 

The Jurassic Coast, between Exmouth and Studland, is a highlight of this section of the walk, and is the only natural World Heritage Site in England. I was taken by its high red cliffs and eroding sea stacks, which reminded me of the dramatic limestone landforms overlooked by the Great Ocean Road in Victoria.

The path is well-graded and undemanding for fit walkers, and track maintenance is excellent at every stage—this path attracts a lot of walkers, year round. Unlike walking in Australia, don't worry about carrying a tent, and a litre of drinking water is usually sufficient, as the path passes through many coastal towns on the way—large and small— at regular intervals. These towns are a large part of the attraction of this walk. Each has its own character and history (England has LOTS of history!) and each town you pass through adds a further dimension to the walk. Entering a town from the coast on foot is a very different experience from simply arriving by car. This way you manage to gain a fresh perspective and appreciation for each town you pass through.

I chose to walk the path in easy, bite-size portions—a full day afoot— and this has worked well for me so far. But many people take a week's holiday and walk daily sections, staying overnight in any town that takes their fancy. As in Australia, summer offers far more time for walking and side excursions. Winter walking in England can be very limiting, as daylight only fully emerges around 9.00am, then slowly recedes again at 3.30pm! 










































Wednesday 23 July 2014

Summer in the Swiss Alps


ZERMATT AND THE MATTERHORN

A few summers ago I spent a lovely couple of days in the Swiss village of Zermatt at the foot of the Matterhorn. The weather was perfect and the wildflowers were in bloom everywhere. It was my second visit to the Matterhorn — the first was during winter when everything was snowed under, so it was a very different landscape this time.

For me, the Matterhorn represents the very epitome of a rugged alpine peak, and its dynamic, almost geometrically-perfect pyramid shape makes it the most instantly recognisable peak in the world, and not just on wrappers of Toblerone chocolate! There are some delightful walks in the region, all very do-able for anyone with reasonable use of their legs, without having to resort to serious mountaineering techniques. If you're vertically challenged, it's difficult to find any flat ground around Zermatt, but no matter which route you choose you'll be rewarded with sweeping views.

Part of the mystique surrounding the Matterhorn concerns Edward Whymper's fascination with the mountain and his successful first ever ascent in 1865, only to be followed by tragedy on the descent when a climbing rope snapped and four of his men plummeted to their deaths. Whypmer's book Scrambles Amongst the Alps is recommended reading, as is a visit to the Museum in Zermatt where the notorious 'broken rope' and other memorabilia from the 1865 ascent are on public display.

To get a feel for the mountain we left early one morning and made our way up from the Black Lake. The ascent is reasonably straight-forward along a narrow, winding mountain path, accompanied by dizzying drops for hundreds of metres. There are so many of these mountain paths around Zermatt that normal fencing and safety requirements are largely impossible to maintain in this precipitous landscape. The rock underfoot is essentially shale and slate in a constant state of flaking and “onion” weathering, so care needs to be taken with foot placement. We climbed as high as the Hornli Ridge and got tremendous views of the Matterhorn soaring majestically above us, its peak cutting through cloud, and down to the Matterhorn Glacier far below.

Frenchmans Cap has often been called 'Australia's Matterhorn' and there is a similarity in the striking physical appearance of both mountains. But there the comparison ends —apart from the huge difference in height — 4,478 metres compared to 1,446 metres — both mountains have a history and attraction that is uniquely its own. So if you love mountains, the Matterhorn should be on your short list of places to visit on your next European holiday. It's a magnetic and magical place that you'll want to return to again and again.