Hiking the British mountains and hills

This is a list of our walks in everything hilly in the UK (so this basically qualifies as Mountaineering).

The spots to explore are mainly:

The Berwin range, in Wales (the closest)
Snowdonia, in Wales (also close and more scenic, we started there in April (2017).
The peak district.
The black mountains (south Wales).
The lake district.
Cheviot Hills.
Highlands, in Scotland.
Irish mountains (MacGillycuddy's Reeks, Mourne & Sperring mountains).

Llyn Idwal

On 15 April (2017), with Camilo, as part of our Easter trip to Wales (April 2017).

Llyn Idwal is a small lake in the Pont Pen-y-benglog area.

The Pont Pen-y-benglog area.
In the Snowdonia national park.
With paysages of outstanding beauty.
The Llyn Idwal lake.
You can walk around following a well delineated path.
Elena and Camilo ready to make the loop.
Each sight is fantastic.
Taking a rest.
Julia stepping down from my back.
Picnic with a view.
Back on the trail.
A more difficult bit to cross.
Julia ready to keep going.
The highest point of our itinerary.
A moment's reflection at our local top.
The lake from above.
Looking for the way down.
Found it!
Back to the easy trail.
Rocks snapped by water like fingersticks.
Julia on her own.
With difficulties kindly adapted to her by the moutain.
But mummy is never very far.
Last look at the lake.

Our first lakes of the Lake district and the Cathedral Cavern

On 12 August (2017), with Georges who was visiting us and UK. This walk brought us round the Tom Ghyll waterfalls, the Tarn Hows lake, the mind-blowing Cathedral Cavern, some Cumbrian quarries and the Yew Tree Tarn lake.

Tom Ghyll waterfalls.
At the beginning of the tour.
Arriving at the lake: Tarn Hows.
It was still raining profusely.
One of the treasure trees.
Weather got sunnier and we could picnic here.
Back on the track.
Lambs happily and freely grazing.
Beautiful stone wall.
Extending over infinities.
Good spirits.
Escaping.
On the bridge.
A tunnel in the quarries.
The Cathedral Cavern, the highlight of the walk.
A pillar that seems to hold the mountain.
The quarries.
A spot discovered by Georges.
Literally a balcony on the Cathedral Cavern.
Probably one of the big sights of England.
Back to the quarry.
In another tunnel.
It is not clear where this one is going.
Back on our track, to close the loop.
Tiredness as the day comes to its end.
Last pause on the Yew Tree Tarn lake.
Georges chasing lambs as we wait for the girls.

Round the Wrekin

On 1 October (2017).

The Wrekin is a mythic hill of Shropshire; not an impressive one to the eye, here you see Julia and Elena passing by it:

but still a prominent, well-known and cherished landmark. A famous local expression (that locals would tell me when hearing of our excursion) is going round the Wrekin to mean, taking endless detours. There is also an adorable legend about a giant (Gwendol Wrekin ap Shenkin ap Mynyddmawr) discouraged in its plot to smother Shrewsbury by a clever cobbler, resulting in the material he had collected to be dumped at its present location. The otherwise flat surrounding indeed makes this vestige of a foiled revenge stand out, even though it is a mere 407m above the plain. It is the extension of Shropshire AONB into Telford and is also of much geological significance for its little companion, the Ercall which stands by its side. You can access both, starting with the Ercall, from Wellington's train station, which is how we approached this legend. The walks through the nearby woods are enchanting. It was a very windy day, so much so that we could not stay too long without taking cover. It is said to be extremely popular although we found few other people and even found ourselves alone treading it at some point.

The woodland of the Ercall.
Julia did some walking but still spent much of the walk somewhere on top of me.
Elena with the Ercall rocks.
With a better view. The expert eye can discern a clear geological fault here. If you have time you can find sediments around.
Pausing for the photo, looking natural.
A hiker in the making.
Julia increasingly covers parts of our walks on her own.
Getting near the top of the Wrekin.
Here we are.
The blues of achievement.
It was so windy, we had to take cover behind these rocks.
which were good enough shelter for a snack.
with beautiful views of Shropshire.
These views.
Time to keep going round the Wrekin.
Little Julia being informed of Gwendol Wrekin ap Shenkin ap Mynyddmawr.
Running with the wind.
A few meters from the top, and the wind had completely gone... it was as if the Wrekin wanted to simply blow us off.
Back in the woods.
Almost there.
Back to our starting point, on the other side.