A hike through the western hills of the Cadair Idris range, including first visits to two mountain lakes.

The outward line crosses the Mawddach estuary to ascend to the westernmost hill Braich Ddu and traverses the cliffs of Craig-y-llyn and Tyrrau Mawr to the major path junction at the centre of the range.

The mid-section follows a line below the cliffs of the eastern mountains to the corrie lake of Llyn y Gadair. The descent follows the lower section of the Fox's path to the lane near the Gwernan Hotel, leading to the fine woodland track that borders the Nant y Ceunant down to Dolgellau.

This extraordinary long spell of dry weather for Spring and early Summer continues, blue skies and sunshine for days on end in many parts. With a forecast of west Wales for the best conditions, we set off on this route that I mostly designed a few years ago, the section from Braich Ddu onwards being the intended latter part of our ill-fated Western Tarrens trip.

Below the Cadair cliffs the route uses a path, shown on the map as a pecked line, that I have never seen described anywhere except in a book from 1991 that briefly mentions its existence. In our new enforced slackpack mode, an unknown path in a mountainous region is a risk, this time we got away with it but only after much debilitating effort.

The first half of the trek is the unfashionable western arm of the Cadair galaxy where few walkers venture, but was completely deserted despite the unbroken sunshine. The big surprise though was the eastern half where we saw only three walkers. The Fox's path and lakes were deserted too.

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A very short 3-day route through the Crimea Pass north of Blaenau Ffestiniog, improvised late on the first day to replace our intended trek that proved too much for the circumstances.

The route follows the Afon Lledr to gain Access Land north of Moel Dyrnogydd, rising to join the excellent track around to the Crimea Pass and onward to the Llynau Barlwyd lakes.

The return descends via the quickest route through the moorland and quarries to Blaenau Ffestiniog.

Another morning medical appointment at the foot clinic meant a late start in mid afternoon for our trek, one contributory factor to our over optimistic expectation, another being the residual ankle soreness that was barely alleviated, if at all, by prescription-grade pain killers. The final factor was the excruciating terrain on the lower slopes that was both painful and debilitating to the point of exhaustion. We would have to think of something else: a short and simple route via Llynnau Barlwyd was quickly conceived from a mental map of the area and verified on our electronic mapping.

Despite the shaky start, we thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the trek. The ankle pain disappeared overnight and we slackpacked at a very relaxed pace in unbroken sunshine with fine views for the bulk of the walk, a highlight being an excellent lakeside pitch.

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A short 2-day trek of the hills and lakes north of Blaenau Ffestiniog.

The outward line is a new route to Moel Penamnen, ascending through the valley of the Afon Hafod-llian and approaching the summit via the broad north-east ridge.

The second part ascends Foel-fras and crosses southwards to Llyn Bowydd for an easy descent to Blaenau via the maze of quarry tracks above the town.

The first trip of 2025 after a long winter layoff, combined with health issues including an intractable foot problem and a marked drop in fitness, required a short adaptable route with good options. As it turned out, this trip was very instructive and we took the shortest option for the second day. Slackpacking is a term we have sometimes coined for a very relaxed and modest approach to backpacking, it seems this will be the new modus operandi from now on.

The weather in the last couple of weeks had been striking: clear blue skies but with quite strong cold winds in the hills. We just caught the last two days of clear conditions when the wind had subsided and the days were very warm, an excellent and enjoyable first trip of the year.

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A 2-day varied solo trek of the hills and quarries on the south side of the Machno valley.

Hoovering up unclimbed 500m summits is an occasionally useful technique for designing solo routes in new areas, and the first day of this trek claims a couple of god-forsaken hills in a wild region of Wales that very rarely sees any foot traffic at all, not surprising in some parts due to rough trackless terrain, but with the coveted advantage of complete solitude and spaciousness.

The outward section ascends to the reedy grasslands of Foel Boeth and the more heathery Pen y Bedw, crossing westwards via the bleak heatherclad environs of the large but seldom visited Llyn Conwy.

The return section traverses the minor top of Moel Marchyria to Cwm Penmachno and briefly joins the Snowdonia Slate Trail (SST) that climbs through the quarries to the foot of the Manods, ending with a fine easy promenade around to Llyn Bowydd and a descent through more quarries to Blaenau.

As expected the whole area was deserted from start to finish save for one photographer on the SST taking his tripod and gear up the track for shots over Cwm Penmachno. Despite the lack of rain, the saturated air of this weather stream resulted in one of the wettest camps I can remember, but it also produced an excellent fiery dawn sky and striking landscape colours at the pitch.

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A 3-day short and slow slackpacking exploration in the cwms to the west of Blaenau Ffestiniog.

Doubts about this October weather stream called for an open ended approach for this trip and we decided on the delightful area to the west of Blaenau Ffestiniog, rich in options for both circular exploratory routes or linear hikes as dictated by the conditions. Due to the brisk cold wind and unpredictable clag for much of the time on the ridges and summits, we decided on an extremely leisurely second day pottering around the craggy landscape surrounding Llyn Cwm-corsiog and soaking up the atmosphere of this wild region, reprising our outward route for the last day.

This very relaxed trip turned out highly enjoyable with a superb dawn sky on the last morning.

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A short and sweet 2-day trek around Llyn Cowlyd, visiting a new 500m Dewey top and a traverse of one of our favourite mountains.

Designed at short notice to squeeze in between appointments, this turned out to be a highly enjoyable hike with crystal clear views and unbroken sunshine, despite the previous day unleashing constant rain and the morning journey to Trefriw plagued by thick dank fog to ground level and flooded fields fleetingly glimpsed through the train window. This depressing scene suddenly dissipated mid-morning and the clear blue sky restored our backpacking mojo. The ground was unsurprisingly often very wet, in particular the descent from Llyn Cowlyd to Capel Curig rating a good 9 on the squelchometer.

A pair of walkers passed us early in the day above the Gelli woodland, thereafter the area was deserted.

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A 2-day circuit of the south Pennine moors and reservoirs around the Calderbrook valley north of Littleborough.

The outward eastern section traverses the flank of Clegg Moor to join the line of the old Roman road ascending to Blackstone Edge and descending an old packhorse trail to the Warland group of reservoirs. Good tracks and trails around the eastern edges and moors of this region give miles of very easy walking with no ascent.

The return leg descends to cross the valley at Walsden and ascends the western section to its highest point at Freeholds Top above Ramsden Clough. The route ascends around Rough Hill and traverses Crook Moor to the western outskirts of Littleborough.

We had suffered for a week or two from something with flu-like symptoms but we felt sufficiently recovered to try this modest route, a very slow business when coupled with the heat but an enjoyable walk.

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A 2-day linear trek to the Black Hill massif with a long eastern approach via the Don valley and Winscar reservoir.

The outward line follows the westernmost section of the Upper Don Trail (UDT), coincident here with the Transpennine Trail, to Winscar reservoir and ascends to follow Snailsden Edge to the group of deeply incised ravines around Ramsden Clough. The ascent to Black Hill from the Holme Moss mast is via Heyden Head. This approach is new territory for us, one of the very few pockets of the Dark Peak unexplored in our many years of walking here.

The return initially follows the Pennine Way towards Laddow Rocks and diverges to Black Chew Head. This time we continued on another new line to its sister top Featherbed Moss, sporting a trig point just 1m lower, and descended another new route via Millstone Rocks to Tintwistle Knarr and its impressive rock faces, finally joining the Longdendale Trail to Hadfield.

On one of the strangest weather forecasts we’ve seen for ages, containing a varying mix of dense mist down to valley level and warm sunshine depending on location and timing, the Peak District gave the most favourable odds overall. The conditions were quite good: sunny periods, a lot of cloud but no clag and very humid.

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A 2-day traverse of the Stainton fells in the far south-west of the Lake District.

The outward line climbs Black Combe by the usual well worn path from the south-west, continues to Whitecombe Head and crosses Black Dub to ascend to the first of the Stainton summits and Whitfell.

The return line is firstly through the remaining summits to Woodend Height and down to Devoke Water, then crosses a saddle in the hills to Brantrake Crags and descends to the Esk valley. The Esk trail is followed to Muncaster Tarn for an easy return and final descent to Ravenglass.

The weather forecast suggested the north-west as the best bet for a couple of days of fine hiking in the mediocre general weather stream, an opportunity for a short visit to one of the very few parts of the Lake District we still felt any inclination to backpack. The views turned out to be thick and hazy but this was a highly enjoyable trek.

Silecroft and Ravenglass are obvious choices for a short linear trip by public transport and a few variations of this route have been on our books for years. Apart from the initial ascent to Black Combe and, in this variation, the Esk Trail finish, the route was deserted and is excellent backpacking for those prepared for some wild terrain combined with excellent pitching ground.

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A 2-day solo circuit of the Shropshire hills around Church Stretton.

The outward line traverses the hill fort of Caer Caradoc and crosses the valley to ascend to to the heath/moorlaand plateau of The Long Mynd.

The return descends the ridge of Minton Hill and Packetstone Hill to Little Stretton to recross the valley for a traverse of Ragleth Hill.

The first day was unbroken sunshine with fantastic views, the second was misty and murky with dull local views but still enjoyable walking with plenty of interest.

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