Out of the Dark Season & Onwards!

A New Walking Bag from Mountain Warehouse for 2017,
replacing My Faithful Regatta Servant of 15 years!

Another Superbowl weekend comes and goes, and that's the sign that the Dark Season has passed and it's possible to start looking forward to the useful months of 2017, when you can feel daylight on your face in the mornings and evenings, and the grinding misery of endless night finally passes. Yeah, you might have gathered that this has been a tough one, the hardest to traverse in more than a decade, as my disposition towards the world has had little reason to improve over the last three months, and work has been tiring me out in ways that have not been previously experienced, so the first week off since Christmas is a good time to relax a bit and to start to plan for the coming year. I note that this season that I hate the most seems to neatly coincide with the Gaelic calendar, falling as it does between the festivals of Samhain and Imbolc, which make me realise that the awful drag across the depths of Autumn - Winter is not something that is in any way unique to me, or to the modern age either, as our Pagan ancestors had noticed it as well! Still, it's time to get the gear out of the cupboard and to look forwards again, and the last stretches for my ancient Regatta bag are due to come around in the early going, as I used my off season trip to Mountain Warehouse in Batley, as well as one of many accumulated vouchers, to get myself a new rucksack, good to go once we hit the countryside paths in the Spring, and replacing the one that has done me 15 years of sterling service. I'd been hopeful that I might get one for Christmas, but the rather exacting lists of demands that came with my request proved troublesome so it came as a bit of a surprise to find one that fitted the bill so easily, checking off the list of features required; 35 litre capacity, chest and waist straps, double compartments and waterproof covering, and costing only £35 too.

So where are we looking to for 2017? It would be easy to copy and past my targets for last year actually, as many are exactly the same, as I realise, 5 years in, that there aren't as many weekends in a year as you might think, and that your walking plans are always going to shift around as new ideas come your way as the paths and experiences unfold, so for now at least, let's state the following:

• Aim for a couple of Long-ish Distance Trails for my Spring and Summer holidays, The Nidderdale Way looks like first choice for May, and I could look to the Rossendale Way or the Witton Weavers Way (yeah, I know) in September.
• More City Walking, especially good for the glum months, because there are still plenty of paths to make around Leeds, and Bradford needs immediate attention, because it now looks like I'm deliberately trying to avoid it.
• Make more trails in Lower Wharfedale, and head out to cover the lands around the Washburn Valley and Harrogate, plus finally meeting Nidderdale.
• Take more steps into Upper Airedale and the Bronte Moors, as well as Alpine Bradford, places largely unseen in the last three walking seasons.
• Find some new hills to ascend , as the flatlands may be good for mileage, but aren't so good for exertion and views!
• Check more Railway Stations off the WY Metro list, because Trainspotting.
• Do Social walking and general sociability, as hitting the paths is not a particularly good reason to avoid company, so get the Friends and Comrades out to wander with me, or stay in with them to drink!
• Get over to Lancashire more than once and get My Sister and the Girls onto the moors with me, and we've also got My Parents' Golden Wedding Anniversary to fit in for more Family interaction.
• Aim at 500 miles in 2017, and 3,000 miles before I'm 43, because this is where My life is leading, and You know it makes sense!

Nothing too earth shattering there, I'll admit, but hey, we hope that there will still be plenty of seasons in the future to burn more paths around Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield, as well as all the remoter corners of the North Country, and so we steel ourselves for the next 9 months on the trail, hopeful that this land still has a good face to seen in 2017!

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 2565 miles
Up Country Total: 2338.2 miles
Solo Total: 2309.7 miles


Next Up: A City Circular wander that has taken 5 years to conceive.