It is common for many visitors to England’s Lake District to walk beside the lakes or hike in the fells – alone, with special companions, or in a group. What is less common is to do it alongside creatures that have been specifically bred to work in these hills. We spent a day with Tom Lloyd, owner of Fell Pony Adventures, and two of his ponies, Lucky and Prince, for a hike along the country lanes and through the woods above the villages of Lakeside and Newby Bridge on Windermere. It was a day of hiking as we’ve never had before!
Continue reading “UK 2022 – Fell Pony Adventures”Author: Chris
Until 2019, I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Namibia focused on Community Economic Development. Before that, I was a high-tech executive, small business owner, consultant and business broker.
UK 2022 – Aira Force
The weather gods delivered excellent conditions (cool, overcast, and dry) for us to hike up into the nearby hills, so we set our sights on Ullswater’s famous waterfall, Aira Force. Most people in Glenridding walk to and back from the waterfall along the lake, on the Ullswater Way. But to get more distance and elevation, we found a nice loop away from the water and around the peaks of Glenridding Dodd and Sheffield Pike.
We were finally fell-walking!
Continue reading “UK 2022 – Aira Force”UK 2022 – The Ullswater Way
Our drive from Bowness-on-Windermere over the Kirkstone Pass delivered us to the small village of Glenridding on Ullswater: just 16 miles away on the odometer, but with such a different atmosphere as to make us feel we had traveled hundreds of miles.
Gone were the crowds, gone were the cars, and gone was the noise.
Continue reading “UK 2022 – The Ullswater Way”UK 2022 – Getting to the Lake District
We said our heartfelt goodbyes to Iain and Janie to take a leisurely drive north from The Wirral, under the Mersey (not on the ferry this time – there’s a tunnel!), through Liverpool, and up the Lancashire coastline into Cumbria and to Bowness-on-Windermere in the Lake District.
Because Lakeland was our home for the following three weeks, there are a lot of photos that I’ll be sharing here in the upcoming posts. Before that, however, I have something else to show you…
Continue reading “UK 2022 – Getting to the Lake District”UK 2022 – Snowdon
After a couple of days to adjust to the time change and explore Liverpool, Joanie and I set out to stretch our legs on some trails for the first time – the primary goal of our trekking holiday. We followed Iain’s recommendation and made the fairly short drive to Snowdonia National Park in North Wales to climb up Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) , the highest mountain in Wales and the highest point in the British Isles outside of Scotland. At 3,560 feet (1.085m) above sea level, it is easy to think of Snowdon, like all the famous mountains of the UK, as quite small when compared to the Sierra, Rockies, Alps, Andes, Himalayas, or any number of taller ranges around the world. But the terrain and oft-changing weather attests to why so many mountaineers of old did their training on the peaks of North Wales, the English Lake District and the Scottish Highlands. Sir Edmund Hillary was only one of the many alpinists who trained in the UK before making the first successful ascent of Mount Everest with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953.
Continue reading “UK 2022 – Snowdon”UK 2022 – Liverpool Football Club
Those of you who know me, even a little bit, will recall that I am a longtime, avid, and unapologetic supporter of Liverpool FC, the best team in the world.
Continue reading “UK 2022 – Liverpool Football Club”UK 2022 – Liverpool and The Beatles
Joanie and I have finally gone through the hundreds of photos and video clips from our recent trekking holiday to the UK, in order to find the best ones to post here over the next few weeks. My intentions with this blog are to document our experiences for posterity and to share our experiences with those friends around the world who might be interested in following along our journey. Thanks for viewing, and don’t hesitate to ask any questions or add comments.
Continue reading “UK 2022 – Liverpool and The Beatles”UK 2022 – England’s Lake District
As a 19 year old foreign exchange student in Scotland, I made my first visit to the Lake District of England over a long weekend and immediately fell in love with the terrain and local culture. Through many other visits over the years, I took a few daylong treks and always looked with envy at the people carrying their rucksacks on more serious adventures up into the fells. “Some day…” I hoped, “I want to do that, too!”
Continue reading “UK 2022 – England’s Lake District”Chris-on-the-Trail
Let’s call it a rebranding of this weblog…
Hello, all – I hope you are well! Thanks for visiting again.
I’ve been delinquent in keeping up this blog during the pandemic, although I was fortunate that the virus didn’t keep me from visiting Namibia a few times – it is always nice to see my friends and former colleagues there in my second home. Throughout the period, I’ve mostly kept busy with some local volunteer activities (elections, census, food bank, and mentoring several foreign small businesses through MicroMentor) as well as enjoying some self-improvement (online courses, lectures, webinars, and gardening).
While I expect (and hope) to spend a lot of my future in Namibia again, and possibly even with the Peace Corps, I’ve spent most of my recent months preparing for some long distance hikes this year. In order to share these adventures with all of you, I thought I would borrow this “Chris-in-Namibia” site and temporarily rename it “Chris-on-the-Trail.” I hope you don’t mind.
Continue reading “Chris-on-the-Trail”