Notes from short walks — mostly weekends, mostly within a train ride from home. Distances are honest, elevation is approximate, and the coffee stops are non-negotiable.
14.2 km · 430 m up · 4 h 10 m · easy
A loop that looks dull on the map and turns out to be the best of the lot. The first hour climbs through beech that keeps the wind off entirely; after the saddle the path opens onto a ridge with nothing taller than knee-high scrub for two kilometres. Take the eastern fork at the cairn — the western one drops into a bog that stays wet well into July.
8.6 km · 180 m up · 2 h 30 m · easy
Short enough for a winter afternoon. The quarry has been flooded since the eighties and the water is an improbable green. Bring something to sit on; every flat rock is damp between October and April. The return leg along the old rail bed is level and dull, which is exactly what tired legs want.
21.8 km · 1140 m up · 7 h 45 m · demanding
The only route here that needs an early start. Two thirds of the climb happens in the first ninety minutes, on scree that moves under you the whole way. Above the col the path is obvious in good weather and completely invisible in cloud — if the ridge is socked in, turn around, the alternative descent adds three hours.