Having dipped a tentative toe back into the Wanderverse last year with trips to the Lakes in the summer and Bamford in the autumn, Wayne’s Wanderers decided that enough time had been wasted hiding behind closed doors during the pandemic and with a full program of wandering committed to the diary for 2022, we headed to Snowdonia and Idwal Cottage for the spring Wander.
A trip to Snowdonia in the springtime is always a good thing and so early April 2018 saw Wayne’s Wanderers heading off for a weekend at the Snowdon Bryn Gwynant hostel alongside Llyn Gwynant, beneath the slopes of Snowdon itself.
Wayne’s Wanderers at the Wellington Monument
With the January Wander taking up a seemingly permanent residence in early February and with January 2018 now thankfully out of the way, it was time for Wayne’s Wanderers to dust off their walking boots and get out for a spot of wandering.
It’s what we do…
One day my son, you too can be a Wayne’s Wanderer
In something of a departure from our usual pattern of heading North for the autumn Wander, 2017 saw us heading Westwards into Shropshire for a weekend at Wilderhope Manor, situated in the Shropshire Hills, close to the Long Mynd.
Wilderhope is an Elizabethan manor house, miles from anywhere, but fortunately, cosy enough for a couple of evenings spent sampling the local beer and other victuals.
YHA Scarborough
For the mid-year Wander of 2017, we decided that a trip to Scarborough was in order, so July saw us heading to the North Yorkshire coast for a mini-summer holiday and a weekend of coast walks and castle visits.
The hostel itself is situated in a secluded spot slightly outside the town alongside the nautically named river Sea Cut, near the Burniston bridge. Nice location, sadly no WiFi or mobile signal – the horror, the horror.
Wayne’s Wanderers
To mark the occasion of his 70th Birthday, Tom very generously booked out the whole of the Sherwood Forest YHA for the weekend and invited friends, family and wanderers (not mutually exclusive) along for a weekend of forest walks and other such birthday frivolities. We’ve never seen so many people at a WW weekend!
Speak no evil, see no evil, hear no evil
This year’s Winter Wander fared slightly better than last year from a weather point of view, but was still pretty muddy at times.
We all met on the appointed hour (OK, quite some time after the appointed hour, but we’ll let that go…) at the Middleton Top car park and headed out across Middleton Moor.
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Langdale YHA (High Close)
High Close was at one time our preferred destination for the autumn Wander and so having decided to make a return visit in 2016, we headed North in late September to once again experience the delights of Langdale.
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Wayne’s Wanderers @ Ilam Hall
Summertime, so for Wayne’s Wanderers it was time to head off into the Peak District for a weekend at Ilam Hall situated in Ilam Park, a National Trust estate. We’ve stayed here before on a few occasions and the grounds and the house itself always make for a great relaxing weekend.
Wayne’s Wanderers at Llyn Idwal
After much lobbying of the Wanderers planning committee, it was finally decided that we would bite the bullet and attempt a self-catering weekend at Idwal Cottage in Snowdonia, so early April 2016 saw us heading to North Wales for another weekend spent at the mercy of the Welsh weather.
Putting the ‘winter’ into Winter Wander
The forecast for this year’s Winter Wander was looking pretty bad all week and on the day, the weather definitely lived up to expectations.
Following coffee and cakes at Cauldwell’s Mill, we set off along Lathkill Dale from Alport in light drizzle (and heavy mud) which, by the time we reached Over Haddon, had turned into heavy rain.
Wayne’s Wanderers
Back to Grasmere and Thorney How for the 20th Anniversary Wander.
Writing this after a gap of about four months, I can’t actually remember much about what we did beyond walking up Helvellyn on the Saturday. I do believe pubs were involved at some point though…
Wayne's Wanderers 