Pendle Hill and Sculpture Trail

In a recent post called ‘Taking The Plunge‘ I talked a bit about my decision to undertake the huge challenge of going trekking in the Transylvanian Alps to raise money for Mind.

As part of that, I’ve been undertaking more hikes to support with my training, so when the sun came out recently, I jumped in the car and took off to Pendle Hill to enjoy the view.

I’d visited Pendle Hill a couple of weekends back to tackle the actual hill climb and it had been much colder then. The initial part of the walk is up a grassy hill, leading up to steep stone steps that wind their way around the hill side to the summit.

Although the views are great from the top, the harsh wind at the time had me pulling at my hood and feeling the cold cutting through my layers. By the time we’d walked to the bottom, I was wearing my windbreaker, a hoody and gloves.

Flash forward to a recent weekend and the weather couldn’t have been more different. The sun was shining, it was warm enough to leave the jumper behind and out came the sunglasses.

As I pulled up to the main car park in Barley, I realised my mistake; it was race day at Pendle Hill. A huge gaggle of people, all ready to run up the hill, a mixture of serious racers, fell runners and people out running for fun (!)

This changed my plans somewhat as I wasn’t feeling ready for a walk up the hill whilst being overtaken by runners – if I get out of breath taking my sweet time on those steps, I sure as hell don’t want to feel worse about my fitness by being lapped by ultra fit people in running shorts!!

I turned out of the car park and weaved my way through the groups of runners, keeping the Pendle Inn on my left. Passing the garage, I then headed up the lane, following the signs for the sculpture trail.

The first part of the walk was a fairly straight, uphill path, leading past the two reservoirs on the right. This gave a fairly good view of the forest I was about to enter.

The sculpture trail is set in Aitken Wood and as soon as I started up the steep path, I knew I’d made the right choice about my route. The trees towered overhead and the sunlight cutting through the branches created a beautifully lit view. There was a smell of burning through the wood and it reminded me of being in Yosemite, my favourite place in the world.

Along the trail, the sculptures were dotted around, often hidden back in the trees, meaning that some of them needed a little more searching to be found. The trail is obviously designed for kids, however I had loads of fun seeking out the sculptures and trying to solve the riddles that accompany them – so big kids like me will have just as much fun!

At one point, I shared my route with a family and listened to them telling stories about how the unicorn came to life when no one was looking. I realised that I’d been making up my own stories in my head as I’d walked: the unicorn was Artax (the horse from Neverending Story), the twisted bits of metal from a dystopian world and the chair with eyes from a Hocus Pocus type witch.

By the time I strolled back down the path to the car, I was feeling refreshed, with a head full of dreams and stories.

Another Place

I do like my art (especially sculptures; as proved here and here!), however I tend to get a bit freaked out by large statues (this post has some rather terrifying examples) – apparently it’s a thing (lots of people experience it – I promise!!). In particular, statues of people in / near water scare the shit out of me. I don’t know why. I’ve tried quizzing my parents but none of them seem to recall anything from my childhood that might have contributed to this fear – I’m not entirely sure I believe them, but so far they are sticking to their story!

With this in mind, I was a little apprehensive to visit Crosby Beach near Liverpool. Home to 100 ‘Iron Men’ as part of Antony Gormley’s public art work ‘Another Place’.

Spread over 2 miles of coastline, the statues stand at random points across the sand and water, submerged to different degrees depending on the tide.

Feeling brave, I wandered over to look at two of the closest figures. Close up, as they were proportionate to a ‘normal’ person, they didn’t feel so scary and it was actually interesting to see how the weather and water had affected each statue differently. Some were covered in barnacles, some were more mossy and others relatively untouched.

It was a sunny, bright day, packed with hundreds of people enjoying the uncharacteristically warm bank holiday weather. The shouts and sounds of people playing in the sand made the statues seem less freaky and more interesting.

That being said, the statues were actually more creepy from a distance, where the impact of so many still and silent figures could trigger the imagination into thinking they looked slightly closer than before……

I can imagine that if I was to visit on on a cold early morning, when the sounds are limited to the bird cries and sea, I would have a very different experience of the Iron Men.

Simply Raw Bakery, Vienna

There are the obvious places in Vienna where it’s easy to get something to meet your dietary needs: looking at you Hard Rock and TGI Fridays – they do good food, are extremely well up on cross- contamination and were well aware of how to adapt meals to meet our needs.

However, one of the big stand out places on our visit wasn’t one of the big chains but a little café called Simply Raw Bakery.

“A cute little vintage café which only held around five tables, plus bar seating. This meant it was cosy, although it never felt cramped, even when it was full. Tea was served in little teapots and the clink of china filled the spaces between the chatter.

The breakfasts were amazing – tasty porridge with fruit was my favourite – I didn’t know that porridge could taste so good!!!

+ Cater for Gluten Free, Dairy Free and no refined sugar

+ Beautiful decor

+ Wood-burning stove keeps things toasty on cold Vienna days

+ Amazing food – everything was gorgeous and very filling

– A little expensive – but perfect for a treat!

Walking Tour of Vienna

When on a short city break, it can sometimes feel like you are trying to cram everything in. One of the best ways of seeing a lot in a short space of time is to take a walking tour.

Luckily, on our trip to Vienna, the hotel was offering a free walking tour of the city and we decided to make the most of it. When picking a tour, I like to look for ones that don’t just visit the popular tourist spots; I can do that perfectly well on my own. Instead, I like to pick tours that offer something a little different, usually places that are just off the beaten path. The free tour we joined was just the ticket as it was centred around the Jewish quarter and surrounding areas, slightly out of the main shopping areas.

We spent a couple of hours hearing tales of historical sites down the twisty streets next to the Danube. The architecture was incredible, often showing glimpses of the changes made to buildings across the years: Art Deco, Baroque and Gothic in places, splattered with an array of Roman style statues.

Stories of bar tenders who were so drunk they were mistaken for Plague victims and thrown into mass graves, visits to the places Mozart studied and incredibly ornate churches behind plain wooden doors: the tour was excellent and gave a sense of Vienna’s history.

As this tour took place on the coldest day of our trip in Vienna, we rounded off the morning with a hot drink in a toasty café. Once we’d suitably warmed up, we were off again; this time making up our own little tour locations as we found out way back towards the Danube.