Shape up for New Year and discover stunning Scottish scenery

To help shape up and work off the Christmas excess, why not take to the saddle and explore Scotland’s spectacular countryside over the New Year?

Sustrans, the UK’s leading sustainable transport charity, has launched a map for a new National Cycle Network route, number 754, to help you discover the stunning, historic scenery between Edinburgh and Glasgow along the Union and Forth and Clyde Canals.

This new colour map is jam-packed with useful information on attractions to visit along the way, including the engineering marvel of the Falkirk Wheel and Muiravonside Country Park, an area rich in historic and wildlife interests.

Crossing over dramatic aqueducts along the line of the Antonine Wall, this new route offers a range of places to eat and drink which are all marked on the map to help you plan those all important refreshment stops.

The ‘Forth and Clyde Cycle Routes Map‘ has been produced by Sustrans in partnership with the Scottish Government and British Waterways Scotland.

Retailing at £6.99, the map is available from the Sustrans website: www.sustrans.org.uk, or by calling the Information Line on 0845 113 00 65.  It is also available from Tourist Information Centres and local book shops.

The routes in the area are peaceful, flat and mainly traffic-free making them ideal for a relaxing afternoon stroll or leisurely cycle.

The definitive map features National Cycle Network routes between Edinburgh, Glasgow and the Cowal Peninsula as well as accommodation suggestions in the area and advice on how to combine cycling and walking with train travel.

Katharine Taylor, Sustrans’ National Cycle Network Development Manager in Scotland, said: “This fantastic new map is an excellent guide to the cycling and walking routes in our area and shows just how easy it is to explore beautiful countryside by bike and on foot.”

Steve Dunlop, Director, British Waterways Scotland, said:  ”As New Year resolutions come around, choosing to cycle Route 754 would be a great challenge to set for 2010.

Step out, or cycle onto, your local canal and stretch yourself from small sections through to the full tour between Edinburgh and Glasgow.Feel the burn whilst at the same time experiencing the fabulous wildlife, scenery and awesome heritage peppered along the canal network which has already attracted 18.3 million visits over the last year.”

The main routes on the ‘Forth and Clyde Cycle Routes Map’ are all part of the National Cycle Network which now runs within one mile of half the UK population.

The routes are free to use and open to everyone, making them a great way for all ages to stay fit and healthy while enjoying a breath of fresh air.

Autumn Colours Online Guide

Visitors are being given a helping hand to root out the very best of Cumbria’s vibrant autumn leaves thanks to an online guide launched by the Forestry Commission.

The website – www.forestry.gov.uk/nweautumn – will record the changing colours of the leaves so people can visit the woodlands in all their blazing glory.

A team of woodland experts are already on red alert in the forests to find the hottest autumn spots across the county.

They will chart the changing shades of the autumn foliage from green to golden until the end of November.

The leaf-watch campaign is designed to help people savour one of nature’s most spectacular displays in some of Cumbria’s most beautiful woodlands including Grizedale, Whinlatter, Ennerdale and Miterdale.

It also features hidden gems such as Giggle Alley near Eskdale Green. Forester Gareth Browning says: “Cumbria is one of the finest places in the UK to see the autumn colours.

We’ll be rating the shade of the leaves to show people exactly when and where they can see the trees at their most stunning. “Thanks to the rather damp summer, this year promises to be a particularly good one for leaf watchers.

I’d advise people to keep checking the website as the best is yet to come.” To celebrate the start of the autumn colours, the cafes at the Grizedale and Whinlatter Visitor Centre’s are also introducing a new range of seasonal recipes on their menus.

The Café in the Forest at Grizedale will be serving home made seasonal foods such as Apple and Parsnip soup, Cumberland Sausage and Blackberry and Apple pie made from fruit collected in the Grizedale Valley.

Siskins Cafe at Whinlatter Forest will be serving treats such as hot chocolate, seasonal soups, apple cake and parsnip cake. Wherever they decide to go, visitors are encouraged to bring their cameras to capture the beautiful autumnal scenes.

There is also a wealth of activities to enjoy from woodland strolls to high energy mountain biking adventures. Thanks to a disappointing summer and the recent sunshine, the trees have been able to store a lot of food.

When temperatures start to fall and the trees shut down for winter, the food, stored as sugars and starches in the leaves bring on the vibrant colours.

The Forestry Commission website also includes information about why leaves change colour in autumn.

Some of the best woodland venues in Cumbria to go and spot the autumn displays are:

Grizedale Forest, near Hawkshead, Ambleside In the heart of the Lake District, this forest park takes on a new life with the changing colours of the leaves, especially in the centre of the valley surrounded by oak woodland.

The nearby fells also look superb in autumn and can be viewed from a number of high points within the Forest. Grizedale Forest recently featured as one of the UK’s 30 best places for autumn colours on Times Online.

Whinlatter Forest, near Keswick
Look out for larches and broadleaf trees which burst into technicolour each autumn. England’s only mountain forest offers amazing views across the northern Lake District fells. For added adventure, the Altura Trail puts altitude into mountain biking with a great single track trail which rises to 500m (1600ft) above Keswick and the northern lakes.

Ennerdale
This wild valley is another spectacular place to visit in autumn. The contrast between the golden colours of the larches, beech and oaks along the lakeshore with the evergreen of the spruce trees is magnificent. The heather, bracken and bilberry also add new vibrant colours to the mountains above the forest.

Miterdale valley, near Eskdale

In autumn this oak and birch woodland in the Western Lake District is a joy to walk through. You can soak up the colours of the season as the forest and fells shed their summer dust in preparation for winter.

Giggle Alley, Eskdale Green
Hidden at the heart of this wood are the remains of a Japanese Garden which lay neglected for years until the Forestry Commission and local volunteers dug into save it.

The highlight of autumn here are the maples which produce masses of fiery red leaves. In addition to the garden the woodland is a great place for a short family walk where children can enjoy playing hide and seek.

The garden is close to the car park in Eskdale Green. For more information about the Forestry Commission in Cumbria and other parts of North West England, log on to its website www.forestry.gov.uk/northwestengland & www.forestry.gov.uk/nweautumn

Finglandrigg Wood Nature Reserve

Situated on the lower eastern region on the Solway Plain, about 15Km to the West of Carlisle.

The woodland habitat is managed by English Nature as a National Nature Reserve, primarily to provide a habitat for the indigenous Red Squirrel but many other species can be found here such as Linnet, Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler.

In the rushy areas, the high water tables are maintained for reed bunting, sedge warbler and grasshopper warbler.

Intensive management of the fields encourages devil’s-bit scabious, the food plant of the Marsh Fritillary butterfly.

Hebridean sheep along with Exmoor ponies and cattle, graze areas of rough grassland and scrub.

A peat bog occupies the lowest areas below the arable land. Once drained and cut for peat, the bog still has a 2m deposit.

During the ‘Enclosure Acts’ of the late 1700s and early 1800s, much of the common land at Finglandrigg was placed into private ownership, and by the mid 1800s the site was a mixture of small fields, Scots pine plantations and peat bog, with the heath the only remaining common grazing.

Immediately following Enclosure, the site was used for agriculture, but the fields were gradually abandoned during the depression that swept the farming communities in the late 1800s.

Birch and rowan trees were the first to occupy this unused open ground.

There are two waymarked walks that take you around the reserve and include the main features of interest.

Chalybeate Well Trail

Discover the many aspects of the woodland and rough pasture, as well as the Chalybeate Well, a stone structure marking the presence of a sulphate rich spring.

This 2km walk will take you around 45 minutes to one hour, with easy to soft going on a gravel and bark chipped surface for all but the final 70m.

Little Bampton Common Trail

A woodland walk that also includes open rough pasture and heathland as well as Scots pine plantations.This 3km round trip takes about one- and-a-half to two hours.

The going is relatively easy as the first 0·8km is on firm bark chip and some areas have had special walkways installed over the boggy regions but the remainder continues on mown grass which can be wet and muddy after rain.

Along your walks, look out for a couple of  wonderful sculptures in the woodland (Searches so far have not been able to shed light on the sculptor).

Carved into the trunk of old trees are insects which inhabit the woodland. Open a secret door to reveal carved larvae and resting bugs.

Memorial

A memorial to Derek Almey Ratcliffe,  A renowned conservationist and author, stands towards the end of the walk.  He loved wild places and the creatures and plants that inhabited them.

He is perhaps most famous for his research which saved the Peregrine Falcon from the grasp of  the pesticide, DDT.

It is noted that one of his favourite places was Fingland Wood.

Near the memorial, a stunning bench seat featuring the Peregrine Falcon is carved from a single tree trunk.