Do it this month
Get on the hills from dawn ’til dusk
If you’re not too hot on your Latin aphorisms, you might be vaguely discombobulated by the above headline. If you happen to be fluent in the ancient Roman tongue, however, you’ll know carpe diem generally translates as ‘seize the day’. And November is the perfect month to do so.
With the clocks having not long since jumped back; the weather gods dealing out some of those resplendently crisp autumnal days, and deciduous landscapes taking on a palette explosion of colour, now is an ideal time of year to complete a sunrise to sunset hillwalk.
Being on the trail from first light until sundown may sound like a daunting exercise but, if we use Ambleside in the Lakes as an example, the sun appears around 7.30am on average through November before retiring around 4.30pm in the afternoon. This would equate to a dawn til dusk walk of approximately nine hours.
Rising early and getting out in the countryside allows you to witness one of the best parts of the day, as the world and its wildlife rouses around you while everyone else is still slumbering in bed. And as the day grows older, grab the opportunity to enjoy a hearty, warming pub lunch en route before seeing out the twilight hours in tranquil solitude on the crest of a hill. It really is pure magic – just don’t forget your headtorch!