About Me
I was introduced to fellwalking by dad. He led me up Stickle Gill to Pavey Ark when I was eight years old, I was amazed by the sight of Stickle Tarn and the rockface behind. I may have had other things on my mind for much of the time between 1980 and 1995, but slowly from the latter date I regained my appetite for fellwalking. 2010 saw my highest total of felltops reached and I hope to continue with the momentum.
2009 also saw me gain an introduction to website design, which I treat as a hobby. My priority is to walk well and enjoy the outdoors, take some photographs and a real bonus is for me to find a way of presenting reports to a wider audience.
Richard Ratcliffe on top of Great Mell Fell
I live in Burnley in East Lancashire with a good view of Pendle Hill. I am a director and co-owner of P&R Ratcliffe (Underlays) Ltd., we make and sell carpet underlays. Please email me via the business site for flooring-related enquiries, we are suppliers to the trade, but we always try to help anyone who gets in touch.
My walking ambitions included visiting all the summits as described by A.Wainwright. I've long held the view that to climb all the "Wainwrights", you need to complete an ascent of each fell as descibed by him in his Pictorial Guides. Hats off to anyone who has done just that. I would like to do more walking in North Wales and a few Scottish peaks to add to my two so far, would be very worthwhile.
I completed the "Wainwrights" on June 18th 2011.
If possible, I travel to my walks in The Ratmobile. A Mazda MX-5 Mk2, I keep it in the garage, polish it frequently, keep it off the road during the working week and out of sight in bad weather, it is a clear manifestation of a mid-life re-appraisal (crisis?). Click the link in the photo.
The Ratmobile