Archive for the 'Lakes Escapes' Category

A couple of days at Buttermere – Part 2 – Rained off

Posted by on October 31st 2010 in Car stuff, Great Escapes, Lakes Escapes, Shiny new kit, YHA
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It rained nearly all night and the Saturday morning was looking grim. The only folk determined to go out and hit the fell-tops were members of a group of charity walkers who we'd been talking with the previous evening and who were attempting a one-day ten-peak fund-raising epic from Gatesgarth Farm to Stool End. By the time we were up and about they were long gone. We chatted with one of their support crew who said that they'd left loads of excess supplies in the kitchen for us, so we dipped in and chose a few items and left the rest for those that came after. I've just visited their JustGiving page and it says that they had to abandon their challenge due to bad weather, in a sad way that justifies our decision to keep our kids off the fells that day.

 

A final look at the hostel

 

After another fine breakfast we packed the cars and headed up to Newlands Hause just in case anybody had a change of heart and fancied a quick jaunt up High Snockrigg, but there were no takers so we took a few pics and headed into Keswick for a mooch around:

 

Moss Force

 

Keskadale

 

We opted for an hour or so at The Bond Museum - this turned out to be much better than we'd expected. Click the following pic to open more pics in the lightbox:

 

Gotta get me one of these

After that we did a bit of gift-shopping, had a tea-break and browsed the wares on display at the market, but the draw of the clackysticks on offer at The Outdoor Warehouse in Windermere was too strong. We left Keswick and, after stopping for a picnic lunch at a spot overlooking Thirlmere, we hauled into the shop's car-park and headed in to do the deed. From then on we were homeward bound.

A couple of days at Buttermere – Part 1 – Varied terrain

Posted by on October 29th 2010 in Great Escapes, Lakes Escapes, YHA
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This was another trip away with our first-year-apprenticeship hostelling friends. Since our first outing together in the spring they'd been to Ilam Hall and they wanted to go to the LD with us again, they're either keen, mad or both! Either way, it was a bargain weekend - we used more Tesco Clubcard tokens to pay for the accommodation, at the current 4:1 voucher/token exchange rate it kept costs down considerably.

The Thursday morning journey up the standard A5/M6 route was a pleasant surprise - no hold-ups anywhere! We made the customary stop at Ings to raid the Little Chef, pulled into Windermere for a bit of shopping and then pushed on to Buttermere YHA via Keswick and Borrowdale just to introduce the others to the delights of the drive over Honister Hause.

Having had negative experiences with room-sizes at Windermere during the spring, I'd specifically asked for decent-sized rooms at Buttermere and we weren't disappointed - we had plenty of space for the kids to tip their kit onto the floor in a haphazard fashion, as they do.

After getting sorted we headed off to The Fish for a hearty meal and a few beers before turning in for the night.

Friday dawned grey and damp but the outlook was fairly good even though the predicted snow wasn't going to become a reality:

Looking towards Buttermere

The kids at the hostel

Looking over Buttermere village towards Hen Comb and Mellbreak

We had planned a fairly low and short walk with plenty of bail-out options in case the weather turned and we had to get the kids off the fells in a hurry, so after the usual 3-course hostel breakfast we drove off to Scale Hill, where life must be really boring for 16.666% of the boy-racer squirrel population...

Discrimination against rodents

... and from there we headed to Loweswater and the start of the walk. We found a good parking place beside Church Bridge and got kitted-up for an ascent of Hen Comb:

Prepping at Church Bridge

The north end of Mellbreak

Fallen tree in Park Beck

Park Beck and Church Bridge

The section from Church Bridge to the ford was more interesting than the crossing of the ford itself - nobody fell in, probably because I had my camera ready:

Walkie-talkie

Stone gatepost with O.S. benchmark and other symbols

Loweswater Fell

Looking back after crossing Mosedale Beck

After gaining a bit of height the slope eased and the walking was easy for a while on a grassy track parallel to the ridge. There were things to see both near and far:

The Vale of Lorton

Pointing towards the improbably-famous Mosedale Holly Tree

Colourful mosses, grasses and toadstools

After gaining the ridge proper after the first sheepfold we had a snack-break at the gap in the fence. Next was the short pull up on to Little Dodd...

Heading on up Little Dodd

... from where the younger members of the party claimed that they could see a huge squirrel. It took us a while to figure it out:

The giant squirrel

The view of Mellbreak was impressive too:

Mellbreak from Little Dodd

Just beyond the final fence and just below the final pull to the top of Hen Comb we pitched the 4-man bothy for the kids and had a proper lunchbreak. Some of the party had done enough ascending and wanted a rest before going back down, so the mums went off to the summit while the others stayed low for a while:

Toadstool and moss

Smile!

Geoff dons his "I'm in charge" Buff

Inca/Buff/Goth girl

After a while the mums came back and I went up to the top with Geoff and Ella. The views from such a low top were surprisingly good:

Geoff surveying the scene

Whiteside, Hopegill Head, Grasmoor and Whiteless Pike above Mellbreak

The fells around Buttermere

Mosedale

Ella adorning the summit outcrops

After regrouping and breaking camp our navigator opted to lose height sooner rather than later, so we headed down off-piste towards the old mine workings on the eastern flank. There was a lot of bracken to be negotiated, mainly pathless apart from the odd sheep-track, and getting closer to the improbably-famous tree was little compensation. Of course as we got lower the bracken got taller, until the youngest of our group was unable to see either over or though it:

Bracken-clad slopes

Meanders in Mosedale Beck

More pathless bracken

The Pathfinder Corps

Eventually we got down to the beck and while the others had a breather the blokes went off to look for a suitable crossing-place. Finding no easy stepping-stones we decided to make our own, and spent ten minutes rearranging and adding to the riverbed. While performing this feat of civil-engineering, we discovered that the tussock-grass alongside the beck is a favourite place for weasels. Sadly I have no pics of any of this, as I'd stashed the camera in the pack in order to keep it dry in the event of an inadvertent dunking.

After we'd completed the structure we got the party across, the only incident was one dunked foot, nothing of any consequence compared to the next bit...

Our navigator, the one who had decided that off-piste was OK, had assumed that the ground on the far side would be the same as that on the nearside, i.e. firm and dry. Nope, not a bit of it. It was chest-high tussock-grass with knee-deep bog-holes in between. Geoff had to carry his youngest, and a couple of times they jointly face-planted the marshy ground as Geoff persisted in finding the deepest bog-holes. Of course, we all found it hilarious and did little to help him. Eventually we got to the fence alongside the Mosedale track and breathed a sigh of relief - it had taken us 20 minutes to cover less than 200 yards. Geoff added to his tally of woes by breaking a fencepost as he tried to lever his marsh-ridden frame over the metal railing, so we all laughed again!

Back on terra-firma we made good progress down the Mosedale track:

Looking down the Mosedale track

Looking up the Mosedale track

The summit-end of Hen Comb

The walk back to the cars was a leisurely affair and we spotted much that we'd missed on the walk-in:

Fungus 1

Hen Comb ridge

Fungus 2 - so far, this weird one has defied all of my attempts at identification

Whiteside and Grasmoor

We were soon back at the cars and making our way back to the hostel where, after getting cleaned up and changed, we had a fine 3-course evening hostel meal (I can recommend the ribs as a starter).

Afterwards we declined a walk to the pub as the heavens had opened, so we stayed in, chatted over hot drinks in the lounge and then had an early night.

Walk stats:

  • Distance: 4.35 miles
  • Ascent: 1381 ft
  • Wainwrights: 1

To be continued...

Back from Buttermere

Posted by on October 24th 2010 in Great Escapes, Lakes Escapes, YHA
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We're back from our short stay at Buttermere YHA.

As you can see, the weather wasn't as good as it was two years ago, but we all had a good time anyway.

The Met Office and MWIS both predicted harsh weather on the tops but it didn't happen where we went.

I suppose I'll have to post a report soon.

Northern Fells Wildcamping – Part 5 – The post-match analysis

Posted by on May 23rd 2010 in Annual Wildie, Great Escapes, Lakes Escapes, Wildcamping

Items we forgot to take = 2 (Chris's Ajungilak inflatable pillow and Petzl Zoom headtorch).

Items we forgot to bring back = 0

Items we gained = 1 (a bit of graptolitic slate from the slopes of Bannerdale Crags):

 

 

Items we lost = 0

Ticks = 0

Walkers met on the fells = 3

Injuries = 1 minor, 0 major

Losses of dignity = 1

Distance = 21 miles according to Memory-Map, probably nearer to 25 miles actual

Ascent/descent = 4526 feet according to Memory-Map

Wainwrights = 6

Pubs visited = 1 (twice)

New kit tried and tested = 1 pair (AKU Croda GTXs, rating = brilliant!)

Revelations = 1 (Sainsbury's Basics Instant Custard. A pack weighs 74g, contains 68g of powder, needs 425ml of boiling water, provides 312 kcal, serves 2 and tastes excellent. Current price: 9p a pack. Bargain.)

Northern Fells Wildcamping – Part 4 – Finishing Off

Posted by on May 22nd 2010 in Annual Wildie, Great Escapes, Lakes Escapes, Wildcamping
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The next morning we were clagged in again so we had a prolonged breakfast waiting for the wind-driven rain to abate. Eventually we packed up and checked out the vacated pitch to ensure that we'd left no trace of our temporary residence. Other than the dry patch uncovered as we struck the tent there wasn't any sign that we'd overnighted there, and we were confident that the ensuing rain would soon deal with that:

 

Without a trace

We headed back to and over the col and took the path beside the Glenderamackin to the footbridge below White Horse Bent:

Descending beside the Glenderamackin

 

While we were on our way down the wind picked up and lashed rain at us, so I packed away the camera to keep it safe. Declining the option to continue down the path along river, we crossed the bridge and went up the easy slope and along the deceptively-long ridge to the summit of Souther Fell. After a few minutes of map-checking just below the summit, we went off-piste down the eastern flank to intercept one of the diagonal tracks back to Low Beckside. We'd met no other walkers that day until we reached Mungrisdale.

At valley-level the wind and rain had ceased and the temperatures were rising fast, so we took the opportunity to rehydrate at The Mill Inn at Mungrisdale. Well, it would have been ignorant to have passed by without going in. That, and the fact that it would have been cruel on the wild horses needed to drag me kicking and screaming up the road:

 

The Rehydration Station


From there it was but a short mile back to the car at Bowscale Moss. Thankfully the local equine population weren't there to give us a send-off:

The final stretch back to Bowscale Moss

Just one more post to follow, then we're done.

Northern Fells Wildcamping – Part 3 – Rises and Falls

Posted by on May 21st 2010 in Annual Wildie, Great Escapes, Lakes Escapes, LMAO!, Wildcamping
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So there we were, on Carrock Fell, trying to figure out which way to go next. As I saw it, we had three options:

  • Stay up high - take in Knott and Great Calva, drop down to Skiddaw House, cross the Caldew dryshod at the bridge, head East up Mungrisdale Common;
  • Take a middling route - ascend Knott, drop down Snab, ford the Caldew, head South up Mungrisdale Common;
  • Take a direct route - descend the flank of Carrock Fell to the bottom of Grainsgill Beck, follow the Skiddaw House service-road to the base of Snab and then proceed as per the middling option.

Predictably we couldn't agree, so we delayed the decision and took a short-cut back to the bothy-shed, where we made a brew and reassessed the situation.

Chris didn't fancy slogging up Knott and Great Calva, and I'd been up them before, so we resigned ourselves to backtracking down the beck and fording the Caldew at some convenient point. At least I had the opportunity to grab some pics on the way down, and we met a couple of walkers heading up the Cumbria Way. These were the first folk that we'd met, and by strange coincidence the bloke worked for the same company as Chris, albeit in the Netherlands not the UK. A bit later on we met another bloke sweating his way up the beck, we didn't chat for long as he seemed intent on gaining the ridge. Anyway, back to the beck pics...

 

Falls in Grainsgill Beck

A beautiful watersmeet

Passing the old mines, we decided to read the sign that we'd disregarded on the way up:

Don't disturb the rocks!

 

On reaching the Caldew we walked along the service-road looking for a place to ford the river. I was dismayed to find this stash of empties at the side of the road - FFS, if some twats have gone to the trouble of driving all the way up there for a session on the vodka, it wouldn't have been much extra effort to have taken their empties back down in the same car, would it? These lazy inconsiderate arseholes should be banned from the fells, IMHO. If we'd been heading down, we'd have carried the rubbish out, but we had to leave it.

 

Evidence of arseholes

 

Shortly after that we found a suitable fording-place. I rock-hopped to the middle and balanced on a slippery flat rock, looking for the next dry step, but there was none. With a quick two-step in the calf-deep water I was soon on the far bank, with damp boots and socks but no other ill-effects. I warned Chris about the slippery rock and advised an alternative, but she stepped on it anyway and it got the better of her. In slow-motion she leaned too far, her pack dragged her over even more and she ended up lying in the water. She was fairly-well drenched. I didn't dare to laugh. OK, OK, so I did laugh. Lots. And loud. Being a decent, caring sort of chap, I raced off downstream to retrieve the dropped water-filter bottle and left Chris to find her own way to dry land. She was wet but uninjured, so we sat in the warm breeze and had lunch while she dried herself and her kit. Oh, and we laughed a bit more, just for good measure:

Chris drying off

We were at the bottom end of Long Gill, and looking at the map we figured that the best thing to do was to go straight up to Bowscale Fell. Redressed and fit to go, we had one last look up the Caldew towards Skiddaw House. A bit further up the river we could see something that looked like a bridge, and Chris gave me some stick based on that impression. Luckily for my reputation, subsequent investigations indicate that there isn't really a bridge at that point, so the soaking wasn't in vain:

 

Looking up the Caldew

The walk up to Bowscale Fell was a real hard slog with no paths through the tussock-grass and mossy ground on the unremitting slope. Over an hour later we reached the top:

Chris approaching the viewpoint cairn near the top of Bowscale Fell

Bannerdale Crags and Blencathra from Bowscale Fell

A rare picture of me

From there the next objective was a rather more easy proposition, with gentle paths skirting the drop-off and leading up to Bannerdale Crags:

Bannerdale Crags

The view from the edge of the crags was worth the effort:

The viewpoint cairn on Bannerdale Crags

Blencathra beyond the summit of Bannerdale Crags

From there it was a simple and straight descent to the col at the source of the Glenderamackin...

 

Heading for the col

and onwards to a nice dry pitch on the north-west side of the col, looking down Blackhazel Beck.

Pitched above Blackhazel Beck

 

After another good meal and a lot of rehydration, Chris settled down early while I went out for an easy evening stroll to the cairn atop Mungrisdale Common:

Approaching the Mungrisdale Common cairn, with Skiddaw in the background

The back of Blencathra from Mungrisdale Common

Losing the light

After spending a while there appreciating the utter quietness of the place, I headed back to the tent, pondering the fact that we'd only seen three other walkers during the day. I was hoping for a sunset worthy of our efforts, but this was the best that could be mustered:

 

The sun setting over Great Calva

To be continued.
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