Archive for 2007

Bloggers’ Meet, June 2007 – Part 1 – Friday afternoon/evening

Posted by on June 12th 2007 in Bloggers' Meet, Great Escapes, Lakes Escapes, Wildcamping
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Friday afternoon... the normal dash up the A5 and the M6, confounding the speed-cameras and cursing at selfish drivers who persist in sitting in the middle or third lane doing 65 when the inside lane is devoid of traffic... why do they get irate when I go past them on their left? They are the ones that have the problem - just drive in the correct lane, you eejuts!

To be fair, the drive up was much better that usual, there were no roadworks, no hold-ups for accidents, no detours. Stopped off at the services for some grub, texted the others but only got an answer from John, who was in Kendal. I arranged to pick him up at Windermere railway station, so it was back to the tarmac and foot down to get to him asap.

When I got there, John had been joined by Geoff. Their kit was bundled in the back, handshakes were exchanged all round and off to Grasmere we went.

We dumped the car for a while next to the now-defunct Tourist Information Centre while we went off to get some bits of gear. While snacking again at the Miller Howe Cafe, Darren and Dawn arrived, more handshakes ensued then we were off to start the trudge up to Alcock Tarn.

As forecast, the weather has hot, sunny and settled, so the walk up was a sweaty affair, but it was worth it. We sat about for a while next to the tarn, waiting for the evening so that we could get pitched. After all was sorted, we spent the evening shooting the breeze, taking on carbs and wielding cameras. Some of the sadder attendees were caught doing some covert blogging!

The others retired early, but I stayed up to enjoy the scenery and the changing light. Lay arrived as the light was failing, after he had set up we both stood watch until about 11pm waiting for Duncan, but he was running a bit late so we retired. An hour later, Duncan arrived, but being a lazy git I stayed put in the big red slug, watching stars and satellites in a totally clear night sky for a long, long time. I managed to get an hour of sleep before the daylight returned.

Great Rigg from Alcock Tarn

Dusk over Grasmere

Jaggedy rocks

A lonely tree

 

Stay tuned for the next instalment - featuring the bit where BG goes up while the others slope off down to the cafe for breakfast!

A cracking good day out at Conkers

Posted by on June 11th 2007 in Great Escapes

As part of the celebrations for Ella's birthday last week, we took her and some of her friends to Conkers. As predicted, the assault-course was the favoured activity of the day despite the intense sunshine and oppressive heat, but we did manage to spend some time around the woodland walk and the other attractions, which have been improved since our last visit. We've resolved to go yet again, probably in October, to see the trees in their autumnal garb.

 

Anna on the traverse net

 

Building a log cabin

 

One of the many ponds and lakes

 

Looks fun, eh? Get there if you can - you won't regret it.

A good time was had by all

Posted by on June 4th 2007 in Great Escapes, YHA
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At last, some time to catch up on here. First up: Okehampton YHA Family Activity Break...

We arrived on Monday afternoon after a fairly stress-free 200 mile drive, got installed in the hostel, then chilled out playing cards with the kids and mooching around the railway station:

 

 

 

 

 

 

After tea, the evening activity was a led-walk to a guided tour of the castle:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday morning started with full English breakfast followed by a session on the climbing wall:

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a buffet lunch we enjoyed a few hours of team-games, problem-solving activities and belting down the on-site assault-course (sorry, no pics from this).

After tea we went up on the moors for a night-walk, we stayed at the trigpoint above Okehampton until the moon rose and the sun went down:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday started with another full English which set us up for a half-day of archery, this was so much fun that there was no time for taking pics.

And that was that. We left wishing that we had booked for one more day, there were plenty more activities that we could have done if we had had the time. Still, there's always next year... I reckon I'll try gorge-scrambling and mountain-boarding next time.

A new day

Posted by on May 26th 2007 in Car stuff, Great Escapes, Rambling on..., Shiny new kit

So, what should I blog about today? So much has happened, so much is left unfinished. Let's take it one step at a time and see how it goes.

I sold my Vango TBS Tempest 200 to a nice OMer. He's got a bargain - Since I bought this one in early 2006 I've only used this one for two nights in Wasdale, aside from that it's been pitched on the lawn a couple of times and that's it. The new owner will also get a home-made GSP and some spare lightweight pegs etc.. I hope that he gets good use from the tent, it's been in captivity for far too long, it needs releasing into the wild ASAP! As a replacement I've ordered a 1-2 man tent for summer wildcamping use, not superlightweight at sub-3kg, but that's all I need. Details to follow in due course.

Bought a selection of Sea to Summit mesh sacks from WT via Amazon. The medium size ones will suffice for all sorts of stuff, the large and extra-large were bought specifically for carrying saturated tentage on the outside of the pack.

Now, don't laugh, but I bought a JML Magnicard. When I'm "on the hill", I take my specs but never wear them, primarily because I don't really need them. Besides, they're forever steamed up or frosted over, so they are a waste of time, but I've always carried them for those map-reading moments. But from now on they can stay back at base, as the Magnicard is excellent for map-reading. It's the size of a credit-card, gives a clear view and it's got an integral light which is perfect for night-time mapwork. It weighs a paltry 10g, that's a lot less than my specs + case.

Cars:

Well, Rab's been fixed, he's been back with me since Thursday. The repair work is excellent, credit to Paynes Ford for that. Mind you, SWMBO is a relative of the founder, so if I didn't get good service I would have to send her in to get matters sorted! The courtesy-car company still haven't collected their Rav4 yet, so we're overrun with vehicles here.

Garden:

I've been out with the hedge-trimmers again! All 60 yards of the privet boundary have been given a "short back and sides". The remaining 50 yards of boundary are fenced, so I'll have to spend a couple of days renewing my acquaintance with my creosote brush very soon. As for the plants, well, that's a mixed bag... the herb border is flourishing, the wild native plant area is, well, wild as would be expected, but the French Beans aren't showing at all. Mind you, that's the French for you, they either turn up late or not at all 🙂

People:

Me and OM are no longer together. It's a shame, really, because there are so many people on there who I call friends, and some of them even reciprocate! Anyway, the reasons for my departure are plain for those who are willing to look, so I don't need to go into depth on here, let it suffice to say that a known antagonist was the source of irritation, but moderation (which I requested) was inadequate and as a consequence the matter was allowed to get out of hand. That was the straw that broke this camel's back.
Hmmm... so I'm a "weak willed, pathetic individual", according to the antagonist. Or did I see the true situation, assess it properly and then have the courage of my convictions to take an appropriate course of action? Who can say? It was certainly harder to leave that it would have been to stay.

What's next?

We're off to Okehampton next week for a YHA Family multi-activity break. Sadly, mountain-biling (stet), cross-training and rowing aren't on the activity list!

Shocking content in the C&CC mag

Posted by on May 19th 2007 in Mags and rags, Wildcamping

I snatched a bit of free time today and sat down to read the June edition of Camping and Caravanning (the magazine of The Camping and Caravanning Club, would you believe!). I was expecting to trudge through the usual articles about featured sites, tow car tests, sewage-disposal using reed-beds, and gear reviews for the family-camper-type, but this month there were some surprises...

First up, on page 15 is an article about wildcamping, penned by no less an authority than Graham Thompson. Yes, that's the Graham Thompson, the Technical Editor for Trail magazine, he's also "among the 10 most influential people in the outdoors industry", according to the blurb. Anyway, it's a sort of eejut's guide to the legalities of the activity, succinct and clear, in language that all can understand (unless they're recent incoming eco-migrants on a short-stay work-permit).

Reeling from the shock of finding this, I continued to read on, until page 35 stopped me in my tracks... what's this?... yet another wildcamping article, this time one of the Member's stories, by one Richard Walker, telling of his exploits in the wild.

Well, I had to go for a lie-down, it was all too much, not what's expected in such a publication.

Later I recovered and made it through to the "gear and give-aways" pages, only to find a review article about Tick Alert tweezers (grrr, ticks, how I hate those little biting b@stards). They have 100 sets (of tweezers, not ticks) to give away to members, I suppose I'll have to apply for one, given my recent track record.

I'm off to read their gear-guide to solar gadgets now. I might even dip into their "on the road special" 2-page spread about green cars, biofuel and Priuses.

How wrong can the weather forecasters be?

Posted by on May 15th 2007 in Annual Wildie, Great Escapes, Lakes Escapes, Wildcamping
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The forecast for our wildcamping weekend was a point for concern. All of the sources were telling us to expect shed-loads of rain, low temperatures and lightning. I'm happy to report that the forecasts were well wide of the mark. Friday afternoon was warm and sunny, the night was a bit rainy, Saturday started misty but soon cleared to a sunny day with a light breeze. A little overnight rain was soon dried out by glorious sunshine on Sunday morning. Because the forecasts had deterred a lot of walkers, for the main part we had the hills to ourselves. Excellent!

Details of our route are as follows:

    • Friday: Parked up outside the Police Station at the Glenridding Tourist Information Centre and bought a 48-hour ticket
    • Took the steamer "Raven" to Howtown
    • Bonscale Pike 1718ft
    • Overnight camp next to the Swarth Beck sheepfold
    • Saturday: Arthur's Pike 1747 ft
    • Loadpot Hill 2201ft
    • Wether Hill 2210ft
    • High Raise 2634ft
    • Rampsgill Head 2581ft
    • Kidsty Pike 2560ft
    • The Knott 2423ft
    • Satura Crag
    • Overnight camp on the shore of Angle Tarn
    • Sunday: Patterdale via Boardale Hause
    • Glenridding via lakeshore and roadside paths

 

We had intended to go up High Street, Rest Dodd and The Nab, but Chris was struggling with her breathing and we didn't want to risk her having problems with her asthma, so we dropped down and took things easy.

Suffice to say that we had a great time, apart from the tick menace (they were mostly small black beasties about 2mm across, but we saw a few evil-looking brown and red ones that were over 5mm across). We tested out some of our new kit, got sunburn, took far too many photos (over 240), saw lots of wildlife and had fantastic views in all directions.

My tally of "Wainwrights" is now 159 (not counting repeats), which leaves 55 still to do. This keeps me on course for breaking the record for the slowest ever "casual compleation" of the famous 214

I've whittled down the photo-stash to a paltry 82(!) which I'll embed in a handful of posts later. Here are a few to whet the appetite:

 

The head of Ullswater

 

Swarthbeck sheepfold - the pitch for the first night

 

Looking back down the High Street path

 

Thornthwaite Crag

 

Reeds and rocks at Angle Tarn

 

Angle Tarn in the morning light
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