Thursday 20th May, 2010

Northern Fells Wildcamping – Part 2 – On The Caldbeck Fells

Posted by at 10:34 pm in Annual Wildie, Great Escapes, Lakes Escapes, Wildcamping.
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After a good night's sleep in very windy conditions we woke fairly early to find that the weather was still cold, breezy and drizzly. The views down to the valley were good but intermittent:

 

Morning clag

Great Lingy Hill bothy-hut from the first pitch

We had a hearty breakfast and packed away sharpish. After pausing for a photo-opportunity near the bothy-hut...

The bothy-hut

 

we branched off the Cumbria Way and took the easy approach to High Pike:

 

Chris starts up towards High Pike


Chris huddled in the shelter, staying out of the icy wind...

High Pike shelter and summit

while I wandered off to take some pics of the fell and its surroundings:

 

Carrock Fell from High Pike

High Pike trig-point, cairn and memorial bench

The Bench, in memory of Mick Lewis
The inscription reads:
 HE IS A PORTION OF THAT LOVLINESS THAT ONCE HE MADE MORE LOVELY

The next objective was Carrock Fell. We descended to the Cumbria Way and skirted the top of the Drygill ravines...

Drygill ravines

where we got our first glimpse of Bowscale Tarn overlooked by its guard of impressive crags:

Bowscale Fell and Tarn from High Pike

After a slog along the wide ridge, taking in Miton Hill and Round Knott, we arrived at Carrock Fell's summit. It's an impressive place with extensive views in most directions, well-worth a visit:

Carrock Fell summit cairn

Skiddaw and its subordinates from Carrock Fell

We dropped back down to Round Knott and had a discussion about our next course of action. We wanted to walk the fells on the other side of the Caldew, but there were a few ways of getting there. There was much procrastination...


The descent from Carrock Fell


To be continued.

Wednesday 19th May, 2010

Northern Fells Wildcamping – Part 1 – The walk-in

Posted by at 2:10 pm in Annual Wildie, Great Escapes, Lakes Escapes, Wildcamping.
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After the long drag up the M6 we nipped into The Mill Inn at Mungrisdale for a swift beer before parking the car at the road-side overlooking Bowscale Moss (my thanks go to Karl Holden for suggesting this parking-place). After escaping from the marauding locals that insisted on trying to bite chunks out of our kit, we hoisted our packs and set off along the pleasant country road, passing through Bowscale and on towards Mosedale.

 

Chris fends off the pack-munching livestock

On the approach to Mosedale we got our first decent view of one of our objectives - Carrock Fell:

Carrock Fell above Mosedale

After looking at the fell and considering the weather forecast, we decided to change the plan of attack - instead of tackling Carrock Fell head-on and overnighting somewhere between there and High Pike, we opted for the longer walk-in along the valley of the Caldew and up Grainsgill Beck towards Great Lingy Hill. We knew that this would add considerably to our mileage and would mean that there would be much ground to be travelled twice, but we wanted to be near to running water all the way, and we knew that the ridge from Carrock Fell onwards would be dry. As it turned out the walk-in was a pleasant affair with much to see:

The view up the Caldew valley...

where the gorse was in full bloom...

and the trees lean away from the prevailing wind.

We saw plenty of butterflies (Green-veined White (Pieris napi), female, first brood?)...

and a Red Squirrel that ran the full length of the wall from Swineside to Roundhouse.
Mouseover the pic for an edited version.

Remember what you were told about checking for dead sheep when drinking from streams?

We did 🙂

There are many interesting rocks in the bed of the river, here's one that appealed to my geological side:

Fold 1

Fold 2

A while later we reached the bend in the road where it heads off westwards to Skiddaw House, and we ascended alongside Grainsgill Beck until we reached the ridge. After much searching we found a patch of dry level ground and pitched there for the night, within sight of the bothy-shed (formerly a shooting-box) on Great Lingy Hill, within 10 yards of the Cumbria Way and 10 yards west of the beck (so as not to be breaking the law which prohibits camping on the Caldbeck Fells). Shortly after getting set up the weather took a turn for the worse as the wind got up and the rain set in, but we were warm and snug in our "room with a view". During one odd clear spell we thought that we could make out two people at the bothy-hut, but we couldn't be sure. Anyway, here's a couple of pics taken a few minutes before the clag came down:

 

 

To be continued.

Sunday 16th May, 2010

Your starter for ten

Posted by at 11:15 pm in Annual Wildie, Great Escapes, Lakes Escapes, Wildcamping.

Just got back from our annual wildie in the Lake District. There'll be a report to follow as usual.

Here's a pic from the start of our weekend. Would anyone care to hazard a guess as to where we were heading?

As usual there are no prizes for correct answers, so don't get too excited.

Friday 14th May, 2010

Reasons to be cheerful

Posted by at 1:07 am in In the garden, Just for fun, Pics.

Sky Art


Cherry Blossom


Pear Blossom


Hyphen Fail


Apple Blossom


Weeds


Tasty


Post Fail AND Apostrophe Fail


Result!

Wednesday 12th May, 2010

Politics

Posted by at 9:36 pm in Just for fun.
Tags: ,

One evening a little boy goes to his dad and asks, "What is Politics?"

Dad says, "Well son, let me try to explain it this way:  I am the head of the family, so call me the Prime Minister. Your mother is the administrator of the money and organises the family, so we'll call her The Government. We are here to take care of your needs, so we'll call you The People. The nanny does the housework and childcare, so we'll consider her The Working Class. And your baby brother, we'll call him The Future. Now think about that and see if it makes sense.

So the little boy goes off to bed thinking about what Dad has said.

Later that night, he hears his baby brother crying, so he gets up to check on him. He finds that the baby has severely soiled his nappy, so the little boy goes to his parents' room and finds his mother sound asleep. Not wanting to wake her, he goes to the nanny's room. Finding the door locked, he peeks in the keyhole and sees his dad in bed with the nanny. He gives up and goes back to bed.

The next morning, the little boy says to his dad, "Dad, I think I understand politics now."

The father says, "Great son! Tell me in your own words what you think politics is all about."

The little boy replies, "The Prime Minister is screwing The Working Class while The Government is sound asleep. The People are being ignored and The Future is in deep shit".

Friday 7th May, 2010

Con-Dem Nation?

Posted by at 2:13 pm in In the News.
Tags:

It's got a sinister ring to it, no?

Here's the would-be gaffer:

Mr. Clameron.

Looks familiar, no?

🙂
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