Add comment January 9th, 2010
“forgive me Father as it has been… years? since my last post….”
In a drunken haze myself mike and mark decided we need to overcome the walk that previously broke us into small pieces. The “Cumbrian Way”!
The plan is to do the walk sometime in June/July. So between now and then comes training and practice walks.
Hopefully this will be the start of many more walking related posts.
Here’s to new years resolutions!
Add comment April 8th, 2007
Walk Stats
Length: 13.6 km
Ascent: 900 m
Highest point: 930m
Time: 4:15 hrs
Condition: Bright sunshine
Maps: Explorer OL4 and Landranger 89 or 90
Difficulty: 3/5
Route download: GPX
Summary:
A pleasant walk which took us along the Allerdale Ramble to Ullock Pike, Long Side, and Carl Side combined with the clear day gave excellent views off into the distance. A reasonably steep ascent up Skiddaw to complete the climb for the day, and a nice decent across Bakestall and back to the car. Definitely worth doing on a clear day as the view was fantastic.
Description:
Starting from a lay-by on the Orthwaite road (off the A591 NY 23623096) north of Keswick & the A66 we headed along the clearly marked foot path ENE, which turned back on itself to head southwards to join the Allerdale Ramble. By accident we crossed the stream just before we joined the Allerdale Ramble, and for an unknown reason I thought I knew best and took a stupid route back to the main path. A steady climb took us up Ullock Pike & Long Side and offered the best views of the day by far (in my humble opinion), of Bassenthwaite Lake & Derwent Water and the surrounding hillside.
столовеThe climb up to the top of Skiddaw, was steep and steady up a scree like path. I wouldn’t like to descend this section as it would be quite harsh on the knees (but that’s just me), as far as a climb goes it was steep but perfectly manageable. There where several wind breaks at the top of Skiddaw which made a nice spot for lunch.
At the top we where slightly bemused by a strange sight of unicyclists riding down from the summit. Its not the first time we’ve seen anything like that, but it still amazes me none the less. (Check out this picture if you don’t believe me)
As you can see from the picture on the right, Nige was bored during lunch and wanted to show his stuff as a potential replacement for buff man, but ended up looking like a lost granny on her way to the shops.
The walk down the far side of the mountain was a little cooler, with a slight breeze, and didn’t have the same impressive views of the lakes. We took a slight detour, but the path came and went but looking at the maps it always followed the fence which was on our right hand side.
A couple of us, found the descent a little painful on the knees but for once i wasn’t one of the ones struggling. But following the descent we followed the road back to our cars.
All in all, a pleasant walk with some fantastic views.
Add comment April 8th, 2007
Walk Stats
Length: 16.5 km
Ascent: 1034 m
Highest point: 952m
Time: 6:10 hrs
Condition: Bright sunshine, light breeze in the afternoon
Maps: Explorer OL5 and Landranger 90
Difficulty: 3/5
Route download: GPX
Summary:
‘We didn’t end up doing our planned route due to some confusion at the beginning of the walk however it was still a very enjoyable walk, weather was the nicest so far this year I think, will have to be thinking about sun cream from now on! Met up with some friends at Red Tarn and then on to Striding Edge after that and to the top which was fun as usual. Bit knacked by the end especially after doing Skiddaw the day before but all good
’
Description:
We started off from Glenridding car park we went up the road round the back of the car park and took the path up to the left towards Little Cove following Mires Beck. The gradual climb up was quite hard especially as I’d not done much walking for a while.
Eventually the climb flattened out and we started to head towards the Hole in the Wall seemed like an eternity but once we got there we knew that it wasn’t much further to Red Tarn so kept plodding on as we were due to meet some friends there for lunch. At Hole in the Wall we took the path West down to the tarn and stopped for a well deserved lunch (tasty it was too!)
Our friends decided to take the path up towards Swirral Edge but as usual we fancied a bit more of a challange so headed back up the path we came down to go up Striding Edge and onto Helvellyn. We blitzed Striding getting up to the top just as they got up from Swirral, we would have been up even faster if it wasn’t so busy and Tim wasn’t being such a wuss as usual.
At the top we didn’t hang around long and decided to go back over Lower Man, Whiteside Bank and round the back of Red Screes following the main path down between Glenridding Common and Birkhouse Moor (north side of river) crossing at the Weir passing the Youth Hostal on our left and then back down into Glenridding joining the same path we started on.
Quite a nice walk and weather was superb… bring on the summer!
3 comments March 25th, 2007
Walk Stats
Length: 19.2 km
Ascent: 1500 m
Highest point: 952m
Time: 8:30 hrs
Condition: Bright sunshine, turning a bit windy in the late afternoon
Maps: Explorer OL5 and Landranger 90
Difficulty: 4/5
Route download: GPX
Summary:
‘I thought we where just going for a short bimble,’ 8:30hrs and 19km later we finally get back. Against all of that, it was a nice walk & the day started fantastic, bright and warm. Started in Patterdale, up the side of Birks and along the ridge to Fairfield for a snack. By this point i wanted to go home but was forced up Helvellyn & back down Swirral Edge… the swines!
Description:
We started off from a Pub carpark in Patterdale (NY 39751580) headed W from the back of the carpark and missed the first path up the near Oxford Crag, as we started to follow the fence by accident, and headed up to rejoin the path. As we wanted to get up Fairfield & Helvellyn we decided to miss out the short section to the top of Birks even though it looked like fun as the path was covered in Snow. The Cape was our first snack stop and provided some spectacular views of the surrounding area including the climbs to come.
From the Cape we headed up Fairfield and had a now traditional half way Haribo stop, a small breeze started to develop which kept us cool but as we stopped for the Haribo we felt the chill. But i really didn’t like the descent to Grizedale Tarn as it was a mix of damp mud and a fine scree….. a wee bit painful on the knees.
A steady plod up to Dollywag pike, left me pretty much knackered, however Martin felt the need to divert from the path and run full pelt along the edge of the Crag. The path then followed the ridge up to the top of Helvellyn where we had our last snack of the day, and put on coats etc as the wind started to pick up.
Due to the wind & because i was knackered we decided to take the slightly easier descent of Swirral Edge rather than Striding Edge, and followed the path around Red Tarn and over the ridge. From here we followed the paths back to the carpark & walked round the carpark 3 times just so we could get the GPS track from 19.7km to over the 20km. Trust me it seemed sensible at the time.
All in all its the first walk we’ve been on this year with such good weather and had plenty of scope for variation.
1 comment March 11th, 2007
Walk Stats
Length: 10.8 km
Ascent: 851 m
Highest point: 858m
Time: 5:00 hrs
Condition: Low lying mist & 40 to 50mph gusts
Maps: Explorer OL6 and Landranger 90
Difficulty: 3/5
Route download: KMZ; Go4aWalk similar route C108; GPX
Summary:
A typical walk in the Langdales, starting at the Old Dungeon Gill (ODG) through Stool End Farm, up Crinkle Crags and back down the Band. Plenty of opportunity to extend the walk, however due to the wind and the visibility we decided to come down the band for a hot chocolate at the ODG.
Description:
We started off from the Old Dungeon Gill (parking NY 28600610) headed WSW through Stool End Farm, and took the left fork, enjoying the view ahead of The Band. Crossing the river over the wooden bridge took us to the start of the ascent, which was mainly stepped and was approximately half of the days ascent.
Unfortunately the visibility at this point dropped to around 50 yards, but the path reached a clear ‘t-junction’ from which we took the sharp right & headed up Hard Knott with the incline easing prior to the ascent of Crinkle Crags.
The ascent of Crinkle Crags was relatively easy walking, and occasionally we required a hand to steady ourselves, due to the poor visibility we can’t say much about the view, but we could make out the odd silhouette of a mountain behind the curtain of mist. Any ascent of Crinkle Crags has got to cover the infamous ‘Bad Step,’ which looks worse than it actually is, however if your short like me it takes a bit more skill. In-fact while we where waiting to climb the step, a couple decided to miss out the step and took a different path around which took a little longer but was a little easier. After the step we thought it was an opportune time to have a pitta pocket & a pork pie, with a nice cup of tea (well we try to be civilised occasionally).
We followed the path which disappeared at times and bimbled up and down the Crag until we reached Three Tarns, the gusts of wind made it a little hairy at times, but enjoyable none the less. From here we followed the path down The Band, there was meant to be a path down the valley, but we assume due to the lack of visibility we couldn’t see it.
The descent from here is relatively quick and easy, and when we descended below the mist there was a nice view of the Langdale valley & the ODG. The Band returns you to Stool End Farm and the same path we took to get there.
All in all a good walk despite the wind and mist.
1 comment September 29th, 2006
Research
I was the lucky one out of the group and M&M did most of the leg work finding out where we where going etc. However we made a fairly naïve decision to go on the walk considering we where forecast torrential rain and wind that could have blown over Blackpooltower
Gear
Pack weights varied from 10 to just over 15 kilos, with 35l to 65l bags. We all shared the 3 man tent and food, but I think I like my creature comforts too much cos I had the 65l…… either that or their just weak
Travel
Parked at Arnside, and train to Ulverston, which worked out well for a 7am start, only problem was getting back to Arnside when we bailed out half way through like the little school girls we are On route we managed to stave off the boredom with classic hits from ‘The Bay’ 102.3Fm (www.thebay.co.uk)
Walk
Day 1 – Started at the memorial at 7am, with the obligatory photo, and made our way upto Coniston for lunch, but managed to leave it from 6.30 til 2 between proper meals (not nice). Managed to make a dairylea and ham sandwich for lunch outside the local co-op. During our stop i purchased some pack away Aquastop over trousers for the impending downpour on day 2……… WHAT A WASTE OF MONEY! by the end of day 2 the inner lining had come away from the trousers….. small angry man syndrome was initiated. However, very friendly shop where the owner filled our water containers for us.
To end the day we stopped at a pub and had a Cumberland sausage and chips… when we set off again i found i was crippled, cos my boots had rubbed a red ring round my legs above my ankles, and the blisters had begun to grow
Day 2 (the end) – Instead of setting off at seven, a combination of my blisters and the rain meant we didn’t get started til 10, and we’d stopped by 2. My feet where in distress due to poor boots, and Marks waterproof had given in, so we turned back about 2 miles past the dungeon gill where the footbridge had been washed away.
Not a good day!
Camping
We managed to top and tail our way into a pretty decent campsite at catstye which had plenty of room, and hot showers for the morning
Recovery
Due to the early bail out, we made it back by half 8 so we went out for a curry to commiserate, however it left the usual Japanese flag effect in the morning
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