19 and 20 February 2005 - A Lake District Weekend

These pictures must have been taken with early digital cameras, in our 'textures' phase if the snap above is anything to go by. Two cameras were used, and I've tried to get the pictures and the text from my diary in roughly the correct order.

A Weekend based in Ambleside

Saturday 19 February 2005 - The Fairfield Horseshoe
Andrew, Sue, Richard, Jenny and I enjoyed the Fairfield Horseshoe, starting in Ambleside, ascending via Rydal Fell, and descending via High Pike and Low Pike on a sunny winter's day.

Andrew was staying at a nautically themed B&B - The Anchorage, and Richard and Jenny had booked the rest of us into a luxurious B&B, Brathay Lodge - £80 per night per room. We ate in a good nearby restaurant on both nights - The Priesthole.

Leaving Ambleside, note the 'fence slabs'

The Fairfield Horseshoe was a chilly place to be, with a sprinkling of snow on top, and a brisk northerly breeze.

With the wind chill it was about as cold as I'd recently been in Canada, although the actual temperature here was hardly as low as 0°C.

There were superb views on the frosty morning up to the horseshoe, and on the way back down over the Pikes.

It was a really clear day and most of the high summits were in view, Helvellyn appearing last as it was hidden. Only Skiddaw was not visible. There were good views back along Windermere and across to Blackpool Tower and some large 'vessels' far out in Morecambe Bay - oil rigs perhaps.

We reached the summit at about 1pm, in line with Naismith's timings, with which Andrew usually has trouble keeping up going uphill. But he was fine today and it was me if anyone who was lagging behind.

Finding a sheltered spot for lunch was hard, but we managed to find a space at the col before the ascent to Hart Crag.

There were lots of people about - probably 100 to 200 on this hill alone. Our ten minute stop reflected the conditions, and we had a much longer break later in a more amenable spot.

We ambled down, alternating the side of the wall and covering (Sue and me, anyway) all the little bumps on the way.

There was a bit of unexpected scrambling towards the bottom, but that didn't really hold us up on our way to a tea shop in Ambleside where apple pies were served - to Andrew anyway.

Then window shopping, jacuzzi at the B&B, and another nice meal.

Today's route - 18km with 1000 metres ascent (9:40am to 4:10pm)

Sunday 20 February 2005 - Loughrigg Fell and Silver How

Again, we walked directly from Brathay Lodge (a 'gold mine') [our one and only visit] who kindly let us leave our cars there, whereas Andrew was forced at great cost to move to the main car park (this allows a maximum stay of 9 hours, thereby prohibiting a long summer walk from Ambleside!).

It was another lovely clear, but bitterly cold, day, so we chose the lower climes of Loughrigg and Silver How. It took us an hour to reach the trig point on Loughrigg at 335 metres.

We then found a sheltered spot for elevenses. 

Then down and past High Close YHA, after which we lost most of the crowds for our pleasant ascent of Silver How - 395 metres - on firm ground.

On the summit of Silver How

The chill wind thereabouts soon had us heading off to the south, where we found an excellent spot for lunch high above Chapel Stile before descending steeply to the west of Raven Crag, in occasional snow flurries, to the tranquility of the Cumbria Way, past Wainwrights Inn and along broad, well populated, paths to the Honey Pot of Chesters tea shop - so full that we were forced to stay outside with our hot chocolate and cakes. This was no great hardship, and after more window shopping (some nice things to buy here, fortunately rather bulky!) we embarked on the last lap back over Loughrigg to get back to Brathay Lodge by 4:30.

Here's our route - 17km with 850 metres ascent (9:40am to 4:30pm)

Despite our worst fears, the line of traffic was steady, with no hold ups, and we were home by 6:30.

So that was an excellent, not too energetic, weekend in superb weather and with good company. We don't even need to wash our boots.

[I wonder whether this was the occasion when Andrew got stuck with cramp whilst negotiating a stile, rather hilariously causing a 'traffic jam' on the descent from Low Pike. Or was that on a later visit?]

The London Marathon 2021, and some Fundraising

Here we go again! I've started fundraising and would like to thank all those who have already donated - it's the charity that I've been supporting for many years - the Levana School Partnership, which raises money for pupils at two Primary Schools in a deprived area of Cape Town.

Click on this line to go to my JustGiving page.

Alternatively, click on the image above, or on the image that will appear on the right at the top of this blog whilst I am fundraising.

The picture shows me at the end of last year's 'Virtual' London Marathon (reported on here) that involved running around a local park for five and a half hours. That's about how long I expect to take on 3 October - old age is taking its toll and I'm 'running' rather slowly these days. The cap has gone as well, lost in the Lake District last week, so it has a garish replacement to go with some new Brooks running shoes. A sore heel has limited any 'training' to 5km a day. I've been walking or running 5km every day for over 450 days - maybe that's why I have a sore heel - so I'm planning to pootle round the course and simply try to enjoy the occasion.

Thanks, in anticipation if you haven't already donated, for your contributions, and hope to see you soon.

More Pictures from Porthmadog

Day 1 - Morning Walk at South Snowdon Wharf

Here are just a few pictures from our most recent trip to Porthmadog. I've spent today indexing the photos - about 250 of them - a nice set of images, some will find their way into a 'Porthmadog 2021' Photobook in due course, but we'll have a couple more visits first.

Day 2 - At Portmeirion

Day 3 - On the New Precipice Walk above Mawddach

Day 4 - Looking down to Llyn Crafnant after descending from Crimpiau

Day 5 - The Footbridge across Llyn Trawsfynydd

Day 6 - Looking towards Birds' Rock

Mystery puffball - does anyone know what this is?

Day 7 - Lunch at Dolbadarn Castle

Another Day, Another Summit

I'll not try to get anyone to guess the location of this much visited summit. It's Beinn an Dothaidh, just above Bridge of Orchy, on 1 March 2004. I seem to be equipped with three walking poles. (It does appear to be windy!)

Saturday 11 September 2021 - Wythenshawe parkrun 439, and a visit to Bacup

While Sue went bellringing and the Barbers went to Alex Park for a head to head race that Laura won, I joined the usual gang at Wythenshawe Park for a relatively gentle 5km run.

After finishing I went back to boost Owen's support network, led today by Jan, in a pretty good time (36:27). These pictures show them on the way to and at the finish.

Then masses of folk adjourned to the Courtyard Tearoom. Our group of friends is expanding. Multiple tables are required...

Full results for the 289 participants are here.

Later, I went armed with a few portions of lasagne to see Kate and Jessica and friends, in Bacup. They have worked out a pleasant 2.7 km walk from Kate's house on the edge of the moor. The excuse for it being so short is Oscar's old age, and he still hasn't learnt how to pose for a photo!

Wednesday 8 September 2021 - The Kentmere Horseshoe

Click on any picture for a better version/slideshow

My university contemporaries, David and Linda, and Don and Liz, chose a tremendous day for us to join them on this circuit of the hills above Kentmere. We left a car in Staveley, failed to find a parking spot in Kentmere, and finished up starting from a lay-by a couple of km south of the village.

There were fine views ahead, as we walked up the road to start the 'Horseshoe' outside St Cuthbert's church - seen in the centre of the picture above.

We were soon toiling up the rough track to the Garburn Pass, oozing gallons on the hot, humid day. Beyond that, I briefly took a break from languishing at the back to snap the others on the path up to our first summit - Yoke.

Moments later, I was getting left behind again.

I wonder whether Conrad can identify the hills on and near the far horizon in this view from Yoke; I'm sure BC could name them all.

We only saw a dozen or so people all day, but I had to find an unusual angle in order to exclude people on the top of Yoke. The rest of my party, heading eagerly towards Ill Bell, have become dots on the path ahead.

There's a small tarn just beyond Yoke. I expected to find Sue swimming in it, but she was too busy dashing on ahead.

Onwards, onwards, towards Ill Bell...

We paused for a while on the summit of Ill Bell, with good views all round.

From Ill Bell, the path ahead swoops down to a minor col, before rising again to Froswick.

Ravens danced in the thermals as we enjoyed our lunch just below the summit of Froswick.

There were good views ahead (above) towards Thornthwaite Crag and the other High Street summits, and back to Ill Bell and Windermere (below).

Here we are at Thornthwaite Crag (above), with a view across Lakeland (below).

Another picture was taken at the high point of the day - Racecourse Hill, 828 metres, the summit of High Street.

From there, we trundled on to Mardale Ill Bell, the climbing of which didn't extend us. Sue posed, with her hat under Froswick.

We had a jolly time on top of Mardale Ill Bell.

The descent to Nan Bield pass follows another good path, as they all were today after a period of fine weather in the Lake District. There's a very substantial windbreak at the pass, which our party is just reaching in the next picture. For those lacking in energy, there's an easy descent to Kentmere from here.

We, of course, were not lacking in energy despite our encyclopaedic list of medical conditions, mainly associated with old age, and we proceeded happily up Harter Fell, with fine views of Small Water and Haweswater far below. The recent dry spell seems to be reflected by a low level of water in the reservoir.

The others raced ahead, you can see them on the path shown below, whilst I lingered to enjoy the views.

Beyond Small Water, Blea Water is just visible below the bulk of High Street

It's quite a pull up to the summit of Harter Fell, but that brings the serious ascent on this walk to an end, so here we supped the last of our provisions. "It's all (mostly) downhill from here!"

A little further on, the summit of Kentmere Pike offers some nice spots to 'park your bum' for those with declining energy levels.

Eventually we reached the track that emerges from Stile End onto High Lane, where there are possible parking options, along which we marched towards Green Quarter, before taking a path through the trees to reach the road back to Staveley along which the cars were parked.

The misty look is due to the camera lens misting up on the humid day

The Watermill Inn at Ings provided welcome sustenance at the end of this energetic day's walking.

Well, that was all very jolly, and great to meet up after so long and still be able to partake in a fairly long day out. My Garmin clocked 26 km (16 miles) and 1200 metres ascent, in a little over 8 hours - including 1.5 hours of 'resting'.

AWOL: Don's sunglasses and my orange cap that goes back to Nick's days as the Nike 'hat man' in Taiwan.

Thanks to David, and Sue, for some of the photos.