Brrr

There's a beer or a glass of wine for the first person to identify where and when this chilly scene took place.

10 and 11 October 1981 - The Great Langdale Horseshoe Walk

The Langdale Horseshoe (or 'How the Wind Became')

The Diarist on this trip was Nick

Saturday 

On this trip: Nick, Martin, Dave, Roger and Laurie (RIP) (late).

We were woken around 6:30 by mewing, scratching and general falling around by a small black bogle* in the kitchen. Kept awake by Dave's wonderful electronic alarm - I wonder whether a well-placed brick would shut it up?

Set off 8:00 then had to wait outside Laurie's house while he woke up. He wasn't keen due to all the rain and wind we'd seen on Friday night. Lots of isobars on the weather map and sleet forecast on high ground. We'll see. 

Whizzed up the motorway - sunny clear morning - M61 - 9:10 - red ignition light came on - no fan belt!# 

Tied bootlaces around where the fan belt should have been, then drove slowly to the garage next to the Tickled Trout, where a new belt was duly purchased. Installation was rather tricky and we eventually restarted at 9:55 with a trip to Preston. (Fan belt still not on.) Borrowed a spanner from a garage up the road, and set off again at 10:15. First breakdown for this car.

Arrived in Elterwater 11:40 - a long trip. (See top photo.)

Set off 11:55. Lunch stop 12:30 after route finding difficulty. Path more or less discovered and we got moving again at 13:15, heading for Lingmoor Quarry and Brown How (Lingmoor Fell). At last a summit! (14:30)

Chapel Stile, from the quarry above Elterwater

 

View NE over Loughrigg towards Kirkstone

View from Lingmoor Fell to Elterwater and Windermere

Big Goose
Heron

                                                                     The path ahead, looking west

Blustery, some hail - all wearing full waterproofs. 

The party donns waterproofs near Side Pike

Some more route problems on the way. Rog went quarrying and caving. Side Pike. (15:30) Spot height 735' (now 224 metres) for ascent of Wrynose Fell to Pike of Blisco. 

Again, differing opinions on the route. Laurie got his rucksack caught in a crack in the rocks. He should realise that he's not as thin as Martin. 

Watched a helicopter on manoeuvres (or rescues?) on Bowfell. 

Reached summit of Pike of Blisco 16:50. Dave and Rog nowhere to be seen. Decided to camp in the vicinity of Red Tarn. As we left the top we were struck by a very heavy, blustery hailstorm which we had just noticed coming across from Jack's Rake etc. Cagoules and overtrousers were donned just as there was a flash and a bang of thunder. 

Lots of stinging hail, which stopped just before we pitched camp near the path by Red Tarn (17:45) 1675ft. 

Camp site on the path near Red Tarn at the top of Brown Gill, from Martin's wedge tent

Menus

Laurie and Dave: moussaka 'substitute' (L forgot tin opener); apple and custard (as usual took all night to cook).

Roger: virgin (?!) and sweetcorn soup; paella (Vesta) in a new blue packet.

Martin: tea; beef risotto

Nick: paella (Oxo) - good; fruit cake; coffee.

More hailstorms. New tent (Nick's) very well behaved so far (20:00). Glad I got new batteries for torch! Distance covered - a paltry 4½ - 5 miles (ashamed to record it).

Added by Dave: "Hope I'm well pegged down." 

(Back to Nick) Dave has not yet ripped his new black cords. He's very confident that they won't be rationalised (ICL jargon) by tomorrow. 

Dave, Rog and Laurie [sharing Roger's new Vango Mk4 tent] made a dessert of 'coffee broth with hailstones'. It contained mince, onion, mushroom, aubergine, courgette, mixed dried veg, rice, peppers, coffee (not important), but definitely not tinned tomatoes [no tin opener]. Recipe: add the above to one pan with blown hailstones, heat and decant into cups. Serve immediately.

Sunday

4:25 am, Martin retreated to the Vango. Cries of "help" as he tried to bundle his tent in. Very strong winds. Rather worried. 

The diary includes this sketch from Martin

8:00 Cold hands > 8:30 - fun taking tents down. Roger's poles are a funny shape. Much searching for equipment. [My tent pegs etc.]. 

Off about 8:45. Up and over Crinkle Crags. Still very windy and sometimes hard to stay upright. Sky generally blue, but we've seen sleet/rain/hail come shooting across very quickly. Luckily managed to avoid most of these. 

The view down the Langdale valley from Crinkle Crags

Stopped for food at the Bad Step, then M, D and R went through dragging rucksacks. Nick climbed up the side to take photos, and Laurie nambie-pambied around the other side.

This picture is captioned 'Rog at Bad Step'. Could we in those days crawl through a gap by the chockstone, rather than undertake the 10 ft climb by the side of the cleft?

11:05 Three Tarns, for Bowfell. No-one else around. 

The path to Bowfell from Three Tarns

11:40 Bowfell. Met four others. Good views all round. Down to Ore Gap > Angle Tarn. 

Angle Tarn and the Langdale Pikes

13:00 - At stream at Angle Tarn. Rog is "medium knackered" so we debate whether or not to go down. Didn't go down. It rained (again).

View across Mickleden to Langdale Fell

Looking back up the valley from near Raw Pike, with Crinkle Crags and Bowfell

 
Martin adds (September 2021)

Nick's diary entry ends at "It rained again" apart from my summary of the route that confirms our continuation of the classic round described by Tom Price in "The Big Walks", 20 miles with 2000 metres ascent, as pictured at the foot of this entry. 

I've inserted a few observations into the text in blue.

I still have a vivid memory of the wind in the night continuously shifting the poles of my Karrimor wedge tent, making it assume a banana shape. So I tried to re-pitch the tent in a better position for the wind. The next thing I knew was that the pegs all came out and the tent and its contents were blowing in the wind, just like a kite, anchored only by a guy line wrapped around my right hand index finger. I managed to gather most of the stuff into Roger's tent, where the four of us squeezed in for the rest of the night, with Roger hanging on to his bending poles for dear life! 

* This must have been Nell's cat, we presumably spent the night at her house, 232 Oswald Road, Chorlton.

# The Cortina Estate was no longer a new car!

Any additional memories from the participants would be welcome.

Tuesday 23 November 2010 – The Langdale Pikes, The Greater Traverse, including a variant of Great British Ridge Walk, Number 13

I was due to pick Rick up at 7.15.  The alarm rang at 6.30; Sue woke, assumed I had left the bed, and went back to sleep.  I didn’t hear the alarm at all, but woke with a jolt at 6.59.

Somehow I managed to be only 5 minutes late at Rick’s house, and we made it up to our rendezvous point in Lancaster a couple of minutes before Stuart pulled in to collect us for the onward journey.  He had Peter and Richard with him, but the Jeep fitted us all comfortably.

The day’s plan was to walk Bill Birkett’s route ‘LAN5’ – The Greater Traverse of The Langdale Pikes, featuring nine ‘Birketts’ and six ‘Wainwrights’, not to mention seven ‘Lakeland 2000ers’, for those who count such things.

We started up Stickle Ghyll at 9.50am, at something of a sprint that left Richard searching from time to time for more lung capacity.

An icy north easterly wind greeted us at Stickle Tarn, but we soldiered on and enjoyed the easy east ridge of Pavey Ark.  As we ascended, the ground became increasingly slithery due to a veneer of grease that could just as well have been ice.  In fact it turned to ice as we neared the summit.

We had decided against tackling Jack’s Rake, and those who did go that way seemed to be taking their time in today’s greasy conditions, so our easier route was a good call.

After stumbling around on the lumpy rocks of Pavey Ark’s broad summit, we headed off to gain Thunacar Knott’s easy summit.  The cloud base had been lurking just above our heads and had indeed obscured some views – mainly those towards Bowfell and the Scafell range – so we were pleased when it lifted a little, gracing us with sunny periods for the rest of the day.

Our highest point of the day, Harrison Stickle, came next.  Its summit rocks sported an icy rime.  We slithered some more before heading off to climb Thorn Crag.

But none of us was sure where Thorn Crag was.  I think we concluded that it was the small lump on the left of the picture below.  If so, we missed it, as we descended directly from Harrison Stickle to the heathery hollow.  Then we traversed the entire ridge from the centre of the picture up to Pike O’ Stickle, from where the picture was taken.  I now think the first of those summits may be Thorn Crag, after which we met a couple who had traversed below it on their way to the loftier summit of Loft Crag, seen here to the right of the picture.

It had taken three hours to reach the top of Pike O’ Stickle, and we were pleased to find a sunny position on the summit (pictured at the head of this posting) that was sheltered from the wind and afforded excellent views.  Rick was particularly happy to have made it – his dickie shoulder had not appreciated the vertical variant route chosen by Peter and Richard!  Our eyes were however particularly drawn to a figure that was half way up the sheer face of Gimmer Crag, pictured below in the distance.  The figure failed to move during our tenure at the top of Pike O’ Stickle, despite much shouting.  We were worried for the person concerned, but saw no evidence of a rescue taking place.  The jets and trainer planes that buzzed us for a while weren’t capable of hovering.

As we moved on across Martcrag Moor the low sun cast a lovely light on Allen Crags and Glaramara and beyond to the Skiddaw summits.  It was a glorious afternoon, with innumerable Lakeland peaks laid out before us.

Whilst the path hereabouts has been improved, there remain boggy sections that tested our footwear.  It passed the test – I don’t think anyone’s feet got wet.  My new Scarpa Mantas, on just their third outing, were superbly comfortable and supportive – just the job for these conditions.

Stuart adopted a classic pose.

We reached Stake Pass soon after 2pm, so had plenty of time to enjoy the low ridge that leads over Black Crag and Buck Pike to Rossett Pike, the last of today’s summits.  It wasn’t so icy up here, and there were lovely views down Mickleden, with sunlit Pike O’ Stickle standing as a sentinel above the deep glacial valley.

A group of four men were the last people we encountered, having seen about 20 others on these hills today.  They were bumbling around in the Rossett Pike/Black Crags area, and eventually descended Rossett Gill, way behind us.  I suppose not everyone is as familiar with this terrain as our little group may have been, but those four men did seem to make hard work of getting off the hills!

We were happy to reach the Jeep at 4.50 pm, shortly before darkness took over.  The Stickle Barn was shut, but we managed a fireside pint and post walk banter in the New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel, before wending our way homewards, deeply satisfied after yet another successful outing.

A full slide show (29 images) is here.

Our 16 km route with 1100 metres of ascent took seven hours and is shown in outline below.  It’s a good one, and would be relatively easy even in winter conditions.

The header refers to ‘Great British Ridge Walk Number 13.  This is ‘The Langdale Pikes via Jack’s Rake’.  Variants are allowed.  So, as we climbed all the summits and walked the ridge, I think we can say that walk was accomplished.  Jack’s Rake will however be revisited in dry conditions.  It’s a great route that I haven’t been on since backpacking it with Andrew and Gary on 8 June 2005.  Here they are on the route; happy days…