Thursday 22 January 2009 – A New Trail

Helen and Sue proceed along trail number 53, only recently reopened to skiers

Helen joined us today for a 15km excursion from P17, Wakefield. The temperature had risen to -2°C, so dark blue wax was the order of the day. This should have worked fine, but the snow was so powdery that it balled up under the skis, making progress rather slow at times. The route was straightforward - #53 to P19 at Philippe, then #51 to rejoin our outward journey at the bottom of a hill.

The trails were quiet; we encountered only three people, though a school bus parked at Philippe did indicate that Renaud Cabin, where we had contemplated going for lunch, might be inundated with children.

Anyway, we’d elected for a morning ski. Our only concession was a 10 minute break for hot chocolate and Helen’s patent trail mix, at an exposed point on #53, with rare expansive monochromatic views.

Soon we were back in the trees. A swarm of animated Snow Buntings – there must have been 100 or more – briefly filled the air as we continued along the pleasant route, only recently reopened after having been reclaimed from snowmobiles. It’s marked on our old map, but has been unavailable for skiing for the past few years; snowmobiles and skiers on the same trails are not really compatible! I understand most snowmobile trails pass through private land, by agreement between the landowner and individual snowmobile clubs.

Our ski today was a mere 15km taking us from 10.25 to 12.55, including 10 minutes for our hot chocolate interlude, after which we returned home via Tim Hortons – a Canadian institution, a doughnut emporium, where we enjoyed coffee, soup, and of course a doughnut for lunch – a bargain at $4.50 (£2.80) per person.

Messages:
As always, it’s good to receive your comments. Thank you Dave, Ron, Phil (I think you probably got tipped out of your canoe into Lac Meech – not possible at this time of year; also not possible is the discomfort of mosquito bites), and Gayle (I think you and Mick would enjoy the skiing here – even though you would probably have to learn from scratch[easy!]).

The hat I won in your competition, Phil, is you will be pleased to hear, in daily use – an essential part of my kit. Brilliant!

Over My Dead Body - A Very English Affair

Our action packed visit took us last night to Ottawa Little Theatre for a spot of, well, Culture?

This play by Derek Benfield is set in the Home Counties of England. It was a complete surprise to us that we had come all this way to see an English comedy performed by Canadian actors! They made a fair attempt at the correct accents, but the Canadian cleaning lady, 'Carol Capstick' seemed a bit out of place.

The situation comedy had some of its Canadian audience 'rolling in the aisles' - there was some hearty laughter anyway, even if the plot was a bit thin.

An enjoyable evening was had by all in this welcoming (medium sized) theatre, with a fine selection of art (for sale) to peruse whilst waiting for the performance to start.

For anyone who may be interested (I appreciate that Ottawa is not exactly a hot bed of readers of this blog - is there anyone out there?) the Ottawa Citizen's review is here.

Wednesday 21 January 2009 – Lunch at Keogan Cabin

A group of French Canadians leave Keogan Cabin after a sumptuous lunch

Yesterday’s blue skies were replaced by snow flurries at -10°C, plus another -10°C for wind chill. Sue strapped up her ankle and off we headed to P7 – the car park at Kingsmere. From here, trail#30 heads up a steepish hill, quickly gaining 100 metres of altitude before joining #1 – Ridge Road – for a pleasant, undulating and twisty few kilometres to Keogan Cabin.

We should have stopped to light the fire here, but my fingers had only just warmed up, so we continued on – along a pleasant route in light snow, except when the sun appeared briefly as we passed the Champlain Lookout.

We headed from Keogan, up Fortune Parkway, along Champlain Parkway and past the Lookout. Then down #1B, back onto Ridge Road to the junction with #24. This was our turnaround point, but we made a loop by turning down #24 to head back to Ridge Road via this more interesting route with a few sharp bends. I misjudged one of these and spread-eagled myself briefly across the track. With only my pride dented, we were able to continue once Sue had recovered from a coincidental laughing fit.

Rejoining Ridge Road we flew past Huron Cabin, down the Khyber Pass and on to Keogan Cabin for lunch. It was 12.30, so surely the stove would be lit...
The cabin was fairly full, but we paid for our lack of attention earlier – we should have lit the stove. It had only just been started, so we had to wait a while for it to get hot enough to toast our sandwiches.

Never mind, we earwiged various conversations, notably a group of diehard back country skiers berating the fact that their ‘black diamond’ trails had been compacted by a grooming machine. This actually makes them more manageable for unskilled skiers such as us, and it also provides protection from rocks. But the die-hards clearly object. Fortunately for us, they appear to be in a poorly catered for minority!

All the cabins sport bird feeders. Today the one at Keogan was home to Chickadees, Bluejays, Downy Woodpeckers, tiny red squirrels and, pictured below, Nuthatches.

Today’s 21km trip took us from 9.50 to 13.35, including 45 minutes of breaks – an excellent little excursion.

Other News

Google Reader threw up a couple of items of interest today.

First Alan Sloman has spotted a Mad Woman intent on heading up to John O’Groats with her dog, just to walk all the way to Lands End with it.
I will of course be following her blog – Sophie Easterwood’s ‘The Longest Dog Walk in Britain’.

Next, and of completely different importance, John Hee came up with a long preamble about this historic and momentous day……
We knew what was coming…..another homage to Obama on the day of his inauguration as US President?
But no, it was the identity of The Stig – an ‘open secret’ amongst the press, but now revealed to the world at large.

Nice one, John!

Tuesday 20 January 2009 – MEC – a Canadian Institution

The sun shone brightly from a clear blue sky in Ottawa today. Sod’s law dictated that we had a day off skiing, spending it instead relaxing in the quiet environs of Woodroffe Towers.

Yesterday Sue lost one of her liner gloves, so a trip to the local outdoors shop, just a couple of miles away, was in order.

Amongst the Canadian outdoors fraternity, MEC, aka Mountain Equipment Co-Op, is an institution. Its 12 stores, spread right across Canada, are meccas for Canadian skiing, canoeing, biking, mountaineering and hiking enthusiasts. In order to purchase anything you must be a shareholder; I’ve seen bemused customers abandon their purchases when confronted with this requirement, but to date over 2.8 million of us have forked out the $5 cost of a share in the company.

I’ve bought various bits of kit from this store over the years, and today it served us well, with a new pair of gloves for Sue at a cost of $9. The store seems to me a bit like a Decathlon emporium (which I visit very rarely) with lots of own branded gear and little that shows signs of high technical detail.

There’s not much evidence of lightweight gear, either. Ken has been exploring lightweight kit for his forthcoming 160km of skiing in two days, including an overnight ‘camp’. I noticed he had printed off a GoLite rucksack catalogue, but he is still using an ancient Berghaus Cyclops sac. Apparently no retailer in Ottawa stocks GoLite, as there is ‘insufficient demand for their products’. Ken likes to try before he buys, so until he visits a stockist, GoLite is off limits for him. That’s a shame. PTC* has recently posted about the early Karrimor Alpiniste rucksacks, and perhaps the Berghaus Cyclops is in the same genre. Ken’s large sac weighs in at a competitive 1.3kg, has few if any ‘bells and whistles’, and must have withstood tens of years of use and abuse. So he continues to use it, whilst his mates struggle around in their over-engineered kit weighed down with unnecessary appendages.

Monday 19 January 2009 – A Medley of Trails

Today it was overcast again, with snow flurries but occasional glimpses of blue sky. It was a balmy -10°C in the Park. Perfect for skiing.

So whilst the whole of yesterday’s run had been along #(Trail)50, today we enjoyed a medley of trails. We started again up Fortune Parkway from P10. This is a ‘green’ trail, suitable for novices, and is generally very well (and frequently) groomed. It’s a ‘dual carriageway’ for skiers, with up and down ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ lanes either side of a central area that is mainly the domain of ‘skate skiers’. These skate skiers use shorter skis and a different technique, and are mainly folk out for energetic bursts of exercise. (Joggers.) Our preference is for the longer ‘classic’ skis. We travel more slowly but generally for longer, and maybe sometimes further, than the skate skiers. We are the equivalent of ‘day walkers’.

About 2km up the Parkway a right turn leads up #3, a blue trail, known as the Burma Road. Blue trails are harder than green ones, and on our last visit, two years ago, this trail was too icy for us to feel confident enough to tackle. In the past we have always approached it from the other direction, but today’s superb conditions meant that the steep ascent, which two years ago was dangerously icy, was really very easy to overcome, as illustrated above.

It’s steeper than it looks. Here Sue catches her breath after 'herringboning' up the hill.

An hour later, after many pauses for Sue to attend to a sore ankle, we reached #1 near Huron cabin. We’d only met a handful of people on the Burma Road, a delightful ski despite the ankle problem.

We decided to visit Western Cabin, which sits on top of the escarpment overlooking the Ottawa valley, for lunch. On the way we came across #9, freshly groomed. This is a ‘black diamond’ trail, the hardest variety of the marked x-country ski trails, barred to skate skiers. They are narrow, twisty and undulating. A basic level of skill is handy in order to avoid frequent tumbles on these trails, albeit usually painlessly into soft snow. (Not having many basic skills, I've been there, often.) We didn’t attempt a single such trail on our last visit two years ago.

We couldn’t resist #9 today. Off we went along the short 700 metre section to Western cabin, and for the first time in my life (I think) I managed to stay upright down the final luge that dips and twists and dives down to the main trail and the cabin beyond.

It was great.

As was lunch in the cabin. Three folk left as we arrived. They had got the stove really hot – it was belting out heat. Sue has a cool extremity that benefits from such gadgets.

We had the cabin to ourselves this Monday morning – what a contrast to yesterday’s hubbub at Healey cabin!

Our return to the car was via #2, #1B, Champlain Parkway via the lookout, to Huron, #1 down the Khyber Pass, to finally gently descend down Fortune Parkway and back to the car.

The trail known as #1B is very pleasant; especially so today, as we encountered a Pileated Woodpecker, a crow sized monster of a woodpecker, laying in to the trunk of a huge tree, far above us. We had the wrong camera for a good picture – this was the best I could manage. A video is ‘reserved for later’!


Today's 18km trip took us from 10.25 to 13.55, including 45+ minutes of breaks.

Sunday 18 January 2008 – The Road to Healey Cabin

Ken approaches the grooming wagon on Trail 50

The morning dawned snowy, as usual, with a few fresh cm overnight, but it had warmed up to -12°C outside!

We were graced with Ken’s presence (as well as Helen's) for today’s ski, though he did manage to overshoot the entrance to the car park – P16 at Vallée Meech.

Our trail was being groomed, and later we caught up with this vital piece of equipment, without which our trips to Gatineau Park would be completely different.

The car park was filling up quickly. The four of us set off. My boots felt a bit loose, and under the balls of my feet the they felt hard. Oh dear! No insoles. They had been taken out for drying yesterday and hadn’t found their way home. As a result my toes were a little cool at times.

Ken, Martin and I continued beyond Herridge Cabin to the eastern end of Lac Philippe, where we loitered for photos, trail mix, and for the groomer to pass.


Helen followed, but turned around at the junction with trail 52 and headed back to Healey for lunch.

Arriving at the new Healey Cabin at 12.40, it was definitely Sunday. All the tables were occupied and damp clothing was draped everywhere. The recent conversion of this 19th Century farmhouse includes the installation of some large windows, so the cabin is very well lit compared to the dark interiors of some of the other cabins in the park. Animals have nibbled chunks off the wide wooden planks used in the renovation.

Shortly prior to our arrival here, we encountered Ken’s friends Wayne and Don. They were lunching on the trail in preference to Herridge Cabin, which was only a few metres distant. Wayne is a Ski Marathon veteran, having completed the Correur du Bois Gold route some 13 times (that’s 180km in two short days – cut off is shortly after 3pm – carrying a pack and bivvying overnight). That’s what Ken is training for this year.

In the cabin we encountered another friend, Dan, whose attempts to make conversation were hampered somewhat by the waterfall that seemed to be streaming down his face. Ken explained that he is a friend from the canoe club!


Our toasted sandwiches and tea, etc were most welcome. Then the 5km trail back to the car park was covered quite quickly, the downhill stretches providing us with snowploughing practice. It was good to know – from the speed at which we flashed past a slow skier – that our skills have progressed from ‘novice’ level.

This 20km outing, all along Trail 50, took us from 10.30 to 13.50, including 45 minutes of breaks – a quite satisfactory pace along, albeit, easy trails.

We were home by 2.30 pm to enjoy a most relaxing end to the weekend.

We are enjoying this holiday.

BTW: Welcome, summitboy, our latest new 'follower', who chooses to 'follow' rather than look over my shoulder as I write!

Saturday 17 January 2009 – Fortune Parkway and Huron Cabin

One of the great things about coming to Ottawa in the winter is that there is no hurry to go out in the morning. And so it was that Helen, Sue and I enjoyed a leisurely start, after Ken had checked in to report that he had survived the night.

It’s a half hour drive from Woodroffe Towers to our starting point for the day, P10, at the foot of Fortune Parkway. Our skis had been lovingly waxed, and our poles sharpened, by our ever attentive host before he left on his own adventure. So we could leap out of the car to attack the gently rising Fortune Parkway with some considerable vigour, taking care not to overstretch certain muscles that inevitably undergo a process of rediscovery on such days.

On a normal Saturday in January we’d have been lucky to find space in P10 car park, but today there were few folk around due to the cold weather, and as you can see from the photos of me and Sue taken on Fortune Parkway, we had the place pretty much to ourselves.

We headed up to Gossips’ Corner, gossiped amongst ourselves, then zoomed on past Shilly Shally Cabin and up the Khyber Pass to Huron Cabin. A loop from there took us to the Champlain Lookout and back to Huron via the Champlain Parkway.

The view across to the Ottawa River from the edge of the escarpment wasn’t as clear as usual, as a few snowy flurries were invading the gap between us and the blue sky above. This view is something of a grander version of that of Teesside from Eston Nab, for those of you who may be familiar with the latter – picture it as it was in the winter of 1963.

We enjoyed a leisurely lunch in Huron Cabin – there will be more about these lunch breaks in a future posting – in the company of some friendly strangers and a man in a banana coloured suit who Helen was embarrassed to admit was known to her. His skiing kit was just a bit ‘70s style gaudy!

Martin poses outside Huron Cabin in his 21st Century gear

Having taken an hour and a half to reach the cabin for lunch, after that break Sue and I shot off down Champlain Parkway, whilst Helen headed down the Khyber Pass, meeting us at Gossips’ Corner for a brisk return down Fortune Parkway to reach P10 car park only 35 minutes after leaving Huron Cabin.
This was an excellent first day’s excursion despite the cold – with 13km skied in 2 hours, plus 45 minutes for lunch.
On returning home we woke Ken from his ‘nap’ and interrogated him about his ‘bivvi at -35C’ experience, leading to his brief report related in the previous posting. Well done, Ken, we wish all our requests for reports were met with such enthusiasm…

Ken's Night Out ('Cold Enough to Freeze the Medals off a Brass General')

Ken's comment on yesterday's posting warrants a little more than his modest 'aside'. So I've inserted an actual image from a 'Gold Camp' for which Ken was practicing, and here is his report on last night's 'Bivvi in the Park'.

They are made of strong stuff over here!


Actually it got down to about -35C at our 'camping' spot near Lac Philippe (hard to tell since my thermometer only reads down to -30C).
Three of us set out last night from the bright lights of Ottawa to the snow laden forests of Gatineau Park. The purpose of the trip was to try out our gear for the Canadian Ski Marathon Coureur des Bois Or, which involves skiing 80km in a day, camping overnight, then skiing another 80km the following day.
So you need to get your backpack down to a manageable weight but without being too cold at night.
I discovered a few things:

• I need to make a few adjustments to my kit.
• It was too crowded in my sleeping bag with ski boots, booties, over mitts, water bottle, pee bottle, midnight snacks, phone; hardly enough room for me. I am average size but my "large" bag wasn't big enough. How do "Clydesdales" (large people) cope? I had to get rid of the ski boots and put boot warmers (heat packs) in them in the morning.
• At low temperatures: duct tape and foot warmers are not sticky; Thermarests do not self-inflate, unless you blow into them really hard (when you close the valve it then freezes shut); Ziploc bags do not open easily and when they do they tear; peanut butter freezes.
• After you have been sitting round a smoky campfire at -35C, you smell worse than a kipper...!

Ken

Ken also reports that he got about 2 hours' sleep.

Friday 16 January 2009 – Deep Freeze in Ottawa

Sue and Helen on Bate Island on Friday morning

Our journey here yesterday was wholly uneventful, unless you regard an encounter with Bobby Charlton, who failed to recognise me despite my having spent many hours on the terraces of Old Trafford in full view of him, as an event.

It was quite a long day, during which we conspired, so far as I can recall, to enjoy at least five meals.

After hitting the sack at 10pm we managed to sleep soundly until 7am; so there is no jet lag on this occasion.

It dawned bright and sunny. But cold. It’s between about -20 and -30°C here, so just a bit chilly. We had already decided not to ski today, so a trip to the Visitor Centre to collect my ski pass (we have enough vouchers for Sue not to need one) was all that was on the agenda. On the way we passed an accident. Apparently the salt doesn’t work below -20°C. I’m told there were 175 recorded accidents in Ottawa yesterday.

The Ottawa River is only partially frozen. The current cold snap is the first of the winter, so the river is still flowing strongly. In this weather a local fog arises from the river, so at places like Bate Island, where we paused this morning, the trees are encrusted with the soft hoar of the frosted vapour.

Bate Island is accessed from a bridge over the Ottawa River, linking Ontario, where we are staying, with Quebec, where our skiing area – Gatineau Park – is situated. I wonder which district Bate Island is in?

Later, a short stroll from Woodroffe Towers drew us back down to the river on a ‘dog walker’s’ circuit in brilliant sunshine, but in temperatures that served to confirm the efficacy of the local frostbite warning.

A lone skier had appeared to produce this furrow, but it is probably the groove of many folk, taking their exercise in single file....


Meanwhile, 'Crazy Ken' was unable to join us today due to having to go to work. He is making up for it by camping out in Gatineau Park tonight, together with a couple of crazy mates. Well, they are not actually camping, just bivvying. It'll be interesting to see how cold it/they get(s)!

Good luck Ken. Please report back on your experience.

Across the Pond

Here are our hosts for the next few weeks, pictured on 28 January 2006 on the 'pond' known as Lac Philippe.

Hello Ken.
Hello Helen.

We hope to be able to post regularly, but please bear with us if we go a bit quiet.

A New Hat

Courtesy of a little competition run by Phil, over at Doodlecat, and with the assistance of a pin (well, it was a little more scientific than that) I have A New Hat. It's Lowe Alpine's legendary 'Mountain GTX Cap', or 'Mountain GTX Casquette' - sorry, I'm just practicing the lingo for our next destination - and the Hat will certainly come in useful where we are going.  The maximum day temperature there over the next five days is currently forecast to vary between -11 and -22°C.

I won't be providing a test report on this excellent piece of kit as it is of known, and very sound, provenance - best used in very cold weather, I hear, and we are certainly heading towards that.

So, thank you Phil for drawing my name out of the 'hat' at such an opportune time, and for delivering said item so efficiently.

Hoorah!

Rob Gauntlett and James Atkinson

We were saddened at the weekend to hear of the deaths of Rob Gauntlett and James Atkinson.  Back in 2006 Rob achieved fame as the youngest Brit, aged 19, to summit Everest.

 

 

This image, copyright of Adventure Peaks, shows Rob with James Hooper above the Third Step.

 

 

 

 

Here, they celebrate on the summit with Stu Peacock.

We followed their expedition with great interest, as our friend Conan Harrod, who had broken his leg near the summit of Everest three years earlier, was also on that trip.  It was an anxious day, as following the news of the youngsters' success, there was no news of Conan for several hours.  In their euphoria, the Adventure Peaks team had forgotten to broadcast his success, shortly after Rob and James.

It is of no comfort to know that accidents amongst those who climb at the levels of these folk are all too frequent, especially in popular places like the Chamonix area.

Our thoughts are with everyone concerned.

A report is here.  And a tribute is here.

Saturday and Sunday 10/11 January 2009 - À La Carte at Ashburton

As a special treat, for a special occasion, Sue and I enjoyed a weekend at Ashburton Cookery School.

We were students on the two day 'Express Dinner Parties Plus' course.  Eight of us were guided through some inspirational menus by Joe 'passionate about food' Bartlett.  We had great fun all weekend, not least enjoying the products of our efforts.

Saturday involved cooking for lunch and dinner, whilst on Sunday we enjoyed a light lunch and an early dinner, enabling us to start the long journey home by 4pm.

Saturday Lunch

Selection of canapés (crab and avocado bread tartlets, parmesan biscuits, and stilton and sesame biscuits)
Creamy mussels with leeks, bacon and smoked paprika (below - getting this ready for 'service')

Saturday Dinner

Leek, garlic and sweet potato soup (to take home)
Roast duck breast with a cassis jus, Dauphinoise potatoes and glazed green beans
Apple tarte tatin with crème fraiche

Sunday Menu

Chicken liver paté with red onion marmalade (to take home)
Mini aromatic seafood parcel (a delicious snack for lunch)
Roasted chicken breast wrapped with parma ham stuffed with red onion marmalade and goats cheese, together with pesto new potatoes and balsamic dressed salad leaves (above)
Seasonal fruit sabayon with lemon shortbreads (below)
We also made copious quantities of vegetable stock and white bread rolls.

Thank you, everyone, for making this such a pleasurable weekend.
In particular, thank you to Maureen and Trevor in Exeter for their hospitality on Friday and Saturday - their skills as former B&B proprietors remain undiminished despite several years of retirement.

For a small (13 images) album of snaps from the weekend, click here.

Bon appetit...

Snowdonia

We are away for a few days on a cookery course.  So blogging is not at the forefront of our agenda.

At about this time last year we were trotting along the Nantlle Ridge.  Here is Sue, with John Shipton lagging behind, on the approach to Garnedd Goch, with just a touch of cloud over Snowdon's summit behind us.

It'll be a bit warmer in the kitchen!

A Trip to Salford Quays

When I arrived in Manchester as a student I visited the docks at Salford.  One of my cousins was a merchant seaman and his boat was docked there.  It was an interesting excursion into a world that I've never revisited.  I remember comparing his cramped living quarters with my tiny room in St Anselm's hall of residence - my home for two years.

I have revisited the scene of our rendezvous many times, and have witnessed the area being cleared of the hustle and bustle of the merchant shipping and redeveloped as offices and leisure facilities, as well as high rise housing.

Monday's visit to Salford Quays, as they are now known, to replenish essential supplies from a factory shop, was blessed with superb weather.  The reflections from the glass laden office block across the bridge from the Lowry Centre were brilliant - better than any filter or distortion that Photoshop might come up with.

A 180° turn switches one's outlook to this fine suspension bridge.

   From the Lowry Centre side of the bridge the new(ish) Imperial War Museum North stands rather starkly before you - on this day the huge tower of the museum was acting as a massive reflector of the low sun.  This link provides more information on the architecture etc.

The Lowry Centre - housing theatres and (I think) the largest single exhibition of Lowry's iconic paintings - was largely in the shade of a giant block of flats at the time of our visit.

Drop Scones

We've enjoyed these scones twice this year, first on New Year's Day after our return from the hoar frost of the Sandstone Trail.  Our stalwart house minders (they've been busy over the past year), Andrea and Thomas, joined us and very much enjoyed this little treat, so I promised to put the recipe on the web site.  But before doing that an image was required, and we had eaten them all.  So I  made some more the other day.

The recipe was given to me by my mother when I headed off to be a student at UMIST, in the days when steam trains still huffed and puffed along the viaduct that splits the Sackville Street campus. 

The scones take a good 5 minutes to make, so they can be produced whilst the kettle boils - highly recommended as a mid afternoon snack at this time of year.

Drop Scones

4 oz (110 gm) plain flour
2 level teaspoons baking powder
1 oz (30 gm) caster sugar
pinch of salt
1 egg
¼ pint (140 ml) milk
1 tablespoonful of cooking oil (keeps scones moist)

Sieve together all the dry ingredients.
Beat in the egg, then the milk.
Stir in the cooking oil.

Grease and heat a griddle (or frying pan).

Test by dropping a small spoonful of mixture onto the griddle.
If it bubbles the griddle is ready.

This simple recipe makes about 20 scones. They soon go!
If you double the quantities, don't double the amount of baking powder.

Even the Pie Man should cope with this one!

Sunday 4 January 2009 - Dunham Massey

Today's short burst of exercise involved a 5 km stroll around the park and canal by Dunham Massey, our local National Trust house.

There was a hint of blue through the greyness of the high pressure cloud, but there were also a few snow flurries, so on balance we felt pleased to have brought forward our planned day out to yesterday.

My picture of oak leaf litter may have benefited from this photoshop filter:

Perhaps not!

 

 

The fallow deer are used to the presence of humans, though this gent has a scary glint in his eye... Then it was home to more afternoon tea and drop scones.
[See next posting...]

Saturday 3 January 2009 - A Raw Day on Ingleborough

Today the weather forecasters drew us out of the house a day early for our 'Sunday Walk'.  Luckily, our plans had not been advertised, so adjustments could be made. 

Setting off from Ingleton at 10 am we were disappointed to find grey skies instead of the predicted blue ones.  However, with only a handful of folk around, we enjoyed a peaceful ascent of Ingleborough via Crina Bottom.  A descending photographer concurred with our feeling that it would be a 'grey day' all day.  He was returning from the summit empty handed - fooled into an early rise by the forecasters.

The path was well frozen and quite icy, though the precautionary crampons were not needed.  With an increasingly bitter breeze as we approached the summit, we were impressed to see two well equipped young cyclists skillfully (and courteously) negotiating the difficult stepped descent.

On the top, various folk ambled around in conditions that could be described as 'benign but raw'.
Pen-y-ghent lurks behind Sue's right shoulder.

A little care was needed on the steep descent to Chapel-le-Dale, with the sun tantalisingly beating down only 5-10 km to the north.

Dropping to the main road via Souther Scales, we then headed around the chapel and past a group of cave divers beside Hurtle Pot, before coming across this statue.
 
This plaque provides its history.  Wow - no vandals here for 25 years!

After another luxurious picnic lunch, with fine if grey views, we headed on up the lane below the grey-green bulk of Whernside.  A left turn by Ellerbeck along the flat and frozen path across Scales Moor took us to a fine vista back to the Ribblehead Viaduct, and across to the frost covered northern slopes of Ingleborough.

Sheep shivered, and hopefully avoided slipping down the 'pots' that litter this area.

There was no sign of any snow despite the illusion - it's just frost.

Photography was difficult on this grey day; we snapped away but were unable to capture the ribbon of red that graced the horizon above Morecambe Bay.  Later this red light turned to purple after the sun had set - memorable, but too distant to record the image.

There had been many folk on Ingleborough, but our fine route back to Ingleton was deserted until we reached Twistleton and joined a procession of people on the latter stages of Ingleton's famous Waterfall Walk, the charge for which (£4.50 for an adult) seems exorbitant, but as we joined in the middle of the route we avoided any payment.

It was dark and slippery in the chasm that the well constructed path negotiates beside the River Doe before drifting past a quarry and along side roads into the village, but Sue did manage this pleasing image of Beesley Falls.
  
Bernie's Café in Ingleton provided good value tea and cake to fuel us for the journey home.

This was a slightly more energetic route than some of our recent strolls, but a very pleasant one and extremely simple to navigate - the 19 km with 800 metres ascent took us just under 5 hours, excluding (brief because it was chilly) stops.  Here's the outline.
 

BTW - I'm afraid we failed to clear the litter shown in the top picture.  So much for that resolution, but we may persist with bottles and cans, etc.