A very important recce...

did a pretty damp 10 miles with Mum yesterday..using 2 cars so I could check out the section of the walk from Elterwater to Tilberthwaite and a little of the last section over to Coniston.

Most of the walk was done in steady rain; not a monsoon but enough to make the paths sodden and the rocks slippery..this latter is quite alarming as its an area where I will be faster than most and I could really do with it drying out before the weekend. It is still pretty warm and humid so that will not take long if it stops raining....whether that is likely I don't know...

As it turns out, Mum's suggestion to do the climb past Tilberthwaite Quarry to look at the last section was a good idea - as the route description of this last section is HORRENDOUSLY vague....especially since most people will be tackling it at night; in cloud; whilst knackered; all the above...certainly a good thing to get it in my head as to where to go....

Now its just a question of resting; stretching and hoping the weather improves....

The benefits of reconisance....

as discovered today in the pouring rain as I walked (and overtook some riding mountain bikers!!!) up a very steep path on the far side of Brathay park in Ambleside which my pretty sodden route description assured me would take me to Elterwater......lo and behold a slate signpost loomed out of the mist a al Barry Pilton on Kinder Scout to assure that I was not in fact lost - although I would have sworn blind that the path was not going in the right direction....

today's 8 1/2 mile run will be the last before the 50 - I am going to do some more checking out of the route but that will involve walking not climbing...I want to check the (what looks very steep) ascent out of Howtown onto the High Street ridge tomorrow (am not going to go down to Mardale due to time constraints and if the forecast is right I won't be able to see anything anyway)...it has actually stopped raining and is a lovely evening in Penrith...forecast is dire for the next 3 days so we shall see what we get...its softening up the ground as well which is not so good.....

On holiday....

for about 7 weeks as school broke up yesterday....thats the good news...

........the bad news is that the 50 mile challenge event is not far off and I have no idea whether or not I am ready for it - did an 8 mile recce on Tues which felt fine (although 4 miles of it was a road jog back from Howtown to Pooley Bridge) and am going to do a little more tomorrow before I head off to Luke's in the hope of getting some climbing done.....still far from sure however what it is going to be like...

Tiptoeing on Fat Charlie.....

no don't worry; I am not about to join the coalition government and am having to pass an induction.....

Fat Charlie's Buttress is a little outcrop at the bottom of Langstrath, a lovely valley which is an offshoot of Borrowdale. I had walked under it on numerous occasions and we decided to give it a go; partly because Luke was still hungover after a night out and didn't fancy the walk up to Corvus. There was a very interesting Severe that I elected to start on; it said delicate and it was very delicate indeed. Everything was there; apart from gear which was missing for a lot of the route although a good friend does protect the crux sequence. The problem was the crux involved a very small overlap which meant that one could not see your feet - and the climbing was all in the feet.....

I wobbled a bit at first but then gave myself a bit of a talking to and got up the climb....Luke then did an extremely good job of leading up a Mild Severe (Islay Waits) in the middle of the buttress....to be honest it is more like VDiff than Mild Severe, nonetheless a very good lead....

This was followed up with a pint of tea at the cafe in Grange and a lovely evening with Claire before coming home....a great day.