Blencathra via Sharp Edge..

As can be seen from the picture - taken from the top of Sharp Edge, it was a lovely day in the Lakes today.

To celebrate this; Claire and I elected to go up Blencathra!! The original plan had been to do the Fairfield Horseshoe; however a late start to the day coupled with my total lack of energy and everything else meant a change of plan.

The fact we got parked outside what used to be the White Horse at Scales was encouraging; there were

clearly folk on the hill but it was not heaving. We climbed slowly, I suspect slower than Claire would have liked! up Mousethwaite Combe and traversed the hillside following the well worn path to Scales Tarn. There were lots of people at the tarn, however quite a few were going left up the steep path to the summit of Blencathra rather than doing the edge. Sharp Edge is supposed to be harder than Striding Edge, although given how loose the latter has become in summer I am now not so sure. We stuck mainly to the crest but ducked down before the final descent to the col. Claire bounced easily up the slab and onto the plateau of Blencathra, where a country slice was consumed.
I found the last few feet of ascent, once off the edge itself, a real struggle - the heat not helping as it was pretty hot. We therefore elected to descend over Scales Fell and back to the car - a lovely descent in a lovely early afternoon.

https://picasaweb.google.com/102361192587557786751/BlencathraViaSharpEdge02#

for all the pictures.

Summer in Cumbria..

 This flower was taken on the walk back from Gouther Crag where Claire and I spent a couple of hours on Tuesday...one plus about the dry spell after all the rain is that everything looks lovely and fresh..









As do this clump of trees in lower Swindale..

Oh we do like to be beside the seaside....

although forgetting the camera was the wrong side of dumb - and a bit indicative of my mental state (or lack thereof) at the moment.

Claire was working yesterday so I went and ran (quite hard) the short river circuit; in about 19 mins which is pretty good actually - got a good sweat on and it felt good to be out. So today, with Claire off for the week and us both feeling shattered, we headed to Dumfriesshire and a lovely bit of coast that we know.

The forecast was luckily wrong - lets hope it stays so for the rest of the week and we had a lovely couple of hours stroll along by the sea. We had brought wellies so were not too concerned where we wandered...that coupled with a nice lunch was a very good start to the week.....shame about the camera though!!

On holiday again...

so; no posts for the last couple of weeks....this is because it has been a) So hot and sunny in Cumbria I have been out on the hills every day; b) Life has been quiet and dull; c) neither of the above...

Oddly; the answer is c) - the weather has been, frankly, shite and life has been total chaos. Apart from doing a few weights at home; the only real exercise I have done have has been a couple of strolls down by the river with Claire and one trip to the Keswick wall last Sunday. Part of this has been due to Claire's parents being up here - which was REALLY nice btw - and Claire having a bad cold; plus working 1-7 this week.

I have also been running round like a madman trying to find a school to do my GTP training in next year. After two mad weeks; I am going to see Richard Rose on Wed 8th June...hopefully they will offer me a spot - we shall see.

It's now half-term and the forecast for everywhere is rubbish until wed....hopefully it will pick up after that; also we can use the time to get some jobs done as well...oh and there is one more little thing, which I'll blog about later if it happens...

Hope you all have a good bank holiday w/end.

Climbing with Claire...

today was the first time that Claire has climbed in many years....she took to it like a natural.

Our venue was Goat Crag, in the Watendlath valley. This was the place that I had been to with Luke on Fri, and our chosen route was The Slab, the only route we actually got up!!

Without wishing to embarass certain people, our ascent today was a little quicker than on Friday!! It was another lovely day with next to no wind at the crag and, once again, no-one there!!.

A quick re-hash of belaying for Claire, and a run through of the various climbing calls...I then led the route. I placed 3 pieces of gear, one which was rubbish fell out (it had stayed in on Friday but we had two ropes then so there was no angle for the rope to stretch across. Once on top I set up a bomb-proof belay and Claire set off. Claire climbed the first section (probably the technical crux) very well indeed. There was a bit of worry about the quite exposed step across onto the other slab; however once this was accomplished then Claire was on-top in very short order. Even better, this ascent was done in trainers (although she is now in possession of a pair of rock-shoes!!); with excellent footwork - all boding well for the future.

We had a nice ice-cream at Keswick and a quick 20 min play at Carrock Fell for the new shoes to be broken in properly.....now full steam ahead for Scotland in 3 weeks or so...

Video of Howgills walk now up

http://vimeo.com/user2067635/videos


go and check it out.

Tour of Blencathra...

https://picasaweb.google.com/102361192587557786751/TourOfBlencathraMtbRide#  has the pictures from today's ride - another amazing day in Cumbria. I am beginning to have nice memories of 1995 and the endless summer that began with a drastic improvement in conditions over easter and then didn't rain for 3 months...hopefully I have not jinxed it...

so; was hoping to go climbing today, however Luke has reacted badly to excercise!! at least more than going up the stairs to get a cup of tea! so he cried off. I elected to take Marvin out for another spin to assess what state he is in; and to make the most of the lovely weather.

The actual ride was a little worrying...I still feel weak on the steep climbs such as the one to the Blencathra centre - its like there is a slow puncture in my energy tank and when I go to it there is not much there. That being said; I got a bit further on the technical ascent up to Skiddaw House which is good; and rode quite well on the journey back. The journey back was into the teeth of quite a strong wind which made the journey quite testing. Even hitting the road section back from Mosedale was not as  fast as usual as I was riding right into the teeth of the wind. By the time I got back to the car I was feeling it more than usual...not good at all.

I am slightly worried as to where all my energy and strength has gone. I feel quite good yet there is not much there when push come to shove...