censorship from blogger...

I presume is the reason that the picture has vanished...it was a group of protesters outside St. Pauls in London with a nice sign saying "sorry for any inconvenience whilst global network improvements take place" - or something of that ilk!! It was  rather humorous but there we go......


Am VERY pleased it is friday...and the forecast for Sunday is decent.

A pretty good summary actually...

Quite funny really....wonder if the powers that be see the funny side...

Claire bags another munro...*

Looking to St. Sunday Crag and Fairfield - part of our walk in April

Part of the summit view

Striding Edge..

It was still misty in Penrith when we drove back to the flat....a faint aura of smugness could be discerned in the car at that point..well at least from the one of us who was awake!!

Saturday was gorgeous in Cumbria and actually quite cold - which bode well for today and it did not disappoint. Claire had never done Helvellyn so, as our first walk since our engagement, we drove down to Glenridding; with bags packed with lots of fleeces expecting it to be cold. It wasn't, and we were both unfit so the slog up towards the 'hole in the wall' (where several paths converge and one must choose how to get onto Helvellyn) was long and hot...the views and the weather were somewhat of a palliative for this however - as can be seen they were quite simply superb.

We decided on Swirral Edge (not as famous as Striding Edge [which is massively overrated anyway]) which does have the benefit of a terminally loose headwall - I would recommend doing Striding Edge under a hard frost seriously.

We took the avoiding path a bit; scrambled a bit and soon arrived on the plateau, with just a short step to the summit and some more amazing views. Lunch was taken early and more photo's were snapped...after lunch the party, as Bill Murray might have said, sat on its haunches, had a hot drink and decided its next move.
We elected to traverse over (term used loosely) Helvellyn Lower Man and Whiteside before descending the steep zig-zag path (good recce for me and the bike!) and enjoying the afternoon walk down to Greenside Mines (oh and a pint in the Travellers Rest might have had something to do with it!!).
Helvellyn Lower Man is quite probably the easiest 'top' in the UK - on ski/bike in mist you might well not even notice it. There was more of a pull onto Whiteside before a very pleasant descent to the start of the path down. This is quite steep - running would probably be easier than walking to be honest...we also saw hordes of mtb riders - coming uphill. Most were pushing up - some brave souls tried to ride - it would be a good test of fitness...

The weather was still pretty warm - base layer only weather - and, in due course, we arrived at the Travellers Rest...and ambled out later with some Red Tarn (a beer I had not tried before) inside us...all that remained was a wander through the village to the car and the drive home (for me)/snooze (for Claire..)....oh until we saw the mist in Penrith :-)

https://picasaweb.google.com/102361192587557786751/HelvellynWithClaire#  is where you can see the rest of the pictures...


* the Irvine Butterfield book - ' The High Mountains of Britain and Ireland' has all the peaks over 3000' including the English ones!

40 in the Dales...

The day started like this.....this was the Monday and Claire and I decided to walk up Pen-y-ghent (in the clouds) from Horton where we were staying so we could avoid using the car. The Crown Hotel was our base - very good too AND  a lovely log fire!!

The morning was overcast and a little breezy. It seemed further than I remembered past the school at Brackenbottom before we turned uphill..however turn we did and we plodded very slowly up. Neither Claire or I were on especially fine form and we wandered up towards the junction with the Pennine Way. Crossing the stile we REALLY became aware of the wind. We had been walking into it, however we had been quite well sheltered by the mountain itself. In the crosswind it was actually quite arkward.
Towards the summit the path zigzags through the crags - and walking with our back to the wind was actually quite tricky; it was quite hard to maintain control. Claire said; with some justification I think, that it was the strongest wind she had seen in England (Scottish winter being a different kettle of fish). Luckily; the summit is well endowed with wind shelters on either side of the wall and so we could sit down, have a banana and take stock.
The original plan of the day had been to go along to Plover Hill and thence down to the path from Foxup that goes around the mountain. However; that would commit us to a 1 1/2 mile walk in the crosswind  - so we elected to follow the PW descent towards Horton Scar Lane.
Once on this descent, the wind dropped noticeably and it was pleasant walking until the lunch stop; where the path swings left down Horton Scar Lane and descends to Horton. The weather was getting better the whole time so we elected to detour via Hull Pot, which looked as impressive as ever. A lovely walk in the sunshine (although with the wind still) took us down to Horton. The views back, as can be seen, were very good.

Given the lovlelieness of the day, we elected to have a couple of mile stroll along the river Ribble (after a tea and cake at the Pen-y-ghent cafe!!); which gave the opportunity for more photo's - which can be seen here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/102361192587557786751/40thBirthdayInTheDales

The actual birthday was less eventful - a stroll along Blea Moor and a chance for Claire to admire the Ribblehead viaduct....and for me to bemoan the missing tea van from Ribblehead - the one that was always there...

The big 40...

Claire and I are leaving for the Yorkshire Dales shortly - to spend a couple of days over my birthday walking in the Dales, an area that I know well and Claire has never been to.
Hope the weather will be ok - reports and pictures later on...

Saturday...

sorry it's a day late - seems to be a theme of my life for recent weeks...I have felt a little 'out of sync' for a bit too long.

With that; it was lovely to see Mum on Friday - especially as Claire is away in Africa - and have a great autumnal day on High Street.

We got very lucky and squeezed the car into the main car-park and set off; very gingerly; up Rough Crag. This was my first time out for some time and my uphill speed resembled a geriatric tortoise if the truth be told. Once on the ridge the views got even better and the wind got even stronger - so strong that the last couple of hundred feet were actually quite arkward. It was easier for me than it was for mum but it was still a bit of a grind. On the actual ridge the wind was much less and we could amble to the trig point - admire the amazing view and have lunch. I was going to say that I am often lucky on High Street - although I do tend to save it for good days; or really bad ones as it's so close to Penrith.

The descent over Mardale Ill Bell, which is little more than a bump coming from High Street if the truth be told, and down to Nan Bield was nice; with a good final descent back to the car. Another good piece of news was that my knee brace for the right knee stayed in the sac; the new trekking poles making a big difference...a positive step on the way to recovery for the knee (or at least as recovered as it will get); and a lovely day.

There was even time to do a tour of teashops before we finally found one that was open (in Pooley Bridge) and allow mum to drive home in the late afternoon. She also took Marvin with her...he has gone to Newcastle for semi-retirement..

High Street today...

https://picasaweb.google.com/102361192587557786751/AutumnDayOnHighStreet

Yes I know it's been a long time - sorry....mad busy at work and not feeling 100% for over a week..that and Claire being away in Africa for 10 days.

Mum and I did a lovely walk today - will post more details later. In the meantime; photo's above