Thursday, October 14, 2010

The Great Eskapade

Recent family holidays have involved yours truly dragging Young Dean up a local mountain, the most recent of which was our climb up Ben Nevis in June ~ see post dated 1st July 2010.

However for our most recent outing we opted to go ever so slightly down, rather than up, in that we explored the tidal ford of the River Esk near Ravenglass, in the Western Lakes. Reference to tide tables indicated that there would be a low tide at approximately noon on Saturday 2nd October, so at 11:30 a.m. we assembled at GR SD 087 943 where the ford was clearly signed. 
                        
Then, with some trepidation, we entered the water and set off northwards for the far bank. Unsurprisingly, in view of the amount of recent rain, the water was cold. Surprisingly, however, the muddy bank gave way to a clear sandy bottom, and we waded easily across the river, in never more than a foot of clear, but peaty water.

At this point we were about half way across, just leaving a mid-stream sandbank.

Having reached the far bank, we turned and retraced our steps. An interesting, if unremarkable, outing.

Apologies for the poor quality of the photos, taken on a cheapo Nokia from Tesco.

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