Having received an invite from Steve to join him and his mates for the above FSS and I eagerly accepted - FSS then got a better offer! I cast about for any likely participants to travel up with and SN and MW jumped on board. In fact, SN had it on her family calendar as ‘My day out’ before you could shake a stick and apparently all other arrangements were worked around it. MW then regrettably bailed as she had been out canoeing all day and felt she couldn’t get another pass due to family commitments. That left me and SN watching the weather forecasts for 29th. To be honest they were atrocious, but as SN had told me that she was so excited that she didn’t know whether she’d be able to sleep the night before it seemed we were going up anyway!
At 6.20 yesterday morning I looked out of the window and wondered what on earth we were doing driving to Braithwaite to venture onto the felltops. I then thought when SN gets here she’s going to say, “It’s too bad to go – yeah right!
So we parked near the school in Braithwaite village and met up with Steve, his brother Jason and Ali and Chris from Border Runners. I thought I’d better get an early photo as the chances of me getting the camera out from the rucksack and two waterproof bags was unlikely.
We set off down the road to pick up the footpath up to Causey Pike, from there across to Scar Crags and with a bit of shelter from the Pike I did manage to get the camera out and take a few snaps, which was a good job because it never saw the light of day again.
Looking down onto Outerside with Whinlatter forest and Bassenthwaite beyond.
The path up to Sail
Eel Crag beyond
Scamp – Steve’s dog posing for a picture above and below
Scamp had an extremely stressful outing – everything was wrong and he knew it. Now Steve is a very fast runner and you only have to look at him to see this, but this was a social day and he was making sure everyone felt part of the day, but Scamp didn’t know this. The pack should be led by Steve and nobody else, so he spent his day trying to round everyone up, keep them together and let whoever was in front know that this wasn’t their place.
To top it all on Eel Crag where the gusting winds and horizontal ice was so strong that SN decided to just sit down! Scamp literally got flipped over by a gust of wind.
Setting off up to Sail
Shortly after this Ali and Chris bailed and headed down, a wise move as it turned out as the conditions deteriorated rapidly. We carried on over Crag Hill and Eel Crag which I am very glad has a broad and flat summit plateau. Having re-grouped we made our way carefully off and down to the old mine where even on the main path we were still being knocked about. Finally, all that was left was an easy trot back to the cars. Quick sort out and into the Royal Oak in the village for hot coffee and a bite to eat - a grand day out and thanks to Steve for organising it. I think SN is going to put up a few words after her New Year guests have departed. Both so glad we headed north!
Looks like TF is out tomorrow – me too, probably slow and short-ish! Anyone else?
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