A Change of Home Base for the Weekend

Good Friday dawned grey with the promise of rain. Ignoring the recent threats of terrorism (apparently the grand opening of Homebase went ahead, despite the fact that they couldn’t find the fertiliser or the nails) I got up early and got to Braithwaite by 9.30, in time to meet Mike, John Taylor and Michael Parkinson who had all stayed the previous night at the Birkness Fell & Rock climbing hut near Buttermere. Two walkers who arrived at the same time told me that Kendal had seen a cloudburst the previous afternoon with 20mm of rain in an hour.

We weren’t the only walkers heading up Kinn and Sleet How, which gets quite steep and rocky in places, and as our height increased so the cloud thickened. The 2593’ summit was reached in under 1½ hours though, and now with no-one in sight we headed for Coledale Hause before climbing up the path by the stream with Eel Crag on our left. We were now constantly in cloud so no views were to be had as we continued to the summit of Eel Crag at 2749’ and on to the steep ridge down towards Sail (2530’). As usual Michael Parkinson, who always walks in wellies, was the most sure-footed and left us all behind. After such a sharp ridge, the summit of Sail is a surprise, being flat and featureless.

On the descent to Sail Pass we had a bite to eat and the weather cleared a bit, revealing the next top, Scar Crags (2205’), which was easily reached, to be followed by the corrugated-looking Causey Pike (2035’) which for some reason John Taylor couldn’t help referring to as Ullock Pike (the silly Ullock). Retracing our steps to the col, we took a slanting path down to the old mine road and then up to the top of Outerside (1863’), followed by a steep, slippery, heathery descent to Barrow Door and another rise up to the day’s final top, Barrow (1494’).

After this, the two Michaels turned proceedings into a fell race and scampered down towards Braithwaite while John and I approached the descent at a more leisurely pace, arriving at the Royal Oak in Braithwaite at exactly the same time as Catherine Taylor and Val, who had just driven up from Clitheroe. Once inside the pub who should we see but Allan Boardman’s walking pals again, downing a quick refreshment after a day on the Grasmere Fells! We can’t stop bumping into people!

We joined the rest of the party at the Buttermere hut, enjoying a great meal of salad, fish pie and apple pie plus an odd glass of wine (11 or 13, can’t remember which…) before retiring to our segregated dormitories. A total of 7 tops today, so the total now stands at 125.


Photos: 1. The start of the path up to Grisedale Pike; 2. Our party at the summit of Eel Crag (L to R Me, Mike Watkins, Michael Parkinson, John Taylor); 3. Approaching Causey Pike; 4. Looking back to Scar Crags.