Day 15 – Tuesday 31 March. Mike Watkins re-joined the fray and today we were also accompanied by John Meadows, Ian Jones and Chris Driver. On the way to the start in Mungrisdale village visibility was down to 50 yards over Kirkstone, but once over the watershed the weather brightened up and we started the walk in beautiful sunshine. Yellowhammers were singing in the fields outside the village and everything was very jolly!
We climbed steeply to the ridge of Souther Fell (1680’) – an unusual whale-back of a hill which is almost completely encircled by the River Glenderamackin, like a moat. As we reached the top, the mist which was being formed on Blencathra started blowing our way, and stayed with us throughout the next ascent, so that whilst down in the valley it was bright and sunny, we were in thick mist with hardly any visibility. We had already decided not to ascend Blencathra via Sharp Edge (I’ve done it once and that was enough!) so we followed the steep zig-zag path to the summit at 2847’ and, as it was relatively calm at the top, had a spot of lunch (this sounds very civilised but the reality consists of a squashed ham sandwich and a flask of Cup-a-Soup).
I then started to lead us off the summit in the wrong direction until queried by Mike. Fortunately we had only gone 100 yards. A steep descent followed, down to the squelchy tread across to the strange summit of Mungrisdale Common (2068’). I say strange because there is hardly any rise to it at all, and even Wainwright seemed to put forward a good argument for not including it in his book. Anyway, it’s there, so it had to be done; the highest point would be virtually devoid of interest if it weren’t for the fact that it is the focus of a quite remarkable number of sheep tracks. By now all the mist was gone from Blencathra and the weather was great – we should have started an hour later!
Next on the agenda was an easy trek across damp moorland to Bannerdale Crags (2230’) – the crags on the far side really are quite impressive – and then on to the final fell of the day, Bowscale Fell (2306’), where we met a young man who was hoping to visit the top of every single “Birkett” of which there are 400+, although I’m not sure how they are defined. Hang on, I’ve just Googled it and they are the 541 tops over 1000’ as listed in Bill Birkett’s The Complete Lake District Fells. There you are.
We climbed steeply to the ridge of Souther Fell (1680’) – an unusual whale-back of a hill which is almost completely encircled by the River Glenderamackin, like a moat. As we reached the top, the mist which was being formed on Blencathra started blowing our way, and stayed with us throughout the next ascent, so that whilst down in the valley it was bright and sunny, we were in thick mist with hardly any visibility. We had already decided not to ascend Blencathra via Sharp Edge (I’ve done it once and that was enough!) so we followed the steep zig-zag path to the summit at 2847’ and, as it was relatively calm at the top, had a spot of lunch (this sounds very civilised but the reality consists of a squashed ham sandwich and a flask of Cup-a-Soup).
I then started to lead us off the summit in the wrong direction until queried by Mike. Fortunately we had only gone 100 yards. A steep descent followed, down to the squelchy tread across to the strange summit of Mungrisdale Common (2068’). I say strange because there is hardly any rise to it at all, and even Wainwright seemed to put forward a good argument for not including it in his book. Anyway, it’s there, so it had to be done; the highest point would be virtually devoid of interest if it weren’t for the fact that it is the focus of a quite remarkable number of sheep tracks. By now all the mist was gone from Blencathra and the weather was great – we should have started an hour later!
Next on the agenda was an easy trek across damp moorland to Bannerdale Crags (2230’) – the crags on the far side really are quite impressive – and then on to the final fell of the day, Bowscale Fell (2306’), where we met a young man who was hoping to visit the top of every single “Birkett” of which there are 400+, although I’m not sure how they are defined. Hang on, I’ve just Googled it and they are the 541 tops over 1000’ as listed in Bill Birkett’s The Complete Lake District Fells. There you are. 
On the descent Mike was suggesting that we climb Binsey, an isolated fell scheduled to be done tomorrow. Fortunately when we arrived at Mungrisdale the pub was open and democracy saved the day as the vote went in favour of a quick pint. 5 tops today, 79 down, 135 to go.Tonight is our first stay with Allan and Sandra Boardman, good friends of Mike’s who are putting us up at their house near Cockermouth. Without their help, and equally Robert and Margaret Berry for loaning their accommodation in Bowness, the whole project would be very difficult indeed, so a big thank you to you guys, it’s very much appreciated.
No comments:
Post a Comment