BB0701  Loughrigg - the GPS test

Thursday 4th January 2007

The New Year starts full of hope, and John Smith's bitter. Then you get up, look out of the window, and see it's raining again!  The forecast informed us of "heavy rain and gale force winds" all week with the only change being "showers and gale force winds" on the Thursday!   

So expecting another round of "e-mail chicken" I was surprised when both Stan and Tony readily accepted a suggestion of a half-day walk on Loughrigg. Tony did point out that as Don had sneaked off for some warm weather training in the south of France it would give us the opportunity to get an early lead in the "King of the Mountains 2007" competition!

After paying the £3.70 car parking fee at White Moss (Tony didn't know whether his Windermere Angling Club sticker would let him park for free!) we set off through the woods and on to Loughrigg Terrace. As soon as we reached the open fell the wind picked up and a "heavy shower" (torrential downpour to most people except weather forecasters!) started.

Thankfully it passed through as we climbed up the climb towards the summit and we actually got some views.

Reaching the summit trig we were hit by extremely strong winds that made it difficult to stand up. Despite these being the strongest winds Tony has yet encountered he was still tough enough to get the camera out and take the team photo.

We pressed on quickly to get out of the wind and headed across the fell towards Ambleside. Anyone who has been up Loughrigg will know just what an attractive top it is, with a succession of little knolls, valleys, tarns, and marshland.

Today we were doing a traverse of the top before returning to the Terrace. I decided not to turn off on the direct route from Black Mire to the big cave at the start of Loughrigg Terrace because the 'marsh' on the way down would probably require waders on a day like this!

On reaching the big cave on the Terrace I was surprised to find a wooden fence across the entrance and a sign saying it was closed due to recent rockfall. This was reached at 12:00 and for the first time in many months Tony was able to have his sandwiches at the designated hour!

A short walk from there back to the car and we were home by 1:30pm. I certainly felt better for making the effort to get out.

Footnote (literally): Regular readers will know the story of  "Tony and the Bargain Boots". We now have an update. At the end of this walk he complained of wet feet and discovered that both boots were leaking. On his return he went down to K Shoes where he had purchased them and complained.

They replaced them, so he now has a pair of brand new, latest model, Brashers in the correct size and still at 25% of normal retail price!

I'm told he's now trying to get in touch with Mike Shuttleworth to see if he'll take the insoles back that he'd been using for padding!

Bryan, 4th January 2007

Webmaster's Comments:  One of the compensations for not being around to have gone out on this walk is the variety of e-mails from the participants prior to the report being published.  

From Bryan: Hello,  I've successfully uploaded yesterday's walk from the GPS.  It says it's 4.88 miles and 1,647 feet of ascent.  However you will notice that the latter part of the route goes straight across Rydal Water! That's because the satellite signal was weak from the stretch just after the quarry (lunch stop) until we got back to the car - hence the very straight line. What it does show however is the superb navigational line through the forest to the quarry, although perhaps the better route may have been to follow the wall back up and around. Interesting anyway. Click for the GPS track from yesterday's walk. You should be able to load it straight into Memory-Map.

From Stan:  My strict Catholic schooling taught me not to say anything unless it was good, therefore, in deference to that I have no comment to make about the straight navigational line, against my advice, through the wood.  Tony is never short of words and I'm sure he will oblige

From Tony: Think I've more faith in Don's calculations!! My upbringing was a lot less than catholic but I'm saying nowt!! Ha ha!! My shoulder's still bloody stiff today from being blown over but we won't blame Bryan for that!!

So who got a GPS for Christmas then, Bryan?  
And we thought you could walk on water!

The other compensation is that whilst the BOOTboys were battling the elements in the UK, Les Garçons et les Filles de la Botte were revisiting BB0625.  We caught the bus to St Agnes, climbed the castle, walked down to Gorbio under a cloudless sky, had a lazy lunch sat out at the restaurant in the square and then walked all the way down to Menton. I'll happily trade the 4.88 mile, 1,647 feet ascent deficit for our 10 km and 2,000 feet descent in the sun!

Don, 5th January 2007

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Click on the photos for an enlargement or related large picture.

This page describes a 2007 adventure of BOOTboys, a loose group of friends of mature years who enjoy defying the ageing process by getting out into the hills as often as possible!

As most live in South Lakeland, it is no surprise that our focus is on the Lakeland fells and the Yorkshire Dales.

As for the name, BOOTboys, it does not primarily derive from an item of footwear but is in memory of Big Josie, the erstwhile landlady of the erstwhile Burnmoor Inn at Boot in Eskdale, who enlivened Saint Patrick's Day 1973 and other odd evenings many years ago!

If you want to contact us, click on BOOTboys.