BB1311 :  A Salutary Lesson

Wednesday 20th March 2013

Today something unfortunate happened.  An injury occurred.

What’s more, it happened in the most unexpected way and serves as a lesson to us all

Don’t worry, as far as I know there is no lasting damage but there so nearly could have been.

A local-ish outing was necessary due to various time constraints so John drove Bryan, Martin and me round to Roundthwaite to tackle the Roundthwaite Round.

The day wasn’t living up to the forecast.  The cold easterly wind was not a surprise but we had not expected such heavy cloud cover with the threat of more snow.

Jeffrey's Mount summit

Whinfell masts

We climbed up Jeffrey’s Mount   and as we moved on to Bell Howe, the ground was increasingly snow covered, albeit not thick.  It deepened as we moved along Roundthwaite Common, past some quite friendly fell ponies (I never realised what long tails they have),  to Winterscleugh and Whinash.  

Fell Ponies

A friendly pony

Comitibus :  Winterscleugh

By the time we were descending to the Breasthigh Road (a very stony bridle path linking Borrowdale and Bretherdale), the snow wasn’t quite living up to the road’s name but there were a couple of unexpectedly deep leg plunges!

Upper Borrowdale

Where Bryan leads.....

.....John and Martin follow

The ice giants's teeth

We had lunch on reaching Breasthigh Road.  As we were packing up, the accident happened.  Bryan bent down to pick up his rucksack and, in so doing, caught his face on a strand of barbed wire.  Fortunately, it just missed his eye but blood was streaming from his forehead and nose.  Wisely, he had a first aid kit with him and Martin set about patching up the wound.  The only constructive role I had in the affair was to take the photos and supply a headband to keep the plasters in place.

Tending the wound

Bryan repaired

There is little else of any consequence to report.  It was a pleasant stroll down to the valley where the sun was doing what it should have done three hours earlier, then back round to the car.

Breasthigh Beck

Looking up Bretherdale

Tebay cottages across the River Lune

It was a much happier ending than might have been.

I asked Bryan what he / we should have done had the barb caught his eye.  His philosophy is that if you can still walk, you get yourself off the hill, not wait for Mountain Rescue.  Patch it up as best you can and get down to civilisation as fast as you can.

The lesson to us all is clear.  Never assume that nothing can go wrong and always keep a first aid kit in your rucksack.  Perversely, I have one in my winter sac but today, despite all the snow, I brought my other sac so I would have been no use to anyone.  Guess what I am going to buy next time I am in town?

Don, 20th March 2013

The Colour Supplement

Roundthwaite Trees

 

STATISTICS:  

BB1311

Date:  

Thursday 14th February 2013

Distance in miles:

8.5 (Garmin gps)

Height climbed in feet:

1,682 (Memory Map / O.S.)-

Wainwrights:

 

Other Features:

Jeffrey's Mount, Winterscleugh, Whinash
Bretherdale

Comitibus:

Bryan, Don, John Hn, Martin C

 

 

BOOTboys routes are put online in gpx format which should work with most mapping software. You can follow our route in detail by downloading bb1311

To discover which Wainwright top was visited on which BB outing see
Which Wainwright When?

For the latest totals of the mileages and heights see: BB Log.

 

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 Wainwrights

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