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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.
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Jeffrey's
Mount summit
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Whinfell
masts
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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
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
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Where
Bryan leads.....
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.....John
and Martin follow
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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.
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Tending
the wound
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Bryan
repaired
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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.
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Breasthigh
Beck
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Looking
up Bretherdale
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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
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| Date:
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Thursday
14th February 2013
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| Distance
in miles:
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8.5
(Garmin gps)
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| Height
climbed in feet:
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1,682
(Memory Map / O.S.)-
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| Wainwrights:
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| Other
Features:
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Jeffrey's
Mount, Winterscleugh, Whinash
Bretherdale
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| Comitibus:
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Bryan,
Don,
John Hn, Martin C
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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.
Photos
have been gleaned from many sources although mostly
from me! Likewise written comment. Unless stated
otherwise, please feel free to download the material
if you wish.
A reference back to this website
would be appreciated but not essential.
.If I have
failed to acknowledge properly the source or infringed
copyright, then I apologise.
. Please let me
know and I will do my best to put things right.
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