|
BB1533
: Bad Things Come In Threes
Thursday
24th September 2015
Why
is it that Bad Things come in threes?
Agreed
these weren’t the world’s greatest disasters but these
three Bad Things were very frustrating.
To
avoid the squally weather (plus we had an ulterior motive)
we three (hopefully not ourselves Bad Things) aimed
for Grizedale or, to be more precise, Satterthwaite
at its southern end. Aimed for but missed. Somehow
the turning for Grizedale disappeared and we found ourselves
heading way south along by the side of Esthwaite Water.
We think it was hidden behind a bus. The
turning, not the lake. It was therefore a very
long way round, passing Graythwaite Hall, before we
reached this attractive hamlet. That detour was
not one of the Bad Things but it did delay us rather.
|
The
landlady at the Eagle's Head kindly allowed us to park
at the pub on the understanding that we would be paying
them a proper visit on our return.
Before setting
off, I calibrated the gps, took a photo of the pub then
Bad Thing № 1 happened.
My camera told me
it had run out of juice.
It can’t have, I thought,
it was attached to my pc all last night to charge it
up.
|
b.jpg)
The
Eagle's Head
|
Then it dawned on me. A PC in sleep
mode doesn’t want its snooze to be disturbed by having
to do any
charging.
|
b.jpg)
Satterthwaite
Church
|
So, I had to resort to the low quality
camera on my rather old phone.
The
ulterior motive mentioned above involves some of the Forestry Commission
trails in this area so we passed through the village,
past its interesting looking but locked
church,
then up a footpath to meet the trail.
This we followed
for a while then the blue markers disappeared and, contrary
to the not very clear Grizedale Walks map, dropped down
to the very road along which we should not have driven.
|
|
In other words, nor should we have walked on it.
But now we had to. That too was not one
of the Bad Things but it did delay the arrival at our
target somewhat.
Fortunately,
the road work did not last long and we were soon able
to climb a steep footpath up to a track which is where
we should have been all along and where Bad Thing № 2 happened.
My phone, which I had been using as
a camera and which had been on charge all night, started
to run out of juice.
b.jpg)
Grizedale
Tarn
|
b.jpg)
Tree,
wall, moss and fern
b.jpg)
Comitibus: Grizedale
Tarn
|
|
It struggled on as far as
Grizedale Tarn and a little further to a strange tower,
the purpose of which confused us.
From one side,
it looked like a very large cairn or small tower. From
the other it was open but with two approaching walls
and a very narrow gap between.
Stan thought it
some form of shelter, common in Scotland.
I thought
it was more likely a viewing station, the steps of which
had vanished- it being now of no use thanks to any vista
being obscured by the large forest trees.
|
b.jpg)
The
strange tower
|
Tony
just thought it was lunch time- we hadn’t brought sandwiches
as we intended to eat at the visitor centre.
Fortunately
Tony did have a fully charged smart phone so, after
examining a launching pad for one of the forest's now
closed zip wires, he then
took over as official photographer whilst grumbling
about his tummy rumbling.
The
trail meandered through the forest, past various sculptures.
Sometimes the markers were easy to follow. Sometimes
positively confusing. Eventually, after a few
false turnings, we arrived at the visitor centre.
x.jpg)
Lunch,
sadly, was uninspiring but not sufficiently so to be
considered a Bad Thing. However, it was during
lunch that I was asked how far we had been. I
reached for my rucksack and, to my horror, found the
pocket in which my Garmin GPS had been stowed was empty
and the zip undone. Although I had not actually
tied it in, I was sure that I had closed the zip. Somehow
it had come loose and the gps fallen out. Lost.
Gone.
The boys thought I should consider
this a Good Thing as I have never been fond of the 62s
and wished I had bought the cheaper and simpler Etrex
30 as had Bryan. However, the thought of the cost
of the replacement definitely made this Bad Thing № 3.
The
main purpose of the visit was definitely a Good Thing.
I am not sure whether I should be reporting this
now as it could giving the game away about our Christmas
Event day out. No matter. We went to the
bike hire shop and discussed hiring mountain bikes for
the day including some with remarkably fat tyres. And
then we discussed electric bikes. All I will say
now is that all three of us were excited about the thought
of using them, especially as it would allow those BOOTboys
who are no long that good on their pins to join in the
fun.
Return
to Satterthwaite
We
took the simple way back to Satterthwaite, down the
west side of Grizedale Beck then along Moor Lane to
the pub. As we reached the car, my hopes that
the gps would be lying on its top were dashed. It
wasn’t there. Nor was it to be seen inside. We
dropped off our baggage and I turned towards the pub
to drown my sorrows. Stan shouted to me. “Look
what I have found,” he said.
Yes,
you know what it was. For a moment, I thought
he might have been playing a mean trick on me but quickly
dismissed such a thought. No wonder I hadn’t seen
it. After calibrating, I must have put it down
on the back seat and then deposited the map papers that
we didn’t need. Right on top of the gps. Bad Thing № 3
overcome by Stan’s Good Thing.
In
fact, all in all, no Bad Things happened. №s 1
& 2 were only temporary setbacks relieved by Tony
and Bad Thing № 3 was made good by Stan.
Take
into account all the various Good Things that happened
on the walk plus a Good Thing session in the very welcoming
Eagle's Head, in the end it proved to be an enjoyable
Good Thing day. And that’s a very Good Thing.
Don,
24th September 2015
| STATISTICS
|
BB1533
|
| Date:
|
Thursday
24th September 2015
|
| Distance
in miles:
|
8.2
approx
|
| Height
climbed in feet:
|
1,339
approx
|
| Features:
|
Grizedale
Forest
|
| Comitibus:
|
Don, Stan, Tony
|
BOOTboys
routes are put online in gpx format which
should work with most mapping software. You can follow
our route in detail by downloading bb1533 .
To
discover which Wainwright top was visited on which BB outing
- although it may not be that up to date - or for the totals of the mileages and heights (ditto) see the Excel
file: BB Log.
You
can navigate to the required report via the Home
Page
Photos
have been gleaned from many sources
although mostly
from me and other BOOTboys. Likewise written comment.
I apologise if I have
failed to acknowledge properly the source or infringed
copyright. Please let me
know and I will do my best to put things right.
Unless stated
otherwise, please feel free to download the material
if you wish.
A reference back to this website
would be appreciated.
Wainwrights
To
see which Wainwright top was visited on which BB outing
see Which
Wainwright When?
This
may or may not be up to date!
For the latest totals
of the mileages, heights and Lakeland Fells Books Wainwrights see: Wainwrights.
Ditto warning!
E-mail addresses on this web site are protected
by
Spam Trawlers will be further frustrated
by
Spam Blocker:
help fight spam e-mail!
BOOTboys
2015
|
BOOT
boys
If you want to join
The
BOOTboys
Inter-Galactic
Fan Club
let us know and
you will
receive
automatic notification
of new BOOTboys reports.
Click on
to contact us.
For
the Index pages
of our various outings
click
on the relevant
link below:
The
photos & maps
on these pages
will normally retain
reasonable
quality
if you expand
your screen
to view them.
y.jpg)
y.jpg)
y.jpg)
y.jpg)
|
b.jpg)
b.jpg)
