BB1608 : 3Ts and 2Ws

Monday 22nd February 2016

It seems harder these days to fix a day in the week to fit in with the other demands on BOOTboys' lives, particularly grandchild minding and grandmother minding.  Consequently, this week we have two reports from two separate Comitibi.  The first, reported below, was a partial recce for a walk that Bryan intends to lead for the Kendal Fellwalkers in the near future.  As Terry was unable to join the more conventionally dayed event, he accompanied Bryan and picked up two more Wainwrights (and three tarns) in the process.

Terry reports:

A 9:05am start from a layby on the A591 just outside Grasmere and the weather looked reasonably promising i.e. dry and a gentle breeze.

Cutting through the edge of the village, we were soon climbing with fine views of Sourmilk Gill on our right.

The weekends’ torrential rain, along with snowmelt, ensured the waterfalls were in full flow.

Not long after we could see our first tarn of the day: Easedale, looking calm and serene.

Now the route upwards began to get tougher and by the time we were passing between Eagle Crag and Slapstone Edge, it called for some minor scrambling over stone slabs.

Wet and slippery, it was fortunate there was no ice, which would have made it too risky.

Sourmilk Gill

Bryan would have said ".... made it more interesting"!

Easedale Tarn

About this time the weather began to change, the clag was coming down and allowing only a brief glimpse of Sergeant Man in the distance. The wind strengthened, the temperature dropped and underfoot became frozen; not the conditions we had hoped for. However we did catch sight of Coledale Tarn, way over to our right; scene of a Hardaker mishap many years ago, involving a 15ft fall off a cliff (fortunately onto a snow drift!).

Codale Tarn

Passing Pile of Stones we walked over to the left to catch a great view of Stickle Tarn overlooked by the Langdales disappearing into the mist.

Stickle Tarn

Back on the trail we soon reached our first W, Sergeant Man and what should have been a great all round view. Disappointingly the clag was firmly down and so a touch of the cairn was all that was necessary before returning to the trail.

The relatively short walk to High Raise was a yomp across unwelcoming terrain: misty, boggy and frozen. In fact I’m sure if it hadn’t been frozen, we would have had trouble navigating across the bogs.

Sheltering behind a stone wall at the top of our second W,High Raise, we met the first walkers we had seen since setting off. Much to Bryan's amusement, the first one asked if he was at Sergeants Man (!) and the second was earnestly studying a map looking for a return path, that Bryan was sure didn’t exist! Bryan made a succinct comment, which doesn’t really need repeating!

It was time for Bryan to take some bearings to the Borrowdale fells and a short recce in preparation for his KF walk. Being satisfied he had the right lines, we were off and on our return.

Now it was decision time: back along the ridge taking in Gibson Knott and Helm Crag or back down the Easedale valley. Wanting to get out of the wind and warmer temperatures, we settled for retracing the way down as per last week's BB1607 and followed the Far Easedale Gill back to the outskirts of Grasmere.

Our restorative refreshment was taken at the Hawkshead Brewery and a "Cheers" to a fine and expertly navigated outing.  Thanks, Bryan.

Terry, Monday 22nd February 2016

Lunch by the Gill

STATISTICS

BB1608

Date:

Monday 22nd February 2016

Distance in miles:

10.8 (Garmin)

Height climbed in feet:

2,969 (OS / Memory Map)

Features:

Sergeant Man, High Raise

Comitibus:

Bryan, Terry

BOOTboys routes are put online in gpx format which should work with most mapping software. You can follow our route in detail by downloading bb1608 .

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
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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.
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BOOTboys 2016

 

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