BB1726 : Victorian Times

Wednesday 12th July 2017

This week Don was enjoying son’s family and sunshine in the Mediterranean. That left only a few of us to keep up the sporting tradition that is the BOOTboys' weekly outing. The weather was looking distinctly patchy. In the end it was Martin who suggested Ambleside Sports might be a good thing to do, as they have tents you can keep dry in. From the Med came a message: “if you do go to the Sports I hope it’s via Wansfell”. Fair enough. So it was that Martin Terry and Mike made it to Troutbeck to do a pleasant and fairly lite Boot Boys outing. Of course Wansfell has been done many times.

There were many nuclear families out on rambles over Wansfell. That was good to see; sowing the seed for the future. There was a large American group taking advantage of the weak pound. Terry almost slid over, but gracefully saved himself. Other than that all the excitement was to be had at the Sports ground.

As were out without our parents, we rebelliously nipped into an excellent cafe, called, oddly, Treff. Maybe the owner is called Trevor? Clever eh? The coffee was excellent, and the shared toasted tea cake (none for Slim Slide Terry) delicious. Then it was on to the main destination.

Things were beginning to heat up, not the weather I should add, although there weren’t that many heats.

We saw an 800 metre running race, some sprint cycling on grass, fell running for juniors, and seniors.

Unfortunately we missed the one Tim Farron was in. Without leadership we thought it could go anywhere.

We saw the hounds follow a trail which was 10 miles long. Martin understood a lot more about this than me.

The trail is laid by dragging a rag which is soaked in a mixture of aniseed, oil and paraffin – it is this scent which is followed by the hounds. A hound trail is then a race between hounds following the scent from a prescribed starting point (the slip) back to the finishing line.

The Ambleside Senior Fell Classic is one of the most important races in the Hound Trailing Calendar. The bookies will be there to tempt you into a little flutter.

We researched the food scene as we hadn’t brought a picnic.

Tony would have liked the large sausages. He’d have liked our pulled pork stuffing and apple sauce luncheon buns. Probably wouldn’t have enjoyed Terry’s Thai thingy. Tony wouldn’t have liked us ignoring the beer tent, but rules are rules.

We ended up in the Queen’s Head at Troutbeck for the second week running, for a well earned pint, good sports all and another Victorian tradition maintained.

Mike, Thursday 27th August 2017

PS   On a serious note, a man started chatting whilst we were watching the races. Turns out he used to be an avid participant in many sports days all over. He rowed a boat the length of Windermere for charity, that sort of thing. One day he went swimming in Lake Windermere. The algae got him. Lost his right eye and a lot more beside. Spent 2 years in a specialist hospital. Now cannot do anything. Poor chap.

Comitibus: Martin, Terry, Mike

You Can Leave Your Hat On

Bryan told me:

As you will know from your outing, it was a cool, breezy, overcast day – ideal for swimming in a tarn at 2,200ft!

I intended just to do Lincomb Tarn but, finding the water not as cold as I expected, decided to run the 100 metres to High House Tarn and swim in that as well!

I actually enjoyed it although as a poor swimmer that can’t tread water I found it a bit of a concern not being able to see how deep it was – particularly when I was in the middle!

Certainly outside my comfort zone but still good fun.

And as fer t'at, it keeps thee 'ead warm, lad.

As most folk who have been on Ilkley Moor will confirm.

Map shown: OpenTopoMap

BOOTboys routes are put online in gpx format which should work with most mapping software. You can follow our route in detail by downloading bb1726 .

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 heightages (ditto) see the Excel file: BB Log.

You can navigate to the required report via the Home Page

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BOOTboys 2017

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