BB2229 : Excuse Me, Do You Wordle?

Tuesday 18th October 2022

The concept is quite straightforward.  You have six attempts to identify a five letter word selected by the newspaper.  There is only one game per day so you don’t get trapped into doing puzzle after puzzle.  You won’t miss your train stop or forget to pick the grandchildren up from school.  Probably.

Anyway, the reason for asking is that there is a five member sub-group of the BOOTboys whose prayer is “Give us this day our daily Wordle”.  Usually we Wordle in the morning then publish our score.  Today, as Mike B and I were going walking, we decided not to Wordle until later.  TV Mike, who was driving, doesn’t Wordle.

We were heading for Elterwater in order to climb Lingmoor Fell.  However John had already published his result.  He is in Greece and two hours ahead so it was no great surprise that he Wordled early by UK time.  What was more of a surprise is that he Wordled in 2, i.e. his second attempt.  That is a remarkable result.

Whilst putting on our boots, Mike B confessed that he too had already Wordled and scored a respectable 4.

It was a beautiful day and very clear.  As we climbed, we had great views over much of the southern Lake District-

South over to Windermere:

West to the Crinkles and round to Bowfell:

North to the Langdales:

East to Fairfield:

We had stopped for coffee near the top of Lingmoor when another result came in.  Tony had also scored a 4.  When would we hear from Stan, we wondered?  He is the King of the Wordlers, a BOOTboys VIP.  He’s reached the top but he won’t stop and that’s what bothering me us.  He has an average of 3.5 which puts him in the expert class.

We reached the top and then I made myself unpopular.  Why don’t we go down to Lingmoor Tarn, I suggested?  Well, that was a bit of a mistake.  It was further than I thought.  Down quite a steep hill where progress was hampered variously by thick but fortunately dying bracken or by even thicker and deeper heather.  It was hard work.  The reward was a partial reflection of the Langdale Pike.  Was it worth the effort?

There was supposed to be a path back up but we didn’t find it so we had a similar struggle to return to the ridge except that this was uphill.  It dawned on me that the heather was why it was called Lingmoor!

Once we reached the wall and the normal path alongside the wall, the terrain changed but got somewhat tougher.  There was a series of short but very steep and greasy rocky sections; on one we decided that the only way to get down was on our bottoms.  I think the previous times I have been on that path have been in the other direction.  Or not after heavy rainfall.  

Rather more fatigued than we should have been by that point, we stopped for our lunch.  Stan’s result came through.  He too had a two.  The pressure was on me but I wasn’t going to Wordle until I arrived home.

We dropped down to the road and skirted round Side Pike.  We had contemplated going through the Squeeze and to the top but, as mentioned, the rocks were greasy and anyway, Been There, Done That.

When I did arrive home, I girded my loins and attempted the Wordle.  First attempt showed two letters in the wrong position and three wrong letters.  Now I had a dilemma.  I had a peculiar feeling that I knew the chosen word.  Should I attempt it, or should I play safe?  If my attempt failed, I would be heading for a five.  Death or glory.  If I played safe I felt sure that a 4, like Mike and Tony, would be the likely result.  What to do?

Whilst contemplating this dilemma, my mind wandered to our return.  We had dropped down.....

..... into the Great Langdale Valley.....

..... where we eventually picked up the Cumbria Way path.  

Back to the matter in hand.  Death or glory?  Or Safety?  Which was it to be?  I chickened out and consulted my Wordleiser.  No, this isn’t a cheat.  It is my own spreadsheet that I devised to analyse the probabilities of which letters are the most likely to be right.  I entered my second line.  All wrong!  Thank you Wordleiser.

We had ended up at to the Brittannia Inn.  I was a good boy and not tempted to anti-socially pull my phone out.  Anyway, I had wanted no distraction for my Wordling so it could wait.  Maybe I should have done it then.  I was now moving on to line 3.  This attempt left me with three letters in the wrong place and one correct.  

Don, Tuesday 19th October 2022

Comitibus:  Don, TV Mike, Mike B

The Return of Albert and the Stocks

BB2228's tale of Albert and the Stocks has generated quite a lot of poetic and other correspondence.  To catch up with developments, click on The Return of Albert and the Stocks.

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STATISTICS

BB2229 : Excuse Me, Do You Wordle?

Date:

Tuesday 18th October 2022

Features:

Lingmoor

Distance in miles:

8.1

Height climbed in feet:

2,074

GPX track:

BB2229 GPX

Comitibus:

Don, Mike B, Mike T

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