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Archive for the ‘Fell running’ Category

Patterdale Pogg-out

Thursday, November 23rd, 2017

This weekend we were at patterdale in the Cleveland clubs hut, but without the drunken offensive violent member in tow. Friday night's entertainment was Richard H's Pizza Carbonella.

Sat dawned dry but not too clear and teams headed out in all directions. Simon and Carmen running south over the Dodds collecting Wainwrights in quite an impressive haul starting at Sheffield Pike area and ending on Arnitson Crag (despite some impressive nav errors). Donal pushed a lump of iron up a hill to access the High Street plateau and long ride, bringing quite a lot of the hill back with him on his bike.

Karl tackled the classic round of Striding and Swirrel Edges and pub. Dave Wiffen made the day trip and teamed up with Mike Shaw on Pinnacle Ridge before heading over to Helvellyn. Mike W clocked up a 60 mile road ride to approach is annual 5000 mile target, but did have to visit Shap for his sins. He was rewarded with a huge Staveley breakfast before an up'n'over Kirkstone pass and coast to the hut with mud to rival Donal.

Richard, Richard (that's two people) and Annie went Wainwright bagging close to Brothers Water – taking in Hart and Dove Crag and Red Screes and Middle Dodd. Paul ran a slightly brownian route to the Helvellyn ridge before traversing all the way to Red Screes and back to the hut. En-route he met Karl, Dave + Mike, RR+A and Rob. Rob was on a bit of a mission (see other blog soon) to finish the Wainwrights, which he did at 1.30 on High Hartsop Dodd (a pimple!) shortly after meeting RR+A. Paul caught him up with 100m to spare for the top out then headed off to catch the others whilst Rob started the long walk back to Grassmere to collect his car and arrive last back to the hut at 4.30

Karl was back first and set about raising the temperature of the whole valley using just the coal stove as his weapon. A standard YAC feast ensured lots of bodies stuffed with excess garlic bread lying around moaning before we even got to sample Carmen's Rice Pud with ~~chicken bones~~ lemongrass. Of course, we managed that and quite a deal of wine & beer to boot. Karl rounded off his day with a snore fest comatose on the sofa.

After a warm night with some Everett-esq snoring from Richard H we were greeted by a spectacular day- there seem to have been a frost everywhere except in a 10m radius of the hut! Richard P headed off to bag a few Dodds on his way home, Mike broke the journey home with a bike ride but on icy roads was a little spicier and harder than expected. Annie and Richard H headed east from the hut around Angle Tarn and Place Fell.

The rest of the team went to Pinnacle ridge which was in spectacular condition, dry and empty. Karl came with us for a bit but walked directly up St Sunday so he could get home early in prep for a mammoth week of traveling and teaching. The slog up to the start is a bit tough but short and we all arrived after 1.15 hours or so (despite two separate routes). Paul and Simon raced off, followed by Carmen and Donal. Rob and Mike got waylaid sodding about on all the variants they could find, descending as fast as ascending. This soon turned into a team sport and culminated in 3 variations of the crux pitch and 3 of the chimney/rib a little further up by 3 or 4 people.

Eventually we had to finish and head to the summit of St Sunday before a leisurely stroll to Grisedale Tarn and back along the valley. What a cracking short day – 5 hours hut to hut.

The hut was duly cleaned, tea and cake consumed and most people were way before dark.

Simons Pix on FB:

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Miles from anywhere

Saturday, July 1st, 2017

I've fancied a trip to the Rugby MC hut at Cwm Eigiau ever since walking past it more years ago than I care to mention. And at last I had a chance, as the club had booked what is essentially a locked bothy for the weekend.

For once, the weather gods were on our side, and the recent hot sunny weather lasted through to the weekend. We even had a north-facing crag to climb on and avoid the worst of the heat!

The approach is by a 45 minute walk along a good track (which we still managed to take a wrong turning on). Most of us walked up, but Donal and Mike cycled. And Karl cycled up later on his new bike looking like he'd thoroughly enjoyed it and in no way swearing like a trooper. Luckily he was too tired to throw the bike back down the hill.

On Saturday, while Karl and Charles went walking on the Carneddau, most of us headed for Craig yr Ysfa. Carmen and I toyed briefly with trying Mur y Niwl (VS recently upgraded to HVS) but wimped out using the heat as an excuse. So we did a terrifying scramble/climb up a wet vegetated groove to reach the ledge at the foot of Pinnacle Wall instead – a fine Severe involving a long descending traverse along a quartz pavement followed by a long crack to finish.

Next we turned to the classic VDiff Amphitheatre Buttress. I'd done this many years ago and hadn't been impressed, but Carmen hadn't so we followed Dave and Donal up. Much better than I remembered – I must have been in a bad mood last time! And we bumped into Rich P who though not on the club trip was staying on the opposite side of the hill at Capel Curig.

Jamie Russ and Paul took advantage of the dry weather to make an ascent of Great Gully, a very (very) traditional VDiff. At least they thought they were taking advantage of the weather – instead they found the route wet and dirty, character building stuff.

On Sunday Karl headed home, Donal went biking, and Paul went for a run, while the rest of us returned to Craig yr Ysfa. Jamie and Dave went up Amphitheatre Buttress, Dave must have enjoyed it the day before!

Carmen and I opted for Nether Climb – a 1-star Severe in the old guidebook, but without any logbook ticks on UKC. As this suggests, the route was a bit on the dirty side!

Pitch 1 was broken and vegetated. Pitch 2 was better, though bold and tricky given the lichen, closer to VS 4b. Pitch 3 I've no idea about, as I went entirely the wrong way! The way I went was hard (VS 4b ish) and led nowhere, so I took a rope-drag-tastic line up some broken grooves and back left to regain the arete. As luck would have it, this brought us almost exactly to the top of the correct pitch. So far so bad, but pitch 4 was superb, almost worth the trauma of getting there! And the final pitch was also pretty good.

All that remained now was to get back down, which was a minor epic in its own right, descending a steep and extremely exposed rake, well worth roping up for.

That was quite enough for both of us so we returned to the hut, met the others, and headed off.

A really good weekend, and a good though basic hut in a fantastic location. We'll undoubtedly go back, though it might be a bit grim in bad weather.

More photos here

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Dodging the rain in Northumberland

Tuesday, June 6th, 2017

With a mixed forecast and coming so soon after the Skye meet, numbers were predictably down for the late May Bank Holiday, and in the end only four of us made the trip north.

We camped at Greencarts Farm, a nice enough site but they didn't make any attempt to keep the party goers quiet and they continued their merry making late into the night, every night.

On Saturday, Carmen and I made an early start to beat the expected rain and headed for Crag Lough.

We started with a few obscure but good routes around West Corner at the far right of the crag, before heading left for Jezebel Direct, a great VS 4b lead by Carmen – no stars in the guide, whereas the disappointing and vegetated indirect gets 3 – perhaps they got them the wrong way round! It started drizzling so we started to head back, but it dried off so we finished with 3 routes at Peel Crag near the car park. I backed off leading a VDiff, but I'm not going to mentioned that.

10 minutes after we drove off, the heavens opened and we had a cracking thunderstorm for 45 minutes or so.

Meanwhile, Ann and Peter did a circular mountain bike ride starting from the campsite and getting as far north as Bellingham, The route crossed Simonburn Moor, where they had major mechanicals and both Peter's pedals collapsed! After this the track cut into Kielder Forest at Stonehaugh and then headed for Bellingham where they had a tea stop at the Rocky Road Cafe. The way back took them on the Sandstone Way, a marked route. Signposting at Shitlington Hall was hard to follow and they ended up at Esp Mill where the house owner plied themwith elderflower cordial (!) before directing them back on route.

Shortly after they were caught in and drenched by a ferocious thunderstorm at Gofton Burn. At this point they decided to cut the route short and and after a long downhill stopped at Simonburn for (yet more) tea and cake and to dry out. Two miles later they were back at Greencarts.

Sunday started damp and very windy, so we went for a run along Hadrian's Wall for a couple of hours until things improved. Then we headed back to Crag Lough where we repeated a couple of routes we last did a decade or more ago, and I finally got round to leading Hadrian's Chimney – a great route of its type, better and harder than it looks.

Ann & Peter did an 8 mile bumble from Belsay taking in Bolam Country Park, Salters Nick, Shaftoe Crags and Shortflatt Peel Tower, great views from the Devils Punchbowl. Refreshments after at Belsay village shop.

Bank Holiday Monday lived down to the stereotype, and rained. So we all went home.

A few more photos here

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Spring had sprung at slipstones

Friday, March 31st, 2017

With a glorious forecast Karl, Mike, Jamie, me, Peri and Crofty went to Slipstones last Saturday. We were all overdressed (in varying degrees) for the Summer like weather and even complained it was too hot – in March! We were not alone the red goat had gone on mass as well.

Lots of bouldering, some roped climbing & lots of sleeping by various members of the party.

Mike chose a super pumpy HVS 5b for the first climb of the day – good effort. I backed off a VS & let Mike and Jamie take over. Great day to be out.

Sunday it was an early start (groan) and off to the Peak District for the Edale skyline. Simon & I were running/walking independently. Having overtaken him on the first hill – he over took me whilst going along the first edge. I had almost caught up with him about 1/3 of the way around when I did a superman dive going through the forestry section – doh! Didn't see him again until the finish. Thanks to Gav & Justine for the support going up Mam Tor. Glorious weather for the race. Main mission accomplished – not timed out and not last to finish! The fall has resulted in a bicep injury which developed on Tuesday – hoping I may have enough movement to test my arm later next week.

Posted in Bouldering, Climbing, Crags, Fell running, Running | No Comments »

Bryn Hafod Meet 2016

Tuesday, September 27th, 2016

September saw YAC heading to a new location, Bryn Hafod near Dinas Mawddwy in mid-Wales on the southern edge of Snowdonia. This place really is a world away from the popular tourist spots of the northern part of the national park. The hills may be less craggy and imposing but the rolling slopes and tranquil green valleys combined with the absence of crowds create a beautiful, peaceful setting. The hut is located at the head of the valley a few hundred meters walk up a track from a small car park and shares the valley with only a couple of farms. Built by members of the Mountain Club (of Stafford), the hut consists of a large kitchen and living room downstairs, and a couple of dorms upstairs (one for members only) providing space for 18. As there were only 7 YACers present, we had bags of space, even with the handful of members who came and went over the course of the weekend.

The local crag (Craig Cywarch) has a reputation for being rather vegetated but the hut owners have recently been fairly active at cleaning things up and provided a handy list of cleaned (or otherwise climbable) routes. The ominously named "Doom" seemed to be top of everyone's ticklist so Simon and Carmen headed off to find this on Saturday morning, Pete B and I following along behind some time later (purely to avoid the queue of course, nothing to do with our inability to get up in the morning). On arrival at the crag (a short walk from the hut) Pete and I spotted S and C warming up on one of the recently cleaned VDiffs so decided to do the same and headed for Will o' the Wisp, a classic rock tick Pete had done before but couldn't remember much about. Apart from an ill advised scramble up a steep vegetated gully, we found the route fairly easily. It proved to be pretty good, with some fantastic positions and views down the valley, only spoiled slightly by me ignoring the guidebook description and traversing past the arete with steep juggy moves up a wall in a fantastic exposed position (apparently the best bit of the route), in favour of a steep vegetated corner, with minimal holds or gear. Oops! Simon and Carmen followed us up (the conventional way) after retreating from a wet slimy slab on the crux of P1 of Doom.

After lunch S and C went back to tick of the rest of the VDiffs where they started while Pete and I went in search of Buzzards Balcony, a 3* Severe at the far end of the crag. However, after 1.5hrs of bashing through bracken and brambles we decided it was a bit late to start another route and headed back to the hut to make a start on dinner (via a less direct/vegetated route!). Rather a shame as the routed looked to be in good nick.

The others (Pete E, Donal and Annie) had a good day out biking, despite the cafe on route being shut so had to survive on Donal and Annie's sandwiches, Pete's pies, cake purchased from a farm on route, and a cream tea at the cafe at the end of the route. Meagre rations indeed!

Sunday we awoke in the clag so settled for a pleasant walk around the Arans, except S and C who ran a similar route in the opposite direction.

A good trip in a nice location but must get a bit more climbing in next time.

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The end of winter

Thursday, May 19th, 2016

The May Day bank holiday meet returned to Bryn Brethynau near Capel Curig, and hopes were high for some Spring sunshine and warm rock. The weather had other ideas however!

On Saturday, Dave D, Carmen and I did a clockwise circuit of the Snowdon Horseshoe, which was very much in winter condition with fresh snow from about 600m. It was sunny though, with the occasional shower, and cloud bases most above the summits with the exception of Snowdon itself.

Not that many people on our route considering it was a holiday – but looking down to the Miners Track it was a non-stop line of people throughout the day, there must have been many hundreds of them. The final pull up to the summit was under deep snow, more than a foot of it, but of course most people weren't equipped for it, slipping and sliding all over the place. No reports of accidents though so presumably they all lived to tell the tale.

The weather saved its best for the final traverse of Crib Goch, we even had good views of the summit.

While it was still winter on the tops, things were a bit more like Spring in the valleys. Justine Gav and Pete B climbed a 7 pitch Severe, Canyon Rib, in Aberglaslyn Gorge – so obscure that even I've never heard of it, but by all accounts it's worth doing so now on my list!

Russ and Mike went to the ever-dependable Tremadog where they did 4 routes including One Step in the Clouds with its new first pitch following a recent rock fall. Apparently it was quite hard!

Meanwhile Donal went mountain biking, and Annie did a nice sunny walk over to the Crafnant Valley, calling in at the oldest church in Wales on the way.

The next day was wet and windy. Carmen and I went on a run, a variation of Annie's walk from the day before, where as well as the church we found a ridiculously overhanging bolt line, presumably someone's project, and returned via Swallow Falls.

The others went on a variety of walks, both low and high level, the common feature being getting wet.

Monday dawned even worse, with just as much winds and even more run. Most people cut their losses and went straight home.

Carmen and I waited for the promised improvement for the afternoon, and drove east to World's End , one of the limestone crags near Llangollen. We stuck it lucky, as by the time we got there the sun was out. We managed 4 routes before a sudden heavy shower put an end to proceedings.

Justine and Gav headed for Tremadog, where the weather turned even better, and they stayed for another 2 days to make the most of it.

All in all, a pretty good weekend despite the mixed weather, but next time we'll be due our fair share of warm sun!

Some more photos here

Tags: hail, lambs, rain, snow, sun, wind
Posted in Crags, Fell running, Scrambling, Walking, Weekend Meets, Winter | No Comments »

Happy Helyg

Thursday, December 4th, 2014

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Annie paying her respects

After the usual musical chairs sorting lifts the first peeps arrived at Helyg just after dark and moved into the hut concocting various suppers as the troops arrived. There were multiple plans, Peri desperate for Tremadog, but many people favouring staying local, what with the weather being undecided. Eventually Pete B arrived and the party could start.

The Climbers Club (CC) is one of the older clubs in the UK, established around 1892 they bought their first hut, Helyg in 1925, in the Ogwen valley, it's the only part of the valley not owned by NT! Helyg is the oldest continually used climbing hut in UK (so i am told) and has been modernised but retains much character, including exhibits from the 1952 Everest Exped as they used Helyg as a training base. Recently it has been opened up for outside club (or individual BMC members) use, so we were pleased to get it. The hut has 13 bunks but we were one over that, but Peri opted for her van, Paul a wee tent, and Annie the floor so all was well.

In the morning Simon and Carmen had got an early start on their round of the valley, from the hut over the Carnedds and back over the Glyders range, a mere 16 miles an some silly amounts of ascent. Pete E's brother John dragged Pete off for a excellent scramble (Dolmen Ridge – see previous blog) and Peter W and Peg-Leg (Jamie) went on a proper mountain day out, climbing on the Idwal slabs before topping out Cneifion Arete – good effort.

Mark on slate

A team of 4 went to the slate, or rather the cafe while they waited for it to stop raining then grabbed a few routes in the afternoon. Annie and Donal had a wee stroll around Tryfan, sensibly heading down when the rain came.

Crib Gogh

Paul and Luke also went for a proper scrambling day out, soloing past some roped climbers on Parsons Nose (2/3) out of Cwm Glas in traditional conditions, before encountering her majesties army coming up Crib Gogh. After a jaunt to the top they backtracked down CG (3 star classic grade 1) and the north ridge (always awkward route finding) but were back in time for tea.

lunch before Knights Move pitch

Slightly ahead of Annie and Donal Pete B and I made our way upto the east face of Tryfan to tackle Grooved Arete, a 3 star classic rock route on Pete's list, and it was his b'day so his choice of activity. It all went fine but was slimy in places and the rain didn't help much. Never freezing as it's out of the wind, t'was chilly at points. We almost made it back to the car sans head torch.

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CAKE

I love meets like this where we all disperse to the four compass points and come back to chat over the adventures with tea and cake in hand. Speaking of cake, it was Pete's B'day and I had made a cake, and enlisted Carmen to stick the decorations on – no candles but – a veritable 'Jelly-Coatta Army' !

For the meal this was preceded by L&P soup with garlic bread, Moroccan Meatballs with cous cous, salads and dips, Peri's excellent lemon Drizzle cake (enormous) and apple crumble. We clearly missing Alan's cheese course 🙂

Sunday most people were a little heavier !

Rob in Bus Stop Quarry

Team Slate returned to the quarries and had a successful day with Dave W and Peri teaming up to tackle some E1s and Mark and Luke bagging some unknown routes ! Pete, Jamie and I also headed to the slate a little later and messed about in Bus Stop quarry in the sunshine on the excellent easier sports routes there. Simon and Carmen braved the Cromlech in the pass and bagged a brace of CR routes (Spiral Stairs and Flying Buttress),

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Camen on Flying Buttress

Paul and Pete went for a run on a route that Dave W suggested, along the valley up through Cwm tryfan (a lovely quite spot close to the crowds) and back along the tops to Capel returning up the valley coach road, about 14Km. Great views of Siabod but cold feet says Paul! Donal Annie and Peter went for another walk before heading home.

We all agreed an excellent hut (it's a special place for me as I stayed here for a few weeks when training for my MIA) and one we ought to go back to soon.

Posted in Climbing, Crags, Eating, Fell running, Scrambling, Sports, Walking, Weekend Meets | 2 Comments »

Little Langdale

Tuesday, September 9th, 2014

It was looking for a while like there'd be hardly anyone on this meet, perhaps people were put off by the thought of Langdale crowds on an August Bank Holiday weekend. But after a flurry of late sign-ups it was almost a sell-out.

Saturday's forecast was for sunshine, and it didn't disappoint.

For many years I've meant to walk round the Eskdale skyline, but it's somehow never happened. So Carmen and I decided to take advantage of the weather and run an extended version of the route, starting and finishing at the hut. I say "run", but it was actually almost all walking! From part way up Wrynose, we headed up Pike o' Blisco, then across Crinkle Crags (there's definitely an extra crinkle every time I do this!) and Bowfell, over Esk Pike, and on to Scafell Pike.

Despite being a sunny August BH weekend, there were surprisingly few people around, and we were wondering where they all were. As we approached the summit of Scafell Pike we got the answer, the place was heaving!

From here we descended under Scafell Crag, pausing to admire a hardy team of climbers on a very cold-looking Moss Gill Grooves. As we scrambled up Lords Rake and the West Wall Traverse we were on our own again. Then over Scafell summit, down the south ridge over Slight Side, before descending into upper Eskdale, across the Great Moss and over the col into Mosedale. We briefly considered dropping down to Cockley Beck and finishing over Wetherlam, but rejected this as we needed to get back to cook dinner before Annie starved to death! So we traversed to the Three Shires Stone, over Wet Side Edge, and down the valley back to the hut, where we were surprised to be first back!

Our route here for anyone interested.

Meanwhile, Alan did his own long run, starting up Wethlam, Swirl How and Great Carrs, before a descent to Three Shires Stone. From here, another big ascent over Cold Pike to Crinkle Cragsand a descent of The Band led to a pint or two in the Old Dungeon Ghyll and a return via Blea Tarn.

Steve, Rob, Luke and Mark spent the day climbing on Raven Crag, above the ODG. After a number of excellent severes, Rob and Steve climbed the route Rob had come for, Pluto (HVS ***). 3 Great pitches, a classic crack, an out there traverse and a lovely wall pitch, followed by a pint in the pub while waiting for Luke and Mark to find their way back down after an interesting choice of descent from their last route.

On Sunday, we headed for White Ghyll, with Rob, Steve, Mark and Luke. Always keen to try the obscure, I'd been looking for something from the Lake District Revival list. This crag provided the perfect route for me – Inferno (MVS), involving some back-and-footing at the crux. The first pitch looked a bit scrappy but the in situ heather didn't affect the climbing, which was better (and harder) than it looked. The long 2nd pitch provides the meat of the route, with steep parallel cracks leading to a niche in the overhang and the promised chimney practice. Pausing to clean the grass out of the cracks and place loads of gear, everything turned out to be a lot less traumatic than expected, with just a brief moment as the final pull onto the upper wall required unearthing some holds from behind the heather.

The rest of the route was a bit scrappy, but we topped out anyway. For future reference, an enticing diagonal line rightwards from above the crux looked a better option, and I later discovered is recommended in the new guidebook. Despite the vegetation, it's a really good route, full of character, and with a bit more traffic would once again deserve the 2 stars it used to get.

Having humoured me by climbing a route from the choss list, Carmen now got her reward as we did White Ghyll Wall (VS 4c). I led the easy first pitch, Carmen led the crux second, I did the not so hard but quite bold final pitch. We finished the day with a repeat ascent of Slab Route 1 (Severe). A fine route, rather bold in places, Steve and Luke also climbed this earlier in the day.

Rob and Mark started with the excellent Slip Knot (VS 4b) before heading for Haste Knot (VS 4c). A nice first pitch despatched by Mark with ease then the meat of the route, the traverse. Rob's verdict – "Blimey, if you think Pluto is nuts this is bat shit crazy. Well protected with small wires but wild."

Monday was cold and grey, so we joined Peter, Annie and Steve for a short walk round, round, round, and finally up and over Whitbarrow. Highlight of the day was finding loads of wild damsons! Afterwards we popped into Ambleside to pick up our rewards for doing a route from the choss list – a free T shirt and chalk bag each!

Rob, Mark and Luke manage to fit some more climbing in, doing a couple of good short routes at a different Raven Crag, this one at Walthwaite, before rain stopped play.

More photos here

Tags: choss, damsons, more sun, Raven Crag, sun, White Ghyll
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Newlands Valley

Wednesday, November 27th, 2013

It was a cold autumn Friday evening as we headed north from York after work towards the Lake District for our weekend in the Newlands Valley. After a stop off to buy supplies in Penrith, the club met up in the Swinside Inn – closest pub to the hut. Once everyone had arrived, we made the mile long drive south down the rough track to the hut in convoy, blissfully unaware of the drops down to the river on the right hand side through the darkness as headlights picked out the track ahead and the line of red tail lights snaked its way up the valley.

Arriving at the hut it was bitterly cold and already freezing, but the clear autumn night provided a fantastic display of the stars, helped by the lack of artificial lights in the valley. We soon had the pot-bellied stove stoked up and burning away to warm the hut, and the kettle on the hob. Bunks were claimed and sleeping bags lain out before the serious business of planning the following days' adventures over a cup of tea or beer got underway.

Saturday dawned bright and sunny, and once the sun hit the bottom of the valley the hard frost of the previous night was soon burned off, and my choice of the winter boots the forecast had persuaded me to bring seemed a little optimistic! After a good breakfast a group of us headed back along the track before scrambling up onto the ridge towards Maiden Moor. Donal had a scramble in mind from his guidebook, but this didn't look obvious so we took the easier way up through the heather.

Heading along the ridge we walked over High Spy before dropping down for a spot of lunch near Dalehead Tarn. This was a short stop due to the biting wind which was strong for the whole day. We then headed up the steep climb to Dale Head, and a long Hindscrth Edge with great views back down the valley to Bassenthwaite lake. Most of us bared right to Hindscarth, while those who wanted a slightly longer walk continued towards Robinson. Dropping back down the shoulder into the valley we paused above the mineworkings to watch a shoot going on in the valley below, before heading back to the hut in time for tea and flapjacks.

Simon, Carmen and Graeme had been fell running to get in some mountain marathon training, while Alan had also been for a fell run over towards Sail, managing to finish in the pub!

Once all were back we set to work cooking the now legendary YAC Saturday night meal, which seems to grow in size on every meet. This time we enjoyed an excellent pea soup made by Simon and Debra, followed by Chilli con carne from David, Peter and Louise and then Mike's fruit pies for dessert. Alan's home made cheese and biscuits followed, all washed down with wine or beer. The fire was again roaring and the down jackets of the previous night were instead replaced by t-shirts and a reluctance to sit in the seat closest to the stove unless you fancied an impromptu sauna!

Sunday was again cold and windy but dry. The group dispersed with some heading back early to York, or choosing to browse the outdoor shops of Keswick. After a good fry up, packing up and cleaning the hut, we left Simon, Debra and Jamie to go for a walk from the hut, while the rest of us headed to Braithwaite village to park the cars and head up Grisedale Pike, Alan and Carmen setting an early pace the likes of us non fell-runners couldn't keep up with. The views on the top were excellent, looking north across the Solway Firth to the Galloway hills. We found a sheltered spot out of the wind for another quick lunch, which is unfortunately when David realised he'd left his sandwiches on the side in the kitchen! We dropped down to the saddle then climbed back up to Eel Crag, which was feeling very wintery, coated in a thick white frost and just above the cloudbase. We headed over Sail, then dropped left to descend towards Braithwaite, following the grassy, rolling descent from the top of Barrow back to the village.

A hot chocolate with the 'full works' of cream and marshmallows in the Royal Oak provided a great end to the weekend before hitting the road back to York. It dawned on me on the way home how much I'd enjoyed getting away from all. The hut has gas lighting and cookers, with the coke stove for heating and no electricity. There was no phone signal in the valley and we hadn't touched a tarmac road or been past a settlement at all on Saturday, giving the weekend a real rustic, wilderness feel despite being only 4 miles as the crow flies from Keswick. Just what was needed before beginning December and the busy run up to Christmas!

Tags: pot belly
Posted in Fell running, Walking, Weekend Meets | 1 Comment »

Clapham

Friday, October 25th, 2013

The YMC hut in Clapham is always popular when we stay there, and this year was no exception, with another sell-out meet.

It rained heavily on Friday night, but nevertheless a group of optimistic climbers spent most of the morning hoping the showers would stop and give the chance for a crag to dry out. Carmen and I eventually gave up waiting, and went on a run instead, taking a valley route from the hut to near Horton, and then doing 2 of the Three Peaks (Pen-y-Ghent and Ingleborough) before descending back to the Clapham. It stayed dry all day, until about a mile from the hut, when the heavens opened and we ran through a thunderstorm, soaked to the skin.

Leni and Alan meanwhile had driven to Horton to run the full Three Peaks. We met them on top of Ingleborough, and they managed to get back to their car in Horton just before the rain started. Leni said the route was easy, but was knackered by the end.

The rest of the climbers had more patience than us, and were rewarded by a good afternoon's climbing at Twistleton. The first routes were a grade or 3 harder than normal due to slippery rock, but it dried out quickly, and climbing was only stopped by the return of the rain at the end of the afternoon.

On Sunday, most of us drove to Malham, where we did the walk to Gordale Scar and Malham Cove – one that most of us have done many times before, but it's always worth doing again!

Tags: easy, knackered
Posted in Crags, Fell running, Scrambling, Walking, Weekend Meets | No Comments »