Another Wet Day In The Wilderness

With: On my own

Weather: Initially warm & sunny; followed by cool weather in heavy showers

Harrison Stickle

I've  always been intrigued by the concept of wilderness & over the years have spent quite a lot of time seeking out the wilder areas of the UK and overseas. The solitude and alternative perspective that this aspect of creation presents has a strong draw. In the Lake District I always felt that the area was too small & over-visited to really give the sense of a wild place, however, recent outings have to a degree proved my premise to be incorrect. It is in fact possible to be quite close to the visitor "honey pots" but slightly off the beaten track find yourself in a genuinely wild and sparsely visited area - my last post is a case in point, to ascend Blencathra from the North West via Mungrisdale Common is likely to be a lonely journey until meeting the hoardes on the summit ridge. Similalry, yesterday I departed from the tourist path to the East of Stickle Ghyll & quickly left behind the Gorge Walking groups; "Wainwright baggers" and families heading for a picnic at the Tarn - finding myself in a wilder seldom visited area. It was ideal for the navigation practise that I was looking for (although this is now getting a bit tedious) with an endless choice of small ring contours; tarns like puddles & the odd sheepfold to move around. There isn't really a "summit prize" in the area but the upside of this is that I didn't see a soul from leaving the tourist path to rejoining it. The eight legs of nav went well with no problems in what is very complicated ground.

Stickle Ghyll - once again with plenty of water!

Centre Life

The big news this week is that Kay got some very welcome news from her oncologist - current treatment is working  well and her illness is under control - we are very thankful!

The busy time at the Centre continues with two schools in again this week; a full weekend with churches & church youth groups followed by two schools again next week. Unfortunately the weather for the schools has been awful - we could do with this very unsettled few weeks to come to an end & enjoy some more stable, drier conditions.

The updated Centre web site was launched this week, Kay did all of the work & I think you'll find its an improvement (www.blaithwaite.co.uk)