Big Skies Cycling

Fading Light & A Big Cambridgeshire Sky

As inspirational as they are this post should in no way be confused with Team Sky or Mesrs Wiggins and Cavendish -as reported on several occasions I'm still learning to love the bike!

However, as Kay seems to have got off to as good a start as we could have hoped for with her latest round of treatment we took the opportunity to pay a short visit to our eldest daughter in Cambridge. Since its well over a year past that I last did any serious fell running my mind (if not my body) is beginning to entertain thoughts of trying to regain the levels of fitness that come with such activity - as such I took the bike with me. I actually quite enjoy the physical effort associated with improving fitness (its the dietary discipline which is more of a hardship!) & reckoned that the flat landscape of the Cambridge / Essex border was the kind of terrain the bike was designed for.

Each evening I took in a circuit of the, extremely pleasant, villages of the Duxford, Hinxton, Ickleton area. This environment is in sharp contrast to more usual Lake District haunts - as flat as can be and forever dominated by a seemingly huge sky. I enjoyed the experience immensely, the evenings were warm and as predicted the road bike quickly consumed the miles. The roads were quiet with regard to cars but quite well populated by other cyclists, I'll continue to take the bike with me when I visit in future & will aim to bring it more into use in Cumbria in coming weeks.

Apologies for the shortage of photos in this post but I had to keep stopping in order to use the camera - defeating the object of the training to a degree!!

Above: Ickleton Village Green 

Nethermost Pike via East Ridge

Nethermost Pike's East Ridge

With: on my own

Weather: temperature 22degC in Patterdale; light winds; any cloud above the summits - a glorious summer's day

Where: Lake District

Distance: 9.5 miles

Height Gain: 2,930 feet

Like most folk who enjoy spending time in the fells I have a long  "to do list" and Nethermost Pike via the East Ridge has been on it for some time. Good weather and the proximity of the Glenridding / Patterdale area to my new base made yesterdays choice an easy one.

The drive past a flat calm Ullswater packed with holiday makers   enjoying the sunshine gave early warning of how busy the southern end of the lake might be and in the end I had to find a parking space on the Patterdale Hotel car park (by no means the most expensive parking in the National Park).

A short trudge up the road from the car park, past the church and hang a left towards Grisedale Tarn. Initially the shade of the trees held the sun at bay but once past the plantations the heat was searing. Its quite a while since I've ventured out in this area and it was good to reminisce about a day spent on St Sunday Crag & Cofa Pike with Kay and the girls when on holiday in the area what must have been well over fifteen years ago. After a steady plod up the valley the appearance of Ruthwaite Lodge, the landmark I was aiming for, almost came as a surprise.

Ruthwaite Lodge

Mine Entrance Behind Lodge

Just behind the lodge is a mine entrance and what looks to me like some open workings, this not an area of Lake District mining that I am very familiar with but I assume this is Ruthwaite Lead Mine.

Looking into Ruthwaite Cove is quite an impressive sight and I had already made up my mind to access the ridge after a short exploration of the cove before I set off. This is a pathless area but I quite like walking where there are no paths, for those who prefer navigating via a path Wainwright refers to a faint track leading to the east ridge from the Nethermost Cove area.

Ruthwaite Cove

This was one of the best parts of the day. Following the beck and generally trending to the right throughout the ascent the isolation was incredible, in fact after seeing a handful of folk around the lodge I never saw another soul until I descended back down to Grisedale Tarn perhaps a couple of hours later.

I never got right into the very heart of the cove - opting to ascend up on to the obvious ridge. 

Generally speaking the east ridge is quite broad with a more precipitous drop on the Nethermost Cove side. For the most part it is no more than a steep walk, however, I took every opportunity to engage hands and feet on rock and feel this made for a better ascent, although it must be said that to simply walk is possible just about through the entire length of the ascent. The views across to Striding Edge are excellent. The highlight of the East Ridge is undoubtedly the last rocky 30-50m of "arete" which is quite enjoyable and left me thinking what this area must have been like several millennia ago before the eroding effect of wind and rain took its effect. Hard Tarn viewed from above was good to see and I'd like to think closer inspection might be possible one day.

St Sunday Crag From East Ridge

A final grassy stomp led on to a deserted Nethermost Pike summit, in fact the whole of the Helvellyn ridge was deserted - incredible on a fine summers afternoon in the middle of the school holidays.

On this occasion I turned my back on Helvellyn's summit and headed south across what is almost a plateau in the direction of Grisedale Tarn. Dollywagon Pike was by-passed and the descent began. It was at this point that I encountered humans again!

The tarn is an impressive sight and in my opinion the efforts of the National Park in stone pitching on this path are some of their better ones.

Grisedale Tarn

The walk back out through Grisedale was a pleasure with the sun now getting lower in the sky, the time about seven o'clock. The rugged mountain scenery gradually giving way to a more pastoral setting, the sun on the Scots Pine making them glow bright red.

So what of the East Ridge? For me it was worth doing, not as exciting as its more well known cousin Striding Edge, but as an alternative and quieter point of access to the Helvellyn range its a good option.

Changes

Apologies for the lack of recent posts leaving Blaithwaite has been a time consuming process and we have been incredibly busy packing & unpacking boxes; assembling flat pack furniture and hastily adding finishing touches to newly decorated rooms.

However, Monday saw us out of the Coach House & into our new home - a Solway view exchanged for a Pennine view & just the shortest of drives to access the high fells!

Many thanks to all those folk who did so much to help get us moved a good three weeks ahead of schedule, we are very grateful.

Just one negative note in what otherwise has been a positive few weeks - Kay had to begin a further course of chemotherapy this week, very tough. Thanks to everybody for continued prayers & support.

As we no longer manage Blaithwaite House the title and appearance of the blog have had to change - I hope you like the new layout (thanks to Billy for his input on this)

However, as I pick up a new role with the Christian charity In2venture over the coming weeks I hope to resume blogging activities as usual - in fact more so if everything goes according to plan. As always please do leave comments, I really appreciate the feedback.

Scafell Pike: With An Overnight Camp At Round How

With: On My Own
Weather: Light winds from south - south westerly direction; first evening humid and low visibility above ca. 400m; second day slightly fresher very low visibility start followed by clearing skies & a glorious day by lunch time.
Where: Lake District
Distance: Approx 11miles & 4,540 feet of ascent (apologies but the top two maps are the first leg & last leg; the middle middle leg is underneath - "blogger" just doesn't seem to want me to put them in the right order!!)

Its ages since my last big outing in the fells, this one could have been done in a day but our daughter is staying  with us at the moment so the opportunity for an overnighter presented itself - it was gratefully accepted.

Leaving Seathwaite at about 16:30 on Thursday afternoon it was humid, 18degC on the car thermometer, the higher summits were shrouded in low cloud and the breeze was almost non-existent. The early steps were very familiar: through the farm; on to Stockley Bridge; cross the gill; over the bridge on Ruddy Gill & up the extensively repaired path. In the upper reaches of Ruddy Gill the cloud base discernibly dropped enveloping me and producing a muted quality to the entire environment, this is how the world presented itself for some time. At the head of the gill it was a right turn, Sprinkling Tarn couldn't be seen at anything more than about 20m range, descending now it was a left turn on to the so called "Corridor Route" (I believe it was once called the Guides Route). There were no big views just a damp gloom all the way to the point at which I peeled off from the Corridor Route at Round How to find a camp site for the night.

It was still well "clagged in" when the tent was pitched. Evening meal was Chicken Casserole & Chocolate Pudding (both Wayfarer's) washed down with green ginger tea made with water from Greta Gill. Then at about 21:00, as if by magic, the cloud lifted to provide some stunning late evening views.

After consuming a "wee dram" I was asleep before ten o'clock and slept like a log through until around seven. It was a great encouragement to look out the front of the tent and see the sun shining on Lingmell.

Unfortunately the sun didn't last for long and by the time I had finished breakfast (porridge) the mist had once again descended. I had contemplated going deep into the bowl of Round How and ascending the gill to gain the summit ridge, however, the lack of visibility helped me to the conclusion that to continue on the Corridor Route might be a better option which I did as far as Piers Gill. Ascending the gill brought some relief from trudging along the path and provided the best walking of the trip so far, the damp of the cloud gave way to a fine soaking drizzle at this point and full waterproofs became necessary. Emerging on to the summit ridge very little could be seen and after a right turn the rocky path shortly gave way to an ascent over the boulder field and past a line of cairns which eventually led to England's highest point at 978m (3,209 feet). Rarely, I had the place all to myself - it was only about half past nine - after peering into the murk and snapping a couple of photos it was time to descend, stopping briefly to exchange pleasantries with three fell runners who were somewhat displeased that I had beaten them to the top!

Now was decision time, optimum route choice was to follow the ridge all the way back along to Great End, alternative was to drop down out of the cloud and be able to enjoy some of the views that are a such motivation for this activity. At Little Narrowcove I opted to descend knowing that this would add another considerable ascent to regain Esk Hause. The descent of the cove is steep and rocky. After dropping about 500' views down into the valley began to appear, frustratingly it wasn't just me dropping out of the cloud - the whole sky became progressively more blue over the next ten minutes and the ridge walk that I had just spurned became clearly visible.

Rapidly Clearing Picture On Descending Little Narrowcove

At the foot of Little Narrowcove the sun was shining and there was a real warmth in the air, the young River Esk now became my companion as I made for Esk Hause. Although there is a green right of way shown on the OS map all the way to the Hause the section which is squeezed between the river and the "Tongue" is most pleasant and has the feel of a path less travelled - a very pleasant section.

Towards Esk Hause

Its worth mentioning at this point that other than the three fell runners on Scafell Pike I hadn't seen a soul since passing Sprinkling Tarn yesterday evening, ascending on to Esk Hause this was about to change!

The views down to Borrowdale and on to Derwent Water were impressive.

Not long now back down alongside Ruddy Gill passing hordes of folk "heading for the top". 

It could have been done in a day but it was far better to have done over two.

Sprinkling Tarn form Esk Hause

Leaving Blaithwaite

I guess that a good number of folk who regularly visit this blog will already be aware of the fact that Kay & I are leaving Blaithwaite, it now feels timely to go public. In fact, since the beginning of July, we have "stepped down" as Centre Managers and Blaithwaite is being looked after by a Duty Manager and our board of Directors until Darran Draper takes over as Centre Manager at the beginning of September. We are very thankful that the Directors have been able to make this arrangement happen - over the last 12 months managing the Centre has become increasingly difficult against the background of Kay's illness - so this has provided us with some invaluable time together and an opportunity to re-group and prepare for the future.


The seven years we have spent at Blaithwaite have been a deeply rewarding yet challenging experience and we will be forever grateful to Dennis Donald and the Trustees / Directors of In2venture for the faith they demonstrated in us when appointing us to this position, we will take with us many treasured memories!  Blaithwaite is in good shape & we pray that Darran and Moira will be able to oversee much future development and growth here. 


To everybody we have met at Blaithwaite over the last seven years - a big thanks from Kay & I, its been great to get to know you, many of you have become good friends & we'll look forward to keeping in touch.


The Future


In the short term we are very much focussed on moving into a new house and "naturalising" as Cumbrians!


In the Autumn I will take on a newly created role in our "sister" charity In2venture. In2venture is a Christian charity specialising in working with young people through the media of outdoor activity, I will be undertaking some development work on behalf of the organisation - more of this in future posts.


This blog - will continue!


There will be less on Centre life and an increased focus Christian Outdoor Ministry; outdoor activity; Cumbrian life and whatever else seems to be of interest at the time - thanks for reading & watch this space!

An Afternoon On Derwent Water

2012 is proving to be a challenging time with life being full of twists and turns, there is plenty to think about - more of this in future posts. As for now its good to report that I am recovering nicely from the recent "malaise" (pardon the pun) and hope to be fully up and running again this week.


Over the last few days we've enjoyed our driest spell of weather since May and one of the very few upsides of Kay's illness is that we have got to see a lot more of our daughters and grandchildren, this weekend one of their visits coincided with the better weather and we took a trip to Derwent Water.


I took my Mad River Explorer 16 open canoe, its a green Royalex version (as a piece of trivia I once visited Spartech's factory in Warsaw, Indiana where the Royalex sheets are manufactured - one of the more interesting visits of my time in the plastics industry!!). It was purchased about 12 years ago now & has been a great boat which I've found ideal for white water doubles; multi-day canoe camping trips and like today leisurely floating around. We accessed the lake at Kettlewell at the southern end and just paddled around enjoying the scenerey and each others company. Today was a good day!

Honister Slate Mine

I'm feeling a bit frustrated at the moment, for the first time in seven years I'm having to take some time off. For the last three weeks I've been trying, unsuccessfully, to shake off a virus and the Doctor has now advised me to take a rest. Its a very busy time of year but to be honest I am tired & don't feel great so I need to be patient and let this run its course. Hence, the recent lack of activity posts - please stay tuned normal service will resume as soon as possible!


As such, in today's break in the weather, we took a leisurely drive up to Honister Slate Mine. This is a Lake District tourist attraction that I'm quite keen on a bit more "rustic" and less "plastic" than the usual fare and set in one of my favourite parts of the region. They have a good website . The weather held all the while we were there: tuna pannini & coffee in the Sky Hi cafe and a browse of the extensive display of slate products in the shop; a few photos and a bit of time to soak up the landscape - all good therapy!