After an absence of 23 months I came back to Britain to do
some hillwalking. Normally I go to Scotland but this time
it would be the Lakedistrict with another Theo. On Thursday
15/4 we arrived by ferry in Newcastle and drove to the
Lakedistrict. Penrith came in sight and it started to rain.
The rain got heavier and the wind became stronger. [censored]. We
had plans for Striding Edge, Helvellyn and Swirral Edge.
After dropping our stuff in our room in Helvellyn YH we
asked for the weatherforecast : galeforce winds, heavy
rain, poor visibility and a windchill of -10 Celsius. More
[censored]. Nevertheless, we wanted to see it for ourselves. We
went up Birkhouse Moor and already we were very pleased
with the protection a 'dry'stone wall gave us. At the 'Hole
in the Wall' we decided that going over Striding Edge in
this weather would be suicidal. We went down to Red Tarn
and from there back to the YH. Not quite the starter to
make you long for more.
The next day proved that the weather is unpredictable. No -
or hardly any - wind at all, some clouds and lots of
sunshine. We left the hostel at 9 am. and soon passed Lanty
Tarn and crossed the bridge over Grisedale Beck. The first
part of St.Sunday Crag was very steep but rewarding. The
views over Ullswater were superb, just one boat was sailing
in the morning sunshine. From the top of St.Sunday Crag we
could see Fairfield, still covered with clouds. During our
descend from St.Sunday Crag the clouds started to retreat (a
phenomena that stayed with us during the rest of our
holiday) and by the time we were scrambling on Cofa Pike
Fairfield showed all her (his?) beautifull curves. On her
'behind' (W) she had some ugly scars and the descent was no
fun at all. After rounding Grisedale Tarn we slogged up
Dolly's zigzags and continued with a stroll over Nethermost
Pike to Helvellyn. We had seen enough pictures of Helvellyn
and Striding Edge on the internet but looking over the edge
from Hel down to Red Tarn was very intimidating. The descent
to Striding Edge proved to be less demanding than it seemed
from the cairn and going over Striding Edge itself was big
fun and reminded me (in miniature) of scrambling Aonach
Eagach and Liathach. All too soon we were back at the YH at
6.45 pm. and after a quick shower we had a good diner. We
went to sleep early and both had the weirdest dreams.
On Saturday 17/4 we walked to Red Tarn and went up Swirral
Edge to turn right on the ridge to reach Catstye Cam in no
time. Most people don't even bother to climb this perfectly
shaped mountain but it's a real 'penthouse' for watching
people going over Striding Edge. After taking some pics we
turned and went back down to scramble Swirral Edge. After
reaching the summit we turned NW to Lower Man and after
that N to go over White Side and Raise. The Dodd's didn't
look very promising and instead we turned right at Sticks
Pass and headed for Green Side and Hart Side. We reached
the lower footpath and went S and W into Glencoyne, a glen
that looks like an amphitheater with some archeological
sites. The last part of our walk was through a ugly disused
mining area before reaching the YH. The last 15 minutes it
started to rain.
Sunday 18/4 we drove from Helvellyn YH to Honister Hause YH
and climbed Dale Head. As soon as the clouds lifted we could
see that yesterdays rain turned out to be snow on the tops.
Helvellyn and surrounding hills were covered with a white
blanket of snow and were glinstering in the sunshine. In the
evening it started to rain again and the wind was howling
through Honister Pass.
On Monday there was even more snow on the tops and we feared
not to be able to climb Great Gable not having crampons and
ice-axes. Again we wanted to find out ourselves and ascended
Grey Knotts and Brandreth almost misled by a new
boundaryfence going straight in the direction of Kirkfell.
After reassuring the correct direction we soon reached
snowywhite Green Gable to see Great Gable in all it's glory,
covered in sprankling white snow. The snowline seemed to be
retreating and we decided to give it a go. After a mild
scramble on Great Gable's SE side we reached the windy top
of Great Gable. Several people joined us and it became
crowdy on top. The views were really fantastic with the
Great End-Scafell range in reaching distance and Wasdale
lingering in the sunshine. The Irish Sea was hazy but
visible. On our way down the wind was picking up and Windy
Gap truly deserved her name. On the lower route W of
Brandreth we were blown off our feet several times and it
was possible to stand 'horizontally'. Nevertheless, again we
enjoyed a perfect day and even the wind was big fun !
Tuesday 20/4. Sadly this would be our last day of
hillwalking. We had a long walk in with light rain for
starters but after reaching Black Sail we could take of our
waterproofs and get ready for the ascend of Pillar, still
covered in clouds. The ascend to Black Sail Pass went well
but after reaching Looking Stead we had doubts about
reaching Pillar in time having only half an hour left before
reaching our 'turn-around-time'. We decided to push forward
until our t-a-t but surprisingly enough we reached the
summit exactly on time. Again the sky had cleared and even
Scafell and Scafell Pike had clear tops. I couldn't resist
throwing a snowball towards them. Having reached our goal
for this day against our expectations our way back to the YH
was comparatively easy. You don't need to be high on drugs,
you can be high on mountains in the Lakedistrict.
Wednesday 21/4 we had to go back to Newcastle to take the
ferry back to Holland. But first we visited some
outdoorshops in Keswick. I ordered the newly released 1 :
50k NW and Central Scotland cd-roms from Anquet at George
Fisher's and as soon as I receive them and know how to
handle them I will let you know what I think of them.
All in all we had a perfect week in the LD and as always
when you're having a good time it looks like a whole month
but it's always too short. I hope to be back one day !
Enjoy your walks !
Theo Fokker, The Netherlands.