T
theo
Guest
First I have to apologise for this somewhat belated TR. After coming home
from my trip to the UK I found my newsgroups not functioning anymore. It
took me some time to work out that my provider had changed their servers.
On thursday June 2nd we left Holland and fridaymorning we arrived in a sunny
Newcastle. We drove to the westcoast and had some rain in the
north-Pennines. After passing Ambleside our in-car navigationsystem let us
down. 'She' didn't know the tiny road over Wrynose Pass and Hardknott Pass
to Eskdale. After hearing "turn left after 200 meters" for the third time in
a couple of minutes we decided to turn right. The road into Langdale is
narrow and busy. Great Langdale became Little Langdale and suddenly we saw
the little sign mentioning Wrynose Pass. We were on the right track again.
Wrynose Pass and Hardknott Pass are very demanding for the driver. Putting
your car in rear and going backwards uphill can be quite stressfull. We
arrived at Eskdale YH, left the car behind and walked into Upper Eskdale on
the westside of the river Esk. The river has some nice waterfalls and
gorges. Late afternoon we decided to put up our tents just beyond Cam Spout.
There were some yellow tents below Little Narrowcove. Otherwise Great Moss
was deserted. At 20.30 hrs. we went into our tents. At 03.45 it started to
rain and it kept raining for the next 26 hours. The cloudbase came down to
400 meters during the day. We skipped our plan to do Piers Gill and the
Scafells and stayed in our tents. Sundaymorning 8.30 am. we came out of our
tents again. All nice and quiet on Great Moss ? Forget it ! Cam Spout
waterfall and the little streams beside our tents were completely filled
with water and made an incredible roaring noise. As if a cargotrain was
constantly passing by for more then 30 hours. As Theo Ruyter was getting his
shoes on his backmuscles 'locked' and it was very painfull for him to move,
let alone walk with a 18 kg. backpack. We decided to go back to Eskdale YH.
At arrival we saw it was closed on Sundays and we took the car to Wastwater
YH. A very nice YH on the shore of Wastwater with beautifull surroundings.
Sundayafternoon the skies cleared and the weatherforecast was very promising
for the next days. On Monday we drove up to the Wasdale Head in and from
there we walked towards Great Gable. Where the main path goes left to Sty
Head we turned right to ascend alongside Piers Gill, a very impressive
ravine underneath Lingmell. After reaching the Corridor Route we ascended
the col between Broad Crag and Scafell Pike and turned right to climb
Scafell Pike. Some 15 people were enjoying the sunshine on SP and the views
were grand, although hazy. After a snack, a drink and some chatting with
fellowwalkers we went down to Mickledore. We saw a guy getting stuck on
Broadstand (he got help from guys with ropes) and descended to the start of
the Foxes Tarn Route. For me it was the first time to have to go 'upstream'
to ascend a hill. Quite exhilerating. Except for 'one man and his dog' the
summit of Scafell was deserted. Later we saw the man descending via Lord's
Rake (two days later we saw him again : at reaching the bottom of LR he saw
the warningsign not to attempt LR. Why isn't there a sign saying so at the
top of LR ?) From Scafell we went down Green How to Wasdale. A safe but
uninteresting route. We wanted to have dinner at the Wasdale Head Inn but
sadly it was temporarily closed because there had been a fire and they had a
lot of smokedamage. On Tuesday we started at the same track but instead of
turning right to Piers Gill we went up to Sty Head and frome there did the
South Traverse of Great Gable. Again we had blue skies. The ST has got some
interesting scrambly bits if you stay close to the rocks and crags. We went
up Needle gully to have a look at Napes Needle. The sun acted as a
'backlight' seen from the Dress Circle. An old man we met the next day said
he climbed NN unroped but we didn't give it a try. It didn't seem possible
at all to do it unroped but I think an experienced freeclimber might be able
do it. The real problem is getting back down again ! After passing Little
Hell Gate we descended between Great Gable and Kirkfell towards Wasdale Head
Inn. Dinner and beer was waiting for us in the YH. Wednesday was the third
day with lots of sunshine, albeit with a fresh southwesterly wind. We
already summited on Pillar last year so this year we wanted to do the High
Level Route. From Wasdale we ascended Looking Stead and turned west towards
Pillar. The beginning of the HLR is cairned. No difficulties but in wet
weather there are some tricky sloping slabs to cross. We rested at
Robinson's cairn and could see two climbers going up the north side of
Pillar Rock. Much too slow for my taste
When we reached the south side
of Pillar Rock ourselves I decided to have a look at Pisgah (or little
woman), the rock just before Pillar Rock itself. It's an easy scramble but
there's a big gap about 23 ft deep and 10 ft wide separating Pisgah from
Pillar Rock. No going further for me than but a impressive viewpoint
nevertheless. After Pillar Rock we went up the north side of Pillar to reach
the summit. We descended along the east ridge back to Looking Stead and
Wasdale. Alas, after three days of beautifull sunshine we had to leave on
Thursday. We had heard some reports about Hawkshead being a good place for
outdoorshops but for a wide variety of brands, good prices and a nice day of
shopping little Hawkshead isn't the right choice. After a 'desastrous' start
of our holiday we had a perfect second half of the week that makes you long
for more. Same place, another time.
P.S. On the subject of walking poles : after knackering my knee on a grassy
slope on Meall Corranaich (Scotland) last September I decided to buy a cheap
pair of walking poles to try them out. They're very helpfull at keeping
balance (and that way saving energy), for crossing streams, pushing up when
ascending and taking the weight of your knees when descending. It's even a
good instrument for measuring the depth of a little (1 ft wide) stream in a
grassy field. It was more then a walking pole deep !
For those who fell asleep during reading this long story I apologise (but
wake up now
Theo Fokker and Theo Ruyter
--
Theo
www.theosphotos.fotopic.net
(Pictures of our holiday will be available on my fotopicsite in the future,
I'll let you know)
from my trip to the UK I found my newsgroups not functioning anymore. It
took me some time to work out that my provider had changed their servers.
On thursday June 2nd we left Holland and fridaymorning we arrived in a sunny
Newcastle. We drove to the westcoast and had some rain in the
north-Pennines. After passing Ambleside our in-car navigationsystem let us
down. 'She' didn't know the tiny road over Wrynose Pass and Hardknott Pass
to Eskdale. After hearing "turn left after 200 meters" for the third time in
a couple of minutes we decided to turn right. The road into Langdale is
narrow and busy. Great Langdale became Little Langdale and suddenly we saw
the little sign mentioning Wrynose Pass. We were on the right track again.
Wrynose Pass and Hardknott Pass are very demanding for the driver. Putting
your car in rear and going backwards uphill can be quite stressfull. We
arrived at Eskdale YH, left the car behind and walked into Upper Eskdale on
the westside of the river Esk. The river has some nice waterfalls and
gorges. Late afternoon we decided to put up our tents just beyond Cam Spout.
There were some yellow tents below Little Narrowcove. Otherwise Great Moss
was deserted. At 20.30 hrs. we went into our tents. At 03.45 it started to
rain and it kept raining for the next 26 hours. The cloudbase came down to
400 meters during the day. We skipped our plan to do Piers Gill and the
Scafells and stayed in our tents. Sundaymorning 8.30 am. we came out of our
tents again. All nice and quiet on Great Moss ? Forget it ! Cam Spout
waterfall and the little streams beside our tents were completely filled
with water and made an incredible roaring noise. As if a cargotrain was
constantly passing by for more then 30 hours. As Theo Ruyter was getting his
shoes on his backmuscles 'locked' and it was very painfull for him to move,
let alone walk with a 18 kg. backpack. We decided to go back to Eskdale YH.
At arrival we saw it was closed on Sundays and we took the car to Wastwater
YH. A very nice YH on the shore of Wastwater with beautifull surroundings.
Sundayafternoon the skies cleared and the weatherforecast was very promising
for the next days. On Monday we drove up to the Wasdale Head in and from
there we walked towards Great Gable. Where the main path goes left to Sty
Head we turned right to ascend alongside Piers Gill, a very impressive
ravine underneath Lingmell. After reaching the Corridor Route we ascended
the col between Broad Crag and Scafell Pike and turned right to climb
Scafell Pike. Some 15 people were enjoying the sunshine on SP and the views
were grand, although hazy. After a snack, a drink and some chatting with
fellowwalkers we went down to Mickledore. We saw a guy getting stuck on
Broadstand (he got help from guys with ropes) and descended to the start of
the Foxes Tarn Route. For me it was the first time to have to go 'upstream'
to ascend a hill. Quite exhilerating. Except for 'one man and his dog' the
summit of Scafell was deserted. Later we saw the man descending via Lord's
Rake (two days later we saw him again : at reaching the bottom of LR he saw
the warningsign not to attempt LR. Why isn't there a sign saying so at the
top of LR ?) From Scafell we went down Green How to Wasdale. A safe but
uninteresting route. We wanted to have dinner at the Wasdale Head Inn but
sadly it was temporarily closed because there had been a fire and they had a
lot of smokedamage. On Tuesday we started at the same track but instead of
turning right to Piers Gill we went up to Sty Head and frome there did the
South Traverse of Great Gable. Again we had blue skies. The ST has got some
interesting scrambly bits if you stay close to the rocks and crags. We went
up Needle gully to have a look at Napes Needle. The sun acted as a
'backlight' seen from the Dress Circle. An old man we met the next day said
he climbed NN unroped but we didn't give it a try. It didn't seem possible
at all to do it unroped but I think an experienced freeclimber might be able
do it. The real problem is getting back down again ! After passing Little
Hell Gate we descended between Great Gable and Kirkfell towards Wasdale Head
Inn. Dinner and beer was waiting for us in the YH. Wednesday was the third
day with lots of sunshine, albeit with a fresh southwesterly wind. We
already summited on Pillar last year so this year we wanted to do the High
Level Route. From Wasdale we ascended Looking Stead and turned west towards
Pillar. The beginning of the HLR is cairned. No difficulties but in wet
weather there are some tricky sloping slabs to cross. We rested at
Robinson's cairn and could see two climbers going up the north side of
Pillar Rock. Much too slow for my taste
When we reached the south sideof Pillar Rock ourselves I decided to have a look at Pisgah (or little
woman), the rock just before Pillar Rock itself. It's an easy scramble but
there's a big gap about 23 ft deep and 10 ft wide separating Pisgah from
Pillar Rock. No going further for me than but a impressive viewpoint
nevertheless. After Pillar Rock we went up the north side of Pillar to reach
the summit. We descended along the east ridge back to Looking Stead and
Wasdale. Alas, after three days of beautifull sunshine we had to leave on
Thursday. We had heard some reports about Hawkshead being a good place for
outdoorshops but for a wide variety of brands, good prices and a nice day of
shopping little Hawkshead isn't the right choice. After a 'desastrous' start
of our holiday we had a perfect second half of the week that makes you long
for more. Same place, another time.
P.S. On the subject of walking poles : after knackering my knee on a grassy
slope on Meall Corranaich (Scotland) last September I decided to buy a cheap
pair of walking poles to try them out. They're very helpfull at keeping
balance (and that way saving energy), for crossing streams, pushing up when
ascending and taking the weight of your knees when descending. It's even a
good instrument for measuring the depth of a little (1 ft wide) stream in a
grassy field. It was more then a walking pole deep !
For those who fell asleep during reading this long story I apologise (but
wake up now
Theo Fokker and Theo Ruyter
--
Theo
www.theosphotos.fotopic.net
(Pictures of our holiday will be available on my fotopicsite in the future,
I'll let you know)