I’d been eyeing up the top (exciting) parts of this gill for ages during my ascents and descents from various parts of the Newlands Round. Last year I finally got around to having an explore – I’d waited for a dry spell but it didn’t help with some of the waterfalls!
On many walks last summer, I was doing an exploration of Hope Beck and the round of hills above centring around Hopegill Head. There was one completely awful route where I tried to follow a rake onto the ridge before Ladyside Pike which was visible from across the valley but, once underfoot, ended up disappearing into thick heather in which I had to flog my way steeply uphill. The routes I took up the gill, however, were good… Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve recently re-discovered Walla Crag as an after-work walk (I hadn’t been up it for years) after I went up Cat Gill which was a completely new route for me. Of particular interest to me though were two craggy-ended hills I could see from Keswick which I suspected were a trespass but wanted to bag! This round has become a favourite of mine – not totally because of the mountains as you’ll see towards the end of the post…
The distant ridge of Dodd Crags
Autumn 2020
Quick apology for the total lack of posts recently but, I’m getting so bogged down in running both mine and my mother’s house and affairs, I have virtually no time for anything of my own outside of essentials (and often not even those!) 😦
In Autumn 2020, Richard and I managed to actually get booked into the Patterdale Hotel (something which is getting harder every year now – even mid week) to walk my favourite Lakeland fells in my favourite Lakeland valley. This particular day it poured down until at least midday but then cleared up – we waited till the sun came out and then set off!
Place Fell from Arnison Crag
Tue 20 October 2020
In the short window when we were allowed to travel last year, Richard came up and we had a few days at Patterdale Hotel – this was really well-run with respect to Covid regulations and we enjoyed our break. It was nice to get further afield – the Northern and North-western fells are local to me so I can do them all year but I was dying to get back to the more serious fells elsewhere – the Northern fells are pretty tame grassy affairs. Read the rest of this entry »
Wed 14 July 21
On our recent trip to the Southern fells, staying at Broughton-in-Furness, we decided to have an ‘easy day’ as we’d done 7 fells the day before on the main Coniston ridge. I said that, as we hadn’t done it more than once (and that was years ago when I was still cowardly), it was time we revisited Steel Edge on Wetherlam – providing we could get parked! Below is a film photo I took after our first ascent…
Richard and I had a trip back to one of our favourite hotels for a short break when the lockdown ended. The weather was mostly dire and Richard’s legs were very unfit so we stuck to short walks between the showers where possible. This was one of the shortest mountain walks I could think of in the area and, as I hadn’t done Eagle Crag for years but had been looking at it each time I was down Borrowdale, I thought it would make an excellent choice for our second day! Read the rest of this entry »
Sat 22 Aug & Sun 20 Sep 20
I’ve always subscribed to the view that the Northern Fells (‘back o’ Skidda’) are completely safe and non-scary and with no drama or excitement whatsoever. So, with perfect confidence, I set off to tackle one of the gills which looked interesting – it had a spectacular waterfall near the start but I was sure I could get up it… Read the rest of this entry »
Wed 9 September 2020
Another gill I’d been eyeing up for quite some time – Brandy Gill which rises from Carrock Mines and goes between Carrock Fell & High Pike. This is how NOT to do it! Read the rest of this entry »
Thu 27 Aug 2020
The second day of our Borrowdale trip. Richard was having knee problems and was walking quite slowly so we decided to set out up Grains Gill and decide at the top whether to do Esk Pike or just to do Seathwaite Fell. Either way, we were coming back down via Styhead and Taylorgill… Read the rest of this entry »
The Adventures of a Mountain Coward 