Green Gable, Base Brown & Brandreth

Wed 26 Aug 2020
Richard and my first trip away this year I think – certainly the first since the Covid crisis started anyway. We didn’t go far – just to one of our favourite hotels down Borrowdale.

It might seem silly for me to go to stay down Borrowdale now I’m a ‘northern Cumbrian’ but it actually makes sense really. For a start, the hoteliers are friends of ours and also it meant we could just leave the car at the hotel for the whole visit and just do walks from there. With the current parking and visitor chaos in the Lake District, that was a very good thing!

Whinlatter Round aka ‘Caught in the Forest’!

Tue 7 April 2020
This was during lockdown but, as I’d had to travel to Keswick anyway, I did the walk on my way back. I knew all the Whinlatter Forest carparks were shut (and so the Forestry people thought that Whinlatter Forest was also shut) but I also knew there was roadside parking. There were a couple of other cars there and I bumped into one girl just coming back from the hill (although, of course, at a 6 foot social-distance!)…

Blencathra via Halls Fell & Doddick – in record time!

Sat 11 July 20
Well it was record time for me anyway… this was after work – I was feeling very fit and wanted to be back down in time for my tea at the Scales pub! I was up and back in exactly 2.5 hours…

Great Calva via the Magnificent Hause Gill

Sat 9 May 20 (and repeatedly since)
A couple of weeks before, I’d walked Knott and Great Calva via Trusmador and Burn Tod Beck and discovered Hause Gill on my descent – it was superb!

Grasmoor via Gasgale Gill & Dovecrags Arete

Sun 22 Mar 20
This was at the start of the superb weather spell we had this year. I’ve also got a feeling it may have been the first day of lockdown or perhaps the day before. There were hundreds of people around down Buttermere though and, just to show there was no problem with walkers, everyone was already keeping a very safe distance between their family groups etc.

Snowy High Pike… Made me Sick!

Thu 27 Feb 2020
This was a deep and soft snow plod in early spring where I exhausted myself so thoroughly, I ended up with a COVID-type virus! You never know really as, even though they thought it started here at the end of March, they’re now saying they think it could have started a month earlier.

It’s certainly a warning not to overdo things when you’re not fit though!

Bannerdale Crags East Ridge – Stow Your Poles Please!

Mon 8 Jun 2020
I was out on Bowscale Fell and Bannerdale Crags yesterday when I saw an interesting rake I wanted to try above Bowscale Tarn and also had a yen to come back and do the exciting East Ridge of Bannerdale Crags. Today I went back and did just that…

The Lost & The Undressed (Archival)

Having to put some archival posts out for a while as, even when I get properly back into the hills, I won’t be able to get any photos developed until the health crisis is over! 😦 Actually, re-reading it was interesting for me in re-visiting an older writing style – I actually think it’s quite bitchy in places but (hopefully) amusingly so!

Skiddaw How Gill Left Branch

Tue 29 Oct 19
One of the rare, good-weather days in October – I decided it was high time I got myself up my local big-mountain, Skiddaw, as I hadn’t done him yet this year…

A Hard-bitten Walker on the Bowscale to Souther Fell Round

Tue 17 Sep 2019
I’d been wanting to do this full round for ages and, as it was lovely weather this particular day, decided it was as good a day as any! As usual, it was mid afternoon before I set off so that ruled out adding Blencathra – as it turned out, that was probably a good thing…