Grasmere to Langdale in the snow!

31.1.14/1.2.14
Walking with; Gareth and Lawrence

Gareth and Lawrence had travelled up from the balmy South to see what Winter weather the Lakes could throw at them and, luckily, the weekend didn't disappoint. We rolled into Grasmere about 7pm and headed out straightaway  on a night nav. In spite of the cloud cover the snow was reflecting the ambient light which made things a bit easier as we picked our way around Wray Gill and the edge of Brigstone Moss. Even with the snow it was warm work and by the time we headed back to the YHA Lawrence was stripped down to his t-shirt!
YHA Grasmere has the best staff in the Lakes and buoyed by a good night's kip and a solid breakfast we kitted up and headed down Easedale taking in the snowy views that had been denied us the night before. It was slippery underfoot but we followed Blindtarn Gill up towards Swinescar Pike and skirted Lang How to the three tarns area where the snow really hit. We were looking down into Langdale but the snow was blowing upwards and we were being blown about pretty severely as we traversed across the slopes before slip-sliding our way down to the valley floor. In Langdale the snow turned to a steady drizzle and the Pikes themselves winked in and out of the clouds as we followed the Cumbria Way through Baysbrown. Once "The Wainwrights Inn" http://www.langdale.co.uk/dine/wainwrights/ loomed into view it was a no brainer and we took shelter, dried out a bit of kit in front of the fire and made the most of a restorative pint!
Fortified by this we carried on along Great Langdale Beck before cutting across Walthwaite Bottom and skirting Huntingstile Crag on our way to Loughrigg Terrace. As we started the ascent of Loughrigg we met a couple of walkers who'd decided the wind was too strong and had turned back but undeterred we pressed onwards. When the wind did hit it hit hard, given we were at little more than 300 metres at that stage I can't imagine what it must have been like on the tops....we took the buffeting for a little while before dropping down towards Rydal Water and Grasmere and meandering back along the shoreline with great views of Goosander and Tufted Ducks. A night in "Tweedie's bar" http://www.langdale.co.uk/dine/wainwrights/ consisted of great food, a log fire, live music and plenty of good beer, just what the Doctor ordered after a Wintery day on the hill!

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Three Lake District walks

21/22/23.1.14
Walking with; Rob

So far, this Winter, south of the border at least, has been characterised by a disappointing lack of the white stuff on the ground. January walks in the Lake District should be about blue skies and crisp ground underfoot, not grey skies and swampy conditions, none the less, three days of back to back walking was just too good an opportunity to pass up.
For the first of my three walks I wanted to try somewhere different, somewhere I was unlikely to bump into many others, somewhere off the beaten track...Lorton Fells fitted the bill admirably, even more so when it was revealed to me that the Whinlatter Pass was closed reducing access only to those determined enough to take the lengthy detour via Cockermouth. The area is heavily forested but it didn't take long to get above the treeline and make my way onto the blowy top of Lord's Seat. Although it only stands at 552m the views belie the relative lack of height. Skiddaw, head in the clouds loomed to the East, Keswick and Derwentwater sat to the South and across the Solway Firth Scotland was visible in the distance. I dropped down onto the delightfully named Barf where the views of Bassenthwaite opened out even further before contouring round below Lord's Seat and continuing along the fine ridge to Broom Fell and lunching in the stone shelter below the impressive cairn. The ridge then drops gradually to the Darling How Plantation and from there it was a short scramble to the top of Graystones where the strong winds were joined by not inconsiderable rain. A quick detour onto the top of Kirk Fell and then it was down the perilously steep slope to Scawgill Bridge and a gentle wander through the trees to Spout Force which (thanks to the incessant rain) was looking truly impressive. With the rain now thoroughly persisting it down, the logical decision was back to Keswick and the sweet, beery embrace of "The Dog and Gun".
   After a night of purgatorial wakefulness thanks to the "World's Loudest Snorer" who had holed up in the same dorm as me at the Keswick YHA, Rob picked me up and we headed off towards Catbells, another fell that punches well above it's weight in the effort to view ratio. We took the path leading up to the summit over Skelgill Bank and then carried on to Bull Crag and across Maiden Moor. Apparently the Beatrix Potter character Mrs Tiggywinkle lived in a burrow somewhere on the fells, but we saw no sign of hedgehogs, just a couple of Ravens and a Kestrel sitting in the wind. Last time I'd been on High Spy I was barely able to stand http://www.comewalkwithmeuk.co.uk/2013/04/a-wet-wild-and-windy-lakeland-trip.html , and whilst it wasn't exactly sunbathing weather, it was a little more benign this time around. Tongue Gill was in full spate as we made our knee crunching descent before following the path back past Castle Crag to our starting point.
  Unable to face another night with the king of the snorers, I'd changed hostel (Ambleside) and pub (The Unicorn) and spent a far better night. Stockghyll Force was looking as impressive as Spout Force had a few days before as I climbed out of Ambleside and up onto Wansfell Pike. The summit is well won from the West and it was a steep climb made a little easier by the views to the snowy tops of the Kentmere Fells and Red Screes. Attaining the top I followed the ridge North East and then crossed the boggy fields below Idle Hill to eventually reach "The Kirkstone Pass Inn" just as the snow started to fall. Records for this venerable building date back to 1496 and it was a welcome sight as Red Screes disappeared from view in a flurry of falling snow. After stretching out a coffee and comparing notes with another sheltering soul I decided against my original plan of scrambling the snowy gullies of Red Screes and made my way back down to Ambleside via High Grove. The abandoned building at High Grove looked like something out of a horror film with a smashed up caravan and the depressing detritus of an uncared for, semi-abandoned farm building. About a mile before the town, I was hit by a broadside of vicious sleet and hail which had me scrambling for the nearby shelter of a jerrybuilt stone wall, but by the time I made the bottom of the hill there was sunshine over the Kirkstone pass once more!

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Wet and wild walks from Llanberis

18/19.12.13
Walking with; Nobody

The good folks at the MWIS http://www.mwis.org.uk/ had provided the following information for Snowdonia, " frequent snow and hail with thunder, occasional whiteout conditions" but my cosy bunk at the Llanberis YHA was already booked and I had a new pair of Berghaus waterproofs to put to the test! On the drive over it became clear that we were in for some pretty serious weather and it was almost at the stage where I considered retreating to "Pete's Eats", settling next to the radiator and working my way through the largest of large brunches! However I summoned up some serious resolve, parked at the end of the tiny hamlet of Cwm-y-Glo and set off to take on Mother Nature in the foulest of moods. I followed the path from the small carpark at the end of the village and climbed up to Gallt-y-celyn. It was slippery underfoot, brutally windy and the rain was flying in horizontally, but there were still views down towards Llyn Padarn and Snowdon sat magnificent in the distance. I headed across to the slopes of Garreg Lefain where I found myself a sheltered spot above the reservoir for a spot of lunch and some respite from the torrential rain. After twenty minutes of questioning my sanity I devised a roundabout escape plan that would incorporate a little wet weather nav practice with a reasonably rapid descent off the hill. In the end it was one of those days that tested me, there were times when it was a little unpleasant but as I sat in "Pete's Eats" an hour or so later with a pint of coffee and a bacon and egg roll the words of my t-shirt rang true, "Better a rainy day on the hill than a sunny one in the office"!
Thursday's forecast was worse yet but as I left the hostel and started the gentle climb through farmland and past many abandoned and ruined cottages and barns, the sky was still blueish. I hit the North Wales Pilgrims Way above the old slate workings and turned up onto Bryn Mawr and the lower slopes of Moel Eilio, my goal for the day. I could see the clouds rolling in over Snowdon and even more ominously the ribbons of cloud trailing in from the coast, as I hit the summit the hail swept in with stinging force. I ducked into the summit shelter and identified the ridge walk on to Foel Goch which looked straightforward even with the increasingly poor visibility. I made it as far as Foel Gron when the storm hit, the thunder was directly overhead and deafening and the lightning appeared like a flashbulb going off seemingly right in front of my eyes. Abandoning my original plan I decided to get off the ridge as soon as possible and managed to find a reasonably secure (though still extremely blowy) way down to Llyn Dwythwch. By now the snow was falling pretty heavily but I found the ruins of a sheepfold and tucked myself away for some lunch whilst the flakes settled all around me. Shaking off the cold I skirted the lake and made my way back to the hostel. It was too early to go back so I headed over to the old slate mines for a bit of a nosey before the rain forced a retreat once more back to Pete's welcoming embrace!

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