Wainwright Bagging Around Grasmere and Great Langdale

We were staying in The Daffodil Hotel in Grasmere in the Lake District so we looked for a walk that was reasonably close to Grasmere and wasn't too much of a trug so that we could be back at a reasonable time to take advantage and wallow in the spa.

We decided to do some of the Wainwrights out of Great Langdale as there looked to be a decent walk that took in 5 Wainwrights within a pretty short yomp. We kicked off from The New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel and headed straight up the road and through the gate.

 

From here we headed left, instead of straight on over the bridge, and through the break in the wall. We walked up the hiking trail in the valley with the stream on our right. 

Before long we crossed over the bridge now with the stream on our left hand side. Stopping briefly to take in the waterfall we carried on up the valley until we arrived at Stickle Tarn. 

 

 

 

 

View into Great Langdale

From here it was a short-ish hop, skip and a jump to the summit of the first Wainwright, Pavey Ark. From the top of Pavey Ark there are some really awesome views down Great Langdale to Lake Windermere. 

  

View from Pavey Ark down Great Langdale to Lake Windermere

  

The next Wainwright was Thunacar Knott Which was surprisingly only a matter of around 250 metres from the summit of Pavey Ark. Sadly the views from Thunacar Knott were pretty much none existent as the clouds fired over the plateau that sits between the five tops of Pavey Ark, Thunacar Knott, Pike of Stickle, Harrison Stickle and Loft Crag. Again it was only a few hundred metres jaunt over to the base of Harrison Stickle from Thunacar Knott. The climb was pretty straightforward to the top of Harrison Stickle. We didn't stop up here long as the wind was howling at this point. But we did get pretty incredible views across the plateau and over to the Pike of Stickle which emerges out of nowhere. 

 

 

View from Harrison Stickle to Pike of Stickle and Loft Crag

From the top of Harrison Stickle it doesn't look so far away but this is slightly deceptive. As you descend a chasm appears that you've naturally got to descend before climbing up the far side. You've got to attack the Pike of Stickle from the far side and whichever way you have a shot at it it's a scramble, there is no real easy way. It isn’t that much of a last push though and the views are awesome from up here!

 

View from Pike of Stickle to Harrison Stickle and Loft Crag

So that was 4 boxed off, just Loft Crag and we'd done the Wainwrights we'd set out to do. This is pretty much on the hiking trail home and is only a marginal ascent. Again the views down Great Langdale and through to Lake Windermere are pretty awesome. You can also see the Great Langdale campsite from here where they've got some kind of posh camping options for those that are averse to tenting it.

 

Great Langdale

 

Knowing that we had to descend via the valley to the village of Great Langdale we kind of set off walking along the wrong route intending to descend adjacent to the stream in Dungeon Gill. This was never going to be possible as it’s sheer from this side of the valley however from the map it looks doable on the other side of the valley albeit on a minor path.

On the descent as we were getting close to the bottom we came around a corner to get the full impact of Dungeon Gill Force which is hugely impressive. Stopping to take some photos of the waterfall and talk to the sheep we carried on to the stream at the bottom where we joined the hiking trail we'd started on earlier in the day. Back through the gap in the wall and a short walk down into Great Langdale to finish the walk off. Then back to the Daffodil Hotel in Grasmere for a pint and a dip in the pool very pleasant, a great walk.

Dungeon Force Waterfall

A Photography Course around Bolton Abbey

Looking to get the best of my snaps whilst out in the hills I went on a photography course recently around Bolton Abbey in an attempt to try to get my photos to resemble what I see in the flesh whilst I'm out there in the open.

A trek through Glen Etive to Loch Etive

We recently spent an incredible weekend up in Glen Etive near Glencoe. We were blessed with awesome weather and managed to get two reasonable yomps under our belts in the three days we were there (the other was spent roaming the loaclity taking some snaps).

A Lochan reflection in Glen Etive

 

November could be expected to be a bit hit and miss with regards the weather but we couldn't have had it better, it was foul as I drove up Glen Etive but by the time the rest of the blokes arrived about an hour or so later the clouds had parted exposing all the peaks around the valley.

The landscape of Glen Etive

 

We left the car park in the morning with the view of getting yomping cross country down Glen Etive to the Loch to take some time lapse footage some time late in the day. We took maps and the trusty Satmap Active 10 but really just sidled down Glen Etive with no real route in mind. A couple of days earlier we'd been bagging Munros so a few of us were keener for some lower level stuff. We started by hugging the River Etive which was pretty impressive and picturesque not coming across another soul. We had to take a right when we hit a tributary that would have given us seriously wet feet, ankles, knees and waist and head towards the road. This actually ended up taking us across a small footbridge but we still had to hit the road eventually.

 A flowing River Etive

River Etive

We continued up here until we came to another road which led to a bridge across the river we'd just followed. We wanted to try to get up the hillside on the eastern side of Loch Etive as we thought we'd get a better view. This proved to be far tougher then we'd anticipated but I've not laughed so hard in some time.

A Golden View

Once over this bridge we were guided around a property where it started getting really boggy and was tough tough going. This didn't get any easier and before long we had a river to cross, which was no great shakes and we decided to take a spot of lunch here in the middle of the tributary.

Crossing the dry river bed

 

Once over the river the bog turned to marshland and was just wet up to about the ankle. We persevered and headed back down to the river we'd crossed as there was a dry bed which would at least have furnished us with some better footing. It didn't as it turned out and only served up larger doses of humour. We decided to get off the river bed and back onto land - into a patch or gorse where we couldn't see the way through or way out. this led to dead end after dead end and cries of help were heard all around - these were met with cries of hysteria.

A look over the marshes of Glen Etive to Loch Etive

 

Once reunited on the far side we decided unanimously that the ascent up the hillside was a painful idea and that we'd be better off catching the shot from the edge of Loch Etive. This therefore meant that we had to cross the river again. There was no bridge however which was going to prove to be a touch tough as there was no clear way it could be crossed without a bit of an inconvenience unless we walked back up to the bridge which no one was really keen on. One of the boys spotted a wide part of the River Etive which he thought looked relatively shallow and went for it.

Crossing the River

It was only when he had crossed it that he realised that he'd only crossed the river to the same side that he'd ultimately started from - he was confident his boots had held out though and his feet were still dry. In the end half of us were down to our pants and the others risked it with gaiters on. It was cold but brief and relatively painless.

A river reflection

We were not long before we were back on the road and heading for Loch Etive. We timed it pretty much bang on and got the sun disappearing over the horizon. At the same time a canoeist appeared at the far end of the Loch, not sure where he'd been but he was met by a seal proving that there was access from the sea to here albeit being a touch of a hike.

Loch Etive

Once we'd got the footage we required we kicked off on the lengthy hike back up the road. It was too dark now to go cross country again - that would have been painful. What seemed like a fair age later we were back at the car park. Not the most conventional of days walks but totally varied terrain and what seemed like an awesome adventure in an incredible part of the world, it was totally stunning.

View Glen Etive Walk in a larger map

Trek Kilimanjaro whilst the glaciers are still there

The glaciers on the summit of Kilimanjaro are disappearing. A recent study has shown that there is now 85% less glaciers on the summit of Kilimanjaro then there was in 1912. The glaciers are melting and crumbling away whilst at the same time experiencing reduced levels of snowfall. With these factors in mind, it is believed that the summit of Kilimanjaro will be snow-free in between 15 - 30 years, which is tragic. It's not certain what is creating this change in weather patterns but some suggestions are that it is as a result of global warming or it could be due to the reduced levels of rainfall as a result of the deforestation of the rain forest around the base of the mountain. Whatever the reason certain of that charm will be lost as the snow and ice disappear, so to trek Kilimanjaro amongst the snow and ice, please go sooner rather than later.

A nice but noisy meander from Bingley

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With dark nights and short days still being a bit of a bind we decided to go for a leg stretch that was fairly close to home. So we checked in our Walks in the Yorkshire Dales book and found one that we thought would fit the bill.

We kicked off in Bingley at the White Horse Pub at the bottom end of town passing the pub heading in the direction of the river. Once over the river we took an immediate right and hugged the river passing through Ravenroyd Farm and passed another couple of buildings. This was quite a picturesque meander along the river bank although we never quite seemed to get away from the noise of traffic.

By the River Aire

More of the River Aire

We finally came to a gate which we went through and turned left up the hill. The road wound up the hill and without an OS map or satmap we were kind of at the mercy of the crappy map that the guidebook provided us with, needless to say there were a few moments leaving me scratching my head.

We followed the road passing Blakey Cottage on our left and the road here turned into a dirt track. As we continued up the hill a view of Calderdale emerged to the right which was pretty amazing but the sound of the traffic seemed to follow us all the way.

Calderdale

About 50 yards further on we passed through a gate and entered a bit of woodland thick with ferns. The guidebook advised that we took the left fork at the top of the hill. There were however two forks, the first one we went wrong at and we should have gone right (you can see this bizarre detour on the map above) at the first one and left at the second. From here we followed the hiking trail with a wall on our right hand side.

This continued until we arrived at a road a few hundred yards later. At the road we took a right and followed this until we arrived in St Ives Estate.

In the trees

The book directed us right into the woodland with the golf course on our left. We did walk through a lot of woodland on this walk but it was quite different so was quite pleasant. it was particularly busy however so didn't feel much like we'd escaped the crowds. That said we carried on until we got a T-Juntion and took the left hiking trail downhill which led all the way down to the Coppice Pond.

Still in the trees

Coppice Pond near St. Ives House

Once round the pond the quickest route is to walk past St Ives House (with it on your left) and down to the main road (we took a detour through the trees where there were some quite bizarre carvings). Once across the main road you walk down Beckfoot Lane which narrows as you continue down to a picturesque ford with a bridge that dates back to 1723. Cross the bridge and just a few metres further on you reach a set of allotments, immediately after these turn left and walk down the side of them.

A witch in the woods

A bridge then crosses back over the River Aire at which point you'll find yourself in Myrtle Park (home to Bingley music festival) in Bingley and almost home. From here you will walk passed the Bradford and Bingley building which is now totally boarded up since it found itself in difficulty following the sticky situation it found itself in. What is ironic is that the road that runs along the back of the building is aptly named Thrift Way - they could have done with taking heed of this me thinks and going back to there roots that would have saved them from having to shut up shop, board up the windows and all take early retirement - all pretty sad really.

Bradford and Bingley's address

There seems to be a load of decent boozers in Bingley to quench the thirst however being as organised as ever we were against the clock and had to get home so they were procured from our fridge at home. Always welcome. So a pleasant walk with too many people and never really escaping the noise of the traffic. Sadly not one I'll be rushing back to do.