Brim Fell and Coniston Old Man

This morning the weather seemed OK, in fact much as the forecaster on Radio Cumbria described.... however there was a steady depreciation in conditions whilst I was out. Once on the ridge, it was blowing a hoolie driving dense wet air in from the Irish Sea. Always good to be out though....I think?

Having parked in Coniston I walked up Coppermines Valley, eventually arriving at the entrance to Deep Level, where much of the copper ore was brought to daylight from the Bonser workings. There's been a landslip fairly recently which has damaged the portal, a great shame. The entrance is less than a metre high now, It used to be possible to walk in at full height.....Although DEFINITELY Not advised!!!

Following the beck up thro the workings I thought the weather was improving. It didn't. Here we look down into Coppermines Valley.

This is the huge wheelpit that contained the waterwheel to power the "engine shaft" . Beyond the water leat tower is the Triddle incline. This was my route onwards, there's always lots to see in the Coniston fells

From the top of the incline it's only a short walk over the shoulder to Levers Water. Here I'm pondering which way i should go. The cloudbase low as you can see. I opted for the South/Southwestern path round the tarn and then up Gill Cove to Levers Hause then back over Brim Fell and the Old Man.

Here in Gill Cove conditions deteriorated, I should have turned back..there were no views from this point on. Only driving rain and wind over Brim Fell (perhaps that should be Grim Fell today!) and Coniston Old Man.

The tourist path down from the Old Man was the easy option, no point carrying on over fells I've visited dozens of times in weather like that! There were lots of pilgrims plodding up the path to the summit, many of them asked me "how far is it to the top!". My answer do you want that in height, distance or time!
 I dropped off the quarry track back into  Coppermines Valley and followed Church Beck back to the car.

Nordisk Telemark 1LW

Well with the TGO Challenge less than 2 months away, the outdoor bloggers are starting to post about their  gear choices. More importantly lots of these posts concern their choice of shelter.....seems the "Red Indian" look is very much in vogue. Lots of pyramids and tarps masquerading as doorless tents. Well I've never been one to follow the herd, I like to plough my own furrow so to speak. Bored yet? I'd better get to the point......

So I've bought a Nordisk Telemark 1LW, this cost the princely sum of £272.00 (from The Climbers Shop, Ambleside)
My first truly lightweight tent was a Hilleberg Akto, an excellent tent. Very storm worthy, mine was one of the early imports. I was very happy with the Akto, it weighed in at 1500g or so. Then along came Terra Nova with the Laser Lite, again I was an early adopter, after a few mods to lose a bit of weight it weighed in at approx 1050g.
The problem for me with the Laser Lite was disconnecting the inner from the outer....what a "ball ache".
Hence the purchase of the above!

Here the bell is seen it's a decent size, and the inner can be pulled back to increase the space for cooking undercover.

Another pic showing the depth of the bell, the separation between fly and inner seems plenty to me.

A good deep tub to the floor and plenty of width, the Inov8 pack is roughly the width of a Neoair. One of the comments I hear in favour of the Tepee type tents is the large amount of space, perhaps I don't carry enough stuff?!

A common complaint I read over and over is condensation problems with "Akto style" tents. I've had my share of condensation over the years, but it's not a deal breaker for me. Here we see the vent at ground level, there's another at the other end. We'll see how effective they are in use! 

There's a large stiffened cowl over the double ended zip, again to aid ventilation, something neither my early Akto or Laser Lite benefited from.

The pole is has a remarkably short pack length, only 4 pegs are supplied! at 10g each. The silver ones are mine from another tent. I may use different pegs I'll see how I get on.

The overall pack size is indeed very small, thats a .5 lit thermos. The bag contains inner, outer, pole and 6 pegs. The 830g isn't correct if the supplied pegs are used, it is possible if 6 Terra Nova carbon pegs are used tho', lots of folk don't like the carbon pegs but I really rate them. I'll more than likely use a combination of pegs.
So there we have it, this is just a first look, it'll get a couple of trips over the next month or so, I'll report back.

Rough Stuff Fellowship ride to Barbon

Todays ride started within a couple of miles from home, so I really had to go! The weather forecast was poor but we actually didn't have any rain at all, it was overcast though so the views were nothing to write home about.

Preparing to leave The Hide Away Cafe our meeting point today.
Excellent views from here over to Farleton Knott whilst a coffee is enjoyed

Minor roads and quiet lanes took us over the shoulder of  Scout Hill, to eventually reach the Old Town road. Then across this bridleway to the Old Scotch Road. 

Another bridleway over into the Lune Valley and then this excellent lane through Rigmaden Park.
This is a rare image....Eileen is holding the gate open!! Sorry Eileen!

The track then dropped through Hag Wood, this is a great bridleway. it would seem to be very little used.

Having crossed the River Lune we rode the very wet Low Lane to Abba Farm. It was basically a 150m long ford!

More minor lanes to Barbon, where lunch was eaten at the village hall/picnic area. Some very muddy lanes led us to Kirkby Lonsdale for a cafe stop in the square.
Once across the A65, more lanes brought us to Hutton Roof.
Burton has gone up in the world it would seem!

Once at the highpoint of the lane over Farleton Fell, it was all downhill on the bridleway across Farleton to Holme Park.
This brought me almost home, so I said my goodbyes to the rest of the party.
A great ride in good company!

Lancaster Canal & Wyre Wander

An easy and more importantly flat wander...the other member of the party is to have 2 knee op's in approx 12 weeks, a daunting prospect indeed. We had a great day...just so good to stroll along in the sun, it almost felt like spring.

A typical scene on this stretch of the Lancaster Canal.
 Blue Sky!!

These concrete blocks are just South of Nateby Hall, adjacent to the canal.
There a bit of a mystery...are they the remnants of a World War 2 defence? Does anyone know?

Lots of boats on the canal at Garstang

The Wyre Aquaduct just South of Garstang

This sculpture is in the Millenium Green Park.......Go on give us' a Big Hand!!

The Wainwrights of Applethwaite Common

After a ride on the bike this morning and a spot of lunch I spent the afternoon walking across Applethwaite Common. There are 2 Wainwright's to be claimed for the bagger, Sour Howes and Sallows. Sadly it rained from Sour Howes onward...sadly I am able to confirm that my 10 year old Golite Reed overtrousers now leak in a catastrophic manner :-(  Still didn't spoil the walk tho'.....and I have another pair :-))

The Dubbs Road track, which eventually leads to Garburn Pass, the highpoint in the photo is roughly the summit of Sour Howes.

There has been a lot of repair and renovation of the Dubbs and Garburn Roads recently.
This rather special animal pass is a new addition...if it was larger I'd call it a Hogget Hole!

As I turned towards the Troutbeck valley the sun tried it's very best to break through, lighting up the fields on the flank of Wansfell

As you gain a bit of height up the fell Windermere is revealed, the sheet of water to the left is Dubbs reservoir.

This is one of the two summits of Sour Howes, I've always thought of this one as the higher....but there can't be much in it. The cloud was down by now and as I set off along the broad ridge to Sallows the rain/sleet/hail came on driven by a strong gusty wind.

This is the summit of Sallows, theres no cairn as such. It was very wet at this point, there's rain on the lens if you look closely. I didn't linger, but headed roughly North to drop down to Garburn Pass, turning left to walk back down the pass. It rained all the way back to the car unfortunately, as I have already mentioned above finding the weak point/s in my overtrousers!

Todays footwear...New Balance 606's. Very comfortable, warm when wet and surprisingly grippy as well.
Like a lot of my gear....not made any more I think.

Pike O'Blisco and Crinkle Crags

 A cracking day above the head of Langdale....although it took a while for the sun to make an appearance!

Having parked at the foot of the Blea Tarn Road. I walked up beside Redacre Gill.
The snow line was basically at the head of the gill

As I gained height the sun was doing it's best to light up Side Pike behind me.

Here on the summit of Pike O'Blisco the wind was trying to blow me over, below me lay Red Tarn

The sun was finally burning thro the mist/cloud as I approached the Bad Step.
There was quite a bit of dillydallying by a party of three, two elected to go round and one climbed it with me.
It was a bit of a thrutch...It's a while since I've even had my crampons on!

The weather continued to improve, here I'm looking back to the summit of Crinkle Crags

And to the West the Scafells were starting to emerge from their blanket of cloud.

Ahead Bowfell  above Three Tarns, I must say I was tempted but by now there was folk everywhere so I decided to drop down to the Band 

Scafells clear at last

Today snow made for rapid progress if you had the spiky stuff on!

Down on the Band the views were still great, here Wetherlam is seen thro the Red Tarn gap

Crinkle Crags from the Band.

Once below the snowline the landscape had an almost springlike appearance.
Looking into the head of Mickleden and Rossett Pike

Pike O'Stickle looking very impressive, almost back to the valley.
A great day!

Today's footwear choice unlined ancient Manta M4's with Yeti Gaiters.
Dry warm sweat free feet, no worry's crossing streams There is no finer combination for walking in snow with flexible crampons IMHO....are the Yeti's still available?

TGO Challenge 2014 Route Vetted!!

Well that was fast going....From hearing I'd been promoted from the Standby List last Friday to yesterday finding my route had been vetted. A huge thank you to my vetter Alan Hardy for his kind comments and welcome advice.
And what of my route... Well although I know Scotland well, there are still blank patches on the map so to speak.So I've engineered my route to fill some of these gaps. I have elected to start at Shiel Bridge and finish on the beach at Nether Warburton. Should I be blessed with good weather, I shall see the Falls of Glomach, scale a few needed Munro's North of Glen Affric, before strolling down Glen Affric. Eventually I'll arrive at Fort Augustus to re-supply and cross the Corrieyairack Pass to follow the Spey. Then its over to Glen Feshie and a climb to the Moine Mor for a high camp and some more needed Munro's. The descent to Corrour will be followed by the walk out to civilisation at Braemar. More re-supplying then its up Glen Callater to cross Jocks Road into Clova, before a sharp climb to Loch Brandy and Muckle Cairn. The descent North East will take me to Tarfside. A final day of hills with a crossing of the Wirren hills, Edzell and then the walk out to North Water Bridge and the coast.
So there we have it hopefully the weather will be kind and allow me to see at least some of the above....if not the FWA will still be interesting walking.
 I'm looking forward to the social aspect of the walk and hope my path crosses some of those who visit these pages.I can hardly wait!