Wednesday 14 September 2011
Tuesday 13 September 2011
Lake Buttermere
I thought I'd done quite well yesterday with my walk up to and around the Latrigg summit, so today I decided to have a much more straightforward and level walk... Lake Buttermere :)
The weather had decided to put a slightly happier face on today; while we still had much of the cloud cover, today's offering were lovely fluffy white ones; albeit with a few dark and menacing grey underbellies dotted about the horizon.
I parked at Gatesgarthdale Beck car park... and just in time too; I took the last parking place in this full car park and duly paid my £3.00 parking charge... these two incidents should have made clear some facts that in retrospect should only have been too obvious.
Having togged my usual outdoorsey garb I walked along the road for a few hundred yards before joining the walkers path around the lake. This place was a little busier than I'd been used to; a steady stream of pairs passed me on their way back to the car park; most dressed in sparkling white trainers and t-shirts, and so say I felt somewhat over dressed with my bright red waterproof jacket and rucksack, waterproof trousers, plus my maps and gps on a rope around my neck would be a slight understatement... I smiled and exchanged a pleasant good-day with them and consoled myself that they would have no idea how far I'd already walked today to reach here; after all they had only walked from the car park just around the corner.
The weather had decided to put a slightly happier face on today; while we still had much of the cloud cover, today's offering were lovely fluffy white ones; albeit with a few dark and menacing grey underbellies dotted about the horizon.
I parked at Gatesgarthdale Beck car park... and just in time too; I took the last parking place in this full car park and duly paid my £3.00 parking charge... these two incidents should have made clear some facts that in retrospect should only have been too obvious.
Having togged my usual outdoorsey garb I walked along the road for a few hundred yards before joining the walkers path around the lake. This place was a little busier than I'd been used to; a steady stream of pairs passed me on their way back to the car park; most dressed in sparkling white trainers and t-shirts, and so say I felt somewhat over dressed with my bright red waterproof jacket and rucksack, waterproof trousers, plus my maps and gps on a rope around my neck would be a slight understatement... I smiled and exchanged a pleasant good-day with them and consoled myself that they would have no idea how far I'd already walked today to reach here; after all they had only walked from the car park just around the corner.
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| Lake Buttermere |
Monday 12 September 2011
Latrigg Summit
It was mid afternoon on Monday and the weather seemed to be clearing a little. Most of the bad weather seemed to be to the north of Grasmere Village, and so, intelligently, I decided to visit Keswick for a short-ish walk to Latrigg Summit. Both Keswick and Latrigg Summit are about 13 miles and 20 minutes drive away from Grasmere. Crazy.
Rather than use my HTC to navigate along the [albeit easy and straight] road, I set the garmin to road navigation and off I went. On the way I passed Thirlmere, which clearly needs further investigation in the future. The surface of Thirlmere looked more like a choppy sea with wonderful surface waves tearing along the surface; grief it was windy out there!!
The car journey here continually reminded me just how strong the winds were around here; now I only drive a little Ford Fiesta these days [I'm sick and tired of paying through the nose for fuel and car tax when in reality I just need a comfortable little car for poodling around from home to work with only a few long-ish journeys a year], but the gusts were nearly strong enough to turn me upside down and leave me spinning like a top in the middle of the road - not a great prospect when the only thing keeping me stuck to the road was a belittling amount of gravity and four rubber bands. How would my frail human legs and postage stamp footprints do against this wind... we were about to find out...
From Keswick I started my ascent by road, the road to Ormathwaite was apparently blocked by an uprooted tree so I rerouted via Applethwaite just a short distance down the road, meanwhile hoping that I don't get trapped behind two fallen trees... eek!
Rather than park in the car park some way up the hill nearer Latrigg, I elected to park at the end of the road leading to Oxleys Health Spa. As it turned out this was a slightly mad decision; the road to the car park ended up being both longer and steeper than the Latrigg walking route... ho hum!
Reaching the Latrigg car park I was exhausted... and I'd not even started the walk yet... part way up it did occur to me that I should return to the car and bring it to the top car park; I'm glad I didn't otherwise I would never have enjoyed such a level of achievement.
After a little bit of surgery on one of my toe nails - oh come on really you say... well yes... it was an very present discomfort on the way up here. Note to diary... never cut toe nails too square... they'll chaff with other toes... :S
The question now was, which way to go around the route... I reasoned that if I went clockwise I'd end up with the wrath of Thor at my back, which could more easily pick me up and chuck me off the hill; all in the blink of an eye. Instead I thought that if I walked into the wind I may have a better chance of keeping balance - while walking I'd be leaning forward, a somewhat less stable position to be with the wind at ones back!
The first part of the route anti-clockwise was reasonably sheltered, which didn't seem to stop my forward motion too much, but as I rounded the hill towards the east, I began to appreciate the strength of this wind and the task I'd taken on; with each step my forward motion was briefly frozen as the wind just held me mid step like a statue. This frontward wind wasn't much help to my Asthma either; I guess most people find it somewhat difficult breathing out while air is being forced down our throats... the experience is even less pleasant when asthma wants to join the party.
As I progressed further around, the easterly wind was beginning to take its toll and I was frequently having to turn and put my back into the wind so that I could breath. Taking photographs was now exceedingly difficult; my outstretched arms were adding additional surface area for the wind to grasp; I was being buffeted around all over the place. In a virtually ineffectual way to overcome this I had to increase the camera's ISO, and use a wide aperture, so that I could achieve a faster shutter speed; otherwise all I'd have for my efforts would be an impressionists blur rather than a photograph.
Looking out east, over Applethwaite and Underskiddaw, I could just make out the southern tip of Bassenthwaite Lake in the distance, with Barf Fell in the distance; all somewhat concealed by rain haze.
Further around I was now in receipt of the full force of the wind. I could now just make out the northern tip of Derwent Water the other side of Keswick, with Swinside and Barrow mounts in the distance.
By now it was raining quite hard again and it was here that I realised I wasn't the only mad person out for a walk; four silhouette were were crossing the path a short distance in front of me and trudging directly down the hill from the plateau. No rucksacks so I can only guess they were day walkers... but at least they'd come up here with a full kit of waterproofs, albeit navy blue, rather than my eye aching bright red.
As I reached the summit the earth was only just holding on to me. In the distance I could see a wooden bench; I wouldn't be sitting on this today, but I could see it as a great anchor and shelter to hold me steady while I tried to take some photos of Derwent Water in the distance.
I'm not a bench seat user, typically, and it seems to me that you'd need to be particularly keen to walk up here to use it... I guess I'll get to know about this in years to come...
The view was wonderful and I could only wonder what it would be like with a wonderful sunset or sunrise; perhaps I'll be about to try this in the future.
For now I had to focus on walking the rest of the route; this time with wind behind me. Funny sensation, if i timed my steps just right I felt like I was walking on an alien world and space hopping my way along the path with extra big steps; who needs those snazzy and hugely expensive running stilts [Powerbocks] when all we need is a gale force wind and a medium size hill. This might catch on :)
I've spent so long moving forwards that I'd not looked back as much as I should have... I looked back now... and this is what I saw... the grass covered hill, Derwent Water in the distance, and a figure standing just where I had been a few moments ago. I must have looked similar; leaning into the wind at some impossible angles and throwing my arms sideways to catch a bit more lift... but he couldn't fly either..
He than came running towards me, and kept on running... clearly one of those funny hill runners that go out in all weathers dressed in shorts and t-shirt to run a few dozen miles up and down hills that most of us struggle to walk up at a fair pace... crazy people!
Around the other side of the hill I was protected from the wind and made an easy decent to the car park and onwards down the road to where I'd parked the car.
Rather than use my HTC to navigate along the [albeit easy and straight] road, I set the garmin to road navigation and off I went. On the way I passed Thirlmere, which clearly needs further investigation in the future. The surface of Thirlmere looked more like a choppy sea with wonderful surface waves tearing along the surface; grief it was windy out there!!
The car journey here continually reminded me just how strong the winds were around here; now I only drive a little Ford Fiesta these days [I'm sick and tired of paying through the nose for fuel and car tax when in reality I just need a comfortable little car for poodling around from home to work with only a few long-ish journeys a year], but the gusts were nearly strong enough to turn me upside down and leave me spinning like a top in the middle of the road - not a great prospect when the only thing keeping me stuck to the road was a belittling amount of gravity and four rubber bands. How would my frail human legs and postage stamp footprints do against this wind... we were about to find out...
From Keswick I started my ascent by road, the road to Ormathwaite was apparently blocked by an uprooted tree so I rerouted via Applethwaite just a short distance down the road, meanwhile hoping that I don't get trapped behind two fallen trees... eek!
Rather than park in the car park some way up the hill nearer Latrigg, I elected to park at the end of the road leading to Oxleys Health Spa. As it turned out this was a slightly mad decision; the road to the car park ended up being both longer and steeper than the Latrigg walking route... ho hum!
Reaching the Latrigg car park I was exhausted... and I'd not even started the walk yet... part way up it did occur to me that I should return to the car and bring it to the top car park; I'm glad I didn't otherwise I would never have enjoyed such a level of achievement.
After a little bit of surgery on one of my toe nails - oh come on really you say... well yes... it was an very present discomfort on the way up here. Note to diary... never cut toe nails too square... they'll chaff with other toes... :S
The question now was, which way to go around the route... I reasoned that if I went clockwise I'd end up with the wrath of Thor at my back, which could more easily pick me up and chuck me off the hill; all in the blink of an eye. Instead I thought that if I walked into the wind I may have a better chance of keeping balance - while walking I'd be leaning forward, a somewhat less stable position to be with the wind at ones back!
 |
| View to Whinlatter Forest Park from Latrigg |
As I progressed further around, the easterly wind was beginning to take its toll and I was frequently having to turn and put my back into the wind so that I could breath. Taking photographs was now exceedingly difficult; my outstretched arms were adding additional surface area for the wind to grasp; I was being buffeted around all over the place. In a virtually ineffectual way to overcome this I had to increase the camera's ISO, and use a wide aperture, so that I could achieve a faster shutter speed; otherwise all I'd have for my efforts would be an impressionists blur rather than a photograph.
 |
| View towards the southerly tip of Bassenthwaite Lake across the lowlands |
Looking out east, over Applethwaite and Underskiddaw, I could just make out the southern tip of Bassenthwaite Lake in the distance, with Barf Fell in the distance; all somewhat concealed by rain haze.
By now it was raining quite hard again and it was here that I realised I wasn't the only mad person out for a walk; four silhouette were were crossing the path a short distance in front of me and trudging directly down the hill from the plateau. No rucksacks so I can only guess they were day walkers... but at least they'd come up here with a full kit of waterproofs, albeit navy blue, rather than my eye aching bright red.
I'm not a bench seat user, typically, and it seems to me that you'd need to be particularly keen to walk up here to use it... I guess I'll get to know about this in years to come...
For now I had to focus on walking the rest of the route; this time with wind behind me. Funny sensation, if i timed my steps just right I felt like I was walking on an alien world and space hopping my way along the path with extra big steps; who needs those snazzy and hugely expensive running stilts [Powerbocks] when all we need is a gale force wind and a medium size hill. This might catch on :)
 |
| View towards Latrigg summit, above Derwent Water, Near Keswick |
He than came running towards me, and kept on running... clearly one of those funny hill runners that go out in all weathers dressed in shorts and t-shirt to run a few dozen miles up and down hills that most of us struggle to walk up at a fair pace... crazy people!
The joys of technology
I awoke to the sounds of trees being uprooted and buildings flying past the hotel window. No, but nearly... in any event this was not going to be a walking day, at least not this morning.
I tried to put the work flashbacks to one side that washed over my unoccupied mind and reminded myself that in my life so far if I had ever deserved a holiday, it was after this past year and a bit... and I was jolly well going to have one!
Instead I fiddled with my gadgets and amused myself while the world was being blown around outside; I wanted to solve the google maps to google earth and garmin conversion issue. Admitting defeat I finally gave in and phoned garmin for them to tell me that I was missing the bleeding obvious and that to send placemarks from google maps or google earth to my garmin device I just had to do blah. Humble pie at the ready I waited in their annoyingly long UK call queuing system. Eventually a chap listened to my woes and smartly told me to do blah. Ah ha! I thought... I'd tried that, so I politely asked him to try it for me. It failed for him to; he was clearly flummoxed and went away to speak to their guru. After a few hours [minutes I'm sure] of waiting the chap returned and told me that garmin had never been asked this before and that if I really wanted to do it I should go to a few free websites who offered the service. Resisting the temptation to ask why there were a number of websites to achieve what I would have thought should have been a basic mapping function in today's posts google world I thanked him and moved along. Doing a bit more searching I discovered a raft of forums covering the same issue - none had the answer I'd just been given - not even the multiple posts on garmin's own user forum - "never been asked this before" - bunkum!!
As a great lover of call centres [I always choose devices and gadgets that outsource their customer services to some country the other side of the equator because of the ease with which we communicate and the absolute precision and accuracy of their answers - that was a lie] I realised that the UK contact number had actually resulted in a uk resident taking my call... perhaps my problem had been solved.
With a spring in my keyboard fingers I uploaded the file to recommended website... file error. Tried a few further times with different exports from google maps/earth... file error. Oh well... clearly the location of the call centre in terms of the correctness of its advice is immaterial after all.
I had learned one thing on the call to garmin though... what I should be searching from in google. First try and I found a demo of an application that looked like it would completely solve my issue: ge2gpx.exe. The demo only did three points, I had twenty odd, so that either meant a number of partial conversions on spending a few points to get the full version. Now I'm all for paying for services when things work properly - I'm sick and tired of some of my Clients who'd never cough up with payments for my consultancy were I to give them half a chance - regrettably I've leaned over the years that a fiercely maintained 'money first or no calculations/drawings' policy focuses their minds. They wouldn't get away with 'I'll take now and pay when I can be bothered, or if you chase me hard enough' elsewhere and so I fail to see why they should treat Consulting Structural Engineers that way. Cough... rant off.
The paid for version worked beautifully, all points transferred and imported into my garmin basecamp with ease. Should I phone garmin and invite them to read their own forum, should I reply to the forum of this neat little application that you can use [limited] free, or the full version for a few pounds... I think I should reply to the forum... when I've written this though...
From here I was able to clearly see my desired photo locations within garmin basecamp and plans my new few days routes... Today it would be Latrigg Summit :)
I tried to put the work flashbacks to one side that washed over my unoccupied mind and reminded myself that in my life so far if I had ever deserved a holiday, it was after this past year and a bit... and I was jolly well going to have one!
Instead I fiddled with my gadgets and amused myself while the world was being blown around outside; I wanted to solve the google maps to google earth and garmin conversion issue. Admitting defeat I finally gave in and phoned garmin for them to tell me that I was missing the bleeding obvious and that to send placemarks from google maps or google earth to my garmin device I just had to do blah. Humble pie at the ready I waited in their annoyingly long UK call queuing system. Eventually a chap listened to my woes and smartly told me to do blah. Ah ha! I thought... I'd tried that, so I politely asked him to try it for me. It failed for him to; he was clearly flummoxed and went away to speak to their guru. After a few hours [minutes I'm sure] of waiting the chap returned and told me that garmin had never been asked this before and that if I really wanted to do it I should go to a few free websites who offered the service. Resisting the temptation to ask why there were a number of websites to achieve what I would have thought should have been a basic mapping function in today's posts google world I thanked him and moved along. Doing a bit more searching I discovered a raft of forums covering the same issue - none had the answer I'd just been given - not even the multiple posts on garmin's own user forum - "never been asked this before" - bunkum!!
As a great lover of call centres [I always choose devices and gadgets that outsource their customer services to some country the other side of the equator because of the ease with which we communicate and the absolute precision and accuracy of their answers - that was a lie] I realised that the UK contact number had actually resulted in a uk resident taking my call... perhaps my problem had been solved.
With a spring in my keyboard fingers I uploaded the file to recommended website... file error. Tried a few further times with different exports from google maps/earth... file error. Oh well... clearly the location of the call centre in terms of the correctness of its advice is immaterial after all.
I had learned one thing on the call to garmin though... what I should be searching from in google. First try and I found a demo of an application that looked like it would completely solve my issue: ge2gpx.exe. The demo only did three points, I had twenty odd, so that either meant a number of partial conversions on spending a few points to get the full version. Now I'm all for paying for services when things work properly - I'm sick and tired of some of my Clients who'd never cough up with payments for my consultancy were I to give them half a chance - regrettably I've leaned over the years that a fiercely maintained 'money first or no calculations/drawings' policy focuses their minds. They wouldn't get away with 'I'll take now and pay when I can be bothered, or if you chase me hard enough' elsewhere and so I fail to see why they should treat Consulting Structural Engineers that way. Cough... rant off.
The paid for version worked beautifully, all points transferred and imported into my garmin basecamp with ease. Should I phone garmin and invite them to read their own forum, should I reply to the forum of this neat little application that you can use [limited] free, or the full version for a few pounds... I think I should reply to the forum... when I've written this though...
From here I was able to clearly see my desired photo locations within garmin basecamp and plans my new few days routes... Today it would be Latrigg Summit :)
Sunday 11 September 2011
Afternoon Walk
It may have been raining, but I wasn't going to sit inside... oh no. Well, that and I was frustrated that I'd wasted a few hours trying to sort out communication between google earth and google maps... but had given up.
So I pulled out my new toy / gadget / rattle [don't ask] and plugged it in. The Garmin GPSmap 62s maps popped up on my laptop screen and I started planning the route by clicking points on the map. Didn't know where I wanted to go; just out on a few hours walk before it became too dark [in the pouring rain]. Before long I'd sorted myself a 4.9km route with a 308m ascent/descent all plotted on the screen... I downloaded it to the hand held device and popped it in its little sealed rubber bag and I was off... Geeky or what. Grabbed my compass and hand maps on the way out the door though! Just in case...
It was 3pm and I started at the Hotel and walked north out of the town heading towards Alcock Tarn. Of course most people were on their way back from whatever crazy walk they'd done in this weather, while others seemed to be standing at the pub door smoking their preferred weed looking rather bemused at this vision in red saunter into the great unknown.
The walk only really started to become tough when I left Grasmere Village; surprising that since there are hills all around. As I walked up the final piece of tarmaced road, past houses of value that I'm sure would seem like telephone numbers, all I could hear was the angry and urgent sound of some very fast running water; well that and the incessant rain playing a drum solo on my jacket hood.
So I pulled out my new toy / gadget / rattle [don't ask] and plugged it in. The Garmin GPSmap 62s maps popped up on my laptop screen and I started planning the route by clicking points on the map. Didn't know where I wanted to go; just out on a few hours walk before it became too dark [in the pouring rain]. Before long I'd sorted myself a 4.9km route with a 308m ascent/descent all plotted on the screen... I downloaded it to the hand held device and popped it in its little sealed rubber bag and I was off... Geeky or what. Grabbed my compass and hand maps on the way out the door though! Just in case...
 |
| 1hr 15min to summit of 308m, total walk time 2hr 31m.
I was clearly a bit slower on the way back down...
|
The walk only really started to become tough when I left Grasmere Village; surprising that since there are hills all around. As I walked up the final piece of tarmaced road, past houses of value that I'm sure would seem like telephone numbers, all I could hear was the angry and urgent sound of some very fast running water; well that and the incessant rain playing a drum solo on my jacket hood.
The road ended abruptly and probably with some relief, any steeper and the tarmac would have slid down the hill long ago.
If there was ever a sign that it had been raining... this this was it.
On top of a number of rocks someone had carefully stacked a number of stones in little piles. Amazingly, and despite the gushing water, they stood there looking like alien protrusions from the rocks. Surely someone must have glued these in place... how were they resisting the buffeting river?
Perhaps there's a Jedi student around here and his test is to see how long he can hold the rock here before they topple. He's doing pretty wall so far!!
It soon became obvious that I wasn't alone up here. I began to meet and number of sheep as I trudged further from civilization; total count 20 or so. Small flocks? or were the sensible sheep taking refuge elsewhere? Of course they could all see me coming from a mile away, and most likely more in the bright red jacket. It very quickly became obvious that I was not built for this sort of walking, aside from the fact that my Asthma was saying a cheery hello, I'd not been born with enough legs; well that an the fact that my feet were the wrong shape; my trusty and not so old Berghaus walking boots were making a cartoon scenes of wheeling legs and arms as I tried to walk up the polished stone track; it felt a bit like the 'it's a knock-out game-show' of my television youth as some wackily dressed person tried to walk up a slope while the TV producers were urging the guys with the water hoses to increase the water pressure and put him back at the bottom.
I wasn't going to be beaten; I kept going determined to complete my first walk hill walk of the week; and see my first 'honey pot' photography sight. As I walked I remembered to turn around and look behind me at the wonderful scenery unfolding; some of these visions were making it truly worthwhile.
Here we're looking back to Helm Crag after having accented approximately 200ft above the Hotel site. Time for a little rest of crisps and coffee.
After nearly an hour and a quarter of walking I was nearing my goal; Alcock Tarn. My heart was pounding and I was all a little bit sweaty... not through excitement mind you... I was knackered! [am I allowed to say that]. While visions of an untimely demise flashed briefly across my consciousness I remained focused on reaching my target; albeit with an increasing number of stops to quieten my heart, which by this time must have been alerting any sheep who couldn't actually see my red jacket.
Eventually I reached my target, Alcock Tarn. To say I was somewhat disappointed would be one great almighty understatement... I walked all this was for this grubby little marshy bit at the top of a hill. Cheated. Oh well, I thought... I've had a lovely walk, probably nearly died of heart failure due to the exertion, but I was sure that the experience had done me good... plenty of other fantastic places to see for the rest of the week... not to worry I told myself and trudged in the thankfulness that I was now on my way down hill again; no more spiteful near vertical [hah! they just felt like it] slopes to climb.
Then suddenly I walked through a gate and saw this!!!
The sheep must have thought I was crazy; I was chuckling [nay laughing - is that normal?] away to myself. Alcock Tarn was beautiful and well worth the near coronary to reach. I sat down on a friendly looking rock and looked out over the lake as the wind continued to try shake me from my perch.
From the reeds in front of me there came a few chirps, and then a family of ducks waddled over to me, clearly heading for my freshly opened packet of ready salted crisps. I'm quite sure that their diet shouldn't include ready salted crisps, even the Walkers crisps I was eating, but they seemed to know their appetite vocally enough and so I gladly shared the packet. Ignoring the massive hit their metabolism would have with the sudden rush of salt, I'd figured they'd enough water to wash them down with :)
The journey down initially took me through the middle of a fern forest; only waste height mind you but I was still in trepidation that the situation would suddenly turn into some Hollywood scene where I missed my footing and ended up slipping down a gully on my back; although in this case with nice large rock to meet me at the bottom rather than a conveniently placed splash pool... perhaps I should make a complaint to the Director.
Finally making my way back to the correct track I reached the edge of the hill; yes a near vertical drop that would have been difficult on the way up in dry weather, let alone terrifying when on the way down, when tired, in torrential rain, and on my own. Pausing briefly I got on with task in hand and gently made my way down on my hands and feet in a reverse crab action; bottom down. I'm not sure this was the right way to approach the escarpment in hand, but at normally 6ft 2in tall I wanted to be as close to the ground as possible; just in case there was suddenly an extra strong pull of gravity and I went a tumbling. I was also mindful of approximately £4K of camera on my back that I wanted even closer to the ground.
I guess I was fretting unnecessarily as I made it down without too much incident; must speak to the patent office about my reverse crawling action... it would certainly have been fun to see that on video.
After this I was relieved that the journey down was a lot more straight forward; I'm not sure that I could have withstood too many more shocks or incidents. The final event that caught me unawares was the sudden appearance of a chap and his huge German Shepherd dog; I was so engrossed in map reading [okay, twiddling with my Garmin rattle] that it wasn't until they were only a few feet away that I noticed them... the sudden awareness of them certainly made me jump; the two of them must have thought I was totally mad! It was clearly unreasonable that I shouldn't have expected people to be ascending the hill at this time of day and in this weather. We chatted for few moments and it transpired that he was only on a pee-walk [for the dog]... lucky dog to have an owner that's willng go out on a wet evening, up a steep hill in the blackness, just so he could have a pee [the dog that is].
Two more views that caught my breath; the view over Lake Grasmere, and a lovely little pond that appeared from nowhere along the track; I'll let you work out which is which.
More later.... off for evening meal now... strangely I'm hungry!!
All photographs in this entry were taken with an HTC Desire mobile phone!!
Perhaps there's a Jedi student around here and his test is to see how long he can hold the rock here before they topple. He's doing pretty wall so far!!
It soon became obvious that I wasn't alone up here. I began to meet and number of sheep as I trudged further from civilization; total count 20 or so. Small flocks? or were the sensible sheep taking refuge elsewhere? Of course they could all see me coming from a mile away, and most likely more in the bright red jacket. It very quickly became obvious that I was not built for this sort of walking, aside from the fact that my Asthma was saying a cheery hello, I'd not been born with enough legs; well that an the fact that my feet were the wrong shape; my trusty and not so old Berghaus walking boots were making a cartoon scenes of wheeling legs and arms as I tried to walk up the polished stone track; it felt a bit like the 'it's a knock-out game-show' of my television youth as some wackily dressed person tried to walk up a slope while the TV producers were urging the guys with the water hoses to increase the water pressure and put him back at the bottom.
I wasn't going to be beaten; I kept going determined to complete my first walk hill walk of the week; and see my first 'honey pot' photography sight. As I walked I remembered to turn around and look behind me at the wonderful scenery unfolding; some of these visions were making it truly worthwhile.Here we're looking back to Helm Crag after having accented approximately 200ft above the Hotel site. Time for a little rest of crisps and coffee.
After nearly an hour and a quarter of walking I was nearing my goal; Alcock Tarn. My heart was pounding and I was all a little bit sweaty... not through excitement mind you... I was knackered! [am I allowed to say that]. While visions of an untimely demise flashed briefly across my consciousness I remained focused on reaching my target; albeit with an increasing number of stops to quieten my heart, which by this time must have been alerting any sheep who couldn't actually see my red jacket.
Eventually I reached my target, Alcock Tarn. To say I was somewhat disappointed would be one great almighty understatement... I walked all this was for this grubby little marshy bit at the top of a hill. Cheated. Oh well, I thought... I've had a lovely walk, probably nearly died of heart failure due to the exertion, but I was sure that the experience had done me good... plenty of other fantastic places to see for the rest of the week... not to worry I told myself and trudged in the thankfulness that I was now on my way down hill again; no more spiteful near vertical [hah! they just felt like it] slopes to climb.
The sheep must have thought I was crazy; I was chuckling [nay laughing - is that normal?] away to myself. Alcock Tarn was beautiful and well worth the near coronary to reach. I sat down on a friendly looking rock and looked out over the lake as the wind continued to try shake me from my perch.
From the reeds in front of me there came a few chirps, and then a family of ducks waddled over to me, clearly heading for my freshly opened packet of ready salted crisps. I'm quite sure that their diet shouldn't include ready salted crisps, even the Walkers crisps I was eating, but they seemed to know their appetite vocally enough and so I gladly shared the packet. Ignoring the massive hit their metabolism would have with the sudden rush of salt, I'd figured they'd enough water to wash them down with :)
The journey down initially took me through the middle of a fern forest; only waste height mind you but I was still in trepidation that the situation would suddenly turn into some Hollywood scene where I missed my footing and ended up slipping down a gully on my back; although in this case with nice large rock to meet me at the bottom rather than a conveniently placed splash pool... perhaps I should make a complaint to the Director.
Finally making my way back to the correct track I reached the edge of the hill; yes a near vertical drop that would have been difficult on the way up in dry weather, let alone terrifying when on the way down, when tired, in torrential rain, and on my own. Pausing briefly I got on with task in hand and gently made my way down on my hands and feet in a reverse crab action; bottom down. I'm not sure this was the right way to approach the escarpment in hand, but at normally 6ft 2in tall I wanted to be as close to the ground as possible; just in case there was suddenly an extra strong pull of gravity and I went a tumbling. I was also mindful of approximately £4K of camera on my back that I wanted even closer to the ground.
I guess I was fretting unnecessarily as I made it down without too much incident; must speak to the patent office about my reverse crawling action... it would certainly have been fun to see that on video.
After this I was relieved that the journey down was a lot more straight forward; I'm not sure that I could have withstood too many more shocks or incidents. The final event that caught me unawares was the sudden appearance of a chap and his huge German Shepherd dog; I was so engrossed in map reading [okay, twiddling with my Garmin rattle] that it wasn't until they were only a few feet away that I noticed them... the sudden awareness of them certainly made me jump; the two of them must have thought I was totally mad! It was clearly unreasonable that I shouldn't have expected people to be ascending the hill at this time of day and in this weather. We chatted for few moments and it transpired that he was only on a pee-walk [for the dog]... lucky dog to have an owner that's willng go out on a wet evening, up a steep hill in the blackness, just so he could have a pee [the dog that is].
Two more views that caught my breath; the view over Lake Grasmere, and a lovely little pond that appeared from nowhere along the track; I'll let you work out which is which.
More later.... off for evening meal now... strangely I'm hungry!!
All photographs in this entry were taken with an HTC Desire mobile phone!!
Dribbly Sunday
Okay, so i didn't get up for the sun rise that I was planning... or rather I had hoped that there would be a sun rise to get up for... but it was rather concealed under a somewhat grey and very wet sky.
Instead I waited for the torrential rain to subside [a bit] before going on a short walk before breakfast. After getting dressed up like a walking post box in my bright red RAB jacket and bright red Berghaus free flow ruck sack I set off in my personal tent for a little jolly to Grasmere Lake.
I had tried to import this as a map directly from Google Earth... but some techno geeky stuff between kmz and kml and google earth and google map import types was well over my head; so I gave up and worked out that google earth allows you to save as file... so I hope you enjoy the jpg file above... it cost me halk the day to produce thanks to nerdy google incompatibilities... still... it's only just stopped raining my a monsoon so I guess I'd have been holed up here any way.
View north west across Grasmere Lake taken from the footway on the A591; in a brightish spell when it had briefly stopped raining.
View from Grasmere wier towards north west; you can tell how much it was raining... look at the surface of the lake in the foreground!!
Instead I waited for the torrential rain to subside [a bit] before going on a short walk before breakfast. After getting dressed up like a walking post box in my bright red RAB jacket and bright red Berghaus free flow ruck sack I set off in my personal tent for a little jolly to Grasmere Lake.
I had tried to import this as a map directly from Google Earth... but some techno geeky stuff between kmz and kml and google earth and google map import types was well over my head; so I gave up and worked out that google earth allows you to save as file... so I hope you enjoy the jpg file above... it cost me halk the day to produce thanks to nerdy google incompatibilities... still... it's only just stopped raining my a monsoon so I guess I'd have been holed up here any way.
View north west across Grasmere Lake taken from the footway on the A591; in a brightish spell when it had briefly stopped raining.
View from Grasmere wier towards north west; you can tell how much it was raining... look at the surface of the lake in the foreground!!
Saturday 10 September 2011
Saturday Outlook
Having arrived at tge Lemington Spa M40 service station at around 1am this mornibg, it's probably now time to more on with the next 3 or so hours of my journey to the lake district... quick shower first though :)
Thursday 8 September 2011
Map Reference Converter
Planning is going okay for my week in The Lake District... and in an effort not to miss any especially wonderful places I've been searching the web for others favourite places... John Beardsworth, Tony Howell and Martin Lawrence seem great places to start.
Martin even gives approx locations of some of his photos using Ordnance Survey Map Grid References... and to confirm them to real locations on dear old google maps I found this link http://www.nearby.org.uk/... excellent for finding the location and further information about the area from onwards links
Martin even gives approx locations of some of his photos using Ordnance Survey Map Grid References... and to confirm them to real locations on dear old google maps I found this link http://www.nearby.org.uk/... excellent for finding the location and further information about the area from onwards links
Sunday 4 September 2011
Places to visit in The Lake District
Never been to The Lake District before... and searching Google I've found links at http://www.ephotozine.com/photolocations/lake-district-419 which lists the following:
Ashness Bridge
Blea Tarn
Buttermere
Castlerigg Stone Circle
Crmmock Water
Derwent Water
Duddon Valley
Elterwater
Great Langdale
Hardknott Pass
Hutton Roof Crags
Loughrigg Fell
Loughrigg Tarn
Low Millerground
River Brathay
Rydal Water
Scout Scar
Stock Ghyll Force
Tewet Tarn
Thirlmere
Ullswater
Ullswater Boathouse
Wast Water
Watendlath
View The Lake District in a larger map
Ashness Bridge
Blea Tarn
Buttermere
Castlerigg Stone Circle
Crmmock Water
Derwent Water
Duddon Valley
Elterwater
Great Langdale
Hardknott Pass
Hutton Roof Crags
Loughrigg Fell
Loughrigg Tarn
Low Millerground
River Brathay
Rydal Water
Scout Scar
Stock Ghyll Force
Tewet Tarn
Thirlmere
Ullswater
Ullswater Boathouse
Wast Water
Watendlath
View The Lake District in a larger map
I've finally booked a holiday to The Lake District...
Well, it looks like I've finallly managed to arrange a very short holiday for myself... As of 10 September to 15 September I've a weeks annual leave booked... just hope this final week of work is kind and doesn't throw up any unpleasantness that forces me to cancel my holiday...
I've booked in at The Wordsworth Hotel, in Grasmere from Saturday evening as B+B; they've a restaurant but it looks rather on the pricey side... even the Bistro menu is in a league above what I'd be prepared to pay... I'm sure there will be plenty of other less expensive places to eat...
I've booked in at The Wordsworth Hotel, in Grasmere from Saturday evening as B+B; they've a restaurant but it looks rather on the pricey side... even the Bistro menu is in a league above what I'd be prepared to pay... I'm sure there will be plenty of other less expensive places to eat...
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