Wasdale

Posted on July 17, 2015 by yellowvanmountaineering

This one had been in the calendar for a while. When my parents retired, they decided to reset their Wainwright count (not that they had been counting) and do them all again. As they got closer to finishing, it was decided that their 214th Wainwright would be Scafell Pike, and that they would climb it on my Dad’s 70th birthday, 3rd July 2015. And so it was that 20-odd family and friends (mostly from the Castle MC) converged on Wasdale Head for a long weekend of celebration and generally having fun in the mountains.

A last-minute work trip to Finland happily managed to just avoid disrupting best-laid plans, and the yellow van picked me up from Manchester Airport en route to the Lakes. Torrential rain and traffic cleared to a wonderful drive over Ulpha Fell, and we arrived in time to join the party, who had taken over a sizeable corner of the Wasdale Head Inn (the birthplace of British climbing, as we were frequently reminded), for a drink. As usual, most people knew who I was while I had no idea who several of them were – though it was worse for Dave, who knew even fewer people, but was nevertheless immediately called on to participate in a “who’s taller” contest. The fact that around 20% of the party were called Dave didn’t help matters! We then spent a comfortable night on the green undisturbed by the relatively small number of Three Peakers (it being Thursday – more inevitably turned up later in the weekend).

Friday’s ascent of Lingmell and Scafell Pike went off without a hitch and in glorious sunshine. Summit celebrations included prosecco, ginger cake and pork pies with candles in. We descended via the Corridor Route and Lingmell Beck. Some of the party stopped to cool off in the pools of the beck, but Dave and I had bigger ideas and continued down to the valley. We had a quick change and paddled/swam down the river to Wast Water, where we managed a good 5-10 minutes of actual swimming (and very pleasant it was too, although we found that as soon as we ventured away from the river mouth it got a lot colder). Back with just enough time for showers before an excellent dinner and more cake.

A wild night (in terms of wind and rain rather than behaviour, in case that needed clarifying) ensued as the weather broke, and we spent a largely grey, damp Saturday pottering over Yewbarrow.

Sunday was much better, and we decided to get some of the driving out of the way in the morning by heading to Coniston. The van only just made it over Hardknott Pass – I think we’ll tick that one off and not bother again. There wasn’t time for any worthwhile climbing so we left the rope behind and joined up three scrambles to make a most enjoyable ascent of Brim Fell: The Bell, Low Water Beck and the crags below Brim Fell itself. Low Water Beck was the pick of the three – good rock, excellent positions alongside the tumbling falls, almost entirely dry and never too precarious. We finished the day by running over Swirl How and down Coppermines Valley, getting caught in a couple of summer showers but drying off before we got back to the van.

One of our more impressive parking spots

Not too many three peakers at this sensible time

Struggling to keep cool high over Wast Water

Having had a cooked breakfast, we hardly ate anything on the hill

One of many stops

Arguing over which rock is higher on Lingmell

Looking over towards Sty Head

Number 214

Number 214 x 2

Heading down

A steep ascent up Yewbarrow

Hot again, but cloudy and windy on top

Cooling the feet

The Pudding Stone was too good not to stand on top of (Low Water Beck beyond on the left)

Avoiding the stream

Stephanie wondering where we are taking her

Excellent rock

That’s the exposed bit over – oh wait…

Nearly at the top

High over Low Water

Up towards Brim Fell

More interesting than the motorway behind!

First Cycle Tour

Posted on July 13, 2015 by yellowvanmountaineering

After having touring bikes for over a year, we finally found the time, weather and an interesting enough route to actually use them for touring. A quick jaunt over to Holbeach, Boston (national cycle network chaos), a campsite next to the National Bubblecar Museum (closed while we were there overnight) and back via ice cream to Woolsthorpe Manor (Newton’s birthplace) and home. We found that Jo is faster on the monotonous Fens, Dave is faster up any incline. We’ll definitely be out again once we have some more ideas of where to go.

Cake stop, at Greatford just East of the East Coast Main Line

Pode Hole: Fens, Canals, Wind and no hills

This (Fosdyke Bridge) is the closest we got to the sea – it is tidal and it has boats

Our own little section of campsite

Big sky sunset

Rainbow over the other campers

Tent, bikes and a rainbow.

Bank holiday backpacking

Posted on July 7, 2015 by yellowvanmountaineering

The observant among you will note that we’re a little behind with our blogging – but bear with us; we’ve accumulated a few trips to write about. First up, a little trip to Scotland over the late May bank holiday (and slightly beyond).

We started the trip with a few days by Loch Lomond to see friends and help Ruth climb her last Munro. After a warm up (very hot, humid and hazy) on the Cobbler and Beinn Narnain on Saturday, we successfully climbed Ben Lomond in increasingly wet and windy weather on the Sunday. This did mean we had the summit to ourselves (although a group of ~20 would have been enough to put everyone else off anyway), and we did get some views. A great weekend, followed by a tasty dinner in the oldest pub in Drymen.

We had a few extra days off and an urge to do some proper wild camping (i.e. in a tent, not a van), so on Monday morning we headed to Glen Nevis for some backpacking. A late start simply meant a late finish in the long daylight, so we set off up the Glen, ascending to Sgurr Connich Beag and continuing along the Grey Corries ridge. The weather was good, with some strange wind patterns and excellent visibility below the cloud that was just covering the Aonachs and Nevis tops. Snow was abundant for the time of year, but fortunately only blocked the path on the descents (mainly East facing slopes), leaving the rocky ascending ridges clear. We made good time and got to the bealach between Stob Coire Claurigh and Stob Ban in time for dinner and a campsite. Although windy, it was warm enough to sit in the tent with a view across to Sgurr Innse, the Loch Trieg hills, Loch Laggan and the hills beyond.

The following day we made short work of Stob Ban before a massive descent, river crossing and re-ascent south to Sgurr Elide Mor. We then nipped round to bag Binnein Beag while the cloud and rain came in. It was good to be back in the Mamores, but snow on the high ridges combined with the rain setting in and ever decreasing cloud levels meant that ascending Binnein Mor and continuing along the ridge was far less appealing than a cosy night in the van. We’ve done walking and camping in the rain without a view plenty of times before, so we headed out. A classic Morrisons breakfast while watching the rain in Fort William rounded off the trip before heading home, via a driving tour of Edinburgh.

Finally, as some of you will know (apologies to those we haven’t got round to telling yet – we’re finding it rather tricky to do in person in any sort of timely manner), we also got engaged on this trip while admiring the view from our tent. No plans have been made yet, but we’re thinking of getting married in the autumn of 2016 – probably somewhere with mountains. But don’t worry – we’ve no intention of letting wedding planning get in the way of adventuring!