The March Mountain trip: Wasdale
For the second year running, the annual trip to the hills organised by my cousin Adrian was based in Wasdale Head. Some pretty dull weather only lifted by the usual good craic that goes on between ten stout fellows. A wonderful time, as usual, peppered with great banter and the odd occasional meaningful chat. The hills are a brilliant place to enable you to do that, especially in a large group of walkers; flitting between people and picking up chats where you left off. The good dose of fresh air also helps the appetite (as if that needed any encouragement) and the yearning for ale.
The power cut that gripped upper Wasdale the whole weekend meant that we had to pile into two cars (thanks again, drivers) to take evening sustenance in Netherwasdale, some 5 miles away. What this lacked in convenience, it more than made up for in truly excellent food and home brewed fantastic beer. I even think I got away with fully masking my disappointment at clearly ordering the wrong pudding.
Three things learnt over the weekend, mainly from John:
- It’s wise to take knitting needles into public toilets
- Check for ants nests before settling down Horton in Ribblesdale hollows.
- The tough green bit in the middle of a tomato is a good indicator on manliness
Photos here.
Saturday’s Walk:
Sunday’s Walk:
‘fresh’ air!
Well, freshly delivered to your nose. Apologies to those not from the same blood line!
…although that does depend on whether you were standing up or down wind.
Can I add to the list:
4. Eating bread crusts also a pre-requisite for manliness!
Can I say a sincere thanks to all for having me along for the weekend. Cheers.
Back down to earth…lots of good photos Dave, and as a group they are really stunning. I sat here thinking ‘why didn’t I see that?’
As for the profiles, I’d like to see time vs altitude, as that will show our rate of progress if you have that.
Cheers
Age
Excellent photos. How about the video clips?
Another item for the list of manliness criteria:
5. Going up Whin Rigg wearing just a t-shirt, when all your southern nancy companions are dolled up in every layer they possess, and steadfastly refusing to admit that you’re f*ckin freezing too.
Many thanks to all for a superb weekend, really enjoyed meeting you all and putting faces to names and refreshing old aquaintances, the knitting needles has to be the best comment just because of the images it conjours up…well done john.
What about tinned tomatoes on the scale of manliness?
At Adrian’s request, graph of time against elevation for Saturday:
The numerous plateaux are the stops, if that wasn’t apparent.
And the video can be viewed at http://philhaygarth.blogspot.com/2008/03/wasdale-2008.html