Wainwrights On The Air

2012-12-31T23:59:00.000Z

My Wainwright Blog

I started operating portable amateur radio equipment from the tops of Wainwright's Lake District Fells in March 2009. This Blog covers the days spent walking and operating from Summits. I completed climbing all 214 Wainwright Fells in July 2011 having made amateur radio contacts from them all with a 2 metre VHF handheld radio and vertical "rucksack special" antenna. In total I completed 1882 contacts from the 214 Wainwrights and have continued climbing and activating them since whenever I can. In 2012 I hope to complete climbing and activating AW's 116 Outlying Fells.

Celebrating climbing my final Wainwright Fell on Rossett Pike - July 2012

My blog provides a constructive description and route map of all the routes taken, the distances walked, and the amount of ascent on each walk. This I hope will assist future activators and fell walkers. I will also detail the parking places, hostelries and tea shops visited and details of the friends and family that I have walked with. These include my wife Judy, terrier dog Treacle and friends Geoff Fielding, Nick Langmead (G4OOE), Geoff Harper (G4WHA) and Colin Catlin M0XSD. I have on occasion climbed and activated summits whilst leading walks with my walking club Ryedale Walking Group and thank those members for their forbearance!

Most importantly I also want to thank the originator of the Wainwrights On The Air scheme my friend Julian Moss G4ILO who lives in Cockermouth.

If you wish to view my photos in a larger window then you need to click on the photo and this to open up a slideshow of the pictures on that specific days blog. Also of you click on any of the 214 fells listed on the right margin of the blog it will take take you to the specific day when that fell was bagged.

If you are interested in Wainwright's Coast to Coast Walk see my other blog.

Bannisdale Horseshoe 8th January 2012

2012-01-08T23:59:00.000Z

Here we go again....with the 214 fells completed the WOTA management team had decided to add another 116 of Wainwright's Outlying Fells to Wainwrights On The Air, and I was part of that decision....

I met up with my friend Geoff at Dryhowe Bridge - shortening Wainwright's original Route OF56 from Book 8 by over two miles. That made our walk just short of 9 miles with around 2000' of ascent, here is my GPS track of what was actually walked:

We left Dryhowe Bridge and could see we would soon be in mist. Whiteside Pike was clear but from Todd Fell on we were in mist with visability down to around 50m at best for the rest of the horseshoe until we came down off Lamb Pasture. Near the top of Whiteside Pike by the wall at 1200 feet, the resourceful farmer from Dryhowe Farm 500 feet down in the valley, had erected this TV and radio aerial to improve his reception. He must have had a good preamp - the antenna is 1 Km away from the farm!

The farmers remote TV aerial near Whiteside Pike - the hill in the background is LDO-016 The Forest

Whiteside Pike LDO-050 was the only well defined summit from the nine visited today, stations worked: M6UXH M5TNT G1OHH M3RNO/M and G0TDM.

Whiteside Pike LDO-050 activation - Todd Fell LDO-048 behind

We headed north covering the ill defined summits of Todd Fell, Capplebarrow, Swinkelebank Crag, Ancrow Brow, Long Crag (lunchtime stop), White Howe, The Forest and Lamb Pasture. We were thankful of GPS not only for route finding in the mist but for sure placement of the summits, which in many cases were defined by just a few stones! These had been pre-programmed into the Garmin Vista. We left Lamb Pasture at 1415z and were back at our cars at Dryhowe Bridge at 1430z. Yes, these Outlying Fell walks are much easier than the bigger fells from Books One to Seven. Nine summits activated in a 5.5 hour walk.

Walk profile from G4OBK GPS - The Bannisdale Horseshoe

There was a plethora of contacts to be had on this round with 59 QSOs being completed, including a summit to summit contact with Rob G4RQJ/P on Little Mell Fell. G1OHH Sue in Lancaster was the only station to make contact on all nine summits, and the best DX was a contact with MW0TTK Mark near Mold in North Wales when activating The Forest LDO-016. This was not the most enjoyable walks on account of the mist, but we had bagged nine summits so shouldn't complain. Tomorrow we planned to tackle the Naddle Horseshoe walk which is further north and favoured the stations in Penrith and points north of Shap.

10 Wainwrights around Grisedale 22nd December 2011

2011-12-24T16:03:00.001Z

Profile of my route above Grisedale on 22nd December 2011

I set out on my solo walk from the Patterdale lay-by just past the White Lion in the dark at 7.30am - excellent public toilets there, clean, working hand dryers and well lit with toilet paper on tap....well done Eden District Council.

My plan was to cover the ten Wainwrights in the Eastern Fells which surround Grisedale and I expected to be back at the car by 5.30pm. My main interest having done all these summits before was to accrue 44 points for SOTA on my push for the Mountain Goat Award - I started SOTA in 2005 and still have a long way to go. I also wanted to give WOTA Chasers a few new Wainwright's. This scoring tally includes 12 winter bonus points for qualifying the summits of Helvellyn, Seat Sandal, Fairfield and St Sunday Crag. This round has been done before in the winter on HF by John G4YSS, using the callsign GX0OOO but no one has ever added six Wainwrights to the walk. I needed to be swift as I could be during the activations needing every minute of daylight. I was carrying my Yaesu VX-170 (X2) Transceivers and one spare battery pack. The antenna was the usual J Pole rucksack special.

Snow drift - ladder stile at Hole in the Wall

The weather was mild but damp in Patterdale (12c) when I set out with showers expected. A poor forecast for the fells had been given as it transpired - it was wet windy and misty almost all day. I reached the Hole in the Wall at 0850z having encountered the first snow patches in hollows at the 1500ft level. From here I climbed the ladder stile to head up to the activation zone for the ill defined summit of Birkhouse Moor (LDW-078) and called CQ. Only three of the "regulars" were worked - John G0TDM, Geoff G4WHA/A and Mark MM1MPB. John and Geoff were to work me on all ten summits, Mark missed out on one due to a doctors appointment! A five minute stop and I set off back to the stile and onward via a wayward path to Catstycam LDW-010. I went wide to avoid snow drift and finished up heading for Striding Edge, visibility was down to about 25m and I never saw Red Tarn. Veering back to Catstycam I crossed Red Tarn Beck which is the outflow from Red Tarn and it was deep today. I didn't quite top my boots. Turning right before Swirral Edge I was soon on the summit of Catstycam - a mini Matterhorn and one of my favourite Wainwrights, arrival time 1000z. My first contact was summit to summit with John G4YSS/P who was using the Scarborough Special Events group callsign of GX0OOO/P from North Pennines-001, Cross Fell with 59 reports both ways. Another nine contacts were completed including one with David G6ENN/P who was on a walk around Derwentwater whilst on his holidays.

My pack on the day G4OBK/P

Tackling Swirral edge was straightforward and quite safe up until the final section. Strong winds had melted the snow off the top of the ridge so that was my chosen way, rather than using the snow bound paths that run up both sides. It wasn't icy - I guess the temperature was around 4c by then but there was a lot of water around and the rock was slape. I knew that this time last year two walkers fell off Swirral and both incidents were fatal, so extreme care was needed. I took my time thinking carefully about every step taken. By the time I reached the final snowbound slope at the top I had lost time on my schedule but I was safe. At this point I carried my ice axe but the snow had an insufficient crust for it to be much use, however I felt more secure with it in my hand as I climbed the last 50m or so on to the shaley summit of Helvellyn. The whole climb of Swirral took me 20 minutes and I was safe on top on LD-003/LDW-003. The best QSO for me from here was with Tim G4YTD/P who had just arrived on High Street LD-011. I worked Tim on 2m FM as he was setting up for 80m. Tim reported 66 mph gales on High Street and yes, the wind was strong but I felt it to be about 40 mph on Helvellyn and I was not in any risk of being blown off my feet as happened to me earlier in the year on Kirk Fell. It never fails to amaze me that the mist stays put despite gale force winds on the top of mountains.

Cornicing near Nethermost Pike LDW-009

The shelter was snowbound apart from one corner which was in the wind, but I sat down to make 15 contacts in 10 minutes. As I was packing up I chatted to one well equipped walker who had come over Striding Edge remarking that it was passable with care. He was proceeding back via the pony track towards the Glenridding Youth Hostel.

Helvellyn itself was clear of snow almost up to the edge, but as I continued my journey on to Nethermost Pike I was shocked to see evidence of foot holes close to the edge of the cornice. Some folk must get a buzz out of putting themselves at great risk......I kept well away.

Herdwicks at 2000 feet

It only takes 15 minutes to reach Nethermost and another short stay of ten minutes produced ten QSOs. It took 20 minutes to reach Dollywaggon Pike and the first contact was another S2S with Glyn G1IEP/P who had just arrived on Ingleborough NP-005, Glyn was one of thirteen contacts which included John G4YSS/M who had returned to his vehicle on Great Dun Fell near the radar station gate after his activation of NP-001. It was pleasing to see that the milder weather had brought out plenty of activators in northern UK after the previous week of snow and rain.

I now needed to descend and cross Raise Beck which is the western outflow from the Grisedale watershed. I hadn't been this way to Seat Sandal before and it turned out to be a good route. I came out of the mist at around 2000 feet to encounter a few Herdwicks and a few chances to take photos before the mist closed in on me again. I crossed Raise Back at NY 33987 12083 and proceeded (with several rest breaks to catch my breath) to the top of Seat Sandal LD-022/LDW-069. Just after seeing the sheep I heard Brian GW4ZRP/P call CQ from NW-044 Moel Famau. I was Brian's first contact I believe - shame I wasn't on a summit at the time but en-route.

Seat Sandal LDW-069 (SOTA LD-022)

I reached the summit of Seat Sandal at 1305z and stayed 30 minutes as the weather had now improved. Sitting against the broken wall I had my lunch and then made 15 QSOs finishing with an S2S contact with Mike M6MMM/P on SP-004 Shining Tor. Once again the fell top was clear of snow thanks to the wind shifting it away.

View over Dunmail Raise when the sun came out briefly on Wythburn Head

I took my usual route off the fell down the left side of the wall, this was quite snowbound with a good melt taking place so holes could be kicked into the drifts for safety. The snag was you did not know if the snow was 3 inch deep or 3 feet and I was down to my crutch with one leg on occasion. My boots were filled and that meant wet feet for the rest of the day. I should have put my gaiters on over the top of my overtrousers, but felt this would have been too hot. You live and learn....

I left Seat Sandal at 1340z arriving at one of the shelters on Fairfield LD-007/LDW-013 at 1430z. I was now becoming tired and uncomfortably wet to the skin but at least I was not cold. I stayed 20 minutes, sat down and made another 15 QSOs including S2S with Brian GW4ZRP/P on NW-051 Foel Fenli and with G8JSM/P on SP-017 Billing Hill (Not reported on SOTAWatch).

I had relied on telephoning Roy G4SSH just prior to arriving on all four SOTAs and it really paid off with chasers queuing up to work me as soon as I keyed up, saving me vital time. I was now more than one hour overdue on my predicted schedule and I was to fall back further on my return back to Patterdale via Cofa Pike, St Sunday Crag and the last two Wainwrights of Birks and Arnison Crag. I still had daylight as I scrambled carefully down Cofa Pike. With snow in evidence and now tender knees to consider I was looking forward to the ascent from Deepdale Hause up to St Sunday Crag LD-010, my final SOTA summit which I needed to claim the 44 points for the day on my long journey to the Mountain Goat Award. The walk from Fairfield seemed to take forever and I was in position on LD-010 in just short of an hour. Only eight contacts were completed and they were all regulars who had been following me around my route most of the day. Thank you all: G0TDM, MM1MPB, G6LKB, M0XSD (Colin - new callsign), M6EPW, G4WHA/A, M6AUE AND 2E0MIX. I stayed 20 minutes and felt the cold now for the first time, moving off as quickly as I could into the gloom at 1605z to Birks LDW-125. It was dark by the time I reached the col above Blind Cove and I branched off right to Birks to see if I could locate the path, which I did in due course. It was now pitch dark but my Petzl headlight was performing well giving me safe passage across the moor to arrive on Birks at 1638z. Surprisingly I made 9 QSOs from this one which including Tom M1EYP/M and son Jimmy M3EYP/P on their way to Northern Ireland to activate summits there. (I had earlier worked them both from Fairfield as they were passing Leyland on the M6.)

Self taken photo in the shelter on Fairfield LD-007/LDW-013

Birks was now clear of mist and it was comforting to see the lights of Patterdale and Glenridding below me as I proceeded off the fell. I left at 1650z to proceed across unknown ground to the wall at Trough Head. From there I was to follow the wall round to the base of Arnison Crag LDW-194 to finish my tenth Wainwright of the day. This last tiddler give me a real problem with fatigue and a lack of vision outside a 10m radius now playing its part in my mission. I reached what must be the most substantial wall in Lakeland at NY 38785 14550 and for some reason felt I needed to be at the other side of it. The wall was over six feet tall at my side, solid and topped with a well supported netted fence. Hadrian would have been proud of that wall. Why I felt I needed to be over it I do not know - now I think back I reckon my thought processes were becoming "Kaput". I went north for 200m along the wall in an effort to find a gate - nothing, so I returned to the beck which goes under the wall and crossed it, proceeding to the wall junction at NY 38807 14515. I continued north east now and came across a cast iron metal ladder - the type of shooting platforms you sometimes see in the countryside. This had been fixed against the wall as a crossing point and I mistakenly climbed it, finishing up on the wrong side of the wall to Arnison Crag where I needed to be. The wire top on the fence was intermittent and eventually as I started to lose height I found some well placed through stones on which to climb over the wall. "Hadrians Wall" must have been 7' at that point but around 5' at the other side. I fed my sac and pole on to the top of the wall and climbed it and then made my way (or so I thought) up to the top of Arnison Crag. After a bit of a wander I found the summit and the lights of Patterdale below me. I got a result - three QSOs with the regulars, G0TDM, G4WHA and enough to qualify and give Mark MM1MPB his 202nd Wainwright putting him in 3rd place ahead of John G0TDM in the WOTA Chasers table. I left the fell in the right direction but then lost my orientation completely and headed in the direction of The Kirkstone Pass Inn. After wandering around the fell top for 5 minutes or so in the dark I found the right heading at 1810z reaching the car in Patterdale at 1854z.

Vital statistics:

14.8 miles walked

6075 feet climbed

Walking time: 8 hours 50 minutes

Summit stopped time: 2 hours 35 minutes

Yaesu VX-170 1st battery used for 98 QSOs

Yaesu VX-170 2nd battery used for 3 QSOs

102 Contacts (101 from summits 1 en-route with GW4ZRP/P on NW-044)

28 different stations worked

G0TDM & G4WHA worked on all 10 summits

44 points claimed over 4 summits for SOTA

6 Summit to Summit contacts

1 Summit Chaser Contact with GW4ZRP/P on NW-051 whilst walking

10 Wainwrights activated (Zero points as had previously activated)

Left home 5.00am returned home 10.00pm with 228 miles driven

Walk 589.4m / 3350' ascentPhil G4OBK, Nick G4OOE & friend GeoffTime Taken 8 hrs 23 mins212. LDW-006 Bow Fell213. LDW-011 Esk Pike 214. LDW-115 Rossett Pike

2011-07-22T23:59:00.417+01:00

The route taken by Phil G4OBK, Nick G4OOE and friend Geoff on 22nd July 2011

This was the day I completed my last three Wainwright summits from the 214 fells listed in the great man's seven pictorial guides.
It had been a good dry previous day on Blencathra I reflected, when we awoke to a showery day at our Bed and Breakfast Robinson Place Farm in Great Langdale. After a good feed we were ready to start walking from the nearby Old Dungeon Ghyll Car NT Car Park at 9:20am.
Our route can be found in the large format book "Walking with Wainwright" but I only realised that when Nick G4OOE told me about it when we returned home. I have that book (pictured right).
The route leaves the car park and follows a flat tarmac farm road to Stool End, from which we passed through a farm gate to start the climb up The Band, the actual path deviating somewhat from the public right of way shown on the OS map, nothing unusual in that in these parts! There was Geoff ahead, myself taking my time and Nick G4OOE bring up the rear, all members of the Wainwright Society and Nick and I keen radio amateurs and WOTA activators. This really was a special day for me and the sun soon came out to celebrate allowing us to pack away our rain jackets for the climb on to Bow Fell.


The fingerpost points the way from Old Dungeon Ghyll Car Park

After walking 1 Km or so I called on S20 to see if Geoff G4WHA (who was with Mark M1MPB) had arrived in Langdale yet, and they had. They were just leaving the New Dungeon Ghyll Car Park on their way up to Pavey Ark. Geoff was hoping for a QSO with me when I arrived on my final summit of Rossett Pike LDW-115. Providing Geoff had a contact with Colin G4UXH who was expected to arrive on Black Fell LDW-212 long before I got to Rossett Pike this would be Geoff's last Wainwright as a Chaser - which would mean that he was the first ham radio operator to make contact with every single Wainwright summit via radio. Doing a high level walk on the same day as this walk guaranteed success. Contact back to Geoff's home in Annan may have proved difficult as the signals would need to pass through Glaramara and the High Spy Ridge to reach Annan - an unlikely prospect!

This is Nick G4OOE the previous day on Blencathra LDW-014

I got slightly ahead of Nick on what was a steady walk up to the Three Tarns where we had a short break before we all proceeded together to the summit of the 2959' Bow Fell - LDW-006. We were on the air before midday and the first contacts made were summit to summit with Geoff G4WHA and Mark M1MPB across the valley on Pavey Ark LDW-089. Our next contact was with Colin G4UXH on Black Fell who had just provided G4WHA with his 213th Wainwright as a Chaser. The best DX was to Alan M1EYO/P on SB-005 Sighty Crag and it was a pleasant surprise to hear Terry G0VWP/P come back, not from his home town of York but from TW-004 Bishop Wilton Wold in East Yorkshire, a good distance on 2m FM with 5 watts and a vertical antenna. Terry's directional beam obviously making all the difference and ensuring we made contact. Brian G4ZRP who is on The Wirral called in and completed the contact with perfect readability using a minimal 20 milliwatts. Mike G4BLH was the last of our 17 contacts before we moved off the short distance to Esk Pike (35 mins).

Activating Esk Pike LDW-011 for WOTA

On arrival at Esk Pike it was lunchtime so we set up camp for the best part of an hour. In between taking in the views, eating and chatting to the occasional fellwalker we each made 22 contacts with more S2S QSOs with the stations previously mentioned, although Geoff and Mark were of course now on different summits giving Nick and I valuable bonus chaser points from my 213th Wainwright fell of Esk Pike.
So it was on to my last unique Wainwright, Rossett Pike LDW-115. A summit which had never been activated on amateur radio for WOTA. Somehow the summit had passed under the radar of other activators. I'm not sure why as AW devoted 8 pages to the summit in Book Four, The Southern Fells. We walked down towards Esk Hause, cutting off the corner off as the going was good, before doubling back down the valley to Angle Tarn, with Rossett Pike prominent in front of us.

Phil G4OBK and friend Geoff reaching the top of Rossett Pike (Photo:G4OOE)

Nick G4OOE stayed back to capture this picture of us reaching the summit of my 214th Wainwright for our hour long stay, so we waited for Nick before we cracked open the champagne, it was the least we could do!

Cheers! A celebration on Rossett Pike

It made my day when I called CQ and Geoff G4WHA who was now on the summit of Thunacar Knott LDW-076 came back. Not only was this my 214th Wainwright activator point, it was also Geoff's 214th chaser point. I worked Mark M1MPB who was with Geoff also on LDW-076. Nick G4OOE took the radio to make his contacts and that left my hands free to crack upen the champagne. The sound of the cork popping was broadcast and was heard across the airwaves, so the happy moment was shared. Colin G4UXH was still occupying Black Fell LDW-212 to hear it and complete another S2S contact. We then worked 2E0VCO on Hutton Roof Crags LD-052 and M1EYO who had left the Scottish Borders and arrived on LDW-173 Little Mell Fell. The final S2S contact was across to Harrison Stickle LDW-068 when G4WHA and M1MPB arrived there prior to us leaving Rossett PIke. The champagne went down well, only a half bottle was carried so we managed just one glass each. We finished with 15 contacts on my final Wainwright to bring our total contacts for the day to 54 QSOs each.
The walk back down Mickleden returned us to the Old Dungeon Ghyll where we decided to return to later for our meal, the menu appearing more varied that at the New Dungeon Ghyll where we ate the previous night. However, this was the place where we planned to meet Geoff G4WHA and Mark MM1MPB, so we jumped into the car and drove the short distance back to the NDG. This is what we drank:

Two pints of Wainwright landlord.....

So how did it feel, now I had finished - no different at the time but it left me wondering now what I can do next apart from revisiting some of the 214 fells which were visited in bad weather, or the ones which I enjoyed the most and wanted to do again. As I write this report two weeks on I am still reflecting on my experiences and I am wanting to return to the district whenever I can afford to, hopefully to climb and activate from Wainwright's Outlying Fells where it should be possible to pick up some more chaser points from the 214.
It has been an expensive business climbing all the Wainwrights, but the expense has been much reduced thankfully by my wife Judy who also enjoys fellwalking sharing the costs (but not all of the extreme fellwalking in bad weather!) and my friend Geoff who has gone halves on travelling expenses and sharing accommodation costs. So here are a few statistics from my 28 months spent climbing all 214 Wainwrights, all recorded on GPS:

Date Started: 23rd March 2009 (WOTA Scheme by G4ILO commenced on 21st March 2009)
Date finished all 214 Fells: 22nd July 2011

Number of walk days: 58
Distance walked (Measured by GPS): 499.85 miles
Total ascent: 165,515 feet
Average number of unique summits per walk day: 3.7
Average distance walked per day: 8.6 miles
Average ascent per day: 2850 feet
Number of WOTA activator contacts I made over period: 1882
Toughest Walk: Kirk Fell/Pillar/Scoat Fell/Steeple/Red Pike (Wasdale)/Yewbarrow: 10m 5250' ascent
Easiest Walk: Little Mell Fell: 0.7 mile 400' ascent

It was difficult for me to reach a decision on which was the toughest walk, but taking into account the severe weather conditions experienced in Wasdale on 1st April 2011 the walk above is what I decided was the toughest of the lot. We started our walk from Burnthwaite in Wasdale at 9.32am on that day and we finished it at Overbeck Bridge, Wasdale at 7.42pm. During the walk I fell and suffered a knee injury which is still not fully healed now.

Anyway, back to New Dungeon Ghyll and after chatting on and off on 2m FM for most of the day the gang met up:

Geoff, Phil (G4OBK), Geoff (GM4WHA) Mark (MM1MPB) thanks to Nick G4OOE who took the picture

It was around 7.30pm when we split, the three of us heading back to the ODG for that better menu and to discuss our plans for our last day when we decided to visit Muncaster Fell, Black Combe and Kirkby Moor for SOTA before heading home.

Our best meal of the trip - Barnsley Chop with real chips at the ODG

Walk 5711.1m / 3160' ascentPhil G4OBK, Nick G4OOE & friend GeoffTime Taken 7.5 Hours208. LDW-014 Blencathra209. LDW-121 Mungrisdale Common210. LDW-087 Bowscale Fell211. LDW-096 Bannerdale Crags

2011-07-21T23:59:00.001+01:00

Route taken on 21st July 2011 from A66 Car Parking at Scales

More infomation to follow....

Walk 568.5m / 4000' ascentTime Taken 6 Hrs 45 mins205. Lingmell 2648'206. Scafell 3163'207. Slight Side 2500'

2011-06-12T23:59:00.000+01:00

Route taken by Phil G4OBK and friend Geoff on 12th June 2011

More information to follow....

Walk 5510m 3020' ascentTime Taken 7 hours202. LDW-153 Lank Rigg 1775'203. LDW-094 Caw Fell 2287' 204. LDW-036 Haycock 2615'

2011-06-11T23:59:00.001+01:00

Route taken by Phil G4OBK, Colin 2E0XSD and friend Geoff on 11th June 2011

More information to follow....

Walk 54a5.3m 1210' ascentTime Taken 2 hrs 40 mins198. LDW-177 Grike 1601'199. LDW-162 Crag Fell 1716'Walk 54b7.9m / 2900' ascentTime Taken 4 hrs 30 mins200. LDW-127 Great Borne 2021'201. LDW-122 Starling Dodd 2077'

2011-06-10T23:59:00.004+01:00

Route taken on walk 54a by Phil G4OBK and Geoff on 10th June 2011

Route taken on walk 54b by Phil G4OBK and Geoff on 10th June 2011

More information to follow....

Walk 533m 1000' ascentTime Taken 95 minutes197. Souther Fell 1713'

2011-05-10T23:59:00.001+01:00

Route taken by Phil (G4OBK) Judy (XYL) and friend Geoff on 10th May 2011

More information to follow....

Walk 52 12m 4225' ascentTime Taken 8 hours191. Catbells 1480'192. Maiden Moor 1886'193. High Spy 2142'194. Dale Head 2470'195. Hindscarth 2385'196. Robinson 2418'

2011-05-09T23:59:00.000+01:00

Route taken by Phil G4OBK, Judy (XYL) and friend Geoff on 9th May 2011

More information to follow....

Walk 519.25m / 2200' ascentTime Taken 5 hrs 45 mins189. LDW-152 Blea Rigg1775'190. LDW-150 Tarn Crag 1804'

2011-05-08T23:59:00.001+01:00

Route taken on 8th May 2011 by Phil G4OBK, Judy (XYL) and friend Geoff

More information to follow....

Walk 505m / 2300' ascentTime Taken 4 hours 45 mins187. LDW-197 Buckbarrow 1388'188. LDW-093 Seatallan 2270'189. LDW-135 Middle Fell 1909'

2011-04-03T23:59:00.001+01:00

Route taken by Phil G4OBK and friend Geoff on April 3rd 2011

More information to follow.....

Walk 49. 5.5m / 2300' ascentTime Taken 5 hours184. LDW-156 Whinn Rigg 1755'186. LDW-129 Illgill Head 1998'

2011-04-02T23:59:00.002+01:00


Route taken by Phil G4OBK and friend Geoff on April 2nd 2011

More information to follow....

Walk 4810m / 5250' Time taken 10 hours 10 mins178. LDW-032 Kirk Fell 2631'179. LDW-008 Pillar 2927'180. LDW-023 Scoat Fell 2759'181. LDW-028 Steeple 2687'182. LDW-026 Red Pike (Wasdale) 2710'183. LDW-124 Yewbarrow 2057'

2011-04-01T23:59:00.001+01:00

Route taken by Phil G4OBK and friend Geoff on April 1st 2011

Barn at Burnthwaite Farm B&B with Great Gable behind

Friday April 1st - gales, swirling mist, rain and the most challenging walk of our stay in Wasdale. A day without views but like fools, we went for it when we should have done something easier and left this grueller for another day...

I finished up with a knee injury which took six months to heal properly but we did achieve our objective of climbing and activating these six Wainwrights from Wasdale, albeit rather late in the day by the time we were done. Kirk Fell, Pillar, Scoat Fell, Steeple, Red Pike (Wasdale) and the formidable Yewbarrow. We never saw a soul all day and we didn't take any photographs either - survival was paramount in the gales and the use of a camera was impossible. The wind was sufficiently strong to blow me off my feet on top of Kirk Fell and force us both into crawling on all fours to makes progress across the top of Scoat Fell.

Kirk Fell © MIchael Graham under CCL

After breakfast we went to position my car at Overbeck Bridge in Wasdale which was used to get back to The Wasdale Head Hotel for our dinner, when we came down off Yewbarrow late in the day. We knew that the walk in itself would leave us short on daylight time and we did not want to have an extra three mile walk at the end of the day in the dark. The Wasdale Head Inn stopped serving food at 8.00pm so we had to get back by then to get fed.

After returning from the car drop we were walking from the rear of Burnthwaite Farm by 09.30am local time. The path soon turned north and started the unrelenting climb via Highnose Head to the shelter on top of the 2631' high Kirk Fell LDW-032/LD-014. As we climbed the wind became stronger with visibility being down to a few yards in the swirling mist. I was ahead of Geoff and rounding the summit of Kirk Fell when I was suddenly, without warning, blown completely off my feet whilst I was attempting to get into the shelter. I crawled back to alert Geoff to the risk as he appeared out of the mist, and we both crawled into the shelter to take cover and rest. The first station logged that day for WOTA and SOTA from Kirk Fell was John G0TDM in Penrith.
We had no problem navigating via GPS to the summit of Pillar in the mist. There was a fair scramble after that down to the Black Sail Pass...I think we were on the right "path" if you could call it one. We had 10m visibility at best. Pillar came and went - we had our lunch there and stayed 30 minutes making 18 contacts on 2m FM with the rucksack special and Yaesu VX-170. Moving off downhill we reached Wind Gap - the wind there was no worse than anywhere else despite the name, it was just b****y strong. It was here that I made a navigational error, I'm not sure how I went wrong but we finished up descending over 300 foot down Green Crags when we should have been climbing up towards Scoat Fell from Wind Gap. It was on this unnecessary descent that I fell, either banging or twisting my knee in the process, it was hard to tell. I picked myself up with that initial burning pain you get when you bash yourself hard. A couple of minutes recovery and we were on our way again, limping but it could have been a lot worse. The Ibuprofen and Paracetamol helped...After another scramble to get back to where we should have been above Green Crags we found the path but as we arrived on LIttle Scoat Fell the wind became more fierce as we rounded the summit. The only way to make progress to the stone wall to conduct the radio activation (which runs across the top of the fell) was to go down on all fours. We made the wall - our sanctuary, got down behind it and reflected on the madness of what we were doing....the flask came out and some food, and we got on with making more contacts with our Wainwright's On The Air Chasers.

Scoat Fell seen from the cairn on Steeple - © Copyright Michael Graham CCL Geograph

Steeple is attached to Scoat Fell via a link path on a ridge in the gap between the two fells. No wonder when I spoke to Derek 2E0MIX in Whitehaven on the radio from Scoat Fell that he warned us that we could taking a big risk walking across the gap between the two fells as we could get blown off. We took heed and appropriate care, approaching gingerly, but there was nothing to fear as the gap was not facing into the wind direction and so it was relatively calm as we crossed the ridge. To get to Red Pike (Wasdale) we walked back across the gap and crossed a grassy area coming down off Little Scoat Fell. This area was inset with slabs of rock, one large slab we came across was shaped just like a coffin....ummm. The wind had now abated and Red Pike came and went (17 contacts on 2m FM). We made our way over some crags and the mist finally cleared. We were now above the col of Dore Head looking at Stirrup Crag and the long top of Yewbarrow (LDW-124). At this point we realised we had lost the path again in the mist some way back and made our way down some crags to the crossroads of paths which is Dore Head.

Stirrup Crag from Dore Head ©CCL M Graham Geograph

Stirrup Crag was our route up Yewbarrow and it looked and indeed was a formidable climb. If there was an alternative way we didn't see it. The climb started easily on some loose scree until we came across a ten feet high "chimney like" gap between rock faces. We shimmied up it but only just, and started the 1 Km walk across the top of Yewbarrow to the highest point arriving at 6.20pm local time. My first CQ call found G1OHH in Lancaster coming back. We were glad to hear Sue's voice. We also spoke to Geoff GM4WHA/M in his car on his way back to Annan. He didn't think we would manage the last summit, and yes, we were tight on time. We left the summit over Bull Crag and Great Door - a scree slope with grass sides in parts which we took to on the hairy bits of the scree. We reached the car at Overbeck Bridge at 7.42pm - Yewbarrow took some getting off. We knew the Wasdale Head Hotel stopped serving food at 8.00pm, and we were there by then. That wasn't true as it was after 9.00pm when they served up our steak and ale pie - what lousy service, which I later reported on Trip Advisor. From reports later in 2011 the pub has seemingly sorted out its problems!

Over a pint we reflected on our testing day - six Wainwrights bagged, 87 contacts completed, not a single person met whilst walking the fells, and no summit to summit contacts whatsoever - we were the only activators out on the Lakeland Fells, Pennines and North Wales that day. The chasers were very active with six operators making contact with my station G4OBK/P on all six summits. These operators were:

Malcolm M0XAT (Seaton), Sue G1OHH (Lancaster), Colin 2E0XSD (Frizington), Geoff G4WHA (Penrith), John G0TDM (Penrith) and Gareth M0MOL (Barrow).

It is always more enjoyable when thinking back on a arduous day on the fells when the weather has been bad and there has been no visibility. We had beaten the elements but I had an injury which fortunately did not turn out to be permanent; we vowed to have an easier day tomorrow by bagging two Wainwrights on the south side of Wastwater - Whin Rigg LDW-156 and Illgill Head LDW-129/LD-029.

Walk 476m / 2250ft ascentApprox time taken 4 hours 15 mins176. LDW-112 Harter Fell (Eskdale) 2146'177. LDW-176 Green Crag 1604'

2011-03-31T23:59:00.002+01:00

Route taken by Phil G4OBK and friend Geoff on 31st March 2011

Hinning House Close Car Park - Dunnerdale

After heading home from the Lakes the previous Monday we were back around lunchtime on the Thursday of the same week....I drove through Little Langdale and the Wrynose Pass and met Geoff at Cockley Beck Bridge. We drove down Dunnerdale to park up at the Hinning House Close car park (no charge) to start our walk up to Harter Fell and then across Ulpha Fell to Green Crag, our second Wainwright of the afternoon. We then planned to head for Wasdale for the next three days and climb some of the bigger tops above there.

It was a steady walk up to the jagged top of Harter Fell with little scrambling. What an interesting summit - fantastic views into Eskdale on t'other side and a super view of the Wainwright of Grey Friar and the Coniston Fells to the west.

Ready to leave Harter Fell for the next target Green Crag

There are lots of nooks and crannies to explore on the summit itself which we used to good effect providing shelter from the wind during the radio operation. An extra bonus was that this one was good for SOTA too as LD-028 and LDW-112 for WOTA. I managed 17 quick contacts in 15 minutes, the most amazing contact was with G4ZRP in The Wirral. Brian was running a mere 16 millwatts "fleapower". I was running 5 watts and vertical.

Harter Fell from the flank of Green Crag

We now needed to cross Spothow Gill which meant we would lose 1000 feet of the height gained climbing Harter Fell and then have to put another 500 feet on getting to the top of Green Crag LDW-176. There was no clear path on the ground and a wire fence in the bottom of the Gill which we had to climb. It was here that I dipped one leg into the beck by mistake and went down to the knee. A wet foot and nothing more - I could live with that! (Geoff had his turn in Wasdale 3 days later - served him right for laughing at me!). I mistook Long Crag in the distance as Green Crag but as we closed in I realised we needed to go around Long Crag - Green Crag was half a mile further on. The lower fell proved less successful on VHF (2m FM) as you would expect but I still managed 14 contacts. It was getting late and time we legged it back to Dunnerdale and on to our B&B at the head of Wasdale.

Geoff on a windy Green Crag with Harter Fell in the background

The path back was more defined once we reached the bridleway at SD 214985. We passed under Kepple Crag and Brandy Crag on a forest track to reach the cottage of Birks where some teenagers had been mistakenly locked out of the house by their parents. A few friendly words and we were off back to the car and Wasdale. We checked in at Burnthwaite Farm and had our meal at The Wasdale Head Inn - home of the worlds most famous liar. We were looking forward to walk No. 48 the next day, which with the weather forecast would not be easy and this proved to be the case....so please read on.

Walk 468.5m / 2450ft ascentTime taken 6 hours174. Ullscarf 2382' Calf Crag 1762' (Previously visited)175. Steel Fell 1814'

2011-03-28T23:59:00.127+01:00


Route taken on 28th March 2011 by Phil G4OBK, XYL Judy and friend Geoff

Our last day of a three night break staying at Keswick. We wanted a moderate walk which would still allow time for the drive home, in our case back to North Yorkshire and for Geoff back home to Malvern.

Ullscarf LDW-075 and Steel Fell LDW-146 had not yet been climbed so I worked out a route from the Wythburn Car Park at the south end of Thirlmere. Car parking there proved to be free - the money machine was not in service through the winter, presumably due to the lack of people likely to park there and the national parks decision to employ seasonal staff.

Harrop Tarn with Tarn Crags behind

Judy & Geoff at the ladder stile

We left the car park at 0928z on the road which is seemingly not as shown on the 2005 1:25000 OS Map - we were walking some distance west of the road as shown on the map. I couldn't work this out - maybe my GPS was having a bad day. A bridleway took us up to (the shallow) Harrop Tarn and continued up Mosshause Gill on a most enjoyable route. There were some enormous erratic boulders on this route including the Binka Stone. We climbed a ladder stile (pictured) at NY 304136 and made our way over access land (no path) between Standing Crag and Tarn Crags to the top of Ullscarf, a flat topped uninspiring fell, so uninspiring indeed that I did not take an photograph there when we arrived at 1122z after a steady walk of 3 miles and climb of 1800 feet.

After a 30 minute rest and radio stop we set off for Calf Crag - a summit we climbed the previous May when we were walking Wainwright's Coast to Coast. As "Chief Navigator" I got this part of our walk badly wrong today and we climbed higher then we needed due to my lack of concentration. After following the wall which runs along the top of Greenup Edge we continued on to the top of Birks (This is not to be confused with Birks near Patterdale) before realising that we had a scramble to get back down to cross Brownrigg Moss and ascend up to Calf Crag. Geoff had his own ideas about the descent and went off to the right, we kept left and met again at the top of Calf Crag. Was he miffed that I had gone wrong with my navigation so went off his own way? He didn't say! We would have done right to follow the route we had taken from Greenup Edge up to Calf Crag when we walked the C2C. We crossed, so why I felt going up over Birks was a good idea I still do not know.

The ridge walk from Calf Crag across to Steel Fell

After another 30 minute break on Calf Crag LDW-154 where we had lunch, we were off to the last summit of the day Steel Fell, a mere 40 minutes away. A defined path existed on the ground and we had excellent views en-route across Dunmail Raise to the Helvellyn range.

Judy (XYL) and Phil G4OBK/P on Steel Fell LDW-146

A 20 minute stay, more contacts, and we were soon heading off down the steep path back to Steel End and the car park after another cracking walk.

Geoff walks off Steel Fell into Thirlmere...

For Wainwright's On The Air I made 25 contacts on VHF (2m FM) which included a contact with Terry G0VWP, our friend from York who was on the summit of Whitfell LDW-032, when I was operating from the summit of Steel Fell.

Walk 45 9.5m / 4950' ascentTime Taken 8 Hours 15 minutes169. Grasmoor LDW-020 2795'170. Wandope LDW-051 2533'171. Whiteless Pike LDW-106 2165'172. Rannerdale Knotts LDW-209 1165' (Car assisted)173. Whiteside LDW-084 2320'

2011-03-27T23:59:00.186+01:00

Routes taken on 27th March 2011 by Phil G4OBK and friend Geoff

The path leaving the linited parking area below Rannerdale Knotts

Grasmoor on our ascent

This was the day when we met up with Derek 2E0MIX in the saddle between the summits of Grasmoor and Wandope on what was a day of two walks. In retrospect we may have been better off climbing Whiteside by crossing Gasgale Gill after bagging Grasmoor - instead we did the circular walk finishing with the lowly Rannerdale Knotts before driving the short distance to the car park at Lanthwaite Green Farm where we tackled the formidable Whiteside LDW-084 as a walk in its own right.

After driving from Keswick we left the small car park near Hause Point by the side of Crummock Water at 0840z and soon encountered several groups of male and family Army Cadets coming down off Grasmoor - they must have started before 0700z. They told us that they were heading back to Crummock Water for a dinghy exercise next. We added extra mileage by using the footbridge at Dale Howe - not necessary. I should have looked at the map, the beck can be easily forded at NY 1666 1875.

Derek 2E0MIX operating from Wandope LDW-051

The path then heads north over Lad Howes and gets steeper after that. An unrelenting climb follows and we reached the Grasmoor shelters at 1020z after 2.5 miles walking and 2500 feet of climbing! It would have been easier had I visited this summit from the east when I completed Walk 35 The ColedaleHorseshoe in 2010. Grasmoor is SOTA LD-009 and LDW-020 for WOTA and in my opinion is not a very pretty mountain. At an height of 2795' the take off was excellent and 22 contacts were completed on VHF with summit to summit contacts with Scotland and Wales. We left the summit at 1055 after contacting Derek 2E0MIX/P who was heading towards us from the Wandope direction, which is where we headed next.

Crummock Water as we came down from Whiteless Pike

We met up below Crag Hill and went a tad far south whilst chatting to Derek before retreating up to the cairn on Wandope LDW-051 where I completed 14 contacts including talking to Terry G0VWP/P who was on Muncaster Fell LD-055 and GW4UPO/M in his car on The Great Orme - not counted for SOTA as you need to be people powered on the summit to qualify.

Geoff and I bid our farewells to Derek who was continuing with his own activation and made off downhill to Whiteless Pike LDW-106, finishing this leg of our walk with LDW-209 Rannerdale Knotts from which we had an excellent view down Crummock Water when we arrived at 1350z. Contacts from here were mainly local however I was delighted to exchange reports with Colin G4UXH in Milnthorpe and surprisingly with Robin GM7PKT/P on SOTA CS-017 Meall Ghaordaidh. This mountain is a Munro North West of Killin in Central Scotland.

One of the gullies traversed coming off the summit of Whiteside

Returning to my the car we drove 3 miles north and started our walk up Whiteside LDW-084 at 1440z. It took us exactly one hour to reach the summit and take shelter behind some rocks. This was a steep walk on a shaley surface and we covered 1.25 miles with 1800 ft of ascent to reach the top. The WOTA activation generated only seven contacts and we left the summit within 10 minutes to follow the same route back down to the car. I was gratified to have made 67 contacts from the five Wainwrights climbed in the day as we made our way back to Keswick for our dinner.

Walk 4413.3m / 4700ft ascentTime taken 10 hours163. Seathwaite Fell LDW - 123 1972'164. Great End LDW - 005 2986'165. Scafell Pike LDW - 001 3209'166. Allen Crags LDW - 042 2575'167. Glaramara LDW - 044 2569'168. Rosthwaite Fell LDW - 149 1808'

2011-03-25T23:59:00.211Z


Route taken on 25th March 2011 By Phil G4OBK and friend Geoff

The route taken on this walk to Scafell Pike was unusual to say the least, however when we set out LDW-001 was not on the agenda. When we topped out for lunch on Great End LDW-005 we realised the Pike was within reach so we went for it...

Our day started at 9.20am when we left the line of parked cars at Seathwaite to head for Stockley Bridge with the other fellwalkers bound for England's highest mountain.

Stockley Bridge with LDW-117 Base Brown in the background

Our target was Great End LDW-005 before returning to Seathwaite via the ridge across Glaramara LDW-044, but first we needed to climb and activate Seathwaite Fell LDW-123. This fell sits between Great Gable and the Allen Crags/Glaramara ridge. It is one of those fells which has a "double top". We made for the northern summit. This isn't the highest point but it has the best view down into Borrowdale, which is why it was chosen as A Wainwright's named summit in the Southern Fells pictorial guide. We couldn't see a clear track leaving the main path in Styhead Gill so we struck out to the summit at NY 22778 10652. There were a few minor scrambles - an easy ascent.

Cairn on Seathwaite Fell LDW-123 with Green Gable in the background

As this photo shows the weather for March was perfect. Eight contacts were made from the summit, mostly to the western Lakeland although G0TDM and G4WHA in Penrith also made it into the log. The Gables screen the felltop to the north making it a difficult path in that direction, and to the south is no better with the much higher Great End, Esk Pike and Bow Fell getting in the way.
Our route up on to Great End was one of the most interesting and scenic I've taken since I started climbing the Wainwright's. We crossed over Great Slack and made our way around the east side of Sprinkling Tarn, where there were a couple of abandoned backpacker tents pitched - presumably these were the "base camps" for some climbers we later saw on the crags below Great End. We crossed the bridlepath south of the tarn and then climbed diagonally up an area shown on the map as The Band where we found a minor path which doubled back and which took us to the top of Great End where we had lunch.

Geoff concentrates on his scramble up The Band with Sprinkling Tarn below

Geoff and Phil on Great End LDW-005

The hordes of people who walk past Great End of their way to the Pike really miss out - it's a great vantage point. A super place to take out the map and identify all there is to see around. We met a chap called David Owen here, and in conversation discovered he was also a member of The Wainwright Society, as both Geoff and I am. David told us he had finished the 214 some years previously and now concentrated on checking out individual summits from the pictorial guides - taking his time exploring on his own, at leisure. Great End LDW-005 at almost 3000 feet is good for radio - sixteen contacts were logged. We could see Scafell Pike not far above us, and decided as we were so close that we ought to visit and this we did. Fortified from our packed lunch the walk across to LDW-001 took us just 45 minutes. It was only around 1.25 miles but is the sort of terrrain where you need to watch where you are putting your feet making progress slow. The radio effort took some time up - there was no shortage of callers and it was 50 minutes before we could move off once we finished off the pile up of 34 contacts. Amongst the callers was G4ZRP - Brian on the Wirral using a mere 50mW to complete the contact and summit to summit contacts were had with Alex G7KSE/P on Harter Fell and G6MML/P Val on SP-011 Freehold's Top. After speaking to Brian G4ZRP on the radio who had a better knowledge of the Southern Fells than we did, we decided against continuing on to Scafell, so returned back towards Great End to find our way on to our three remaining Wainwrights of the day - Allen Crags, Glaramara and Rosthwaite Fell (Bessyboot). Time was getting on due to our walk over to Scafell Pike and we knew as it got towards late afternoon that we could end up have to use our torches.

Pike o'Stickle and other Langdale Pikes - seen from High House Tarn

We reached Allen Crags LDW-042 at 3.45pm, Glaramara LDW-044 at 5.00pm and Bessyboot at 6.12pm local time. The paths across to Glaramara were straightforward, albeit they did not follow the OS marking, but that is to be expected. Coming off Glaramara was due north, entailing a respectable downwards scramble before curving east with no clear paths on the ground visible, to cross Great Hollow and Rosthwaite Cam before we passed to the west side of Tarn at Leaves to climb to the final summit cairn of Bessyboot LDW-149. 27 contacts were split between the three final summits.

6.00pm on Rosthwaite Fell...the light is going with one summit yet to activate and three miles left to walk

As dusk came in we were on our way down along Combe Gill. By the time we reached Thorneythwaite Farm it was dark but we found our way on to the unmarked footpath which comes out in Seatoller campsite (a placed I camped at in 1968), before exiting on to the Seathwaite road. It was now dark but this didn't matter as we made or way back to Geoff's car which we reached at 7.30pm after a long but memorable day on the fells.
Credit to all the radio hams for the support by making contact with us during our round. Especially Mark MM1MPB in Annan, Geoff G4WHA and John G0TDM in Penrith who made contact with us on all six summits. In total 83 contacts were completed in the day.

Route Profile

Walk 438m / 2650ft ascentTime taken 290 minutes161. Bakestall LDW-100 2208'162. Great Calva LDW-095 2264'

2011-03-24T23:59:00.011Z

Route to Bakestall and Great Calva by Phil G4OBK, XYL Judy and friend Geoff on 24th March 2011

Parking area at Dash Farm track end

Our monthly trips to Lakeland had continued through the winter and now as we entered spring we secured another good value half board three night deal at The Keswick Country House Hotel. On this trip Geoff and I were fortunate enough to meet Derek 2E0MIX when we activated the fells around Grasmoor on the same day. More on that in a later blog.

We thought this walk would be easier than it actually was after starting out quite late in the day. The weather was dry and pleasant after leaving Keswick where we had left our bags, prior to parking my car near to the Peter House Farm parking area. I had tried to establish whether it was possible to drive along the gated tarmac road towards Skiddaw House, which is part of the Cumbria Way and didn't find out if this was permissable so we walked the full length of it, leaving the car at 1240pm. We reached grid reference 261319 one mile and 20 minutes later to discover several cars parked up where the tarmac came to an end at the track leads up to Dash Farm and Cow Wath. Oh well, such is life. We continued on the now unsurfaced track up towards Whitewater Dash waterfall and then turned up right before the fence to climb to Bakestall. The climb is on grass up Birkett Edge.

A good view down the valley of Dash Beck from Whitewater Dash to Binsey LDW-190 (SOTA LD-041)

It is steep in places but not unrelenting, with a few easy sections in it. We were running late so I went on ahead to start the WOTA activation, reaching the top at 2.45pm before the other two arrived.

G4OBK/P on Bakestall

Take off was poor to the south with Bakestall lying right behind Skiddaw. As a result several regular chasers were missing from my log of ten stations. I had given plenty of notice though and this brought out two other activators.

The first contact from Bakestall was with Derek 2E0MIX/P on Base Brown LDW-100 and then I later worked Julian G4ILO/P who was a mere 2.5 miles away from me on Great Sca Fell, LDW-114. In less than half an hour we were on our way back down Birkett Edge and back to the Whitewater Dash area. We then followed the Cumbrian Way down to Dead Beck at 283304 where we found a good clear path (surprisingly) up the moorland to the cairn on top of Great Calva LDW-095 where we enjoyed the spring sunshine. It was a pleasure to be out on the fells in just our T shirts in March. I knew Julian G4ILO would be waiting for me on his next summit so we tried to push on as best we could, reaching the summit at 3.30pm.

The take off from Great Calva away from the bulk of Skiddaw was much better and the rucksack special reached out to the south and into Northern Ireland. The first contact was summit to summit though with Julian G4ILO having reached his destination onto Brae Fell LDW-134. All the regulars were worked, except Sue G1OHH, who was in Portugal I believe at the time. I've worked into Ireland before from the Northern Fells on 2m FM and made it again today into the station of David GI4SNA - a man I know is a VHF specialist with efficient antennas, hence our DX QSO. Contact was also made with GW0WTT in Flint and regular chaser Mark MM1MPB in Annan to give me 4 countries from the 14 stations logged on Great Calva.

On Great Calva with Judy XYL working G4ILO/P Julian on the nearby summit of Brae Fell LDW-134

Dash Farm with the Uldale Fells from where Julian G4ILO was operating, behind it

The route back to Peter House was easy to follow - we followed the fence down to Dry Gill (which it was) although towards Whitewater Dash it got tricky as it involved some scrambling down the gully. We arrived back at my car at 5.30pm to return to Keswick and check in at the hotel.

Geoff and I had planned a challenging walk for the next day and we were grateful for the good MWIS weather forecast which was pinned up in reception when we got to the Country House Hotel. Meanwhile Judy planned to undertake a leisurely walk around Derwentwater in the morning and be back in Keswick for lunchtime.

Walk 425m / 2450ft ascentTime taken 275 minutes158. Causey Pike LDW-119 2090' Scar Crags LDW-101 2205' (Previously climbed for WOTA)159. Ard Crags LDW-136 1906'160. Knott Rigg LDW-145 1824'

2011-02-18T23:59:00.001Z

The linear route taken by Phil G4OBK, XYL Judy and friend Geoff on 18th February 2011

This short linear walk took in four Wainwrights in five miles and three were new ones for me. I had visited Ard Crags previously when I detoured slightly from the Coledale Horseshoe walk, which I completed on my own in November 2010.

The first job was to position Geoff's car at Newlands Hause for our return. This done we found room for my car in a quarried out hole by the roadside at 234206, below Ellas Crag, and we were walking by 9.45am. The day was dull but dry with mist on the tops of the higher summits.

We didn't follow the public right of way marked on the 1:25000 map but took the dotted path further north up to Sleet Hause. Geoff was on one of his "going ahead" days as Judy and I took our time on the ascent to the prominent Causey Pike LDW-119, which was reached at 11.00am. None of todays summit's counted for SOTA but there were plenty of callers. G0TDM/M was the first. I never found out why John was out in the car, although he has been known to use the method to gain some height and be guaranteed of a contact with the lower Wainwrights. Eight contacts were made with the usual set up, including Sue G1OHH in Lancaster.

The ridge over Ard Crags seen as we descended from Scar Crags

It took less than 30 minutes to reach the top of Scar Crags where again eight contacts were completed. Our ridge walk was now almost finished, at least until the next ridge across Ard Crags, as we lost height descending south east of the summit of Sail down to grid reference 204200. From here we needed to gain the next ridge running across the top of Ard Crags.

Judy on our final summit of the day - Knott Rigg LDW-145

We decided to zig-zag our way up the fellside as there was no path visible, and we reached the summit of LDW-136 at 1239am for a stay of only 10 minutes when six stations were logged.

We really enjoyed the ridge walk across to Knott Rigg LDW-145 around 1 Km away, arriving there at 1.35pm. From here a summit to summit contact was completed with M1LSD on Hallin Fell - one of only six contacts.

This had been a short day as we were bound for home and were on our way from Newlands Hause by 2.30pm. Our next visit was planned for late March when we hoped to revisit the North Western Fells and others.

Walk 41a6.5m / 1700ft ascentTime taken 280 minutes155. Sergeant's Crag LDW-141 1873'156. Eagle Crag LDW-164 1722ft'Car assisted - lunch at Rosthwaite - then:Walk 41b 2.5m / 650ft ascentTime taken: 107 minutes157. Castle Crag LDW-214 978'

2011-02-17T23:59:00.155Z

Route taken on Walk 40a by Phil G4OBK, Judy (XYL) and friend Geoff on 17th February 2011

The second day of our February Keswick based short break and we decided to return to a section of the Coast to Coast Walk that we visited the previous May. We parked on Stonethwaite Road at grid reference 260139 where there is room for several cars. Then it was a straightforward walk up Greenup Gill on what was a misty morning. We left the car at 9.30am and reached the summit of Sergeant's Crag at 11.20am. The bridleway up Greenup Gill is well maintained and goes over the top of Greenup Edge into Grasmere. After leaving the bridleway the route up to LDW-141 was unclear and we chose grid reference 281117 at which to make a crossing of the Gill. There was a fair amount of water coming down and this causes some trepidation for those not so brave (or foolhardy) as I am. Without going into too much detail we did make it across as this photograph of Judy and Geoff not looking so happy shows - it was that kind of day.

Looking down Greenup Gill into Borrowdale

Without a path we just followed the GPS up until we reached some crags and then headed west to reach the summit of Sergeant's Crag LDW-141. Another unmarked path comes across to the summit from High Raise LDW-056 and the Langdale Pikes. This path looked well used compared with the way which we came up where there was no apparent path to follow.

Using the usual set up of a Yaesu VX-170 with 5 watts to a rucksack special vertical antenna the first station logged out of nine contacts was Mark MM1MPB in Annan. With Greenup Edge, High Raise and the Langdale Pikes to the south screening off signals, the remaining stations were all in North West Cumbria, with G4WHA/M in Penrith proving the exception. We stayed 30 minutes before giving up and made for Eagle Crag LDW-164 which was a 20 minute walk.

Eagle Crag was slightly better signal wise to the south despite it being of lesser height to Sergeant's Crag, and the first station logged was Colin, G4UXH in Milnthorpe. The best contact was with Derek 2E0MIX who was on a determined campaign to be the leading 2011 Activator. Derek was on Green Gable LDW-034 and we completed a summit to summit contact. 11 contacts were logged and this tiame G0TDM also in Penrith made it. It is possible to go straight down from Eagle Crag over Bleak How, however we knew this way was very steep, having surveyed it on the way up the Gill so we decided to return the way we came rather than take a risk.

The pile of loose slate on the way up to Castle Crag LDW-214

The plan now was to return back to the car, drive to Rosthwaite and find a pub for some lunch before climbing Castle Crag LDW-214 in the afternoon. The Scafell Inn was not serving lunches so we discovered The Flock Inn Tearoom in the village - a great find, with limited car parking available arouond the back. Geoff tucked into the last (huge) homemade cornish, whilst we had proper Welsh Rarebit. The cakes were good as well, and the service friendly. They also serve pint mugs of tea - what more could you want after a misty morning on the fells?

Suitably nourished we relocated the car on to the National Trust Car Park at 257148 (Toilets available) and set off on the long distance walk known as The Allerdale Ramble. At 252154 a distinct path heads uphill to Castle Crag - the only Wainwright which is less than 1000 feet. The walk from the car park took us 70 minutes and was steep in places around the area where there is a large slate spoil heap which needs to be climbed.

War Memorial on Castle Crag © Produced under ccl Shaun Ferguson Geograph

The summit has a picnic area on top and a war memorial set into rock as this picture shows. Only 3 contacts were made from the summit with G4UXH in Milnthorpe (Surprisingly), MM1MPB in Annan and G1OAE near Workington. We were back in Rosthwaite before 5.00pm and heading back to our Hotel in Keswick to complete Day Two of our February trip with three more Wainwrights in the bag.

Our route up Castle Crag LDW-214 from Rosthwaite

Walk 406m / 1600 ft ascentTime taken: 210 minutes152. Carrock Fell LDW-105 2175'153. High Pike LDW-107 2159'Car assisted to Thirlmere then:1.5m / 900ft ascentTime taken: 105 minutes154. Raven Crag LDW-186 1.5m / 900'

2011-02-16T23:59:00.215Z

Route taken by Phil G4OBK, Judy (XYL) and Geoff on 16th February 2011

I was out in front as Judy and Geoff climb up to Carrock Fell

Our visits to Keswick were becoming almost monthly in an effort to visit all 214 of A Wainwright's Fells. Taking advantage of the winter rates at the Keswick Country House we booked another two night, three day break for February. There was little snow about but despite that we stuck to the easier fells once again this time. Judy and I arranged to meet Geoff in Mungrisdale village from where we then headed a few miles head north to a parking area at Calebreck NY 346359 from where we could climb (more like walk - it was virtually all grass) up the two chosen easy northern fells on our travel out day - Carrock Fell and High Pike (Caldbeck). We were walking by 1120am and on Carrock Fell just over an hour later. Carrock Beck was easy to cross at 344350 and there were a few rocks to climb over to reach the summit shelter. The weather was good and the summit was fairly busy with other fellwalkers, considering that it was a midweek winter day. The area was certainly more popular than I thought it would be.

I fired up the VX-170 and connected the usual "rucksack special" vertical antenna. It was no surprise when the loud station of Colin G4UXH/P came straight back as I knew Colin had planned to be out activating on some adjacent fells. He was actually on Bowscale Fell a mere 2 miles away and was planning to visit more that day with his partner Heather (soon to be M6UXH). Only 6 stations were logged - mostly the regular chasers and we left the summit within 20 minutes to head for High Pike LDW-107.

High Pike LDW-107 seen as we climbed Carrock Fell beyond Carrock Beck

Within 50 minutes we were on High Pike and once again Colin G4UXH/P was first in the log - this time from Bannerdale Crags LDW-096 four miles away. On this summit nine stations were logged, with ODX being a contact with keen chaser Sue G1OHH in Lancaster. It was pleasant in the sunshine as Judy and Geoff enjoyed a cuppa (pictured). Our route down was gradual and less steep than the climb up to Carrock Fell. If I wanted an easier climb then it would have been better to do this walk in the opposite direction - anticlockwise. We needed the exercise. On our way down Colin arrived on Mungrisdale Common LDW-121 and was logged for a chaser point. There is evidence of mining in the area and several of the old tracks now served us as footpaths on our way back to the car, which was reached at 2.50pm.

We had made good time and decided to travel via the B road through St John's in the Vale to Thirlmere to undertake a late afternoon activation of Raven Crag LDW-186. Colin G4UXH we knew was bound for the haunted Souther Fell and there was a good chance of an S2S QSO once again.

Route taken by Phil G4OBK, Judy (XYL) and Geoff on 16th February 2011

For Raven Crag which is part of the Central Fells, we parked in the top corner of Thirlmere on the small triangular free car park. We were walking by 3.40pm. It took longer to climb Raven Crag than I thought it would, the route taking us towards the wet Armboth Fell (see earlier blog) before turning back towards the lake. The path was very well defined through the woodland. For the first time on a Wainwright simply as a precaution on this well screened fell, I was carrying my heavier Yaesu FT-857. I thought that the extra power may have helped qualify what is a 1500' fell screened on three sides by much higher mountains should no contacts be made with the low power. I operated initially though using the 5 watts of power from the VX-170 and this was sufficient to easily qualify the summit. Top chaser Geoff G4WHA/M was amazingly, the first station worked so I did not need to worry. I believe Geoff was in Penrith town itself. This is a profile of the path - it is amazing that VHF signals glide around corners and allow contacts like these to be made:

My location on Raven Crag LDW-186 (1512') is on the extreme left of the profile and the lump shown two miles away to the right is Great Dodd LDW-009 which is 1000' higher. Penrith is on the extreme right and is around 425' ASL. After working five stations I connected the higher power FT-857 and logged three more - Colin G4UXH/P on Souther Fell LDW-163 with Heather (no ghosts reported today), M6CDX Steve and the ever present John G0TDM/M, who presumably went out in his car to be sure of a QSO. We stayed over 30 minutes before leaving and were back down at the car park at 5.20pm.

This was a great day's activating enhanced by Colin G4UXH and his partner Heather who also enjoyed their walk in the Northern Fells.

Walk 39 10.7m / 3500 ft ascent Time taken: 430 mins 147. Whinlatter LDW-160 1696'148. Low Fell LDW-196 (SOTA LD-042) 1388'149. Fellbarrow LDW-199 1365'150. Ling Fell LDW-205 1224'151. Sale Fell LDW-208 1178'

2011-01-07T23:59:00.432Z

Route taken to Whinlatter by Phil G4OBK & Geoff on 7th January 2011

Whinlatter LDW-160

Ascent through the forest

Our first port of call on Friday was a walking shop in Keswick. Geoff needing a walking pole after finding great difficulty in staying upright on the downward slopes of the Loweswater Fells the previous day. This was not helped by his 18 month old Meindl Burma Pro boots that had become devoid of tread! I only realised this later when I was making quite an impression with my treads on the snowy path up to Low Fell, whilst Geoffrey was making no impression at all. The irony in all this is that he had a brand new pair of Zamberlan Boots in his car, which were purchased on the Wednesday from Fishers of Keswick. He put them on later in the day!

I had decided to go for maximum points in Wainwright terms today - this meant we could just find time to climb five grass topped relatively easy summits (Low Fell would also count for SOTA LD-042) all below 1700ft. To do this would mean three seperate walks and a journey by car between each one. I would much prefer to walk between fells by linking them together, but this is not always possible when the hills are sentinels or in pairs as these five were.

Profile of our walk from the car parking area at NY 204245 to Whinlatter LDW-160

We were at the top of Whinlatter NY 204245 (free CP) and walking by 0913z. This was after a talking to three police officers at the parking spot. When we arrived there was a white van and a black Ford Mondeo car with three men with dogs dressed in black preparing to go out into the forest. We thought no more about this until I noticed that one of them had a POLICE badge on his jacket. We got into conversation and what they told us was most interesting, but quite sad. On the evening of December 22nd a 43 year old Cumbrian women called Dr Debrorah Pearson had set off from that car park wearing normal clothing and had not returned to her vehicle. The officers told us that since her dissapearance her body had not been found despite several intensive searches of the forest and fells in the area by a large group of police officers and mountain rescuers. The two dogs, a black labrador and a spaniel had been brought in from Manchester and were specially trained to search for human remains. We wished them success with their search and went on our way. (Nothing yet found as at 15th January).

Whinlatter Top LDW-160 (under ccl by Michael Graham)

Our route up to the summit of Whinlatter was an easy one taking us through the Comb Plantation on a track leaving the forest at 204247. From here we followed the forest fence for a while and then took a path across the moor to the highest point of Whinlatter. The time taken for the ascent was just 30 minutes and we hit the snow line as we left the forest. Going was easy on a well established path. We had great views to the north and east with the previously visited Broom Fell, Greystones and Lord's Seat visible just a few kilometres to the east. Radio operation on 2m FM was quite successful with 8 stations being logged including MM1MPB in Scotland. ODX was with Colin G4UXH who lives in Milnthorpe. Colin has a good VHF station with a directional yagi antenna and this makes all the difference when signals are marginal. We left the fell at 0957z and on reaching the car park noted that the dog van and Mondeo were still there, so the search was continuing I expect for the rest of the day. We had a cold morning, crisp and sunny, with a hard frost. The road through to Thackthwaite to our 2nd walk was ice bound in several places.

Route taken to Low Fell and Fellbarrow by Phil G4OBK & Geoff on 7th January 2011

Low Fell LDW-196 and Fellbarrow LDW-199
Ascent from Thackthwaite

Parking place just north of Thackthwaite

Profile of walk up Low Fell & Fellbarrow

We had hoped to drive to Lorton and cross Lorton Low Bridge, however this was closed for repair work, so we had to once again make a detour south to Scalehill Bridge and then drive north to our parking place just north of Thackthwaite at grid reference 149238 (seen above - room for about six cars).

We followed these fox tracks to the top of Low Fell

A public footpath took us above the Vale of Lorton to the top of the charming Low Fell via Watching Crag. We were walking by 1055z. This really is a delightful walk on a grassy path, which in our case had a light covering of snow. This is a route suited to anyone, or a group of whatever ability with a gradual ascent on a good path up to the summit. As we started to climb I was aware that another local Wainwrights activator Derek (callsign 2E0MIX) was expected to be active on his VX-170 radio in my pocket and a fully extended antenna in the rucksack. At 1108z when I was around 500ft ASL, I heard Derek calling and I was fortunate to be one of five stations he worked before a blizzard forced him off the summit. The weather was very different at 2300ft for Derek than it was with us and we reached the summit of Low Fell at 1145z to complete contacts with G1OAE, G4ILO, MM1MPB, G4WHA/M AND 2E0XSD.

Phil G4OBK on the summit of Low Fell LDW-196 / LD-042. Loweswater and Mellbreak are behind

Geoff makes his way up Fellbarrow

We left the felltop the way we came up until we reached the fence at Watching Crag, Grid Ref 137233 when we struck off left along the line of the fence towards Fellbarrow LDW-199. The route in the clear air could be seen tracking across Sourfoot Fell and Smithy Fell and we reached the top of Fellbarrow at 1230z. Here Geoff is pictured toiling up to the summit, and lagging behind me due to his worn out boots which were now on their last winter outing as he put on his new Zamberlan's after this experience!
The contact rate on Fellbarrow was on the low side with five stations logged, however John G0TDM in Penrith was contacted for the first time on this two day trip. It was a steady trek back down and we rejoined our route up at 142237 where we chatted to three walkers, the only people seen all day so far apart from the Police Officers at Whinlatter. On arriving at Geoff's car it was dinner time, so we tucked into our food and flasks - the tea being much warmer than we had the previous day. At this point we both felt fit and well which was my cue to text message Geoff G4WHA who alerted our decision on the WOTA Website to go ahead with a late afternoon activation of Ling Fell and Sale Fell which were just a few miles north of our present position and part of the North Western Fells group.

========================= 00000 =========================

Route taken to Ling Fell LDW-205 and then Sale Fell LDW-208 from a parking place near Eskin

Ling Fell LDW-205 and Sale Fell LDW-208
Ascent from Eskin

Geoff drove the 8 miles to grid reference NY 184291 (near Eskin) where we set off at 1410z for the summit of Ling Fell. A corpse road runs around the periphery of the hill and we followed this for further than we needed to. Tracing routes out of Stuart Marshalls book are not an exact science as they aren't OS Maps, just sketch maps, and in this case my estimate of his route up LIng Fell was slightly out resulting in a more steepening climb than had we struck out for the top a little earlier - see the map above. Our downward route was better and is on the right hand side.

This was Ling Fell seen from the flank of Sale Fell on the day we climbed it

I was on the air at 1436z and G1OAE was first in the log. A most welcome nine contacts were completed with ODX being with the station of Colin G4UXH in Milnthorpe. Part way down the side of Ling Fell I heard Richard G1JTD/P who was operating west of Keswick calling CQ from the summit of Catbells LDW-189. After repeated calls I managed to break through and make a contact. We ventured back down and when we reached the corpse road we chatted to a terrier man (he had four!) who was a former fellrunner and Munro Bagger, an interesting guy to have had a pint with. Moving the car was an option as parking is also available at the bottom of the Kelswick road at 185293, but why spoil a good walk when you are part through it by using the car to save less than half a mile? We continued on foot.

Profile of our route Ling Fell LDW-205 on left Sale Fell LDW-208 on right

Parking place for Ling and Sale Fell

A tarmac road took us to Kelswick and just before the farm we took the path to the left to follow the stone wall. This route proved to be a poor one once we left the track and I would advise others to follow our downward route above the top of Dodd Crag which is longer but less steep. This steep approach required a couple of "breathing breaks" and we reached the bland summit of Sale Fell at 1539z - Sale Fell is the cornerstone of the North Western Fells and is not to be confused with Sail, another Wainwright a few miles to the south west. Although the top was indeed bland and of quite a low altitude at less than 1200', the views of the west Cumbrian plain and the Solway Firth over to Criffel were indeed lovely as we approached sunset. The radio work for WOTA was successful with contacts completed with ten stations including the two stations in Penrith of G4WHA and G0TDM. Mark MM1MPB was booming in from Scotland and ODX (as usual!) being with Colin G4UXH in Milnthorpe. The total contacts made in the day were an improvement from Thursday at 38.
This proved to be quite a hard day and one of the few where a car by neccessity, was used to travel between the different summit areas. Geoff drove back to our Hotel in Keswick where after a quick wash and brush up I was ready for the drive back home to Pickering (with Geoff heading south to Worcester). The road conditions on the A66 over Bowes Moor were quite dangerous with snow, slush and ice around. The second lane was ususable other than by the foolish. Three vehicles were off the road on the top of the Moor and the police were there. One vehicle had come to grief by landing on its side on the nearside verge. ...and still people were using the outside lane at speeds in excess of 70 mph. Madness.

I picked up fish and chips when I got to Pickering and was home enjoying them with my XYL Judy by 8.00pm.


Sale Fell LDW-208 from Ling Fell LDW-205 on the day of our activation

Walk 38 9.3m / 3500ft ascent Time taken: 430 minutes 142. Mellbreak LDW-168 (SOTA LD-036) 1680' 143. Hen Comb LDW-171 1670' 144. Gavel Fell LDW-158 1726' 145. Blake Fell LDW-140 (SOTA LD-031) 1880' 146. Burnbank Fell LDW-183 1558'

2011-01-06T23:59:00.292Z

Route taken by Phil G4OBK & Geoff on 6th January 2011

An opportunity arose once New Year was finished to head over to Keswick again for a few days. I usually rely on the BBC Countryfile weekly forecast on Sundays and decide then if a trip to the Lakes in viable. This particular week Thursday and Friday looked favourable. My friend Geoff who now lives near Worcester, was available and we booked into the hotel we normally stay at for the Thursday night. We had two days activations planned and I decided not to set anything in stone, but to decide at short notice which summits we would activate based on the prevailing conditions. On Wednesday night the weather forecast on BBC and MWIS looked good for Thursday and rather poor for Friday so I opted for the more difficult, higher level walk in the Loweswater Fells on Thursday and an easier more bitty series of up and back walks on the Friday. Well, suffice to say the weather man got it wrong (including MWIS on the Wednesday) and we battled on in atrocious conditions on Thursday, yet found conditions on what was to be the worst day Friday to be perfect, however it has to be said on that day we stayed below 1700ft.

Profile of Walk - the large dip in the middle is Mosedale and the highest peak is Blake Fell

Mellbreak - north face - the way we went up and an easier climb than it looks (under ccl by Anton Ciritis)

We decided to park in the free NT car park at Maggies Bridge (NY 134210) and complete a circuit taking in the five Wainwrights of Mellbreak, Hen Comb, Gavel Fell, Blake Fell and Burnbank Fell. We left the carpark at 0935z with the Melbreak Foxhounds and their keepers who hunt on foot, and we were to be accompanied by the sound of the huntsman's horn then on for most of the day, although we never saw them again as they were hunting in Mosedale and on the lower flanks of the fell.

The fells were in mist and once we reached Raven Crag on the northern side of Mellbreak we saw virtually nothing until we descended into Mosedale. We lost the views again on the way up Hen Comb and never saw a thing again until we were about to leave Burnbank Fell. As a result photo opportunities for most of the walk were restricted.

Geoff posing as we drop down into Mosedale

A Wainwright describes Mellbreak as a "Grim sight, heightened by shadow giving the fell an austere effect" as the picture above indeed shows. We made for the southern top, which is the higher of the two. This means that the fell top, almost 1.5 Km long, must be walked in its entirety. I'm sure this would be most enjoyable with a view but we saw nothing, arriving at the highest point at 1103z. The radio activation was not too successful either with only four contacts with Mark MM1MPB, Julian G4ILO, Colin G4UXH and Geoff G4WHA/M in Penrith, which was just enough to qualify for the SOTA points and winter bonus. The weather was not as forecast and on our way down into Mosedale (where we lost most of the height gained on Mellbreak) it started to sleet. I had relied on Stuart Marshalls "Walking the Wainwrights" book for our route and should have realised when Stuart's says precipitous (like he did on Troutbeck Tongue) he really means it! The climb out of Mosedale, the most direct route from Mellbreak to the grassy topped Hen Comb, was a killer. Our desolate moorland climb was made worse by the sleet and a chilling wind. We reached the summit at 1233z in a blizzard after frequent breathing breaks. A more sensible route would have been to go SSW to Floutern Cop and then ascend Hen Comb by the ridge. Contacts were just as hard to come by on the summit and again only four QSOs were completed.

G4OBK Phil on Hen Comb LDW-171

The walk to the sprawling summit of Gavel Fell across White Oak Moss was not as boggy as we thought it might be as we were helped by the frozen surface. The temperature drop (after being quite mild when we left the car park) was most noticable so the extra clothing being carried needed to be put on. I had three layers on myself, with thermal long johns, Craghopper Kiwi trousers and Wynster overtrousers, with three layers under my Bergaus Mera Peak coat thermal vest, polo neck and thick fleece and despite this I was still feeling the wind chill. My fleece gloves were now saturated and becoming frozen as it went colder so I went over to my Trekmates gel lined thicker ones and soon had warm hands again. These gloves are no use when operating a radio though, and needed to be taken off for the radio activation once we were on the summit of Gavel Fell at 1354z. Again, another four contacts were made with the same stations contacted on Mellbreak. The only difference being that Colin G4UXH was now operating portable from a high point north of Milnthorpe which enable him to make the contacts with me that day successfully. We only lingered for three minutes and up to this point the weather had been too inclement to eat or drink. There was no shelter from the bitter wind at all. I knew there was a shelter on Blake Fell, our highest point of the day and another SOTA summit, so we decided to make for that where we would take a rest and have our dinner. We were there in 24 minutes and our route took us across Fothergill Head as we followed the fence up to the summit shelter. Radio wise the activation here was more successful with 12 contacts being logged. ODX being a summit to summit SOTA contact with Neil 2M0NCM/P on GM/SS-281 Cairn Pat near Stranraer, a distance of 113 Km.

At the Blake Fell shelter with my SOTA Flag

G1OHH Sue in Lancaster was contacted for the first time that day, the extra height gain making the difference. A bite to eat (Frozen Snickers - quite tasty, but watch your teeth!) and some tepid tea out of the flasks and we left the top of Blake Fell in mist at 1455z to head for our last of the day, the much lower Burnbank Fell LDW-183 lying on the outer fringe of the Lake District.

The mist finally clearing as we leave Burnbank Fell at 1530z

This was only a 20 minute walk and I was on the air from Burnbank and still in mist by 1519z. From here eight contacts were completed to make 32 for the day. G4ILO was logged first and then GM7PFY/M, 2E0MIX, M0AYB, MM1MPB, G1OAE, G4UXH AND G4WHA/M Geoff, who previously thought that he would not have made contact with these western fells from Penrith owing to being blocked out by Hopegill Head and Grisedale PIke, which are direct line of sight. Blencathra is slightly north of the direct path and so all contacts were completed with Penrith on all five summits activated, allowing Geoff to consolidate his lead as the top chaser!

Top of Burnbank Fell after the mist cleared - Geoff taking in the views and the sunshine

As we packed up on Burnbank Fell, the cornerstone of the Western Fells, we looked around - there hadn't been much point all day as we had been in mist up to now, but to the west we had the fantastic sight of the setting sun burning away the mist and bathing us in bright light (and a little heat) at last, and giving me a chance to take some photographs of the view. We stayed on the summit to see everything being exposed in less than two minutes in all directions. It was amazing!

On Burnbank Fell just before we headed back to Maggie's Bridge CP

We now had a 3 Km downhill walk back to the shore of Loweswater and the car park and left the fell at 1538z taking to the rough hillside to reach Holme Beck near to the Bield, half way down the Gill. The water tank mentioned by AW in The Western Fells book was no longer there, only a weir. The tank is indeed still shown on the OS 1:25000 map. We arrived back at my car at 1643z after a satisfying day in difficult conditions and looked forward to Friday when we would return to the same area of the Western Fells.

Walk 379.9m / 2865 ft ascentPhil G4OBK and Geoff G4WHA135. Longlands Fell LDW-179136. Brae Fell LDW-134137. Great Sca Fell LDW-114138. Knott LDW-082 (SOTA LD-023)139. Meal Fell LDW-148140. Great Cockup LDW-159(Drive to Binsey Lodge)141. Binsey LDW-190 (SOTA LD-041)

2010-11-20T23:59:00.017Z

Our route in November 2010

After talking to Geoff (G4WHA) in early November I discovered that he enjoyed walking the lakeland fells in company. As the leading WOTA activator (Phil) and leading WOTA chaser (Geoff) we had enjoyed well over 100 QSOs with each other over the past year. We also both chase and activate and so we agreed we ought to have a day out activating together. We'd met in person in 2009 at the NARSA Blackpool rally, so we weren't complete strangers to each other, so I had no problem recognising Geoff when we met near Longlands, below the Northern Fells a few days later.

There were differences in our usual choice of operating days - I prefer to walk during the week when Geoff is at work but Geoff HAS to walk at the weekends as he has a full time job. After my trip up to Keswick during the week previous when I activated the fells around Lord's Seat on a Tuesday afternoon, I got the chance to return the following Saturday. Geoff was also free that day so we chose a route on the Northern Fells which had previously been done by WOTA PR Officer Phil, M0AYB, in October. If there was time at the end of the day we intended to add Binsey LDW-190, but this would have to be car assisted from Longlands to the parking spot at Binsey Lodge on account of the limited daylight.

The view north as we climbed Longlands Fell on a frosty morning

An early start of 5.45am from Pickering got me to the parking spot at the foot of Longlands Fell (GR 266358) by 8.15am. The latter part of the country lanes after Keswick were hilly and ice bound so care was needed. Geoff appeared before 8.30am and we were walking just after that in a temperature of -2c on hard frosty ground. The view north over Charleton Gill was open and clear and we gained the top of Longlands Fell (LDW-179) at 09.17am to complete 4 QSOs each with G4ILO the first in the log, followed by G4UXH/P M0DXT and MM1MPB . The early bird catches the worm......

We did not work any distance from this fell or the others climbed all day. This was due to the bulk of Skiddaw and Blencathra blocking our signals to the south. We did however manage to quickly establish that my J Pole antenna performed better than Geoff's shorter Co-linear on most contacts, and we thank all the chasers who took the trouble to give us comparison reports.

Geoff G4WHA - posing for the camera on Meal Fell LDW-148

When walking the fells shortest is not usually best, so we made our way along the upper side of Charleton Gill until the steep sides levelled, crossing at 28162 34785 to climb the grassy flank of Brae Fell in mist. The top was located by GPS and we each completed seven QSOs. A quick biscuit and we were off south, crossing Little Sca Fell (not worthy of Wainwright classification) and then on to Great Sca Fell LDW-114. There is probably a better route around the side of Little Sca Fell which saved the climb but we were seduced by the quad track over the top of it. Little Sca Fell does have a cairn and one would need to be careful in mist not to mistake it for the higher Great Sca Fell 400m on. The conditions were not comfortable with the mist, so we worked who we could and made for the highest point of our day at 2329 ft on Knott LDW-082 (SOTA LD-023). It was now lunchtime and we were joined by three other walkers who appeared out of the mist, being spotted first by my dog Treacle who alerted us to their presence. We stayed for 40 minutes before returning via the same route down to the col at 292336 where we turned north west to head for Meal Fell (LDW-148). It was here where we heard Richard G1JTD/P operating from Great Rigg - a summit we both wanted to work as Chasers for a "unique" contact. Richard was 53 but unfortunately failed to pick up our signals, so after repeated attempts and assistance from G1OAE and MM1MPB we gave up and made for our next Wainwright, Meal Fell where another seven QSOs each were completed. Now at last the mist cleared and we had a view down deep into Trusmadoor, a pass which we had to cross to reach our final summit on the round Great Cockup (LDW-159). Views remained clear then on, and the view of Binsey and beyond gave us the inspiration to climb it.

Treacle - resting while we make some contacts from Great Cockup LDW-159

The route back to the parking spot was a lovely walk down from Great Cockup across the upper reaches of the River Ellen and then alongside a path beside the greenery of Longlands Beck. We had made good time and were back at the cars by 2.48pm. Geoff had ventured up Binsey one evening after work during the summer of 2009 but still wished to climb it again. There was also a SOTA point in it for us both as Binsey satisfies the Marilyn criteria which makes it LD-041. If I climbed Binsey that day then it would free up part of on another day to do another singleton Wainwright summit. On this last one we rounded off the day by working Colin G4UXH/P on his final summit of six on the day, which was Hallin Fell LDW-We were walking from the Binsey Lodge parking spot (takes about six cars) by 15.05pm.

Binsey LDW-190 seen from the top of Longlands Fell LDW-179

We enjoyed our time on top of Binsey, at the end of a great day for both of us on the fells. We had enjoyed the company on our joint activation having made 45 QSOs each across the seven summits.

By this time Colin G4UXH/P was on his sixth and last Wainwright - Hallin Fell LDW-203 and another S2S was completed. We'd followed each others activations all day, a great opportunity for me to work some Wainwrights which I could not have done from home! Thank you for turning out Colin, I uspect your day was a touch harder than ours was.

Binsey as the northernmost of Wainwrights by a short head over Longlands Fell, felt different to all the other Lakeland Fells somehow. I looked over the Solway to Criffle above the windfarm in the foreground.

Returning to the parking spot as we bade our fairwells, we both agreed that we would activate some more Wainwrights together as soon we got the chance.

Walk 36Whinlatter Fells Tuesday 16th November 20107.5m / 2770' ascentPhil G4OBK (solo)131. LDW-185 Barf 1535ft132. LDW-147 Lord's Seat 1811ft133. LDW-169 Broom Fell 1677ft134. LDW-187 Graystones 1483ft

2010-11-16T23:59:00.067Z

Barf LDW-185 > Lord's Seat LDW-147 > Broom Fell LDW-169 > Graystones LDW-187 GPS Track

I was in Keswick for a somewhat sombre family visit - my dear father in law, Ron, who loved the Lake District and who had given me his Wainwright Pictorial Guides in 2009, passed away in September. So five members of the family came to the Lakes to scatter his ashes in the place he used to sit in his final years near to the disabled car park above Tarn Hows, with its view of Weatherlam, Coniston Old Man and the Western Fells. That was on Monday.

View whilst climbing Beckstones Gill

Tuesday was free. We all took a walk from Keswick to Threlkeld and back in the morning walking along the former railway line (closed in 1972), sighting a kingfisher and coming back through Brundholme Woods. This left me free to go off and activate some Wainwrights in the afternoon.

The most convenient walk to maximize the WOTA count in the time available was from just north of Thornthwaite on the edge of the Whinlatter Forest Park. I parked up by the bus stop near to the former Swan Hotel, a smart building now called Swan House - seemingly converted to flats for the wealthy. There is free parking here for several cars close to houses - a fairly secure location to park up. A phone call to John G0TDM in Penrith to let him know that I was on for a late start (1.00pm), and off I went to climb Barf LDW-185.

The path goes steeply up in the woodland up the south side of Beckstones Gill. There is actually more than one path, but I only discovered this later when I came down in the dark after reviewing my GPS track (see above picture). At the top of the Gill the Beck is easily crossed, then over a stile and you are onto the flank of Barf.

From Barf a snow and cloud capped Skiddaw LDW-004 with Dodd LDW-174 below right

View north from Barf LDW-185

Leaving Barf for Lord's Seat

The walk up took 35 minutes and the view was commanding once I got there. Skiddaw was snow capped with cloud just skimming the top. The conditions were perfect for fell walking. This was a nice change from recent forays into the hills. The first CQ got me a contact well south into the station of Colin G4UXH in Milnthorpe followed by the regulars, including Sue G1OHH in Lancaster. Then surprisingly on a direct path right through Skiddaw Little Man and Blencathra both G0TDM and G4WHA were easily worked! I finished with 8 contacts in my log and moved off to Lords Seat LDW-147 (SOTA LD-033) which was reached in 20 minutes. The view got even better in all directions. For future reference I noticed that there was a metal support pole on the summit should anyone wish to fasten their fishing pole to it. I did not require this today as I was using my usual rucksack special vertical and VX-170 handheld. 12 contacts were completed here, the most notable being with my friend Gerald G4OIG/P who was on Aye Gill Pike NP-023 for a summit to summit SOTA contact.

Lord's Seat looking north

One more summit to go, or so I thought, and off I descended on the 15 minute walk towards the cairn on Broom Fell LDW-169. The contacts were harder to come by here, without the SOTA interest, and only seven QSOs resulted.

Cairn on Broom Fell LDW-169

I looked across the the next ridge and decided that must be Graystones LDW-187 just over a mile away. My watch said 2.55 pm but I was equipped for walking in the dark so I decided to go for it rather than leave it for another day, knowing that my descent down Thornthwaite Gill would be in darkness. I yomped down to Widow Hause taking a slightly circuitous route after that to one of three distinctive summits within the activation zone on Graystones LDW-187. I chose the small cairn to the south at NY 17760 26485. I came down on a better path - for future reference when coming from Broom Fell to Graystones I would advise climbing the stile/fence in this picture:

Fence at Widow Hause

I arrived at 1520z quickly made six contacts with M0AYB, G4ILO, 2E0XSD, MM1MPB, G4WHA/M and G1OAE and I was back on my way for 1530z. Thanks to all for keeping it brief as the daylight was now against me with almost a five mile return walk back on the same route (omitting Barf) ahead of me.

I checked in en-route on both Broom Fell and Lord's Seat and thanks to Phil M0AYB and Colin G4UXH (both keen activators themselves) for being there to acknowledge my calls. There was no time to waste from Lord's Seat. It was now 16.25z as I started my descent. If there was a distinct path to the west of Barf I did not find it but walking on the heather in the twilight was no problem. As I reached the area under Barf I put on my Petzl Myolite 3 LED headlamp. That really was a "Godsend". Purchased two years ago and never used in anger before, apart from inside a beach shelter in NFD for one hour last June!

I safely crossed the Beck to briefly join the forestry road north west of Birch Crag. The "breadcrumb" trail on my GPS enabled me to find the cut downhill, off the graded track and down the path into the gill. It was then just basically a case of following the beck down in the pitch dark, watching my footing as I dropped steeply downhill.

The Petzl Myolite 3 headlamp - got me down safely

I arrived safely back at Swan House by 1710z. An exciting and worthwhile adventure! When I downloaded my route from GPS to Memory Map I was surprised to find that after a few hundred metres the path I came down on was some distance away from the path which I used on the way up.

Stations worked on all four summits:

G4ILO Julian

G1OAE Tony

G4WHA Geoff

G0TDM John

M0AYB Phil

Station worked on three summits:

2E0XSD (not worked on Barf)

Thanks to the Chasers and Spotters for enhancing what was a great half day walk.

Walk 35Coledale Horseshoe North Western Fells 5th November 201010.8 miles / 4450ft ascent Average walk speed 2.3 mph Overall walk speed (with stops) 1.6 mphPhil G4OBK (solo)

2010-11-05T23:59:00.019Z

Grisedale Pike LDW-040 (LD-015) seen from the flank of Barrow LDW-188

124. Grisedale Pike LDW-040 2595 ft

125. Hopegill Head LDW-053 2526 ft

126. Eel Crag (Crag Hill) LDW-024 2753 ft

127. Sail LDW-050 2536 ft

128. Scar Crags LDW-101 2205 ft

129. Outerside LDW-142 1864 ft

130. Barrow LDW-188 1493 ft

Route taken 5th November 2010

After an almost three month lay-off when we finally completed Wainwrights Coast to Coast walk I got a chance to travel back to Keswick. I still yearn to climb Blencathra and its surrounding summits via Sharp Edge but Friday 5th November was not the day for it due to anticipated 50 mph gusts, which proved correct. I decided late afternoon the previous day that the MWIS forecast was just about acceptable to make a trip over worthwhile and so I poured over the map and books I have to pick out a circuit that would allow me to bag several more summits which would fit in with a shorter day. "Fellwalking with Wainwright" was a large page book that AW wrote in 1984 in conjunction with the professional photographer Derry Brabbs, and from it I picked out the Coledale Horseshoe which took in seven summits if you included Hopegill Head.

Profile of Route

I left Pickering at 0550Z and was walking from an empty car park north of Braithwaite at 0815Z. The free car park used at grid ref NY227237 is well off the road and has room for around ten vehicles. The unrelenting climb of almost 2200 feet for just over 2 miles via Sleet How to the top of Grisedale Pike (LDW-040/LD-015) took me 75 minutes. The grey day meant that I lost what view I had at around the 2000 feet level. It was around this point that I had a deja vu feeling as I realised I had climbed Grisedale Pike on a school trip over 40 years previously but strangely this only came to mind as I was climbing it. I set my gear up on the summit top rather than the slightly lower shelter and it was here that I realised that I was right to think that this was a good day not to climb Blencathra as the gusts of wind almost took me off my feet.

Flooded shelter on Grisedale Pike

The VX-170 handheld was deployed with the usual J Pole half wave rucksac special antenna and nine contacts were logged. The first station being Mike GW0DSP in Connahs Quay and then his neighbour Steve GW7AAV, both SOTA chasers - Grisedale Pike is also LD-015. These contacts were the best DX and GD0LQE in Laxey was also worked, along with the regulars. Now in mist I swiftly moved off turning right at the useful cairn at NY 19287 21988 to reach Hopegill Head LDW-053. I was to remain in mist until I decended after my lunch to Outerside. Hopegill Head was an extra and one which could have been done another time from the Crummock Water side of the hill with Grasmoor, however I was enjoying the walk, it hadn't yet started raining and I was feeling pretty good. Hopegill Head produced seven QSOs and I descended back down to Coledale Hause which AW describes as a "confusing place" as most Hauses in the Lake District can be! Boredale Hause in the Far Eastern Fells is another one. I did not locate the path (if there was one) as I walked across the slate ridden terrain, which explains why mountain climbers keep away from Hopegill Head - the rock is too flaky to climb safely here. I came out of mist briefly at the Hause and found a sheltered spot to drink my flask of mulligatawny soup. I then made my way south climbing up alongside the waterfalls, made more spectacular due to the 6 inches of rain which had fallen the previous day:

Waterfall coursing down into Coledale Hause

The next summit which AW referred to as Eel Crag is really Crag Hill. Eel Crag can be seen in this picture above and lies well below the highest point. The corner apparently can be cut here and the climb commenced earlier but the slate makes walking difficult and Wainwright advises that patience is a virtue and to continue on. I chose to follow his advice in "Fellwalking with Wainwright" and continued to the footpath crossroads at spot height 722 (grid reference 186201) before I turned east on the well graded path up to LDW-024 "Eel Crag" which was the highest point of my walk.

Eel Crag (Crag Hill) Trig point LDW-024

Unusually this was one walk where the one SOTA summit of Grisedale Pike, is lower by almost 200 feet than the higher WOTA summit of Crag Hill which was reached at 1130z. Seven QSOs were completed - the best DX was with Brian G4ZRP in Ellesmere Port. After this the summits came quickly as did several rain and hail showers - it was now time for some "instant gratification" after a lay-off of almost three months from climbing the Wainwrights. Eel Pike (LDW-024), Sail (LDW-050), Scar Crags (LDW-101) were all activated inside 50 minutes before I made my way down High Moss to Outerside LDW-142 and finally (thankfully out of the mist) via Low Moss and Stile End where Barrow Door was reached before the easy climb to Barrow itself (LDW-188) for the final four QSOs. Barrow is a lowly fell surrounded by bigger mountains so I was pleased to work Colin G4UXH in Milnthorpe and Tony G1OAE in Workington from here. Colin had done the same walk two weeks previously. Penrith contacts of course are usually guaranteed, and the regular stations of John G0TDM and Geoff G4WHA (who leads the WOTA chasers at present) completed the day by working me on all seven summits I had activated. I had planned to return via Braithwaite Lodge, however now that I could see the tracks below me down in Barrow Gill they looked more interesting, so I ventured down to High Coledale, a ruined building, to join a footpath which turned into a track at the reservoir and which took me past the Coledale Inn and into the village.

Outerside LDW-142 from High Moss

Seven Summits worked:
G0TDM John Penrith
G4WHA/M Geoff Penrith

Four Summits worked:
G1OHH Sue Lancaster
G1OAE Tony Workington

Three Summits worked:
G4ILO Julian Cockermouth
G4UXH Colin Milnethorpe

I made 41 contacts on the Coledale Horseshoe and was back at my car in Braithwaite by 1450z where the car park was now full. I had enjoyed getting back out on what would have been a superb walk on a clearer day. This is one walk which I must do again another year when the day is not grey.
I made my way back to Pickering and surprisingly was home in good time for the evening news at 6.00pm and my dinner. Now I must work out what summits I can activate when I am in Keswick with my family in around a week's time.

Walk 34 Skiddaw Group Northern Fells Sunday 15th August 201013.5m / 4870ft ascentPhil G4OBK Geoff & Treacle (Terrier)116. Dodd LDW-174 1674ft117. Carlside LDW-064 2448ft118. Long Side LDW-070 2408ft119. Ullock Pike LDW-098 2264ft120. Skiddaw LDW-004 3054ft121. Skiddaw Little Man LDW-015 2838ft122. Lonscale Fell LDW-080 2346ft123. Latrigg Fell LDW-206 1204ft

2010-08-16T21:49:00.336+01:00


Route from Applethwaite

Dodd LDW-174 from Hounslow Bank

We set ourselves a hard job on this walk, and managed to just complete it in the time we had allowed. We left Pickering at 6.00am local time enjoying a good drive to Applethwaite north of Keswick, where there is roadside parking at GR 260258. After leaving the car at 8.15am we walked through Millbeck intending to take the footpath up into Lyzzick Wood. However, we missed our turning into the wood and continued climbing along the fenceline finishing up at the top of Hounslow Bank. A bad start to the day and we paid for it later. Our destination was Dodd LDW-174 - a hill often missed out by walkers doing the Skiddaw Group. After another bad decision when we missed the path again we found ourselves climbing Dodd through an area of cleared fell from the south, eventually finding a graded path to the summit when we were around 2/3rds the way up. This error cost us around 30 minutes and a good half mile of difficult climbing.

Memorial plate

Once we found the stoney path it was excellent, right up to the monument on top (pictured left). Geoff was off form to start with but soon gained strength and continued on with renewed vigour for the rest of the day. As the fell was devoid of sheep my terrier, Treacle, was able to enjoy a short spell of freedom off the lead. Dodd is well screened off and although the Memorial plate says it is 1612ft my source at http://www.hillbagging.co.uk/ states 1647ft. Dodd is hidden behind the back of Skiddaw so it didn't bode well for radio contact with Penrith. Only two contacts were made with Julian G4ILO/P, on his way to activate Outerside LDW-142, and Colin 2E0XSD in Frizington. Whilst activating we were invaded by swarms of flying ants, also noted by Julian, Frank G3RMD and Ian 2E0EDX who were all out activating in Lakeland. Having lost time, our earlier than expected start on the walk wasted, we made off down the excellent path and came out within 25m of where we had doubled back at 250273 before the ascent and kicked ourselves for just missing the path. It was my decision, oh well.

We were following one of Stuart Marshall's classic routes from his book "Walking the Wainwrights". Stuart's mapping up to Carlside via the steepest route proved a little suspect, it couldn't be seen on the ground, so we deviated eastwards via the obvious path to White Stones which was covered by Wainwright in his pictorial guide. We then headed north to the summit of Carl Side LDW-064 (2448ft), which was reached just before 11.00am. The extra height made a difference on VHF with six contacts this time. Julian G4ILO/P was worked summit to summit on Outerside LDW-142. The best DX was with MW0SEC on Anglesey.

The south west face of Skiddaw

To our left slightly below us we could see our next two targets along the ridge of Longside Edge. Within 10 minutes of leaving Carl Side we we fighting off the flying ants on top of LDW-70 Longside Edge. Once again the regulars were worked and were followed by GD0NFN John near Douglas and then Ian 2E0EDX/P was there, on a round of Wainwrights above Coniston after an early start like us. Ian was on his highest point of the day of Coniston Old Man LDW-015 and we exchanged 59 reports. Soon after this Frank G3RMD/P, on a visit up north to see his family, called in from Fairfield LDW-013 before I made off to escape the flying ants. So long as you kept moving they left you alone. Ullock Pike LDW-098 was reached in just eight minutes and proved to be an excellent vantage point of 2264ft above Bassenthwaite. Five stations were worked, Penrith (G0TDM) was one of them but Lancaster (G1OHH) was not. The height drop of less than 100ft being enough to prevent a line of sight contact. The last contact was one of the best of the day, it was Nick GI0HIK/P on SOTA GI/SM-007 Slieve Gallion in The Sperrin Mountains of County Tyrone. Nick was struggling to get contacts and I noticed when I got home that he had not been picked up by SOTAWatch on the internet. The flying ant problem was at its worst on Ullock, Geoff set off back along the ridge towards Skiddaw taking Treacle with him and I had no choice but to keep moving about to keep the ants from biting me.  We took the slanting path up to Skiddaw after returning to Carlside Tarn, it looked worse than it was and we climbed it without needing our hands. The surface was more like broken slate rather than the scree which Wainwright had reported. As I went up the slope I heard Ian 2E0EDX calling CQ from his next target of Brim Fell LDW-037, we had a quick QSO before I continued on to the summit of Skiddaw LDW-004 which was reached at 12.47pm, in time for a long lunch break in the sunshine. I chose one of the shelters beyond the trig point away from the melee and no one bothered me for the next hour.   The take off at 3054ft was amazing and twenty QSOs were completed using the normal set up of VX-170 at 5 watts and rucksack special vertical antenna. Summit to Summit contacts were recorded with:

G4ILO/P        Julian          Scar Crags                LDW-101
G8HXE/P      Keith           High Street                LDW-025
2M0NCM/P   Neil             Beinn an Lochain       GM/SS-018
G3RMD/P     Frank          St Sunday Crag        LDW-022
M1AVV/P    Simon         Hutton Roof Crags     G/LD-052
GM7PKT/P Robin           Bidean nam Bian       GM/WS-007
2E0EDX/P   Ian               Swirl Howe                 LDW-033
G1OPV/P    Phil              Nine Standards          G/NP-018

Long Side LDW-070 and Ullock Pike LDW-098 from Skiddaw

Geoff heads off from Skiddaw Little Man

The monument on the flank of Skiddaw

It was all downhill now, with three summits left to cross. We were making good time, the sun was shining, the flying ants were history and we headed for Skiddaw Little Man LDW-015 (2838ft), which was reached in 25 minutes. Phil G1OPV/P was worked again on Nine Standards Rigg and I was grateful that Colin 2E0XSD alerted me to the presence of Ian 2E0EDX from Great Carrs LDW-045 who was operating on another frequency. The crowds were still coming up the tourist path to Skiddaw but a lot were also heading back. We struck out towards Lonscale Fell LDW-080 (2346ft) crossing their path and then Jenkin Hill on the way to arrive on LDW-080 at 2.55pm. Take off was not very good from here and only 2E0XSD, G0TDM and G4ILO (now back home) were worked. We returned beyond the fence at Flag Pots 280273 to head south following Whit Beck to the car park. Just short of this there is a monument and we asked a German chap to take our photograph. We told him we were making for Latrigg Fell LDW-206, our 8th and final Wainwright of the day. He decided to accompany us on the 15 minute walk there to the summit which was quite busy when we arrived at 4.10pm. We stayed 20 minutes and managed just three contacts with G0TDM, G3RMD/M and G4FBC/P. There are paths all over Latrigg Fell, few are shown on the 1:25000 map and we made our way down to join the Cumbria Way at 273249, following it for 600m before turning north west back towards Applethwaite, where my car was parked. Our expected time was 5.30pm and we got there at 5.27pm!

A change of socks and we just had time to drive into Penrith for a Big Mac and Coke before the drive back to Pickering. It had been another great day out doing the Wainwrights and I got into Malton in good time to pick up my wife Judy from the London train.

Thank you to all the chasers, activators and spotters who helped complete the sixty contacts made throughout the day.

Walk 33 Seatoller Weekend: 6th-8th August 2010Sunday 8.5m / 3500ft ascent111. Grey Knotts LDW-091 2287ft112. Brandreth LDW-079 2346ft113. Great Gable LDW-007 2949ft114. Green Gable LDW-034 2628ft115. Base Brown LDW-117 2119ft

2010-08-11T23:59:00.003+01:00

Seatoller-Honister-Grey Knotts-Brandreth-Great Gable-Green Gable-Seatoller

The weather forecast for the Lake District (supplied by our landlady, Christine, at Seatoller) was much better than on Saturday, so we went with our original plan to walk from the farmhouse up to Honister Slate Mine via the road (using the old sections where we could) and then shoot straight up Grey Knotts LDW-091 by following AW's route along the fence. We set off at 0800z and at around 0900z at the 1900ft level we hit the mist and drizzle and this stayed with us until mid afternoon. So much for that weather forecast.....

G4OBK/P on Grey Knotts LDW-091

With visibility of around 50 feet that fence was a useful navigation tool. Grey Knotts was cleared with three stations in the log: 2E0XSD Colin in Frizington, GM4WHA Geoff in Annan and John G0TDM in Penrith. It took a full 12 minutes to reach Brandreth LDW-079 along that same fence. Six contacts were completed on Brandreth (G4ILO/P helped supplement the previous 3 - Julian was on his way to the summit of Barf LDW-185) and then just as I packed up I logged M0ZIF and G4UME on Hutton Roof Crags for a SOTA point. In my excitement I dropped my one and only pencil inside a pile of banded fencing posts on which I was sitting on top of Brandreth. Judicious poking and prodding and we got it out...phew!

I'd got today's route from Stuart Marshall's "Walking the Wainwright's" book. I know from my walk with Judy up Troutbeck Tongue (the east side - NOT recommended) which we did in March that whenever possible, Stuart never goes up a fell to return off it via the same route, even if it makes life more difficult for the fellwalker. He also suggested this for Great Gable LDW-007, so once again I went by his suggested route to avoid going up and coming down the same way.

Geoff - happy to be on Great Gable LDW-007

So after ascending Gillercombe Head we veered off in the mist to join Moses Trod. When we got to Stone Cove we went west to Beck Head and then doubled back to climb up Gable via the north western route. Just before we started the steep section Julian appeared from Barf and we exchanged reports - a new one for me. As we were scrambling up I had the VX-170 on squelch and heard Robin GM7PKT/P call CQ on GM/CS-015 Meall nan Tarmachan followed by Ian M3WJZ/P on NP-027 Dufton Pike, finally Jack GM4COX/P came in from Dungavel Hill GM/SS-165. These contacts disrupted the climb somewhat and we were still around 10 minutes from the summit. Fortunately my pal Geoff is quite patient and was not too concerned.

Operating from Great Gable LDW-007 - LD-005

We continued to Great Gable summit which was reached at 1125z, lunchtime, and we stayed sat down for 45 minutes and completed twenty QSOs which included six S2S QSOs - Julian by this time had topped Lord's Seat LDW-147. Although walking and operating in the Lake District at weekends has one big drawback in that the fells are quite busy, the positive spin off is that more S2S contacts are possible. The route up to Gable wasn't too difficult but there was one section that was quite hairy to climb on wet rock. If I was to do this walk again in wet conditions I would opt to go up via Windy Gap and come off Gable by the same path...if I could find it in the murk that is!

We moved off the top of Gable and got it seriously wrong, finishing up heading south east rather than north west. I picked up the error after 300m and redressed it, not by retracing our steps but by heading north east down scree to join the path up Aaron Slack near the top of Windy Gap. After the boyish excitement of sliding down the scree (I am 57, Geoff is 65!) we reached the crossroads in the path at the saddle of Windy Gap to go up to Green Gable LDW-034 (picture right). The mist was clearing fast now and we had marvellous views. Another 8 contacts were made from Green Gable. The first QSO was with Chris 2E0FSR/P who was coming in from NP-028 Rombald's Moor in West Yorkshire. I was also glad of a contact with my namesake G1OPV/P on NP-007 Wild Boar Fell.

This gave us just one more fell - the lesser known Base Brown LDW-117 which was 30 minutes away from Green Gable and en-route back to Seathwaite and Seatoller Farm, where the car was parked. Our walk across there (in clear conditions now, thankfully) was slowed by some "on the hoof" QSOs from outside any activation zone at my end. I picked up Bob M3XJV on NP-010 Pen-y-Ghent and Simon M1AVV on LDW-049/LD-017 before Base Brown was topped. On Base Brown five QSOs were completed. We could see Grey Knotts, Brandreth and Green Gable now in the clear, however Great Gable and Scafell Pike were still in the murk.

Grey Knotts LDW-091 as seen from Base Brown LDW-117

It was on the steep descent from LDW-117 that Geoff broke his Leki alloy walking pole. To prevent a tumble he used the single pole to arrest his fall - and it snapped, clean in two, just below the bottom adjusting ferrule. No damage to Geoff - but it doesn't say a lot for Leki poles as this one was almost new - metal fatigue could not be blamed. Shortly after this we saw some activity down in the valley near Seathwaite Farm. The Mountain Rescue were out and the Air Ambulance also attended. We were later told by a walker from Preston & District Walking Club that the man had fallen and dislocated his shoulder. We reached Seatoller Farm at 1545z for a change of clothes and then made off for the KFC at Penrith for a feast, before returning home to Pickering after a damp, misty but very enjoyable weekend.

Walk 32 Seatoller Weekend: 6th-8th August 2010Saturday 9.5m / 3550ft ascent 4350ft descent106. LDW-116 Fleetwith Pike 2126ft107. LDW-131 Haystacks 1959ft108. LDW-065 High Crag 2411ft109. LDW-029 High Stile 2644ft110. LDW-062 Red Pike 2477ft

2010-08-10T23:59:00.004+01:00

G4OBK on Fleetwith Pike LDW-116

Saturday dawned wet and misty. We considered an easier alternative - a walk taking in Castle Crag, High Spy, Maiden Moor and Catbells returning by bus. However, this would take us up above 2000ft anyway, so we stuck with our original plan to tackle the ridge walk across Hay Stacks and Red Pike, supplementing it with Fleetwith Pike LDW-116 at the start to give us five WOTAs. We hoped to do Starling Dodd LDW-122 and Great Borne LDW-127 above Ennerdale Water as well, however we knew time would be tight for those two as we would need to catch the 1625z bus back from Buttermere to Honister at the end. If we missed that bus we would have a 4 mile steep walk back on top of what we had done already. Our route to Fleetwith Pike was not the best, we took the Tramway path up to Dubs quarry and found our way in the mist up to the top via Hopper Quarry. We found that there are tracks and paths all over the place which are not shown on the OS Maps - much of the fell has been taken away by the slate workings anyway. It took 50 minutes to reach the top before heading back down again to Dubs Quarry to cross Warnscale Beck at the stepping stones and start our ascent to Hay Stacks LDW-131.

Honister Slate Mine-Fleetwith Pike-Hay Stacks-High Crag-High Stile-Red Pike-Buttermere

The activation of Hay Stacks was a milestone to me - it was No. 107 - exactly half way through climbing the 214 Wainwrights. In the rain and mist we had passed Innominate Tarn, this was not the best day to do what is seen by many as the best ridge walk in the Lake District. From Scarth Gap it was difficult to discern the path up to High Crag LDW-065 and High Stile LDW-029/LD-012, however the path is there once a short section of scree is climbed, and it is a good path, stepped in places. Two younger walkers passed us here as we paused for breath, not surprising with over 300m of ascent over a distance of 1Km!

High Crag LDW-065 was activated in mist as was High Stile LDW-029, however as we came down from there to Red Pike LDW-062 we saw what we had been missing all day (above). What a fantastic place to be, the welcome sunshine drying out our clothing and giving us some far reaching views in all directions. We made it down to The Bridge Inn at Buttermere in good time to enjoy a drink and then catch the bus back to Honister where I had parked my car. Starling Dodd and Great Borne will have to wait.

After cleaning up at the B&B in Seatoller we drove down to the Borrowdale Hotel, between Rosthwaite and Keswick for our dinner. On our way back the festivities celebrating the finish of the Fell Race were taking place at The Scafell Hotel, with a steel band performing in the marquee there.

Walk 31Seatoller Weekend 6th-8th August 2010Friday 3.5m / 900ft ascent104. Great Crag LDW-192 1476ft105. Grange Fell LDW-200 1362ft

2010-08-09T23:59:00.002+01:00

Watendlath-Great Crag-Grange Fell-Watendlath

An eventful weekend this was, with no injuries apart from one broken Leki walking pole (my friend Geoff's) and the discovery that my £150 Meindl boots, purchased 9 months ago, leak.

Over the 12 WOTA summits 86 QSOs were completed, with many S2S QSOs to WOTA and SOTA summits. The best QSO I reckon was from High Stile LDW-029/LD-012 with 2I0FZK/P Alan who was on GI/MM-004 in the Mountains of Mourne, Northern Ireland. It was great to see Julian G4ILO active from home on the Saturday and out activating on the Sunday for some more S2S contacts, giving me a chance to work some Wainwrights which I could not have done from my home in Pickering.

Some of the line of sight paths from the Western and Central Fells are blocked out to the south by the bigger summits such as LD-001 so contacts with Sue G1OHH, one of the regular chasers, were few and far between.

I have uploaded some pictures and text to the WOTA Flickr site http://www.flickr.com/groups/wota/. It would be good if we could get some more activators to upload pictures on there.

The WOTA weekend started when Geoff and I left the NT Car Park at Watendlath on Friday at 1440z (our route shown above). We topped Great Crag LDW-192 in drizzle at 1515z and then made our way to Brund Fell part of Grange Fell LDW-200 which we topped at 1605z, arriving back quite wet in Watendlath at 1650z. There wasn't time to do Castle Crag LDW-214 and to be truthful after looking down on it from Grange Fell with the equipment I was carrying I wasn't hopeful of making any contacts from it.

G4OBK/P on Great Crag LDW-192 6th August 2010

Having made the decision regarding Castle Crag we drove into Keswick for an enjoyable pub meal at The George Hotel before returning up Borrowdale to our B&B accommodation at Seatoller Farm (recommended). Borrowdale was full of fell runners - the Scafell Race was due to start the next morning at 11.00am from the Scafell Hotel, Rosthwaite.

Walk 30 The Langdale Pikes 97. Loft Crag LDW-097 2231 ft98. Pike O'Stickle LDW-083 2326 ft99. Thunacar Knott LDW-076 2372ft100. High Raise LDW-056 2500 ft101. Sergeant Man LDW-072 2415 ft102. Pavey Ark LDW-089 2297 ft103. Harrison Stickle LDW-068 2415 ft

2010-07-14T23:59:00.122+01:00

Phil walked 7.9 miles and climbed 3000 ft

Route from the New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel National Trust Car Park

An early start from the cottage found me starting out solo in daylight from the car park to the side of the New Dungeon Ghyll Car Park at 0630am. I made my way up Mark Gate, reaching Loft Crag at 0728am. This was an ascent of 1770' over 1.35 miles. The path was good and well used. The first contact amazingly was with Mike G4BLH in Nelson. Mike must be an early riser like me. Being early always equals a low contact rate and the only other station logged was Sue, G1OHH in Lancaster. Things picked up later and I enjoyed a much higher rate of contacts once people rose from their beds! I had alerted my activity the previous evening on G4ILOs WOTA Website. The summits come thick and fast in the Langdale Pikes. Wainwright chose them for inclusion in the Central Fells book on account of their respective views of the landscape in their own preferred directions. Sadly this was another day once I reached Loft Crag with a lack of photo opportunities, I now had minimal visibility in rain. I had however climbed the Pikes on a previous occasion with Judy my XYL, so I will use a photograph taken then from Pike o'Stickle in this blog. I did however take one photograph just before the storm arrived on my way up to Loft Pike:


Storm coming in - early morning on 9th July 2010 whilst climbing up to Loft Crag LDW-097

Rossett Gill across the valley from Pike o'Stickle

You certainly get your moneys worth in Wainwrights once you reach the circle of fells which make up the top of the Langdale Pikes. For good measure I added a SOTA summit as well to my tour. This was High Raise LD-019 (LDW-056) where I had a 30 minute stay in the shelter which kept the wind and rain off me whilst I had some food and drink The walk turned into an uneventful one which was covered as quickly as possible in the rain and mist. with my pre-programmed GPS proving invaluable. I had every fell top to myself, not surprising in those conditions and at that time of day. I left Loft Crag at 0740am and covered Pike o'Stickle, Thunacar Knott, High Raise, Sergeant Man, Pavey Ark arriving at the final summit - Harrison Stickle LDW-068 at 1103am. Oh yes, in the Langdale Pikes you get bang for your buck with seven Wainwright summits activated in 220 minutes and 45 contacts in the log! Enthusiastic Chaser G1OHH in Lancaster, was with me on every one. as was G4BLH in Nelson. Thank's Sue and Mike!

Now it was just a matter of getting safely back down to the New Dungeon Ghyll on the slippy stepped path below the crags of Pike Howe. The path was treacherous and I did slip twice,on the steps which Fix The Fells had carved into the natural rock - thankfully without any damage being done to me. Dungeon Ghyll Force was in full flow - a sight for sore eyes indeed, and the rain continued for most of the rest of the day. I reached the car park at 12.10pm with the descent from Harrison Stickle LDW-068 having taken me 67 minutes.

Profile of walk across the Langdale Pikes from New Dungeon Ghyll

Walk 29.96. Lingmoor Fell LDW-184 1539 ft

2010-07-13T23:59:00.026+01:00

Phil Judy and Treacle walked 1.8 miles and climbed 850 ft

Route from National Trust Car Park near Blea Tarn

It was useful having lunch at the New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel and looking at the dinner menu and feeling the ambience of the place I had heard much about and seen on the internet. The Hotel sits right underneath the Langdale Pikes and is served by public transport for most of the year, hence its popularity. We might return there sometime to stay, as they do allow dogs in certain rooms, so Treacle would be catered for.

So much for that, now back to WOTA. We left the hotel taking the B5343 to where it ended at The Old Dungeon Ghyll. The roads bends here and narrows, climbing and winding steeply up to Bleatarn House where the path up to Lingmoor Fell LDW-184 (SOTA LD-040) branches off. We continued motoring as there is no parking in the vicinity and used the National Trust pay and display car park at grid reference 295043. This mainly serves the popular Blea Tarn. Parking is free to National Trust members.

We left the car at 1.50pm and walked back up the road to Bleatarn House. The path then hairpins off to the right up to Brown How which is the highest point on Lingmoor Fell. From car to fell top took 40 minutes. It is important to climb the fence-stile pictured (above right) at 301044 to avoid having to climb the wall further up the hill, which is more difficult.

Six contacts were made from here with G1OHH, G6HXL, G1KLZ/M, G1CCL, G4USW AND G6ODU. I can be seen (right) with Treacle on the summit. We left the summit as we had found it having had it all to ourselves, and returned to the car.

Walk 28. 95. Hard Knott LDW-151 1801 ft

2010-07-12T10:48:00.054+01:00

Phil Judy and Treacle walked 1.3 miles and climbed 500 ft


Route from Hard Knott Pass

What we wanted after the previous gruelling day in the Coniston Fells were two easy Wainwrights either side of a pub lunch at the New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel. For the morning we opted for Hard Knott LDW-151 (SOTA LD-034). The parking place below the fell at NY 232015 takes around three cars.

Our walk started from the Hard Knott Pass and there is little to report on. This was a straight forward up and back expedition. We left the car at 10.42 and returned to it seventy minutes later with five stations in the log: G1OHH, G6HXL, G1KLZ, 2E0XSD/M and G0GGT/M. The ascent/descent was gradual and easy, cossing the Beck in Hardknott Gill on the way.

We had decided to climb Lingmoor Fell overlooking Langdale in the afternoon.

There is nothing more to say - visibility was poor on Hard Knott so no photographs were taken and we were driving to the NDG Hotel before midday, for our sausage sandwich!

Walk 27. 88. Dow Crag LDW-047 2552 ft89. Old Man of Coniston LDW-030 2635 ft90. Brim Fell LDW-037 2612 ft91. Grey Friar LDW-052 2536 ft92. Great Carrs LDW-045 2575 ft93. Swirl How LDW-033 2631 ft94. Weatherlam LDW-058 2503 ft

2010-07-11T23:59:00.288+01:00

Phil Judy and Treacle walked 13.3 miles and climbed 4640 ft

Route from street car parking in Station Road near the Sun Hotel Coniston

This was our most challenging walk of the week taking in the whole seven of the Coniston Fells. with over 4500ft of ascent calculated. To do this with one vehicle parked in Coniston, meant a walk in of over four miles via the Walna Scar Road to the top of the first Wainwright summit of Dow Crag LDW-047.

A restored Miners Shelter on Walna Scar Road

Free parking is available in Station Road, near to the Sun Hotel and Judy (XYL), Treacle and I were walking at 0930am up the Walna Scar road which is a public road. We weren't familiar with the area and noticed that many of the walkers intending to climb Old Man of Coniston tend to park (Free) through the gate at SD 289970. Parking here did not really fit in with our route plan, which was to finish at the Sun Hotel for our dinner, but it was good to know for future reference that parking was available here.

As we proceeded along Walna Scar Road towards the turn at Brown Pike we met with a National Park Warden who was busy as he went, clearing out rainwater gullies of debris with a spade, his duty for the day. We had good dry weather and were looking forward to the climb up to the Old Man. We reached Dow Crag below and behind Old Man at 1140am, a walk in of over two hours. The first station in my log was Sue G1OHH and 11 contacts were completed including a summit to summit contact with Simon M5TNT/P on Latrigg Fell LDW-206. I was thankful for that contact as I could never contact Latrigg from my home station.


Dow Crag LDW-047 from Old Man of Coniston on July 6th 2010

Coniston Old Man with Brim Fell LDW-037 behind

We moved off around Goat's Hawse. A private helicoptor was working with Fix The Fells moving stone from near to Goat's Water and carrying it in a sling around to the other side of Old Man where some pathway renovation work was taking place. I wasn't too surprised this work was necessary when we saw the crowds of walkers who were on top of the Old Man. This rugged southern Lakeland summit is most accessible from several paths and as a result, is extremely popular as an objective for people of all ages to aim for. We stayed for 45 minutes enjoying our lunch and allowing a family to entertain Treacle whilst I got on with filling my logbook with 17 contacts. ODX being with GW4BVE John, near Welshpool. It was almost instant gratification when we left the summit as we were on Brim Fell LDW-037 just 12 minutes later to make another nine contacts, the most noteworthy being with Rob GD4RQJ/P who was on Snaefell summit GD-001 in the Isle of Man.
We were on probably one of the best ridge walks in the district and had been since we left the Walna Scar Road at Brown Pike.

Remains of an Halifax bomber from World War 2

The paths were well worn until we reached Swirl Band twhere we struck out towards Grey Friar LDW-052, exactly one mile to the west and a fell which frequently gets left out of many fellwalkers itineraries. On our way over to Grey Friar the rain started and so waterproofs were donned which were to remain on our backs for the rest of the day. 11 contacts were completed from Grey Friar with Geoff G4WHA/M being first in the log from his car at work in Penrith. I also worked GW0HUS/M in Wales, location unknown. After chatting to a teacher on Grey Friar who was monitoring a group of students undertaking the Duke of Edinburgh Award some distance away towards Weatherlam, he told us the whereabouts of the 1944 wreck of an Halifax Bomber which came down in World War 2. This is close to Great Carrs LDW-045 which was our next summit, and was easy to locate.

Great Carrs LDW-045 is below Swirl How LDW-033 and indeed is higher than the better known bulk of Weatherlam LDW-058 which we hoped to visit later, should we have the strength left to climb it!

The cairn on Great Carrs LDW-045 - Swirl Howe LDW-033 can be seen behind

I had just set up to operate on Great Carrs when a man in his 40s who I recognised, approached us. I had seen him two days previously with his partner in The Sun Hotel in Coniston. He was disoriented and wanted a steer on how to get back to Coniston. I stopped operating to try to help and explained by pointing up to the cairn on Swirl Howe above us that he needed to reach there and proceed on to Swirl Hause where he could then work his way down to Levers Water which was by far the easiest route back to Coniston. He appeared quite distressed and wet, but he did have a 1:25000 map and was confident enough to set off on his way. without waiting for us. We never saw him again.

We completed the activation by making eight contacts, including one with Sue G1OHH in Lancaster who I thought may have struggled to hear me, owing to screening from Swirl Howe above me. However, we completed the contact without problem. A mere 8 minutes after leaving Great Carrs we were above it on Swirl Howe LDW-033 to complete another 9 contacts. It was now 4.00pm and so someone must have come in from work to give me that extra QSO! It was turning into a long day and the elation of the WOTA operations was keeping me (and Treacle who never seems to tire) going, however Judy was getting to the point where she had done enough and suggested taking the route back to Coniston which I had recommended to the man who was lost. I managed to persuade her to go on after some food and a drink and we topped Wetherlam LDW-058 our last summit of the day just after 5.00pm. The rain had now stopped and we found the top unusual and interesting.


Profile of our Coniston Fells walk Dow - Old Man - Brim - Grey Friar - Great Carrs - Swirl Howe - Weatherlam

The Sun Hotel Coniston

WOTA wise there were still stations waiting for a contact with seven stations being logged. One of which was GM4WHA/M Geoff at 5.10pm and on his way back home to Annan. We now had an interesting gradual 3 mile descent back to the Sun Hotel in Coniston for our dinner. We made for Hole Rake and a well used path which brought us out at the Miners's Bridge. The route gave us a terrific overview of the Coniston mining area, Coppermines Valley and the eroded paths going up Old Man. We reached the pub at 7.00pm meaning we had been out for nine and a half hours. This had been one of the most demanding walks we had ever undertaken without doubt. A decision was made to have an easy day tomorrow and fit in one or two token sentinel Wainwrights if the weather held up for us, as well as a pub lunch at New Dungeon Ghyll.

The final tally of contacts for the day was 72 on 2m FM with a Yaesu VX-170 and J pole rucksack special antenna, no wonder it had taken us so long to complete the walk - I had talked far too much, but it was indeed a pleasure to make all those contacts, yes, it is certainly easy to radiate a good signal on VHF from the Coniston Fells with basic equipment.

Walk 26 85. Pike O'Blisco LDW-086 2313 ft86. Crinkle Crags LDW-017 2818 ft87. Cold Pike LDW-088 2300ft

2010-07-10T23:59:00.096+01:00

Phil Judy and Treacle walked 6.5 miles and climbed 2460 ft

Route from parking area near The Three Shires Stone

Phil & Treacle on Pike o'Blisco

The Three Shires Stone lies on the Wrynose Pass at grid reference 277027. We drove up to it from the cottage at Hall Dunnerdale in the Duddon Valley and were walking from the free parking area (which takes at least ten cars on the roadside) at 0850z.

Our target was Pike o'Blisco (LDW-086/LD-024) and we would follow that with Crinkle Crags (LDW-017) returning via Cold Pike LDW-088. We decided to leave Bow Fell for another day to link in with other summits, as we knew the day after this one would be much harder than today and we would need to conserve some energy.

The weather was good, albeit windy, and the three of us Judy, Treacle and I had all enjoyed the walk up to Red Tarn, leaving the main path early at 26947 03680 to start the steeper climb up to Pike o'Blisco. As usual the footpaths marked on the OS maps were a figment of someones imagination when they were last surveyed some years ago....

As we approached the first Crinkle we remembered the Bad Step from the Julia Bradbury series on BBC TVs Wainwright Walks. We viewed it from around 50m away and discetion being the better part of valour skirted the obstacle by turning south west where an easy path led us around it and onto the top of Crinkle No.1.

Pike o'Blisco LDW-086 from Cold Pike LDW-088

This was a first time visit for both of us to this part of Lakeland and the take off was superb. We worked 11 stations including Stephanie G1LAT/P who was on Gummers Howe LD-050. After returning to Red Tarn we crossed Great Knott. We arrived at 0948z.

Judy (XYL) makes her way up Crinkle Crags LDW-017 from Pike o'Blisco LDW-024

We arrived at Crinkle No.5 (LDW-017) which seems to be the highest of the set, at 1200z. It had taken us 100 minutes to get from Pike o'Blisco to this point. After eating our packed lunches I called CQ. 12 QSOs were completed, including a summit to summit with Peter G1FOA/P on Coniston Old Man. Another Peter, GW0ETN was the best DX. Colin 2E0XSD just scraped into the log with a weak scratchy signal - presumably caused by screening due to the signals having to pass over the higher Scafell Pike and its surrounding fells. Copy was marginal which explains why I could not hear Colin on either Blisco or Cold Pike later.

Crinkle Crags LDW-017 from Cold Pike LDW-088

Leaving Crinkle 5 at 1239z we made for Cold Pike LDW-088 over rough ground. There were a few sheep tracks and no clearly defined path. The very straight public path shown on the 1:25000 map roughly followed the line we took but our way was far from straight. We reached the rocky top in sunshine, our last one for the day, at 1334z. Seven QSOs were made with the best DX being GD8BUE in Ramsey, Isle of Man who was 5-9. The walk back to the Three Shires Stone took us 42 minutes. This included an easy scramble down the crag and a short steep descent, which was no problem. We rejoined the main path at 275029.

G4OBK/P Operating for Wainwrights On The Air from Cold Pike LDW-088

Tomorrow's walk was to be across the Coniston Fells to Weatherlam (LDW-058) and back, so we returned to the cottage to study the mapping and work out the approximate timings on what was to be a long day.

Walk 25 83. Holme Fell LDW-213 1040 ft84. Black Fell LDW-212 1060ft

2010-07-09T23:59:00.085+01:00

Phil Judy and Treacle walked 7.1 miles and climbed 1700 ft

Route from National Trust Car Park near Glen Mary Bridge

Sunday and it was wet. The MWIS forecast gave an improvement for late afternoon, so we held off before deciding to venture forth from the cottage and make for Coniston Village. The plan was to do a relatively short walk near to Tarn Hows taking in two Wainwrights for WOTA, with one of them also qualifying for SOTA. Parking was (thankfully this time) in the National Trust Car Park at Glen Mary Bridge - grid ref 321998. I had left my camera at the cottage.....not the last thing I was to leave behind this week - see Walk 27! So for for the photographs on this blog I have relied on another excellent website which I contribute to: Geograph

AW's Southern Fells Pictorial Guide devotes a mere four pages to Holme Fell, mostly drawings. This is a small fell at the head of Yewdale with a very rugged summit with only one practical means of ascent. Most people climb Holme Fell and then leave it via the same route. It would be dangerous to try to do anything else.

We set out for Holme Fell at 1512z on a little used path which headed north through Harry Guards Wood. Turning north west off the rough path we climbed up the Uskdale Gap before turning south to make the top of Holme Fell LDW-213 (LD-051) at 1550z, a 40 minute walk, which we were pleased with. Looking around I knew it would be difficult getting a signal out from this "next to the lowest" of the 214 fells. To the south west the bulk of Weatherlam and Coniston Old Man made us feel like we were at sea level, this cuts out the line of sight path to the Barrow direction. However, due south and around to the south east is not too bad. To the east/north east there was no hope from such a lowly fell of getting through the Helvellyn and Blencathra fells.

A CQ on 2m FM brought in four stations from Holme Fell. G1KLZ Doug in Ingleton, G1OHH Sue in Lancaster, G1CCL Dave in Morecambe and G4USW Bill in South Lakeland. We left the summit at 1612z and moved swiftly downhill into uncharted territory, losing the path (if their was one). We tracked around to the south of two derelict reservoirs and then climbed over some very rough ground to reach the bridleway at 313012. This excellent track then led us alongside an extremely deep worked out quarry in woodland and at 319019 we joined a rough byway and turned east. This took us to High Oxen Cross where we crossed the A593 Coniston to Skelwith Bridge road.

Climbing again we made for the farm at High Arnside on a tarmac lane. This part of the route came from Stuart Marshall's excellent book "Walking the Wainwrights" but route definition around the farm, which was not shown as a public footpath was sketchy. We decided to make for the farmyard, go through it, which would enable us to get on to Black Crag LDW-212. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS ROUTE! There may be a way around the south side of the farm, but this would need checking but I suspect the better way up Black Crag is via Low Arnside to the north. The best route is to come in from the south via iron Keld but this does not fit in well with a circular route which has already taken in Holme Fell. So we followed the track to the north side of the High Arnside to end up in the yard where our dog was attacked by a terrier and three sheepdogs. I managed to grab poor Treacle who was being bullied into submission by these four rough dogs and she slipped straight out of her harness. As she fell back to the ground I grabbed her quickly again from the melee and we moved off, leaving the farmer in the yard speechless, with a nasty look on his face which was full of chagrin. We couldn't blame him - we shouldn't have been there. There must be a better way of getting to the top of Black Crag from the west but neither us, or Stuart Marshall had obviously found it. I hope someone reading this blog one day can put me right.

We crossed the path shown on the map at 337015 and had to circle some crags to reach the top of LDW-212 at 1740z. The National Trust plaque on the top identifies the spot well. Most people have heard and have been to Tarn Hows for sure, but how many are aware of the isolated sentinel of Black Crag LDW-212 to the north? The view towards Windermere is good - this is the first substantial elevation you come to when looking west from the north end of the longest lake in England.

It was July so after the late start we still had plenty of light and got straight into completing just four contacts, with ODX being Mike G4BLH in Nelson. This fourth contact was a lovely surprise! The other three regulars were G1OHH, G1CCL and G1KLZ.

It was now a case of making our way back to the car via the delightful path around Tarn Hows, but we had to get there first. We soon realised that LDW-212 gets many visitors from the Tarn Hows direction. A well hewn path took us to the bridleway at Iron Keld and then through the plantation there, mostly now felled and replanted. We joined the stoney byway (BOAT) at 336005 and turned north west and then left at 331008 to make south via the Tarn Hows path on the west side of the Tarn. At the south west corner of the lake we took a woodland path that brought us back to the lower NT car park after half mile to finish this challenging and interesting half day circular walk at 1855z.

A drive back to Coniston took us to the Sun Hotel, a popular pub with an extremely surly barman. One of those places in the Lakes that has a long history, indeed this is where Donald Campbell stayed whilst attempting his speed records on Coniston. Here is a place where the landlord can charge what he likes and the staff can treat people as they like! The pork in cider sauce was excellent though, and we sussed out somewhere to park the car for when we came back later to do our big walk of the week across the Coniston Fells.

On Monday the forecast was better and we planned a full day walk up to Crinkle Crags above Langdale, taking in Pike o'Blisco and Cold Pike from the Three Shires Stone, a walk previously tackled by Geoff G4WHA. More on that later....

Walk 24 81. Loughrigg Fell LDW-211 1099ft82. Silver How LDW-202 1296ft

2010-07-08T23:59:00.073+01:00

Phil Judy and Treacle walked 6 miles and climbed 840 ft

Route from lay-by near to Elterwater Village

A weeks stay in a cottage in Hall Dunnerdale, south of the Hard Knott Pass in the Duddon Valley was booked. We chose the location as there was reasonable access from there to the Coniston Fells and Langdale. Our cottage was hired from Cottages4U, who give Wainwright Society Members a discount. We had considered staying at the New Dungeon Gill Hotel for five days but decided that we ought to take our terrier Treacle on the holiday rather than put her into kennels. She enjoys doing the Wainwrights, having bagged over 50 so far!

Our route from Pickering took us to southern Lakeland through Kendal and then on to the Windermere Ferry south of Bowness. For the first time (for me at least) I had decided to use the ferry run by Cumbria County Council. There has been a ferry operating here taking traffic across to Far Sawrey for over 500 years. "Mallard" is more like a floating bridge than a boat which can handle up to 18 cars and over 100 passengers at one time. The crossing was fast and efficient on the day we used it and there is no doubt the service helps to reduce congestion on the roads around the lake. The cost of crossing including passengers is £4 single (July 2010).

Judy (XYL), Treacle and I arrived in Southern Lakeland on Saturday July 3rd and planned to do a walk taking in two easy Wainwrights above Elterwater. The first was Loughrigg Fell, which is also a counter for SOTA (LD-047) and is LDW-211 for WOTA. We followed this up with Silver Howe LDW-202. Both fells are relatively low compared to others in the area but offer an outstanding viewpoint in all directions.

Grasmere - lake and village from Loughrigg Fell LDW-211 on July 3rd 2010

We arrived at Elterwater around 1200z on a sunny July Saturday. You can imagine how difficult the parking was. We are NT members and their car park was full. All free parking spaces in the village were also taken so we retreated away from civilisation back to the main road to find an empty lay-by at 333048. We were walking at 1217z and on Loughrigg Fell at 1300z where we enjoyed our lunch, before getting out the 2m handheld and J Pole antenna. The route taken from Elterwater to the top of Loughrigg was a mix of country lanes and paths.

Notice on Grasmere Common

The first station worked was Brian G4ZRP on the Wirral. We made four QSOs before leaving the fell at 1336z but they are all worthy of mention. My signals got over the high fells to Annan where Geoff GM4WHA was listening, this was followed by a SOTA summit to summit QSO with Rob GD4RQJ/P on South Barrule GD-003. The last contact was with Bill G4USW in South Lakeland.

During our week in the southern lakes we found several notices like this one, and spoke to one of the National Park Wardens about them. They relate to the National Park and Ordnance Survey finally getting their heads together to provide more accurate mapping of public rights of way in the district. I hope they are successful. We also found several more of these notices around the Coniston Fells later during our week in the area.

After losing most of the height gained on the descent and came down to the road at 340053, we circled around High Close Youth Hostel, leaving the lane just after it to make our way over Grasmere Common to the top of Silver How. Many paths cross the common here, the top of which is grass and bracken. It was a 2.5 mile walk from the top of Loughrigg Fell. We reached the summit of Silver How at 1504z. Again, only four contacts were made with Sue G1OHH in Lancaster appearing, G4ZRP and G4USW again, and finally G1KLZ/M (Doug from Ingleton) who was out in his vehicle.

Megs Gill and Elterwater green slate quarry from the flank of Silver How LDW-202

We helped a German girl get off the fell and back to Grasmere - she seemed to have lost her sense of direction despite the fact that you could just see the village from the top. Silver How drops away very steeply down to Grasmere Lake - NOT RECOMMENDED as a way down, which is what she was considering, so the girl walked with us the same way we came up and then turned off left at a path junction to follow a grassy path safely back to Grasmere Lake and then village. We made our way down Raven Gill via 32270 05770. No public path is shown here on the OS map, however the route used is steep yet safe and comes out near Chapel Stile at 32260 05545. I don't know this part of the Lakes too well, although Judy had been here years ago. We chose a longer route back through Chapel Stile, on our way at 322052 we passed the appropriately named Wainwright's Inn. What would the great man thought of that I wonder? Prior to the pub we came across a village shop where we purchased ice cream and a few groceries. Once past the pub we followed Great Langdale Beck along on the footpath below the quarry. This brought us to the pub in Elterwater village and then on to the car, sat on its own in the now empty lay-by.

Our first trip (of several during the week) by car over the Wrynose Pass followed. We turned left before the Hard Knott Pass at the Cockley Beck junction to head for Hall Dunnerdale where the cottage was located. It was a good start to the week in perfect weather for fell walking, and we had another two Wainwrights in the bag.

Day One Coast to Coast Walk 19th May 201014.4m / 3138 ft ascentSt.Bees to Ennerdale Bridge

2010-06-23T01:29:00.056+01:00

My Coast to Coast Blog has now moved to:

Wainwrights Coast to Coast

2010-05-31T23:39:00.000+01:00

Wainwrights on the Air (WOTA) by Phil G4OBK

(Article from Summits Base News June 2010)

Interest in WOTA is gathering momentum with several new activators and chasers registering for the scheme in 2010.

First – a bit about the great man, who as a fellwalker, writer, artist and poet produced many books in addition to the seven pictorial guides, and in addition was featured in several TV documentaries. In 1973 AW conceived the Coast to Coast Walk. We only got to know him as an old man as he preferred to keep out of the limelight until the latter part of his life, when he came into contact with the professional photographer Derry Brabbs and the TV presenter Eric Robson. I find him an intriguing character, a selfish obsessive scheming man, who also had a soft side with a dry sense of humour which comes out from time to time in his books.

Born in 1907 to a working class background in Blackburn with a drunken father and a hard working mother, AW received a good education and was well read, eventually becoming the Borough Treasurer of Kendal – a place he moved to just before the Second World War. He first walked in the Lake District almost 80 years to the day I write this piece, on June 7th 1930 when he accompanied his cousin Eric Beardsall on a walk from Windermere up to Orrest Head (781ft), his first summit. The following day they set out from Grasmere to climb Helvellyn in pouring rain and then walked into Keswick where they found a B&B. The awful weather on that day failed to put Alf off and he went on to become the master fellwalker of all time.

In 2008 my XYL’s elderly parents gave me a set of the pictorial guides, all priced at 12/6 and purchased in the 1960’s when they walked the Lakeland Fells on a regular basis with my XYL. Unfortunately they aren’t first editions - these are now worth between £200 and £500 each depending on the condition. I remember seeing the books as a schoolboy in the local library.

In 2009 when Julian Moss G4ILO came up with the WOTA scheme I became interested and decided that, despite living around 100 miles from the nearest of the 214 Wainwright Fells, I would take on the challenge of climbing them all and make contacts on Ham Radio using the WOTA award scheme. I reckon this will take me three years. The project has set back my attempt to become a SOTA Mountain Goat – that will probably happen around 2015 at the rate I am gaining SOTA points these days. The added benefit as you tick off the Wainwrights is that you also cover many SOTA summits at the same time. The 214 Wainwrights were not chosen for their prominence - AW chose them simply for the view from the top. Many of the Wainwrights, especially in the Far Eastern section, are close together. Indeed, if lightweight 2m gear is used, four can be activated in less than 90 minutes in the case of Kidsty Pike, Rampsgill Head, The Knott and Rest Dodd. Only one simplex contact is needed from each to qualify the summit, however it is commonplace with simple FM gear to make several more QSOs than that.

WOTA for me is not about driving as near as you can to the summit and then climbing it. It is about planning a walk within your own and your companion’s capabilities to take in as many summits as possible and then going out and doing it. Most of my activations have been done with friends, family or with a walking group so it is unreasonable to spend a lot of time setting up equipment on the summit, turning a beam, listening for long periods and generally making adjustments. I need to be on the air, contacts completed and on the move again within 15 minutes at most.

So how popular is the scheme and what do you need to take part as an activator or chaser?

Active participants of the scheme both chasers and activators, tend to live in the north of the country, especially the North West. Most activity takes place on 2m FM on Wainwrights, however if a Wainwright also happens to be a SOTA Summit then it is more likely that the activator will use 2m SSB and probably HF as well. If we discount the people who have only made a few contacts, there are currently around 18 activators and 25 chasers.

So why not try it – if you are doing SOTA and you happen to be either activating or chasing then check out the WOTA website. The registration process is straightforward so start entering your contacts. If you intend doing a SOTA take a look at the hill bagging website (link below) and see if you are passing over or close to any Wainwrights. Just call CQ WOTA on 2m FM with a vertical antenna (rubber duck is not advisable – use a quarter wave whip at least) and you will be well received. The top chasers are the ones who live close in to the action – the current leader with 115 points is Sue G1OHH in Lancaster who is battling it out against the two Penrith stations of John G0TDM on 112 points and Geoff G4WHA on 110 points. The station of Mike G4BLH near Burnley, some considerable distance away from the Lake District, is lying in 5th place with 70 points and you also have the Lake District fringe stations of Doug G1KLZ in Ingleton on 79 points and Dave G6LKB in Ulverston on 68 points.

The most prolific activators are Phil G4OBK, Richard G1JTD, Geoff G4WHA, Bob M3XJV and Rick M0RCP.

Various awards exist for a nominal charge and there are many more details on the WOTA site run by G4ILO, where your contacts can be entered into a database.

Last week I completed over half of Wainwrights Coast to Coast Walk and in the process successfully activated 12 WOTA summits which included 3 SOTA summits. In addition I covered the summits of G/LD-045 and Nine Standards Rigg G/NP-018 also for SOTA. It was great fun in really good weather.

The picture to the left is of me activating from the top of The Howitzer on Helm Crag LDW-201 (also known as the Lion and the Lamb) from where I worked G1OHH, G4BLH, G4ZRP, G4VKE/M, G1KLZ and G0VOF/P using 5 watts to a rucksack special half wave vertical. Exciting it was and quite difficult to ascend with a rucksack on my back. The high spot of the trip was operating from Angletarn Pikes which was the last one of 36 activated in the Far Eastern Fells.
I hope this article will encourage more readers of the Summits Base News to give WOTA a go.

References:

http://www.wota.org.uk/

http://wainwrightsontheair.blogspot.com/

http://www.hill-bagging.co.uk/index.php

Walk 23 for WOTADay Five Coast to Coast Walk 23rd May 201017m / 4020 ft ascentPatterdale to Shap80. Angletarn Pikes LDW-143 1860'

2010-05-23T23:59:00.000+01:00

White Lion Inn, Patterdale

We needed an early start and left the White Lion just after 9.00am on the hottest day experienced so far. Judy and I had walked the well worn route up to Boredale Hause several times before to climb Place Fell and Beda Fell, but today we were to continue to Angle Tarn and then climb up to the highest "official" point on the Coast to Coast walk at Kidsty Pike, overlooking Haweswater. Once again, this was an opportunity to bag several Wainwrights and we actually climbed two more than we had planned! More on that later.....

None of us had ever been to Angle Tarn before. What a beautiful location. We climbed to the top of Angletarn Pikes (LDW-143) arriving at 10.15am, where Judy remarked that Angle Tarn, with its islands looked like a minature Derwentwater.

Angle Tarn from Angletarn Pikes

Judy & Phil on Angletarn Pikes

Only three contacts were made from here. We continued onward below Satura Crag, where you pass through two gateposts. Then the navigation went slightly awry. We were almost at the top of Rest Dodd (LDW-092) when we realised that we had left the "official" C2C route, so we continued and bagged Rest Dodd, before following the wall down to a saddle and climbing up to The Knott (LDW-066), a summit which we did intend to climb, being only 200m and a short ascent from the C2C path. That done we proceeded south towards High Street, stopping short at the Straits of Riggindale and turning north east to head over Rampsgill Head LDW-039, to arrive at Kidsty Pike LDW-046 at 12.40pm, a good time for lunch. This was the final radio activation for Wainwrights On The Air in the Lake District before we headed down to Haweswater and on to Shap. Over the five summits today 22 contacts were made including summit to summit contacts with Iain M3WJZ/P on Esk Pike and Bowfell and with Geoff G4WHA on Carrock Fell. As we made our way down to Haweswater in the searing heat of the day we realised that we were all running low on water. We had no mobile phone coverage but we were hopeful that Martyn, our willing Sherpa, would meet us near Haweswater with a supply. As it happened Martyn had gone to the Mardale Head Car Park by mistake and we missed him. It was ironic to be stood next to one of the largest reservoirs in the Lake District and be short of water, but after walking the four miles down the fell side track of Haweswater this is what happened!

Haweswater from near Speaking Crag

At the end of the lake we reached Burnbanks village - built for the workers when the reservoir was constructed. The village is a credit to the people that still live there in the bungalows and cottages remaining. The C2C then passes through Burnbanks Nature Reserve, which was solid with bluebells and a delightful spot. We were hoping we might meet Martyn at Naddle Bridge for water. We still had five miles walking left, sadly he did not appear. We left the National Park near Rosgill and proceeded towards Shap Abbey.

Geoff, Margaret and Judy on Parish Crag Bridge near Shap

Shap Abbey came and went, I can't say we were impressed, we just wanted to reach Shap and that we did at just after 6.00pm. Once we had mobile coverage we raised our Sherpa Martyn who was still patiently waiting for us at Haweswater! We were reunited when we fell into the Greyhound Hotel, which is well down the one mile long strip village.

Greyhound Hotel Shap - recommended

The meal, service and drinks at this hostelry were excellent and we all downed a few pints of water. Our Bed and Breakfast was Brookfield House at the south end of the village. Mrs Margaret Brunskill was ready to greet us when we arrived around 8.00pm and some went straight to bed after our hardest day yet. The guest house came out on top so far with the highest score all round. Margaret is dedicated to looking after Coast to Coasters and this she did. The packed lunches next day contained home made cakes and fresh fruit - overall score for Brookfield B&B Shap being 9.5 out of 10. Next day was to be an easy one, less than ten miles, to Barn House at Orton.

Accommodation Rating: Brookfield House Shap 9.5
Pub Rating: The Greyhound Hotel, Shap 10

Walk 22 Day Three on the Coast to Coast Walk 21st May 20109.7m / 2600 ft ascentStonethwaite to Grasmere77. Calf Crag LDW-154 1762 ft78. Gibson Knott LDW-198 1378 ft79. Helm Crag LDW-201 1329 ft

2010-05-22T23:59:00.000+01:00

Friday morning dawned - and we all gathered at the Gillercombe B&B at Stonethwaite Road End to walk to Rosthwaite in accordance with AW's route, before changing direction completely to head up Greenup Gill, climbing to over 2000ft at Greenup Edge. From there we were to make our way over three Wainwrights before reaching Grasmere, the more challenging of the two routes offered by AW on this leg of his Coast to Coast.

Looking back down Greenup Gill

A walk through Rosthwaite proved interesting - a pub and a National Trust car park were noted for future reference. It was 9.30am and the village was quiet, but it is served by a bus route from Keswick. The C2C followed Stonethwaite Beck and we enjoyed a steady climb in hot sunshine on a well worn path, mostly on rock with the occasional scramble in places. Eagle Crag loomed above us on our right and by midday we had topped out on Greenup Edge. At this point we saw our route laid out before us, a ridge walk across the three Wainwrights of Calf Crag, Gibson Knott and Helm Crag (known by some as the Lion and the Lamb). We enjoyed our packed lunches and were joined by a large group of middle aged men, who were also doing the C2C.

I took out my ham radio gear to make some contacts for Wainwrights On The Air and repeated this on the other two summits, making 16 contacts all told on VHF that day. The ridge falls gradually to Helm Crag and it was between Gibson and Helm that we encountered two young women eager to know how long it would take them to reach Calf Crag with a view to then return back to Grasmere via the lower path in Easedale. From our vantage point it was clear where they needed to go, and I reckoned (after seeing how much they were sweating - they were big lasses) on it taking them around 90 minutes to reach Calf Crag.

The views on both sides of the ridge were fantastic - across Dunmail Raise to the Helvellyn range and the othere way over Grasmere Common to Blea Rigg with the Langdale Pikes beyond. We had certainly picked the right week to walk across the Lake District. The last summit today was Helm Crag. As soon as we arrived Geoff threw his rucksack to me and promptly set about climbing the "Howitzer" as the lump of rock is called when viewed from certain positions. This was plainly pre-meditated and he was on top in around 30 seconds. I think it took me twice as long with a rucksack on my back which carried my radio aerial.

Operating for WOTA on Helm Crag LDW-201

After Helm Crag we made our way down on the winding path - a replacement I believe to the more direct path which was closed due to erosion some years ago. The Easedale Road took us into Grasmere where we enjoyed some beverages with our Sherpa Martyn who had greeted us on foot half way up the Easedale Road. The handiest pub was The Red Lion, a Best Western Hotel and we were joined for a drink by a couple who had just arrived from Northampton for their first time ever in the Lake District. The pub staff were friendly, and for Grasmere the drinks did not seem overly expensive.

It was Friday and we needed to get to our accommodation which was some distance away in Patterdale, why Patterdale you may ask? Well, when I booked our accommodation for this trip in November 2009 no guest house in Grasmere or Ambleside was prepared to allow a five person party to stay for one night. They all insisted on two nights. As a result we opted to stay at the White Lion Inn at Patterdale for two nights instead. It meant a drive out from Grasmere but Martyn was happy to do this, God bless him. We took a ride into Ambleside and then turned off to climb The Struggle to join the Kirkstone Pass.

The White Lion was packed out with folk, including the outside seating area, so after a shower and rest (once we had enjoyed a pint of course) we sat down to a "traditional pub meal". My advice at weekends is to make sure that you book a table and be prepared for about a one hour wait at busy times. The pub have a constant turnover of guests staying one night whilst doing the C2C so you can't expect the personal service, pride and friendliness that you will experience at some of the smaller B&Bs along the route.

This brings us to the end of Day 3: Overall rating for the White Lion for both nights: 6

Wainwright Society Members to start C2C on Wednesday

2010-05-16T20:18:00.005+01:00

Wainwright Society Members start C2C on Wednesday

Myself and Judy along with fellow WS member Geoff Fielding will set out from St Bees on the C2C after alighting the Packhorse Bus at 10.30am on Wednesday. Margaret Stockdale will also be joining us and her husband Martyn (we hope) will be walking a section each day and then returning to his car to ferry our bags to the next B&B/Pub. I don't think Margaret has joined the brethren of the Wainwright Society yet, but we will be working on her during the walk....

Our first day is the usual distance for most Coast to Coaster's - from St Bees to Ennerdale Bridge and we will be staying at Ennerdale View in Kirkland, where they do an evening dinner. I hope to make some ham radio contacts from the summit of Dent on our way through - one of the Western Outlying Fells. http://live.sotawatch.org/summits.php?summit=G/LD-045

We are getting excited now (despite Wednesday's weather forecast!) and if I can get internet access along the route I will report progress here on the forum and my blog as we go along. We are booked through to walk to Reeth in 9 days. So we have a relatively easy day either side of the toughest day from Patterdale to Shap. We don't want to overstretch ourselves you see..... In September if all goes well, we will complete the rest of the walk towards our end at Robin Hood's Bay.

Regards

Phil