I seem to remember it started with me being called across into Traffic Regulations and asked if I was interested in joining the "lads" in there, on a walking weekend. It had been decided that there would be a Friday "warm-up walk", followed by overnight camping, a few beers, and then a more strenuous walk on the Saturday.
The locations chosen were Ingleton Waterfalls Walk on the Friday, camping at Pooley Bridge, and then Helvellyn via Striding Edge from Glenridding on Saturday.
The weekend was to have a theme of "Less Talk More Walk" "Less Walk More Beer" and various connotations of those words, as can be seen from the photographs below.
Walking up from the car park area in Ingleton and along the Rivers Twiss and Doe; past the various waterfalls such as Swilla Glen, Manor Bridge and Pecca Falls led us to Thornton Force, the largest waterfall along the trail. I remember the walk was fairly easy going, but it was quite warm and humid in amongst the trees.
Ben had suggested that we made a slight detour at the very top of the trail to a caving system he knew of. "It's only half a mile or so" he said. I think he hoodwinked us, because after what seemed like ages, we finally reached a large cave just a way off the lane. It was fairly impressive and cathedral like!
Getting back on track, we followed the valley back down to Ingleton and set off towards our camp site at Pooley Bridge.
We arrived at the site and proceeded to erect the tents, which was an experience in itself. I think its safe to say that some of us didnt have too much experience of the camping lifestyle. I did see something that I have never seen before. Brian had a blow up one! Tent that is! There were tents being constructed everywhere, car boots open, primus stoves and stuff all over the place. I think John Finn had brought loads of tins, bacon and stuff lovingly packed for him by his wife, Delia.
After a shower, we set off for a short walk over the fields to the village of Pooley Bridge itself, where we had a great "craic" in the pubs, The Crown Inn and The Sun Inn. We had been joined by Malcolm, our former PC from SY Police, and his wife. He had recently moved to Keswick from Sheffield. The pubs had a great atmosphere, and The Sun had a band performing. It was a really great night.
The walk back to camp passed by quickly, but the laughs continued. Brian and John Finn made cups of tea on their primus stove, and then it was time for bed. Even there we couldnt stop giggling with all the comments we could hear from the other tents, and the shouting between us. I think John L and John Finn caused the most laughs with their comments, such as - to John L - "John am I taking my underpants off or yours?" and "Is this my sleeping bag I'm getting in?" It reached a peak when he got out of the tent again for a pee, fell into Brians blown up tent, bounced off into his own, back onto Brians etc. He was like a pinball!! Classic.
The walk back to camp passed by quickly, but the laughs continued. Brian and John Finn made cups of tea on their primus stove, and then it was time for bed. Even there we couldnt stop giggling with all the comments we could hear from the other tents, and the shouting between us. I think John L and John Finn caused the most laughs with their comments, such as - to John L - "John am I taking my underpants off or yours?" and "Is this my sleeping bag I'm getting in?" It reached a peak when he got out of the tent again for a pee, fell into Brians blown up tent, bounced off into his own, back onto Brians etc. He was like a pinball!! Classic.
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