Ingleton Waterfalls and Helvellyn - 1996 - Part 1

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.





Great Gable/Sgt Man - September 1999

Another Trek I didn't attend unfortunately, so I am after your help for details. Please feel free to add them in the comments box.

Accommodation was in bed and breakfasts in Keswick apparently.

The only other information I have are the following photographs. Looks like it was a hot weekend!

This, from Neil:

We did Sgt Man first on a glorious day trekking up from that place - y'know. Up to the tarn where John and I went for a dip, then to the edge looking down onto Jack's Rake. Then north and along the ridge over a few (too many) peaks, til we turned east and back, scrambling down into a disused quarry, then along a ridge east where John had a poo and found that sheep's skull, and Kevin pointed out a B&B on the other (north) side of the valley, until we again scrambled through dense undergrowth and down a steep bank, back to home.

Next day was rubbish.  From the pass (Honister?) we went up Great Gable (allegedly) but the cloud was so low we couldn't see anything.  We kept going, but got lost and eventually stopped to try to find where we were whilst having zero visibility.  Then, in a second the cloud lifted and we were on the wrong mountain, right next to an edge.  Then we made our way back and the views west were fantastic - we were in the centre of the 'spokes of the wheel' of valleys/lakes, and as we continued, each valley opened up for us.  The cloud was still low and I got a 'famous' photo of looking back at Tony with the view around him and a massive black cloud directly over his head.

Rannerdale/High Stile/Red Pike - May 2006

I had heard about Rannerdale from the web, and I decided that i wanted to see the show of bluebells in Spring. Because of this, I started organising this trek fairly early, January I think, to ensure we sorted a date and managed to secure accommodation in Buttermere.

According to local historians, a Norman army was ambushed and defeated by the native Britons and Norsemen at the Battle of Rannerdale. The battle is thought to have taken place in the side valley of Rannerdale, which runs east of the summit of the fell, west of Whiteless Pike and south of Grasmoor. Bluebells cover the valley in April and May. According to ancient folklore, the bluebells are said to have sprung from the spilt blood of the Norman warriors.

I booked us into a guesthouse called Dalegarth, just outside the main part of the village in Hassness.

We all met in one of the main pubs in the village called The Bridge Hotel, where we ate lunch. After that, we set off over the tops towards Rannerdale Knotts, down towards Hause Point and Crummock Water, then back up near Whiteless Pike and back to the village.

After the walk, we freshened up back at the guesthouse and the walked back into the village via the lakeside path. I remember the path was quite stoney, and was crossed by tree roots. "How are we going to negotiate this in the dark?" I thought.

We had a meal in the Fish Inn, and a few drinks, of course, and finally set off back to guesthouse via the main road. Unfortunately, part way back, the road was blocked by a large deep puddle between embankments on both sides. It was quite an obstacle, and we all tried different ways of getting around it. Some tried to climb the muddy banks, some tried to walk at the very edge of the puddle where it was shallower. However, I just pulled my trouser legs up and walked straight through the middle. No problem.

I remember there was quite a bit of mumping about that.

Next morning, after breakfast, we took the lakeside path again, back to the village. We headed from the village to the west towards Scale Force. The weather wasnt too good, as there was heavy drizzle and quite low cloud. As a result, by the time we reached Scale Force, some of us didn't feel up to the climb to Red Pike and High Stile. However, some of us did, and so the group split into two at this point.

Some of us headed back towards the south western shore of Buttermere via Sour Milk Ghyll and then circumnavigated the Lake on the lakeside path, close to the bottom of Fleetwith Pike, all the way back to the village.

The rest made it up to the higher ground and were in amongst the clouds on Red Pike and High Stile.

Eventually, we all met up again in the village pub for a final drink before we set off home.

Pen Y Ghent/Middleton in Teesdale - September 1997

I am sorry for the briefness of the details on this Trek, it was one of the few that I didn't go on. However, it has passed into fokelore almost, and is remembered with fondness by many of those who did attend.

What I'm hoping for is that those who did experience it, will leave comments on here with their memories.

Things such as:

• The caravan.
• The card game.
• Tony sleeping on the floor and getting kicked all night long.
• Chris's silent hill top tribute to Princess Diana on the day of her funeral.

There are very few pictures in existence of this trek, but here they are. (Thanks to Stan). (UPDATE Jan 2017 - with thanks to Julia Bradbury - the waterfall is Hull Pot)

  



Middlesmoor/Brimham Rocks - October 2010 - Part 1

This Trek was to Nidderdale. Middlesmoor on Friday the 8th of October and Brimham Rocks from Pateley Bridge on Saturday the 9th.

Our meeting place on Friday was the village car park just beyond the Crown Hotel pub in Middlesmoor . Unfortunately it was tipping it down as we arrived and we started our day waiting in steamed up cars for everyone to arrive. One group of our party was extremely late, and as mobile reception was virtually non existent, we couldnt get hold of them to find out where they were. Eventually, they turned up, just as the rest of us had decided to set off, and leave them some details on our cars. Apparently, they were late because they were waiting at the village car park near the Crown Hotel pub in Lofthouse , the village just before Middlesmoor. How many Crown Hotels can there be??

It was absolutely pouring as we set off, but as true walkers, not once did we think of abandoning the walk and staying in the pub. No it was actually two or three times. However off we went.

Within minutes we were soaked. Neil, with his usual cavalier flair was wearing shorts and gaiters. Almost instantly, the water was running down his legs, inside his gaiters and into his boots.

This was the pattern for the day, as the rain never let up all way around. The cloud, mist and gloom was very low and visibility was poor.

We kept going, even eating our lunches huddled under a (dripping) tree.

With our destination reached, and arriving back at the cars, we removed as much wet clothing as we dare and set off to our accommodation, Roslyn House and The Lyndale. We even decided to forego a beverage, until we had dried off and got warm again. However, we did agree to have an early start at 5.00 in the Crown Hotel, this time in Pateley Bridge itself!!