After my last post where I said I had 4 miles to go, I decided that the camp site didn’t look great. A farmyard and the tiny field looked wet and covered in slushy snow.
I decided to press on and get a few extra miles in the bag in case the conditions worsen. A few miles further on I decided I better stop and look at my feet where I could feel a hot spot. This would turn into a blister and was in the same place I got one last weekend. A Compeed plaster seems to of sorted it.
Once I crossed the road to Drymen and started up the track to the forest, the going became harder. 6 inches of soft snow made the going slower than I hoped.
Once on the proper forest tracks there were 4×4 tracks to follow which made it easier. I was thinking about pushing on to Balmaha and stopping in a room there but it would of made tomorrow a little too short.
I am now at the end of Garadhban Forest not far from the start of the climb up Conic Hill. The GPS says I’ve done 16.5 miles, think it may of lost signal for a bit but sounds about right.
The snow is about 6-8 inches I’d guess, the tent is pitched and I am wrapped up inside. The feet are feeling a lot warmer than last week, now they are in some down socks.
While pitching the tent I spoke to a local couple for 10 minutes or so. They said a bit further on near Conic Hill it’s waist deep drifts. Something to look forward to in the morning.
I managed to light the Caldera Keg this time. Although struggled with the lighter, a trusty waterproof match did the job and a cup of tea was soon downed.
It feels like the temperature is dropping, so I’m gonna zip up the sleeping bag for the night and listen to some Podcasts.
It’s the 1st day of the West Highland Way, 7 miles done and sat in the pub. The crazy scots don’t allow you buy alcohol on a Sunday until 12:30, a Tennents tastes better when you have to wait.
I didn’t set off until 10 and have had a slow wander bur still doing a reasonable pace.
My aim for today is a campsite I can’t spell without looking at the map, Easter Drumquhassle Farm about a mile from Drymen. It’s only another 4 miles up the road, no rush. That’s if it’s open, but website said it was.
Total mileage today should be under 12 miles. Tomorrows is about 15 to Rowardennan. My Lamb burger has arrived…
Just in time for my walk up the West Highland Way, Mother nature has decided she would like to make it a bit harder for me. The West Highland area of Scotland has seen whiteouts and blizzards for the last 36 hours. Contrary to popular belief I’m not entirely stupid (generally anyway) and will scale back some of my plans if need be.
My plans include walking up Ben Lomond and further North, Beinn an Dothaidh. The current conditions will make walking hard enough at valley level and I would be stupid to even attempt to head in either Munros direction.
The chart above displays the Avalanche risk on the mountains in the Glencoe area from the Scotland Avalanche Information Service, their site explains the colours but basically Red isn’t good.
Checking the Met Office & MWIS for Sunday onwards, it shows the weather is improving and by Tuesday when I will be making my decision on going up Ben Lomond or not it says:
“Northeasterly 25 to 30mph, but risk of 40mph gusts 55mph, most likely within and near Loch Lomond NP.
Will impede walking on higher areas – with risk of considerable buffeting, particularly toward the south, with severe wind chill.”
This is too far ahead to make any decision, long range weather forecasts aren’t always reliable. At the moment I wouldn’t be walking any Munros. I want to complete the West Highland Way on foot, not by mountain rescue.
Met Office Glencoe (Friday)
Over the last day I’ve been glued to the Kingshouse Hotels live webcam watching the snow go from about an inch to what the picture below now shows:
I am off to Finland on the 29th April until 4th May. I can’t believe I’m going.
Hendrik from Hiking in Finland has been inviting Phil over for a while and I’m over the moon I got an invite too. Hendrik is obviously in charge of the itinery, which looks amazing. As well as hiking, we should be doing some fishing too.
A massive thanks to Hendrik for the invite and his hospitality and of course to Phil for not giving up on me when I said I couldn’t go. I have no doubt there will be several posts over the next 2 months leading up to the trip.
My attention now turns to the West Highland Way which I start this weekend, which maybe harder than expected if the snow continues.
I am off to walk the West Highland Way at the weekend, so decided I needed one last Wildcamp to test a few bits and bobs out. It’s easy to forget what a beautiful area I live in when you’ve looked at it all your life. There are many hills I’ve looked up at and thought I want to be up there, yet for some reason I’ve never gone.
I decided to correct that and walk up at least 1 hill that I’ve looked at every time I’ve driven past, which is a lot, especially when I used drive my car fast around the dale as a ‘youngen’. The hill is Carrs Top.
When I start thinking about going out walking, there’s a tendancy to overplan everything. I find myself staring at a map, plotting a route in Memory Map and agonising over every detail. I am trying to get out of this habit, the hills are there to be explored and explore them I shall, on foot not in the house.
Resisting the urge to draw a route and transfer it to the GPS, I found myself late on a Saturday morning heading towards Frosterley. This is only about 20 minutes from home and I had a vague plan in my head that I would walk up to Hill End, up to the trig point on Catterick then along to Carrs Top and maybe camp in the valley beneath.
As I passed the Black Bull, a pub not an actual black bull, I heard the train whistle blow. I considered standing on the bridge and waiting to see if it was the steam train, I listened for a couple of minutes but couldn’t hear it approaching and decided to press on.
While walking up the road to Hill End I couldn’t help but notice the litter, which sadly there is quite a lot of. While muttering to myself about why they didn’t take it home, I noticed that it was nearly all bottles. Then as I progressed up the hill I kept seeing the same type of bottle. It turns out that there were over 12 bottles of Lambrini thrown out. Maybe someone in Hill End has a problem and each time they walk up the hill, they drink a bottle of Lambrini. Anyway I was going to keep this short, better stop writing so much rubbish (see what I did there).
Back to the walk, everyone in Hill End knew I was approaching because they could hear my Pacer Poles tinking on the tarmac and I think they all hid indoors because it was very quiet. This is where the moors start, once over the cattle grid, this is also where I found the first snow of the walk.
I checked I was on the correct path by looking at Memory Map on the , which is one of the things I was testing. I was happy to see that I was following the correct track, looking up at the open moor ahead I saw a line of multi-coloured jackets crossing the path ahead (that’ll be a guided walk then). I let them get out of sight and made a break for Catterick trig point which is off the path. It’s open access land, but I still have memories of being told off by a game keeper around here when I was a kid. No game keeper today!
The view from the top was fantastic, only spoiled by looking back towards home where I could see rows of wind turbines (sorry but I don’t like them). I found myself soaking up the views and the fantastic clear weather for almost 20 minutes. Oh I was tweeting too and taking pictures, I suddenly realised I hadn’t taken my pack off. Normally when I stop somewhere it’s the first thing I’d do, maybe I’m starting to become a lightweight backpacker finally?
I set off towards my target (Carrs Top) which I could see in the distance, deciding to take a direct line across the fell top to meet the road where the path up started from. I soon found that the ground wasn’t entirely frozen, when I felt the icey cold water in my Terrocs (something else I was testing). This was expected I guess but it turned out to be a problem later.
Regular checks with Memory Map confirmed I was heading the right direction, the great big hill in front of me told me that too. Happily I met the path marked on the map, which was some 4×4 tracks across the grass. Again I managed to find the none frozen part of the moor. Progress was surprisingly quick and before I knew it I was nearing the rocks beneath the cairn I had seen from the road over the years.
There were several flat grassy areas I could camp here, but a check of the time showed it was only 2pm. I continued to the cairn and stopped to admire the view and play with the camera, remembering it did video (720p too). While spinning around in circles snapping away I couldn’t help but be drawn to the ridge (if you can call it that) to the South of me. It was totally white and looked like I could get to it without very much decent. Another plan was formed to “Run To The Hills” sorry an Iron Maiden song jumped into my head then, right back to the increasingly long write up.
A check of the iPhone screen confirmed that I could cut across Bollihope grains and head towards the fence that would lead me to Harnisha Hill. The further I walked the whiter the scene became. Along the way I spotted a fenced off section of moor which has a sign explaining it was a test endorsed by the Enviroment Agency, not sure what it was testing. I then spotted what looked like a barn or building. This turned out to be an old railway carriage being used to feed or shelter sheep (Picture at the top). They are all over Weardale usually in the most remote parts, that leave you wondering how they got there?
The next section was the most interesting of the walk, Bollihope Grains. In the spring or Autumn I would imagine this would be a total nightmare to cross. Its a maze of streams draining from the fell. I had no problems it was frozen and covered in snow, my only worry was falling through the tens of streams I crossed covered over. I was reassured by the 4×4 tracks that criss crossed through dozens of them, it looked like the game keeper was driving up here to feed the grouse. This place is beautiful in the snow and would encourage anyone in the area to get up there while its frozen over.
Bollihope Grains
Bollihope Grains
I headed on and reached the fence which also marks the edge of the local boundary, Wear Valley. The other side is Teesdale, this fence goes on for miles following the top of the hills. This makes navigation incredibly easy, if maybe a little dull.
Harnisha Hill was reached and after studying the map on the iPhone (saved getting the real one out of the bag) I decided that as it was 4 o’clock, I’d set the tent up. There was a nice flat place, with no heather and views of Weardale. The Akto was quickly pitched and then I encountered my first problem.
Another bit of kit I wanted to test was my new Caldera Keg, which Phil has just done a nice write up on. On my way to the walk I had stopped at the local shop with the intention of buying chocolate and a lighter. I was in so much shock from there being no chocolate except for a timeout that I forgot about the lighter. All was not lost as I always carried a backup, a Firesteel. So I started to create some sparks to light the meths but it was having none of it, anyone watching me would think I had a sparkler but the meths just wouldn’t light. After god knows how long and making my new stove look very grubby from the bits coming off the firesteel, I gave up.
Once again I had a backup besides for the dehydrated meal that would clearly be staying dehydrated, a sausage roll. Now this is no normal sausage roll, these are Robinsons Butchers Sausage Rolls that are fantastic and probably have about 6 times the calories of the meal I had planned to eat.
After filling my face I laid down in the sleeping bag with my wet socks on thinking they would dry out, they didn’t feel too wet. This was a big mistake, inside the bag I used a silk liner which soaked up the damp from my socks. The temperature was decidely chilly and dropping, after an hour my feet were getting colder and I then realised how damp the liner had become. I removed this and it froze solid within 10 minutes. I checked my shoes any they too were frozen solid, luckily I had remembered to open them out. I was now laid in my sleeping bag with cold damp feet and no spare socks (wont do this again).
I have cold feet at the best of times, nevermind when its very cold. I lay there wiggling my toes, but had look luck warming them up. After 4 hours of laying in the tent I decided I was wide awake and got the idea to do some night hiking.
Once I get an idea in my head I might as well do it or its just going to stick in my mind. The tent and the rest of the gear was packed impressively quickly and my first real night hiking started. To be honest it couldn’t get much easier I was only about 1.5 miles from a road and the way to it, was to follow a fence all the way. I found myself looking up at the stars, you can see so many when you’re away from light pollution. Something tells me its not the best idea to be looking at the sky while walking across a moor in the dark, but it was impressive.
The road was met without incident and the best way to get back to the car was to follow the road. Sadly this involved 6.5 miles of road walking, rather than a walk along the tops which I’d of done in daylight. I found myself singing away to myself, luckily there was no one around to hear me (or maybe they were too busy hiding from the noise). The road walking was covered in about 90 minutes I think, with only 2 cars met along the way until I got near Frosterley.
There were several lessons from this, which was the point of the walk. Always have a spare pair of socks and don’t forget a lighter or matches. Memory Map worked perfectly for my purposes, which is just to check my location on the map. I like that the GPS is turned off when the screen locks, this saves the battery and the signal was picked up again whithin 2 seconds upon unlocking.
This is long enough, so wont go into anymore detail here.
The older you get the more rubbish Christmas becomes, until you have your own kids and you can see the delight on their faces (so I’m told). Anyway, I decided to recreate the fun of Christmas as a kid, by buying myself some outdoor gear for my West Highland Way walk. Today when I arrived home, I had 3 packages on my welcome mat and a neighbour knocked on my door a few minutes later with more. The picture above shows some of the things that arrived.
Most of these items people will be familiar with. The bargain among them has to be the Terrocs for £48.50 including delivery from Wiggle. The Terra Pants are replacements for the ones I have worn almost to destruction for 3 years, although the new ones look very dark blue (supposed to be black).
The only thing that’s a bit different, is the iPhone Extender/Charger. This was briefly mentioned at the end of the recent review of GPS devices in TGO Magazine. It was only £7.99 + P&P so thought I’d give it a try. Unfortunately on my way home I charged my iPhone in the car, so I’m now sat driaining my iPhone battery with the GPS turned on to give it a test. I can say it was recognised by the iPhone and started to charge it.
The other thing I bought over the last few days was the Memory Map app for the iPhone. I found it by chance on Sunday night, they hadn’t at that point made an announcement. The price I think is ridiculous at £20, when you consider the Windows Mobile version I’ve used for a couple of years is free and has more features. I thought about it for a few hours and decided to give it a shot. There are some very negative reviews on the iTunes store. I intend to give the app a test at the weekend and will write a review afterwards which will compare it to the Outdoors app I used in the Lakes with Phil (after our detour). I had no problems transfering a map to the app and like the Windows Mobile app I can transfer 1:10k scale maps which I use for work purposes. It’s a litttle known fact that you can use the maps you buy direct from the Ordnance Survey for GIS software within Memory Map.There are a few screen grabs above, the top right one displays a 1:10K map, which can be handy when navigating streets at the start of walks.
Distance: 17.8 miles
A few weeks ago while working long hours, I sent a tweet (a message on Twitter) asking if anyone fancied a weekend walking in the Lake District. Phil Turner quickly responded that he would go. He must not of been deterred by the previous trip, which was good fun in the snow.
Fast Forward a couple of weeks and I was sat in McDonalds in Penrith waiting for Phils train to arrive from Glasgow, while trying my best not to murder several unruly teenagers. We didn’t hang around and headed straight for the Youth Hostel at Coniston (Holy How) which Phil had booked using his SYHA membership. I’ve never understood why anyone would join the English & Welsh YH when the Scottish is lots cheaper and is valid in the same places.
The Youth hostel was deserted, only 8 people including us were staying on the Friday. After checking in we quickly headed to the Black Bull in Coniston for food & drink. I was shocked by Phils choice of Cumberland Sausage platter, destroying my belief that he survived solely on pies. We didn’t linger in the pub due to the fact that the walk back to the hostel was unlit and didn’t fancy rolling back late.
After a couple of bottles of beer in the Hostel we retired to our bunks and I quickly fell asleep.We were woke at 6:30 by the people sharing our room, they were back and forwards to the shower and spent ages messing about with their bags. Eventually they left and I think both myself and Phil must of dozed back off to sleep, because I woke up and it was 7:45 which is when we’d booked Breakfast. Phil must of heard me get up as I heard him stir in the bunk next to me. We quickly threw our stuff together and headed for Breakfast. We were the only people there except for the 2 doing the cooking. We quickly polished off the fried breakfast and headed for the Langdales, still feeling a little hungry.
Stickle Ghyll
We arrived at the National Trust car park and found only 2 cars, by this time it must of been nearly 9am. I expected it to be at least half full. I can hardly remember walking up Stickle Ghyll, before I knew it we were at Stickle Tarn and stopped to take some photos and admire the view which was amazing with clear blue skies (so much for low cloud).We had only seen one solitary walker near the top of Stickle Ghyll but he had disappeared, looking back down to the road I could see a few cars now arriving.
While I snapped away Phil suggested we walk up Jacks Rake, this is something I’ve had on my to do list for ages but alway been with someone who would never do it. So I happily agreed and headed for the bottom of the Rake. It was slippy near the base of the route as you can see from the photos Stickle Tarn is covered in several inches of ice.
Jacks Rake
After a quick inspection to make sure it wasn’t too icey and Phil telling me about how he’d been up it in the cadets as a kid (can’t imagine they’d do that now with Health & Safety) we set off. There were a few icey sections but nothing that posed too much of a problem and again we made good progress up to the solitary tree about 3/4s the way up. We stopped to take a few more photos and admire the fantastic view. Now when we looked down to the head of Stickle Tarn there was an army of people looking like ants scurrying around down there. Many of them appeared to be looking up at us, probably wondering what nutters were walking up there in the ice and expecting us to fall.
It was only a short scramble from the tree to the top of Pavey Ark, we decided not to walk on the actual summit and spotted another couple of walkers once up on the top. We headed towards Harrison Stickle but decided not to walk up to the summit either and headed in the direction of Rosset Pike one of the few Wainwrights in this area I hadn’t walked. We descended from Martcrag Moor down to Stake Pass, near Langdale Combe I decided I’d take a few more pictures. Phil probably heard a few restrained choice words when I realised my camera was no longer attached to my waist belt. I’d only bought the Camera 2 days earlier.
While I was standing there thinking how many hours over time it was gonna cost me to replace it, Phil decided we should try to retrace our steps and see if we could find it. I thought I could remember seeing it attached when we stopped for water. It is surprising how hard it is to retrace your steps exactly and couldn’t remember where the stream was. We eventually retraced almost all the way back to Pavey Ark where I was certain I had seen the camera attached. We then headed back again in the direction we had walked earlier. We managed to pick up our footprints in the snow (both had Inov8 310s on), it was harder where there was no snow. This time we found the stream and followed it downhill. I was about to give up when Phil suddenly shouted and directed me to where it lay. That was our Search & Rescue for the trip, I’m extremely grateful to Phil for deciding to go back and for spotting it. I think his eye sight deteriated after this, because he kept thinking sheep and rocks were people!
The Search & Rescue mission had taken nearly 2 hours and several miles of retracing steps up and down hill. So we decided to just camp early at Angle Tarn. If I hadn’t lost the camera we would of gone over Bow Fell and possibly Crinkle Crags too on the Saturday. We decided to miss out walking up to Rosset Pike and after tentatively crossing several patches of ice on the Northern side of Rosset Pike and
Angle Tarn Camp
several boggy sections we made it to Angle Tarn to find the sun behind the hills and it was decidedly frosty with thick ice covering the tarn.
There were several people in the area, but by now we just wanted to get the Tent/tarp up. Phil had brought his Trailstar, so he could show me how to pitch it, I am waiting for mine to arrive from the States. It’s incredibly easy to pitch, taking only a few minutes, even while explaining it to me and having to push the pegs into the frozen solid ground.
After seeing how it was done, I quickly pitched the trusty Akto and scattered the contents of my bag inside to make it feel like home. Then blew up the Neo Air, hoping that the replacement I had very quickly received from BPL.co.uk wouldn’t deflate like the previous one. I chewed on a cuppa tea I’d made with dried milk that didn’t disolve, then I must of drifted off for a few minutes. When I woke there were several people descending from various directions towards us. Shortly afterwards 4 people started pitching a couple of tents quite close to us, at least one of them must of been a wildcamp virgin and we could hear him being instructed on various things.
Another group of people pitched some tents slightly higher on the other side of the beck. The group camped next to us continued setting up their gear. Initially they appeared to talk quietly but this became gradually louder as it got darker. I made the unfortunate discovery that I’d left my headphones at home. The group spent the next 4 hours or so laughing and shouting between their tents and you would think trying to create a strobe light show with headtorches. I was contemplating on using the ice axe for purposes other than it was designed, when they must of decided to go to sleep. I thought it was just me being tired but Phil said the same thing the following day and he had headphones on.
After several hours of broken sleep I must of managed to get a couple of hours and woke to a cold morning with the light starting to break through the darkness, I lay for a while with the door and inner tied back while waking up. I’d left the water in the porch and it had mostly turned to ice, so tipped it into the pot and started making a brew. The gas stove went out and I realised it must of been the temperature and being placed on the icey ground. After warming the gas and placing something under it, I soon had my cuppa minus the powdered milk. Phil appeared too after hearing the stove, I was busy trying to defrost my shoes above the stove while my brew boiled. The shoes had frozen solid, the temperature had got down to -4. Luckily I’d been reminded to undo my laces and shoes as much as possible the previous night, I would of forgotten.
While I devoured my breakfast of a sausage roll and continued to wake up, the other group started to stir. We quickly packed up the gear or rather Phil did, while I continued to chew on my frozen Sausage Roll at the same time.
Inversion
We made good progress up to Ore Gap, spotting various tents on the way up and in the distance. Once at Ore Gap we stopped to take some more pictures and admire the view with an inversion in the valley and cloud capping most of the higher fells. We made it to the top of Bow Fell at 9:30, the first people of the day it appeared. Again we stopped to admire the view which looked like a bed of cotton wool in the valley. We still didn’t see anyone as we descended to the Three Tarns glissading once or twice.
The low cloud which had been forecast for the day before decided to make an appearance and covered much of Crinkle Crags. I mentioned to Phil about going down the bad step, I couldn’t quite remember which number crinkle it was was from this direction so each time we neared a summit I thought it would appear, with the cloud/fog it was hard to tell how far we were over. Somehow we (me) made a navigational detour and managed to make a 180 degree turn (we have no idea how), we then decided to descend off the side of Crinkle Crags hoping to reach the car and pub for lunch. We followed some cairns on the descent which was quite steep and I thought it looked different but put it down to the cloud. I even looked at the new Outdoors app I’d downloaded on the iPhone which told me I was West of the Long Top but didn’t believe it.
Descending into cloud
We continued to descend and both of us thought the valley looked wrong but were still restricted due to cloud. We put crampons on while we checked out a Gulley that we thought about descending but Phil made the wise decision that it was too dangerous (incredibly steep we later noticed from the bottom). We gingerly crossed the gulley. By this time we realised our error and that we were descending into the wrong valley, but decided it was quicker to descend and walk up the marked path back to the Three Tarns. We made our way down another slightly less steep slope, which had rocks to help descend. I went first trying to kick steps in and slipped, I am happy to say my first real self arrest was textbook perfect (in my eyes). A minute or so later I saw Phil slipping and wizzing by me, he had a slightly different technique of stopping which gave me visions of a broken leg, but I need not of worried. Once down into the valley Phil took compass bearings to check we were going the correct way and I decided to test the Outdoors app properly and believe it.
It was an incredibly long slog up the icey slope to return to the Three Tarns, I was tired by the time we got there. I think Phil felt the same and we stopped to share the Pepperami I’d saved. It’s surprising how much better I felt afterwards, maybe knowing that there was no more ascent also helped. We then headed down The Band heading for the car and pub at the New Dungeon Ghyll, it always feels like it takes quite a while to descend this way but you do get to look along the fabulous valley, which still looked magical even with the cloud. The last mile or so from Stool End farm to the car I could feel the bag on my shoulders probably because I knew we were nearly back and I couldn’t wait for a nice meal and a pint.
To my horror Stickle Barn was closed for renovation, that soon passed when Phil pointed out the Walkers bar at what I always thought was just a hotel. I must of stopped there nearly a dozen times and never noticed it, always going into Stickle Barn which is the closest to the car park.
This post has become incredibly long, so will just say Phil enjoyed his Pie and I made sharp work of the homemade burger and pint. I was going to add a quick gear review and lessons learnt which there were several but will do this in a seperate post tomorrow.
It was another excellent trip with Phil. Even though it may of sounded like it was eventful, it only added to make it an great weekend and a good test of gear and skills.
You can see more of the photos from the trip on Flickr here and the strange route below:
Google Profile
Digg
Del.ico.us
Flickr
FriendFeed
Goodreads
Last.fm
Twitter
YouTube