Braithwaite to Buttermere

Date:

23.10.2010

This was a day of walking which is only memorable for the unpleasant weather we had, and the first of a 2-day circuit from Braithwaite. I was meeting with my friend Sue from Dumfries again, and the route was basically taking us up from the high car park in Braithwaite, to Grisedale Pike, Hopegill Head and finally across Wandope and Whiteless Pike before we headed down into Buttermere. It was a case of trying to ignore the incessant wind/rain/sleet and getting to our destination where we could dry off a little. Fortunately, even though our gear might have gotten damp from the rain, our morale wasn't dampened since we had already prepared ourselves for a day of bad weather but the next day was forecasted to be really good. We had something to look forward to, and a great route planned out!

Yorkshire 3 Peaks

Date:

31.07.2010

After much talking and emailing with my friend Sue we decided to meet somewhere other than the Lake District for some walking. I'm not sure how we wended up deciding on this route now, but for some reason it had an appeal which we could not resist. So the plan was made. I drove up from Leicester and Sue came down from Dumfries, and we both met up at the youth hostel in Ingleton on a very rainy Friday evening. Initially we would have been in a dormitory sharing a full dormitory with about 6 other women but we decided on a rather cunning plan to bag one of the smaller and empty 2-bed dorms by talking and smiling very sweetly to the guy at the hostel reception. Our excuse was that we were getting up very early the next morning and of course did not want to disturb other guests, so could we perhaps >>>

Wastwater to Honister

Date:

03.07.2010

This was the second day of a 2-day backpacking route, the first of which took my sister and I from Langdale to Wasdale over some fine peaks. From the Wastwater youth hostel, where we stayed the night, we took the somewhat laborious trudge back up the road to get to the foot of Yewbarrow, the first fell of the day. Unluckily for me, I discovered my platypus had a leak in it and I had more drink absorbed into the padding on the back of my rucksack than I had left in the water reservoir itself. So it wasn't a particularly good start to the day, but I had the chance to try and fix things up before we got onto the ascent properly. So Yewbarrow was a new fell for me, and I was quite impressed with it. It's a lovely spur which takes you quite rapidly up the fell in a northesterly direction, and although >>>

Scafell Pike from Langdale

Date:

02.07.2010

This was the first of a 2-day backpacking trip with my one-year-younger sister. After driving up to the Lakes on an unusually busy Thursday afternoon, we stayed at the youth hostel in Grasmere and then drove down to the National Trust car park at Dungeon Ghyll the next morning. From here it was a nice stroll down the valley to the Band, and a straightforward ascent with the views of Harrison Stickle and Pike of Stickle took us up to Three Tarns. I'd done this route many times before, so there's very little to say other than from Bowfell we carried on to Esk Pike while enjoying the views of Scafell's west-facing slopes. Esk Pike is one of my favourite viewpoints, because not only do you get the airy drop down over Great Moss and Eskdale itself, but also across to the Scafell-Great End massif >>>

Cruach Adrain

Date:

12.04.2010

The hardest part of this walk was not at all the fact that you climb 2 munros. It's the route finding to get on the right mountain! For some reason, even with the superb sunny weather and visibility, it took me a little while to figure out the way to get through the forest and onto Grey Height, the first hill which leads onto Cruach Ardrain. But I had all the time in the world, so it didn't matter too much. It was nice to get out onto open mountainside and be able to see where exactly I was though! It was a slightly colder day compared with the two previous days of walking, but it was mostly due to a little extra wind than a drop in air temperature. I wasn't so impressed by Cruach Ardrain itself; the route seemed nice enough, but it wasn't quite as aesthetically pleasing as the two neighbouring >>>

Ben Lui

Date:

11.04.2010

Characteristic:

Hike

Distance:

22.0km

© Hannah Vickers On recommendation from a climbing friend, I chose to take a hike up Ben Lui. I was staying at the youth hostel in Crianlarich so it made sense to find something close by. It was a bright and lovely spring morning in the central highlands, and I was very excited to get hiking after a short drive down the road to the car park at Dalrigh, between Crianlarich and Tyndrum. It was about 5 degrees when I left the car park and started on the slightly tedious track leading up beside the Cononish river. It's about 6 or 7km of flat stony track to walk along until you actually start an ascent, but with magnificent views of Ben Lui's eastern face overlooking the route, it wasn't all that bad really. I was overtaken on several occasions by bikers, some with skis fixed to their rucksacks and some without >>>

Ben Arthur

Date:

10.04.2010

After sleeping at the very grand Loch Lomond youth hostel the previous night, I took a short drive a bit further north to Succoth where I could make an ascent of the Cobbler. It was warm, sunny and felt properly into summer; however I had neglected to bring a map with me and was kind of hoping that the route up would be obvious. Fortunately for me though my hopes were fulfilled and after getting out of the forests, I couldn't get too lost on the nice footpath which was currently filled by lots of other eager hillwalkers. Great views of Loch Long and of the jagged profile of the Cobbler itself pretty much defined the hike, and there was some nice opportunities for scrambling to get to the top as well. It was a bit hazy though - my only complaint about the very warm and sunny weather! After some >>>

Broken Fingers (III) and Red Gully (II)

Date:

22.03.2010

James' boss had quite kindly let him borrow the chalet just outside Aviemore for a few nights, and so we had only a short drive to get up to the ski car park where we took the short walk into Coire an t-Sneachda. It was a pretty quiet day, windy on the tops as always but not too many other climbers on the routes. Fortunate for us really! James had done Fingers Ridge (IV) not too long ago so we decided on a variation of Broken Gully and Fingers Ridge, otherwise known as Broken Fingers. Snow cover was a bit lean after leaving the gully, but it was a fantastic route nonetheless. Some nice delicate moves to work on and we found ourselves topping out in almost no time. After a descent back into the coire, we went up Red Gully. James lead the first pitch, I did the second and then we almost moved >>>

Gardyloo Gully (II)

Date:

20.03.2010

Skiddaw

Date:

07.03.2010

After our previous day's hike in the Borrowdale valley, this time myself and Jay took a more local walk, and up Skiddaw. Fantastic weather and conditions underfoot were a guarantee for a great day out, and despite starting off in a winter jacket, I was down to my vest top by the time we reached the top of Skiddaw. The sun shone perfectly over the snow-covered fells and it was a superb hike all round. We joined lots of other happy hikers at the summit for some lunch, before taking the eastern slopes down toward Skiddaw House. Once we'd reached here, we followed the footpath skirting above Glenderaterra Beck to get back to Keswick.