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By Martin Stevens - March 2005
Far too early on Mon Dec 27th I dragged myself from bed, prepped and hurtled (as much as one can on a 125cc bike with both me and an overfilled rucksack on it, anyway) to SW London to meet Chris. This bit of the journey was easy, traffic was scarce and it was only the salt spray that made things difficult. Having found my way to Chris' parents house I switched from motorbike to Chris' car and we headed towards the Lake District. Getting out of London proved again that the only time to travel is when the rest of the world is asleep as there was dense traffic as far as Preston. Eventually, however, we found the traffic lightening and our average speed increasing, and it didn't seem like too long before we arrived at our destination in Aspatria, just NW of the lakes...near enough to be handy for the NW Lakes, but far enough out to be very affordable for a weeks stay - friends in the right places, even if part of the condition of staying is walking Kielda the dog each day. We found the supermarket and a takeaway to provide for that nights supper. The rain blatted down, not good signs for the following day.
Tuesday dawned dry but mild with low cloud and no sign of the hoped for snow or ice. In the search for an easier day we'd chosen a couple of lesser peaks - Great Calva, and Great and Little Cockup, walking in from Bassenthwaite and along part of the Cumbria Way. The early ground was straightforward although very muddy before becoming a good metalled track. A while later, as we gently gained height the track became a path and by the time we got up to a small waterfall at Whitewater Dash it was a small track. Shortly after this the cloud got very wet and the wind picked up so waterproofs were brought to the fore, and with excellent timing Chris announced that, 'there isn't really a path so we go up there' and pointed up a very steep, deep heather and scree slope. So up we went, not quite the 'easy intro' I had in mind for Day 1 and wishing that waterproofs were just a bit more ventable. In due time and with much less stopping on my part than I'd anticipated we found ourselves on the summit plateau of Little Calva in quite dense cloud. Some compass work and pacing saw us to the Little Calva summit and then on to Great Calva. Backtracking a little we headed across the high moor, marshy and wet, and more compass and pacing, skirting a pair of high tarns before a steep descent and climb to the Cockups. An easy descent and back to Bassenthwaite before dark. All in all it wasn't such an arduous day, and a good 'wake up' to the legs for the week to come.
Wednesday - Weather forecast was poor so we decided on a lower-level walk with plenty of options should the weather be better than the forecast. We drove down Borrowdale, heading for Seathwaite. For reasons unknown to both Chris and me we parked too soon, in Seatoller. Once we'd parked, put on boots and braced ourselves for the day to come we realised that we'd parked in the wrong place. Unperturbed we rerouted to walk along part of the Allerdale Ramble which, like Tuesday's section, was very muddy, certainly as far as Seathwaite. Once we reached our desired starting point we followed alongside Grains Gill to Stockley Bridge before turning away and starting to climb. As we walked up to the cloud layer the rain started and a pause for rain jackets was taken at Greenhow Knott. We then followed along Styhead Gill to the eponymous tarn and continued to Sty Head where sandwiches and hot drinks were taken. We made our way to Sprinkling Tarn and then descended besides Grains Gill heading back to Seathwaite. Great dismay when we found the cafˇ closed! Rather than face the muddy horrors of the Allerdale Ramble again we decided a bit of road walking would be fine to get us back to Seatoller - and it was.
Thursday had a better, although not fantastic, forecast and we set off in hope for Thornthwaite Forest at an early hour. We picked our way through the pine forest and up Grisedale Pike, a steady uphill trudge once we were clear of the trees, the wind strength increasing as we gained height, breaking up the cloud layer. We paused for a photograph only for Chris to find that the battery in his camera was discharged. Once on the summit the forecast came good with patchy cloud at around summit height. In the frequent patches of sunshine we were treated to lots of brockenspectres, the first time either Chris or I had ever seen such things and we idled away a few minutes here before heading west to Hopegill Head and then Whiteside. Refreshments were enjoyed in the lee of the ridge and 'spectres were seen in plenty to the point that it became, 'oh, just another brockenspectre'.
We headed back to Hopegill Head enjoying the most scenic views of the trip so far and made our way North to Ladyside Pike before descending back into the forest and making our way back to the car along the firebreak paths. In the evening we were lucky enough to have access to a private spa and pool - just the thing to easy away the soreness in the limbs.
Friday - Apathy abounded after such a relaxing finish to the previous day. We managed a very late start before heading out to the beach at Allonby, on the Solway Firth, to walk the dog. The hills of Scotland were visible across the water and seemed to have dusting of the white stuff. After a decent walk along the beach in the strong wind, and watching some board-sailors enjoying the surf we headed back for lunch, then headed out to Keswick in search of much cheapness and bargains. Mostly disappointed.
Saturday, New Years Day - An early start as the forecast was for the weather to deteriorate as the day went on, although all day would be windy. We parked at Mirehouse in Dodd Wood, the second car in the parking space and made our way through the woods towards Skiddaw. Path closures for logging work sent us a longer way around than we'd anticipated but we were soon on yet another section of the Allerdale Ramble and heading up to White Stones and the long grind up to Carl Side, the wind increasing steadily. A brief pause was taken at Carl Side tarn for a bit of chocolate-bar and a drink and then the long, steep haul up to the Skiddaw plateau. It was incredibly windy on the plateau and we were glad to drop into the stone shelter for a minute; we decided that that dog had to be on a lead to prevent her being gusted away. As it was we started the 300m or so walk to the summit proper and Chris was picked up and dropped by the wind. At this point the decision was made to retire - all three of us had been to the summit before and certainly Chris and I felt there was little to gain by walking the 300m to not have a view. Kielda just didn't contribute an opinion at this point. We made our way back down to the car, getting there just as it started to rain at 1pm. We congratulated ourselves on a wise decision not to push on to the Skiddaw summit proper - the time take would have seen us doing a bit of walking in the heavy rain we'd thus managed to avoid, and headed for Ambleside in search of bargain goodies and much cheapness. Almost successful but the sales weren't nearly as good as in previous years we thought.
Sunday - After the strong winds of Saturday, we looked very carefully at the Metcheck and TV forecasts only to find more, and stronger winds forecast. Discretion being the better part of valour (or so we told ourselves anyway) we chose an easy day and took the dog to the beach for a couple of hours. Given the strength of the wind and the size of the waves at the beach we had no doubt we'd made the right choice not to go up into the hills although the hills across in Scotland did look very tempting indeed. Perhaps next year.
Monday - Travelled home, leaving only an hour later than we'd planned, but traffic was light most of the way back to London and we made good time.
Martin Stevens