my kingdom for an open car park…
Bit of an epic for mid-holiday. The rain came down, the roads got worked on, the ice singularly refused to go away, the Lake District was closed, and so it was that lunch was eaten back at the villa at 4pm after 100 miles and two and a half hours of driving.
Apparently even a flat walk eluded us, the Derwent valley having turned to ice. Keswick even contained some fields that were iced over, sloping fields at that. The car parks that weren’t closed were either iced over or, once we got to Thirlmere, crammed with mountain rescue.
We managed to leave the car for a short period, finding the only spot in a car park half way along the shore of derwent water that wasn’t frozen. Eventually we got down to the shore and looked out over the frozen lake. Low cloud hung over the scene and rain splattered onto the ice making puddles but not doing anything to try and melt it. A couple of decent sized stones thrown high into the air failed to make an impression on the ice.
We left that spot in search of somewhere more promising that might not be frozen up leaving the ducks to their ice skating practice. This proved nigh on impossible and there seemed to be nowhere to stop that might just be a decent place to sit down and eat sandwiches. We ended up driving down the road that runs alongside Thirlmere, and with no obvious places to turn around given that the car parks were packed to bursting with mountain rescue teams – no idea what the emergency was, but as the fell top assessor had not made it to the summit of Helvellyn that day but turned around, then it’s probably reasonable to say anyone attempting to climb up high that day was asking for trouble. We continued along the road which slowly turned more and more snowy heading further into the heart of the lake district but not necessarily where we wanted to be with deteriorating weather and the roads starting to look nasty.
This is not proving a successful trip. Time to turn around and head back.
Latrigg Fail
I promised a bit more detail on some of my lake district adventures recently, so here is part 1, a slightly poor attempt to walk up a hill.
Latrigg fell – wednesday 13th jan
Beaten by the weather on this one. Even a small hill can have a turn around vibe to it, so I did, not even hitting the 300m meter contour line. The app I was playing with on my phone making it pretend it was a gps tracking system and devouring the batteries said I got to 324m, but I’m figuring otherwise.
It was a cloudy day with the higher fells alongside hiding their tops from view. Snow was threatening and under the snow on the lower parts were hidden sheets of ice. Starting off from Keswick and there were a few people wandering along the track (mostly in the other direction), which under other circumstances would provide a leisurely, undemanding stroll. Higher up was fine, and once I left the well-trodden path between the cheats car park half way up the hill and Keswick the covering turned to an inch or so of snow, with only two sets of footprints in it. This started me thinking I’ll get to the top of the zigzag path on the map and see what it’s like.
By the top of the zigzag, the ground started to open out and the wind began to blow calmly across the hill, taking with it some of the snow and slowly starting to erase my boot prints. The path itself was also starting to disappear, the snow trying to hide it and blend it in with the slope of the hill. Maybe I could have gone on, according to the map there was only another 70 meters of ascent and not too much further to walk, but it didn’t seem the wise thing to do. So I stood and took in what there was of the view, most of it being hidden by distant mist, and snows and cloud. I took a picture of the only thing around that leant some colour to the monotone scene, a gorse bush, snow drifted around it, and headed off back down the track.
Further down the track to Keswick there is another viewpoint, where the trees have been cut down so they do not obscure the vista. I guess the stumps also provide a convenient seat to admire the view. Bassenthwaite lake was visible in the distance, and beyond the houses of Keswick, Derwent Water could be seen, completely frozen over. I think that officially makes it cold.
Waiting for the sun to shine
A last trip out. A lot less snow and ice, perhaps ullswater has been like this all week and we’ve been sticking to the frozen lands of derwent.
So what can you see with these last 2 (ooh bonus!!) pictures then? There’s a view across brothers water to the mountains beyond and a shot looking up ullswater, was hoping the sun would come out and shine but it decided not to. So there you go, a couple of moody lake shots.
EPIC
The lake district car parking facilities would currently appear to be either iced over, shut or filled with mountain rescue teams coordinating things. Aside from the car parks derwent water and bassenthwaite lake are frozen over, thirlmere isn’t and the Keswick co-op is an independant one that won’t give you points and which chip and pin hasn’t reached yet. Just so you know. Epic road trip over.
Badgercam
The badger cam channel is currently looking like it wouldn’t be out if place in a Japanese horror movie…
Latrigg Fell
Managed to fail today an assault of Latrigg Fell in the lake district. Beaten back by the weather and despite everyone seeming to think otherwise I am well aware I don’t have the skills and equipment to do anything particularly adventurous in these conditions and I also have the sense to know when to turn back and give up.
I try to make it sound more impressive than it is but in reality its a small fell and I failed to even make the 300m contour. I’m blaming the snow and wind.
I’ll write more when I’m back but for now a picture from the point I gave up.
antarctica
As I have seemingly discovered how to embed youtube into my blog I thought i’d repost this short selection of pics from february this year…
Storm
Just in time for the first predicted heatwave of the year, I thought I would take you back to february this year and the depths of winter. All in aid of an excuse to put up a video that I toiled late into the night producing. It’s nothing groundbreaking and unfortunately you’ll have to click on the picture to the left to link to it as I can’t host video on this site at present as far as I am aware. The video comes from my antarctic trip this year, the only time that I can recall where I didn’t think I would end the experience unscathed.
The Ocean Nova grounded at our furthest point south in the very early hours of the morning and we awoke to find ourselves in a sheltered inlet protected by the rocks we had grounded on. The evening that followed, however, saw the ship free itself, only to get stuck at an angle away from the shelter of the rocks, with the wind now blowing at close to hurricaine force into the side of the ship.
With the ship leaning heavily and the wind howling around the ship causing it to shift and sing along there was nothing we could do but wait as the night slowly enveloped us.
Credits for the clip go to me for photos, video & production. Karl McGowan for photos. There are a couple of photos I can’t place so if they are yours I apologise and if you want them removing send me an email and let me know. The music is the first part of The Lightning Strike by Snow Patrol. Hope you like it.
Derwent Reservoir
It was one of those decisions that had the potential to be completely stupid. However, amid Met Office predictions of thunder and downpours and fire and brimstone descending on the local area, I’ve been walking. Myself and Karl (one of the few people foolish enough to agree to do stuff with me) never seem to choose to go walking at sensible times, it is usually windy, rainy, january or failing poor weather conditions we normally take a different route to intended. Indeed it is probably our presence on board the Ocean Nova in Feb 2009 that caused it to ground itself on some particularly persistent rocks, but that is a different story for a different time.
True enough as we drove through Sheffield the heavens opened and the rain came down. By the time we turned off the A57 and onto the road that runs down one arm of Ladybower Reservoir the rain had cleared, and pulling into the carpark we noticed the mandatory old people who are usually to be found crowding out the benches kindly provided looked suspiciously dry, almost as if it hadn’t rained there at all. Then again, the mandatory old people may well have been taking up car parking spaces sheltering in their cars instead. 
Getting out of the car, thunder rumbled ominously in the distance, however, it was obviously the last gasp of the storm as the clouds parted and the sun appeared, and it stayed out for the rest of the walk.
Derwent and Howden reservoirs were pretty much deserted, it must have been more interesting sitting in the car park watching the ducks get in the way of cars than walking along by the water in glorious sunshine and dappled shade. The rhodedendron bushes were in flower lending bright spashes of pink to the scene along with the various shades of green and the beige yellow of the track. The reservoirs were unexpectedly low, giving the impression of being surrounded by little beaches.
We didn’t get to the far end where the little stream is and the bridge over it, though it is a good job we didn’t. We chose instead to turn back about 3/4 of the way there, partly due to achey legs and partly due to the path leaving the shade of the trees and our negligent lack of sunscreen, (you can’t sell sunscreen to an impressionable general public if you yourself are burnt to a crisp).
The walk covered about 6 miles in just under 4 hours, which allowed for lots of dawdling and eating of lunch, and took us down the right hand side of the reservoirs. This allows you to avoid the soul destroying detours on the left hand side road and has less uppy downy bits to it.
We got back to a much emptier car park and set off to The Ladybower Inn, which I fully recommend. Generous portions of very tasty food, especially the chips. We were the only customers when we got there and once we were in and sat waiting for food we were treated to the heavens opening once more with an even more violent downpour and accompanying thunder and lightning. We’d timed it perfectly.
There are a few more pictures on show, and they can be found on the gallerys of flickr and will no doubt slowly appear on here over the next couple of posts. So until then, enjoy the daisies below.
Clouds 2
Yes it’s cloud time again. Mainly because yesterday evening the sun managed to catch a pleasingly lit bank of cumulus cloud off in the distance. This was probably the decaying remains of one of the series of clouds that conspired yesterday to dump rain everywhere at random intervals leaving people confused as to whether to mow the lawn and do the garden as it traditional on a sunday.
Increasingly the world is getting busier on sundays, it used to be a day of rest. Now it is a day to run around manically to get things done that there isn’t time for in the rest of the week. The main roads round here are often as busy on a sunday as rush hour is during the week. This should never be so. If we don’t have a chance to stop and breathe every once in a while we will quickly suffocate ourselves. Perhaps you can tell I subscribe to the view that sunday is a day to take time out, to do things slowly and just enjoy a bit of space in life.
But then i’m one to talk. What did my sunday consist of this week? I spent most of the day writing, or rather typing. I got so focused on it I looked up at the clock and realised I had forgotten about lunch. It’s not even brought me back on track, I’m still a chapter behind where I wanted to be right now. However, the day I spent yesterday writing about took longer that I thought it would. It’s difficult to know where to stop with something like this and I am hoping I strike the right balence with it. I have put enough effort into the writing now that I am wanting people to be interested and have a read and enjoy what I have written, even though this project started off as me recording my memories of the trip for my own personal enjoyment, and as a record that won’t be destroyed by a computer hard drive crash or an over zealous tidying spree. Its hard to accidentally bin a hardback book.
So to finish off this post, a quick, unedited, uncleaned sentence or two from chapter four ‘Hike on a Volcano’
Very slowly we make our way down to the cobble beach to the zodiac and the little pile of red life jackets. In our absence it seems the penguins have found these things an interesting diversion as there is now penguin guano all over them. Trying to pick a fairly clean one I resolve to make sure I get a different one on the way back from our next trip to shore.
