WESTIES WEEKEND IN BASSENTHWAITE

For a change I booked us into the cheap and cheerful Bassenthwaite Parish Hall, near Keswick for a rare Westies raid south of the Border. On Fri I went down early and cycled 50 miles from Bassenthwaite along the east side of the Lake to Keswick, then a cracking undulating and scenic cycle to Borrowdale, up the incredibly steep and dramatic Honister Pass (250m climb in 2K, 150m in 1st 1K!), a screaming descent to the gorgeous Buttermere, then up to Newlands Hause (200m in a mile), down a lovely rolling descent to Braithwaite, then up the fantasticaslly-forested Whinlatter Pass (220m in 2miles), a good descent to Lorton where I turned round and went back up Whinlatter to Braithwaite and then round the west side of Bassenthwaite Lake to our humble lodgings on the floor of Bassenthwaite Village Parish Rooms - 50 miles and 1330 metres climb and all in lovely sunshine, and rounded off immediately by a few well -earned pints of Jennings in the beer garden of the Sun Inn - a fantastic day's cycling. On Saturday Cat, Dave R and I accompanied Steffen on a recce of leg 3 of the Bob Graham Round from Dunmail Raise over to Seathwaite via Steel Fell, Calf Crag, Sergeant Man, High Raise, Thunacar Knott, Harrison Stickle, Pike of Stickle, Stake Pass, Rossett Pike. At Angle Tarn I headed back to Esk Hause and down Grains Gill to Stockley Bridge and Cat's car at Seathwaite, while the others headed up to Bowfell on a wee scramble into the clag. mainly claggy all day but relented a bit on the last descent to Stockley Bridge which was lovely. Had to constantly use map and compass for the 1st time in ages and seemed to get between all the tops OK, so I suppose I can safely be let out on the hills on my own. After such an inauspicious start, with the clag down to the road and legs like lead due to the cycling, it was a good day out on the hills, reminding us all that the Lakes offer an equally good but different day on the hills compared to our usual Scottish forays.
Others took part in the Aniversary Waltz race nearby with 751 runners and some went for local runs.
On Sat we had a great communal meal, including puddings! The highlight of the evening was (no not Dave's team winning my Westies Quiz again) but a new game destined to become a Westies mainstay of future weekends and providing more laughs than I have had in a long long time - The Funny Animals Game (or something like that I think), Suffice to say it featured various Westies imitating muddled meerkats, leaping lambs, pissing dogs and who knows what else. Another version featuring musical instruments instead of animals also proved hilarious. Sunday started off with one of Dave's infamous relays round the field outside the Hall, featuring dead spiders, sneaky snakes, leaping lambs, some running and a close finish with Captain Chris just holding off Secretary David. Steffen and some of his gang then headed off to recce Scafell Pike etc. Most of the rest of us headed out the Hall door and up to Skiddaw for a great sunny circuit of this Lakes "Munro", up the ridge of Longside Edge and down the other side to arrive back at the Hall in blazing sunshine. I hope everyone else enjoyed the weekend as much as I certainly did, and thanks to everyone who came along and contributed to another fantastic Westies Weekend.
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
  

EASTER WALKING AT BRAEMAR

The Glenmore Walking Club's Easter meet for 2006 was at Braemar Youth Hostel. On Saturday I climbed Lochnagar with Brian, Phyllis and John A. Weather down below was fine but on top it was full-blown winter white-out. We descended to the head of Loch Muick via the Glas Allt waterfall and ambled back down the landrover track. On Sunday the weather was better, with sunny and windy conditions. With Brian, John A, Gill and Arthur I headed up the interestingly named Brown Cow Hill, a Corbett just to the east of Ben Avon. We started from Glengairn Lodge and endured a long landrover plod there and back which would have been great on bikes, especially with the wind behind us on the way back.

LOCHNAGAR
 
 
 
   
 
  
 
  
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
  

Westies Wednesday Dumgoyne Handicap

Wed 12 April saw the first running of the Westies Dumgoyne Handicap. Here is Charlie's report from the Westerlands website, where you will also find some of my photos :

"Well the poor weather in the afternoon didn’t deter the troops for the inaugural running of the Dumgoyne Handicap. A great turnout of 21 runners for a little route devised by Cap’n Chris, saw folk climb to the top of our favourite little hill and back, involving about five miles and 1300 feet. Yours truly, without the assistance of the other Master Handicapper Dave, was left to do the honours and over a 28 minute period, set off the staggered Conga line. Managing a little 20 minute jog while the others were away, I can testify how muddy some of the pipe-track was but apparently the hill path was much worse.

Having started first, Pat managed to hold the lead all the way and the ex-Sec returned over the finishing line for a well deserved win – nice one Pat! A minute and a bit later, Graham K came in for 2nd, and Pauline, despite a late start, put in a fast run to grab 3rd. There then followed a spate of 13 runners within three minutes, in varying states of grimace and mud body painting, with the time gaps opening slightly for the last few to finish. A quick little prize giving thanks to JD, then we retreated to the Blane Valley pub just up the road for some light refreshments and polite conversation.

Points of note : Well I felt sorry for poor Robert who had been hoping to do well on his home patch, but hobbled in, having turned his ankle. Look on the bright side Robert, at least you didn’t have far to limp home, and anyway, you wouldn’t be a true Westie if you were not carrying an injury. Ladies Cap’n Cat ran the fastest lassies time of the night and Chris the same for the laddies. He must have some sort of NASA formula up his sleeve as he predicted a winning time of 44 mins and ran 43m 50s – amazing! The ‘Legs of Steel’ prize goes to Luke, who after a week up North of wild camping and hill bagging, grabbed two Corbetts in Torridon this morning, suffered a four hour drive home, then ran within a minute of Chris tonight, five mins in front of anyone else.

Graham & Marietta's Wedding

On 8 April Jane and I attended the wedding of Graham Beal and Marietta Van Der Linden at Nethybridge, just north of Aviemore. Before the wedding there was a "treasure hunt/run" round the local forest, with lots of Easter Eggs hidden away for us to find. After a nice wee snooze we then wandered across the bridge to the Village Hall for the wedding. Nigel did a good speech and there was a cracking disco to celebrate the happy couple's nuptials. On Sunday we headed to Aviemore to make the most of the heaps of snow that was around, and went up Mheall a Bhuacaille, and enjoyed lots of fresh snow and fantastic views.