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.
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