High Raise and Sergeant Man

It was a lovely couple of days, but now it's back to reality...

To those of who who have celebrated their birthdays over the weekend...  If your anniversary was half as enjoyable as mine was, then you must have had a lovely time. 

We spent the day doing a high level fellwalk.  We had two objectives in mind.  The first was High Raise, which at 2500' is a fairly respectable fell.  According to the great Alfred Wainwright, it's the most centrally located fell in the Lake District, and hey, who am I to argue with AW?

The weather wasn't braw, but it meant the most brooding magnificent scenery you could ever wish for.

Here's the view down into Far Easdale, from the point where the Borrowdale bridle path reaches the crest dividing Far Easdale from the neighbouring Wythburn valley:-
 

 

This view towards Thirlmere from Greenup Edge shows how good the weather was:-
 

 

According to the weather forecast, the cloud base was supposed to be 700m, and considering we were ascending closer to 800m, this had me a bit concerned because we were venturing into unfamiliar territory on a day where the conditions were less than ideal. 

But lousy weather makes for great photos, so here's a couple for posterity:-

 

I don't know the identity of the fell with the sheer face which features so dramatically in the first photo - it was too unpleasant to loiter for very long on the summit as the rain started sweeping in...  But it bears a striking resemblance to Honister Crag, as shown by AW in his panoramic view from the summit of High Raise.

The second photo looks out towards Steel Fell, which is the summit I featured back in February, with the summits that overlook Far Easdale just visible to the far right (Calf Crag, Gibson Knott & Helm Crag).  The third looks towards Borrowdale with what I reckon is the Derwent Water in the distance....

Our second objective was to scale Sergeant Man, but unfortunately this had to aborted.  We followed AW's instructions to the letter, but couldn't find the summit.  We found something that might have been the summit, but I couldn't see the trig point and the weather was turning foul and we didn't really want to wander around too much when things might turn pear-shaped at any moment.  The long sheer drop that is Pavey Ark was a little too close for comfort...

As it turned out, we were within a whisker of our objective.  Here's a photo of the summit which I took on the descent:- it's the big lump right in the middle.

 

If a hill could laugh, this one would be chortling, believe me.  Still, we made it back down safely (the Royal Naval Sea King helicopter which followed us down wasn't needed, thank goodness!) and I now understand the area a little better, which is great.  We weren't exactly lost at any point, but it was nice to get back into familiar surroundings.  Adventures aren't good when the weather's dodgy... 

We were out for about 6 hours and must have covered about 9 miles.  None of it was very technical or dangerous, it was just a long hard slog, much of it uphill.  It was a seriously good walk, mind, and on a clear day, the views would be spectacular.  And afterwards, we celebrated with dinner at the Langcrigg Vegetarian Country House Hotel, which does seriously good food!

And to put the cherry on the cake, I finally got hold of Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.  I've been wanting that book for about two years and now it's out in paperback I've finally got a hold of it.  It's going to be given a post in its own right - suffice it to say that it's completely fulfilling my extremely high expectations and it's actually managed to elbow A Place of Greater Safety out of my Number One spot. 

And that's really saying something.

Tomorrow, I shall wax lyrical about the Langdale Pikes....  In the meantime, I shall rest up my very tired and achy legs (while listening to the The Loneliness of The Tower Crane Driver by Elbow, which really reminds me of the Lakes)  and sulk because I can't write like Hilary Mantel, who writes the kind of historical fiction that I really, really wish I could...

High Raise and Sergeant Man

It was a lovely couple of days, but now it's back to reality...

To those of who who have celebrated their birthdays over the weekend...  If your anniversary was half as enjoyable as mine was, then you must have had a lovely time. 

We spent the day doing a high level fellwalk.  We had two objectives in mind.  The first was High Raise, which at 2500' is a fairly respectable fell.  According to the great Alfred Wainwright, it's the most centrally located fell in the Lake District, and hey, who am I to argue with AW?

The weather wasn't braw, but it meant the most brooding magnificent scenery you could ever wish for.

Here's the view down into Far Easdale, from the point where the Borrowdale bridle path reaches the crest dividing Far Easdale from the neighbouring Wythburn valley:-
 

 

This view towards Thirlmere from Greenup Edge shows how good the weather was:-
 

 

According to the weather forecast, the cloud base was supposed to be 700m, and considering we were ascending closer to 800m, this had me a bit concerned because we were venturing into unfamiliar territory on a day where the conditions were less than ideal. 

But lousy weather makes for great photos, so here's a couple for posterity:-

 

I don't know the identity of the fell with the sheer face which features so dramatically in the first photo - it was too unpleasant to loiter for very long on the summit as the rain started sweeping in...  But it bears a striking resemblance to Honister Crag, as shown by AW in his panoramic view from the summit of High Raise.

The second photo looks out towards Steel Fell, which is the summit I featured back in February, with the summits that overlook Far Easdale just visible to the far right (Calf Crag, Gibson Knott & Helm Crag).  The third looks towards Borrowdale with what I reckon is the Derwent Water in the distance....

Our second objective was to scale Sergeant Man, but unfortunately this had to aborted.  We followed AW's instructions to the letter, but couldn't find the summit.  We found something that might have been the summit, but I couldn't see the trig point and the weather was turning foul and we didn't really want to wander around too much when things might turn pear-shaped at any moment.  The long sheer drop that is Pavey Ark was a little too close for comfort...

As it turned out, we were within a whisker of our objective.  Here's a photo of the summit which I took on the descent:- it's the big lump right in the middle.

 

If a hill could laugh, this one would be chortling, believe me.  Still, we made it back down safely (the Royal Naval Sea King helicopter which followed us down wasn't needed, thank goodness!) and I now understand the area a little better, which is great.  We weren't exactly lost at any point, but it was nice to get back into familiar surroundings.  Adventures aren't good when the weather's dodgy... 

We were out for about 6 hours and must have covered about 9 miles.  None of it was very technical or dangerous, it was just a long hard slog, much of it uphill.  It was a seriously good walk, mind, and on a clear day, the views would be spectacular.  And afterwards, we celebrated with dinner at the Langcrigg Vegetarian Country House Hotel, which does seriously good food!

And to put the cherry on the cake, I finally got hold of Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.  I've been wanting that book for about two years and now it's out in paperback I've finally got a hold of it.  It's going to be given a post in its own right - suffice it to say that it's completely fulfilling my extremely high expectations and it's actually managed to elbow A Place of Greater Safety out of my Number One spot. 

And that's really saying something.

Tomorrow, I shall wax lyrical about the Langdale Pikes....  In the meantime, I shall rest up my very tired and achy legs (while listening to the The Loneliness of The Tower Crane Driver by Elbow, which really reminds me of the Lakes)  and sulk because I can't write like Hilary Mantel, who writes the kind of historical fiction that I really, really wish I could...