Well, as luck would have it the forecast was looking pretty damned fine
SIA- Big Girls Cry
I do a heap of rock and blues, but SIA has a superb voice, and deserves a listen.
To be honest the whole album (1000 Forms of Fear) deserves a listen
But back to the trip.
We had a bit of a plan.
Meet at Kings Lynn at the UNGODLY hour of 7.20 on Sat.
Drive to Ashopton
Park the car
Head into the hills above Derwent Water, heading out to Howden Edge
Wild Camp (don't tell the rangers - ooohh Err No sir) and then walk back on Sunday
Which is exactly what we did.
The weather was quite kind, with a couple of annoying showers, during one of which I may have put my Paclites on inside out, and here is the thing.
They worked just fine...
Try that with Paramo!!!
It was I have to say BLOODY WINDY when we were walking along Howden Edge. Probably gusting to about 40mph based upon the bufetting and being pushed a bit sideways.
None of this "Oh we managed but it was blowing about 80 mph" bollocks you hear people spout
Listen at 80 to 90, you start to behave like tumbleweed.
Anyway, enough of that.
We had a bloody good walk out.
A bloody good walk back.
In fact, the ONLY downside was the fact that due to parking restrictions in Hathersage on the way back (which as far as I could see was most of it) we did not manage to get the cup of coffee and bacon butty we had dreamed about the night before.
So, here are a few of the photos
There will be no more commentary other than the odd caption
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| Heading Up looking towards Lady Bower |
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| Lady Bower Reservoir. Unless we had got as far as Derwent Reservoir. It's a bit vague. The last week has been a bit tense what with Ollie going off to Australia |
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| Rather Fine Views |
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| Martin heading along the Pavement |
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| How the **** does that stay there? |
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| Does this look like K9 from Dr Who to you? |
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| Heading out over the Moor. I admit we did miss the start of the track. It was not a navigational error. It was a talking too much as we walked along error. |
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| Having said that, it is great practice for Scotland. Martin showing off his NEW GG Gorilla |
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| Go ON! You know you want to go and stand on them |
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| Just a couple of Panoramas from up along the ridge Bathed in Autumnal Colours |
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| It was getting a bit blowy up here by now. Swift moving clouds. By the time we started down to look for a camp location, we were getting pushed about a bit |
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| We were very lucky that those distant dark wet clouds missed us by |
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| Martin heading down |
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| Looking out from Helga with my NEW FLAT CAT GEAR SNOW LEOPARD Stove. Bloody good bit of kit. Lighting the Esbit with my old lighter was a bugger. But I have a new Tor Jet now. 5 for £5.95 from Amazon.Tor Jet Link Flame Thrower YES YES. I am a Gear Tart, but it was time to move away from GAS. Having said that the KOVEA Spider is bloody tempting |
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| Big thanks to Alistair Whittaker for pointing these boys out to me. |
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| View from Camp. It was a tad blustery and a bit of drizzle when I took this, hence the image quality. But it soon blew through, and it was a great wee spot. Can't say where it is though. I mean what would the rangers say? |
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| Back down along Derwent Reservoir heading to the 1st Dam the next day. We actually went down and walked along the edge. The water level was the lowest I have seen it for years. I would say 15' down from its highest. That'll be Man Made Global Warming then. Than God for Wind Turbines Saving the Planet. OR It could just be the COSMIC level of Climate Cycles eh??? |
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| Looking from the edge towards the Dam |
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| One of the last bits off the old edge left. Most has long ago been washed down into the reservoir. It doesn't look that steep, but it was, and wet and slippery |
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| An Old piece of exposed tree stump |
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| Martin Heads up through the Woods on the other side after our coffee stop. It was nice and sheltered in the woods. A pleasant change from the buffeting wind, until we got back out onto the top |
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| We found a whole cluster of these beauties just by the edge of the wood. Apparently, if you look them they make you fall over? I resisted the temptation |
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| A final look as we walked down towards the reservoir and the road to head home. It had been a short, but excellent walk out and back. For the end of Oct, the weather had been remarkably good. In fact I could probably used shoes rather than boots. Having said that, my feet were as dry as a bone in my Ecco Terrain II's |
And then we drove home!
I Thank You!