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| The south side of Holme Fell, Raven Crag. |
The fell side above the bridle path with the alleged deer in the center. |
We eventually parked the car along the road
to Hodge Close and then set of on our escapades. We followed a bridle
path up across the hillside. This was obviously running in the wrong
direction, so we soon started to detour across country towards the crags.
John, the eagle eyed one spotted a Deer up on the hillside, unfortunately
the photograph I took only showed a little brown blob. Such is the life
of a wildlife photographer!
So after brief stops for running repairs to Sarah's kit, namely a new
rucksack with built in water bottle and straw, we started to stop doing
David Belamy impressions and start doing what we had come for i.e. a
bit of scrambling. Unfortunately Sarah's rucksack was doing a reverse
Titanic trick, i.e. leaking fluid to the outside and not keeping it inside!
This meant that we now had to stop for emergency repairs to the said
rucksack and inbuilt container. After totally draining what was left
of her drink and arranging her wet outer clothing out to dry on top of
our rucksacks we set of again. A wonderful smell of strawberries surrounded
us now, as I can't remember strawberry fields on top of Holme Fell last
time I came here, I can only assume that Sarah had filled her new rucksack
with strawberry flavored drink! |
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| Shoulder high bracken with John looking lost in the center. |
John giving advise to Sarah on emptying her catheter. Otherwise known
as emergency repairs. |
| Finding our way between outcrops of rock and
shoulder high bracken (Bracken is not good for walking
through, it is full of little livestock thingies and tangles your feet
badly. Find paths that do not go through jungles of bracken in future!) We made our way upward.
Soon we came onto the top of Raven Crag. From this vantage point we could
feel a sense of height for the first time, as we looked down into the valley
of Yew Dale. |
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| The top of Raven Crag from the site of the repairs. |
The summit of Raven Crag with Yew Dale in the background. |
| The summit of Holme Fell was now in sight.
We quickly made our way over the undulating summit plateau towards the
highest point. As we reached the highest point we saw another point that
looked slightly higher. When we reached this other point, looking back
to the high point we had just come from, that looked higher! John suggested
that the cairn directly between the two was the summit as it was midway
between the two high points. Good thinking. |
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| 360 Degree View from Holme Fell
Summit. Click on image for large view. |
| So with that point settled we took our photo
of our first Wainwright summit. Unfortunately the views from the summit
were very poor due to the haze. Wetherlam for example was totally obscured. |
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| Holme Fell summit cairn. Wainwright No1. |
The terrible trio make a pact to complete the other 213 Wainwright summits. |
| We made a short trudge down from the summit ridge and across
to the subsidiary summit of Ivy Crag. This was after the author fell over
on his weak right ankle at least once (sustained during
a mishap on the Crib Goch ridge earlier in the year), closely followed by Sarah. John meanwhile
continued his annoying habit of remaining upright all the way. I am sure
that this is not the last time we will hear about the author's ankle during
this odyssey. |
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| Ivy Crag summit cairn with the old reservoir in the background. |
Holme Fell summit ridge from Ivy Crag. |
| We now made our way down towards the old quarries
at Hodge Close. This was a pleasant walk across the fell side, past the
old reservoirs that used to provide water for the quarries. |
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| Ivy Crag and Holme Fell. |
The old reservoir above Hodge Close quarry . |
| Looking back, there was a fine view of the two summit areas
of Ivy Crag and Holme Fell. We skirted the east side of the quarries and
made our way around to the old mineral railway exit of the quarries. We
made our way down the steep path, past the remains of old rails and cables
towards the great archway that separates the two quarries. A father and
son climbing team were having fun on one of the quarry walls. |
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| The archway between the two quarries. John and Sarah give some perspective
to the size. |
The old rail platform, damaged by something from above. |
| When we reached the great archway, I was dismayed
to see that the old metal rail platform had been badly damaged and twisted
by something that had fallen from above. This platform used to jut out
over the water in the south quarry. It was an excellent place to abseil
down to from above, or just to sit on and look down into the crystal clear
water. Occasional rock falls and huge splashes in the water, accompanied
by laughter from above made me thing that the damage was not natural but
wanton damage by somebody with no common sense. In the past both John and
myself had seen divers in the water below, and climbers on the quarry walls.
How would those people have faired with debris raining down on them from
above? |
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| The south quarry from the platform. |
A view of the two caves and the platform from above. |
| After a good look around and some refreshment we set of
back to our car. We went around the western side of the quarries, stopping
for some fine views down into the old workings. We took the bridle path
along side the western slopes of Holme Fell and in no time were back at
the road and our car. |
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| The bridle path along the western edge of Holme Fell. |
Further along the bridle path. |
| As the sun had now started to peek out from
behind the cloud we took the road on the opposite side of the valley to
Tilberthwaite Gill. Here we spent an enjoyable hour exploring the old caves
and quarries. Both John and I decided to climb out of one of the quarries.
I bottled out at the last point and had to retrace my path down, whilst
John made it all the way out. He can be so annoying at times! Sarah meanwhile,
the youngest showed that she is by far the most sensible member of the
trio, stayed at ground level. |
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| Inside an old cave near Tilberthwaite Gill |
Holme Fell from Tilberthwaite |
After a wander over to look down into Tilberthwaite
Gill, where we sat and enjoyed the view and the late afternoon sun the
end of the day was on us. John and Sarah started to roll up their shirts
to sunbathe. Johns ok, he has a six-pack, Sarah is of course perfectly
formed as a twenty something blonde. I on the other hand was not getting
my barrel belly out for anyone and promptly went of in a mood (I
have to let them think that they have had their fun at my expense, after
all!) (Seriously got to watch this pair in future, no time to sit back and
sunbathe with 213 to go!)
So that was that. Wainwright No1 completed and recorded. Back to the
Black Bull in Coniston for a pint of the black stuff, or Arthur's, as
John likes to call it. We spent an enjoyable hour talking about the next
route, equipment and generally planning the next few months.
The weather had improved so much that we actually saw the Lake on our way back.
Unfortunately the M6 was like a car park on the journey south. We had to take
detours through Lancaster, and even of the A6. I eventually arrived home at
9pm, it must have been even worse for John (Skelmersdale) and Sarah (The
Wirral).
I really hope that this does not put them of. |
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Above is a map of the area that those nice people at the
Ordnance Survey have put together for me. All I have to do in return
is to display the following.
Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service.
Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance
Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern
Ireland .
Now, how kind of them is that ?
BUT, if you want to see something REALLY good, click
on this link. Those very clever people at Multimap.com have done
something even better than the kind people at the Ordnance Survey!
Not only do you get a map, but at no extra cost to you, a no nonsense
arial photograph, just click on the link and you get the photo, wait
a while and then you get the map in an overlay when you move your mouse.
I kid you not this is the dogs dangley bits, or as Charlotte and Sarah
would say "How cool is that then?" Enjoy ! |
