BB1109 : Up The Spout

6th April 2011

Last week’s aching muscles reminded several of us that we weren’t as fit as we used to be.  How would we fare this week with a potentially more strenuous outing?  

A change from Thursday to Wednesday did not prove universally popular, especially as the forecast for today was for winds of up to 75 mph!  Perhaps not exactly ideal circumstances to blood new BOOTboy, James!

Cautley Spout was our first objective so we parked just beyond the Cross Keys Temperance Inn, crossed the River Rawthey and set off in that direction.  The early morning rain had finished but it was not yet the best of days.

We wondered if the wind might be strong enough to blow the water in the falls upwards. The climb became increasingly steep, albeit on ground with well-laid stones.  The falls are quite spectacular but the water was continually obeying gravity- the wind here was not sufficiently strong to cause any other result.

Once the upper falls came into view we diverted to the right and then began the even steeper climb to Yarlside in increasingly windy conditions.  Reaching the shoulder, we dropped down the other side somewhat for shelter to take what some thought was a coffee stop but for others was lunch!  

Comitibus: Yarlside

The view to the north from the Comitibus stop

Refuelled to a greater or lesser extent, we pressed on to the summit in an extremely strong and uncomfortable wind.  Not a place to linger.

A 400 foot steepish drop and 260 foot sharp climb brought us to Kensgriff summit from whence the original plan had been to carry on to Randygill Top and Green Bell.  Not today.  We had had enough of the howling gale and opted instead to drop down by Stockless Gill to the other side of the valley.

Kensgriff from Yarlside

Looking back across to Yarlside and Kensgriff

At Narnthwaite we followed the path that swings northwest to cross the beck only to discover that the means of crossing is a ford and the beck was in spate.  Unperturbed we took the alternative path down to the footbridge only to find that it no longer exists and the public footpath signs have been extensively removed (albeit not from my recently purchased mapping software).  The consequence was a longer and less pleasant than necessary detour to the north east followed by a road slog back to the car.  

Although not our longest walk of the year to date, by some distance this had had the most climbing and much of it fairly steep.  Old age continues to creep up on us!  Several of us were showing signs of weariness although James, it must be said, had coped well.

Don, 6th April 2011

Bryan subsequently sent this information:

A couple of links of interest concerning yesterday’s walk:

First is to photos & report of a climb of Cautley Spout in winter.

Second is to the rescue team report of the climber who fell there and died last year (on 26th December).

STATISTICS:

BOOTboys routes ares now being put online in gpx format which should work with most mapping software. You can follow our route in detail by downloading BB1109.

To see which Wainwright top was visited on which BB outing see
Which Wainwright When?

For the latest totals of the mileages and heights see: BB Log.

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Archive

2011 Outings

BB1101 :
Wasnfell Revisited
Tuseday 11th January

BB1102 :
Recuperation Scar!
Thursday 17th February

BB1103 :
A Promenade of Pensioners
Thursday 24th February

BB1104 :
The B Team
Thursday 3rd March

BB1105 :
A Little Bit Of Wind
Thursday 10th March

BB1106 :
A Linthwaite Round
Thursday 17th March

BB1107 :
Home From The Pulpit
Thursday 24th March

BB1108 :
Taking The Brunt
Thursday 31st March

BB1109 :
Up The Spout
Wednesday 6th April

BB1110 :
Not The Royal Wedding
Friday 29th April

 Click on the photos
for an enlargement
or related large picture.

 Wainwrights

To see which Wainwright
top was visited on which
BB outing see Which Wainwright When?.

To download a log of heights and miles and which Wainwrights have been done by which BOOTboy in the "modern" era, i.e. since the advent of BOOTboys
click on BB Log.