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Yuletide
Legs
No,
not something to warm the fire. Legs, not Logs.
I
had my Yuletide Legs on today. Or, perhaps more accurately,
post-Christmas legs. Bryan seemed to have no such
problem as he charged up Ashstead Fell on the way to
his favourite bad-weather range- Whinfell. Other BOOTboys
then abed would have thought themselves accursed
had they been with us. But they weren’t; the lazy
lummocks.
Borrowdale
Valley (Westmorland version) with Ashstead Fell to the
right
Fortunately,
as usual, I had my camera with me and, has been known
before, used it as a pretext as to why I kept falling
behind.
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Huck's
Bridge from Ashstead Fell
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Ashstead
Fell summit
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To
be fair, no pun intended, it wasn’t quite raining but
it was blowing a nasty gale, one that worsened as we reached
the tops. The forecast warned of gusts up to 70
mph but we didn't experience that degree of buffeting.
Not quite!
We
toyed with the idea of a coffee stop at the forester's
stone shelter on Mabbin Crag but decided to press on. The
forestry plantation is presenting an increasingly difficult
problem- that of finding the way through.
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The
forester's shelter
Thicker....
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The
plantation barrier
.....
and thicker
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Looking
back, however, we think we have cracked it, having spotted
a cunning detour. Too late for today but ready
for next time Bryan drags me out in foul conditions.
The
cunning route revealed
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Once
we reached Castle Fell, I thought I heard wonderful
words- a strange
sort of echo of what was going round my brain.
On
regaining my senses I realised it was Bryan saying
that he felt it was too bad to continue and that we
should drop down Eelman Sike to Borrowdale.
Whether
he was saying that out of kindness to me or because
he genuinely had such feelings, I am not sure but I
was in no mood to argue or to give him time to change
his mind.
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Bryan
waits patiently
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Heading
down Eelman Sike into Borrowdale
Inevitably,
it was much more sheltered as we descended; sufficiently
so to allow a team picture at the bridge. However,
as we walked along the track, north-west up the valley,
the wind and dampness became more oppressive and what
should have been a pleasant stroll became a
slog.
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Huck's
Bridge
Stepping
Stones
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Just
before reaching base camp, we had a look at the stepping
stones that have been put into the river.
No doubt
inserted at great cost, they are of a stupid design,
built into a drop that ensures that once the river is
in spate, they are not just unusable but positively
dangerous.
This
was all rather different from the promotional photograph
we found near our parking place.
Drowning
Stones
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By
this time even Bryan was admitting to having Yuletide
Legs which is, I suppose, a suitably seasonal note on which to
end another BOOTboys year.
It
has been a good year. Not as challenging as some
that we have had but given the weather in the later
months, we did pretty well, really.
The
total number of BOOTboys
in action over the course of the year was a little down
at 19 (22 in 2011). Likewise, average numbers
per outing were down at 3.8 (4.7).
In
total the 44 reports covered 40 (39) outings with a
total mileage of 372 (348) miles and heightage of 77,672
(52,814) feet, making an average of 9.3 (8.9) and 1,942
(1,320) respectively, increases but not back to the
standards of earlier days. But then that goes
for a lot of aspects of some of us!
And
on that note, the BOOTboys blog closes on another year.
Let’s hope that 2013 is kind to all of us
Don,
30th
December 2012
STATISTICS:
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BB1244
|
Sunday
30th December
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| Distance
in miles:
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7.4
(Garmin)
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| Height
climbed in feet:
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1,620
(OS / Memory Map)
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| Wainwrights:
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-
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| Other
Features:
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Ashtead
Fell, Mabbin Crag, Castle Fell
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| Comitibus:
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Bryan,
Don
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BOOTboys
routes are put online in gpx format which
should work with most mapping software. You can follow
our route in detail by downloading bb1244
To
discover 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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click
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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
|
