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BB1636: Solvitur
Ambulando Et Al
Wednesday
19th October 2016
"I've
got a problem, boys" said Tony. "I was
out last night and too much drinking has left me shattered."
Mike
immediately said something quite unexpected.
"Simple"
said Mike, "take Diogenes' advice."
"Eh?"
we all said in unison.
"Solvitur
Ambulando"
"Eh?"
we repeated.
"Diogenes of
Sinope
said 'Solvitur Ambulando'. It is solved by walking."
That's
the benefit of a decent education. A phrase for
every circumstance. A plaster for every sore
and no one else knows if it is facta vel ficta.
In
the absence of our Wainwright bagging chums, Martin
suggested that as he had missed out on the recent Langdale
excursion we might like to accompany him there.
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Langdale
Pikes
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Meanwhile
Bryan was on a mission. He had discovered a tiny
tarn in a remote location. It is called Sprinkling
Head Tarn, which you won't find named on a map.
You
could find the much larger Sprinkling Tarn but this,
as you might have guessed, is upstream from it on Seathwaite
Fell.
What you probably won't have guessed is
that Bryan wanted to camp there for the night.
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That's
where it is. Approximately.
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His Ambulando
suggestion was that he accompany us over the Langdales
and that we part company at Stake Pass.
Tony
gave a sigh of relief when he learned that Bryan would
have a 70lb sac on his back to slow him down. Tent,
sleeping bag, stove, food, chair, table, portable television;
they alllll would add to the burden. That should
slow him down.
He,
Bryan, did offer to take a bigger (and heavier) tent
in case anyone wanted to join him for the night. It
was amazing how many urgent
tasks were suddenly needing to be done. Each
of us would have loved to have overnighted with him
but regrettably told him:
Sorry
but I.....
.....
am washing my hair
..... am cutting my toe nails
....
am visiting my mother-in-law
..... have a library
book I must return
..... snore and wouldn't want
to keep you awake
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Rowan
Tree by Stickle Ghyll
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The
weather fooled us into thinking it would
provide a bright sunny day as we, and loads
of other oldies plus a few of tenderer years,
ascended by Stickle Ghyll to the Tarn.
Where
they then went, I don't know as few followed
us up North Rake and there were only two
people tackling Jack's Rake. Robin
was definitely not going to repeat his heroic
BB1625
performance.
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b.jpg)
Crossing
Stickle Ghyll
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Stickle
Tarn with Harrison Stickle and Pavey Ark
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Comitibus
: North
Rake
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Nor
was anyone else moved to go and say hello
to Jack.
No
doubt Bryan would have done had he not been
so weighed down.
We
found a spectacular lunch spot, near the
top of the rake*, where we were able to get
out of the cold north-easterly wind and
enjoy the stunning view down to the tarn
and south to.... could that possibly be
Blackpool Tower?
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Can
you spot Blackpool Tower?
*
Bryan
thinks (and I suspect he is right) that this was at
the junction of North Rake and "Easy Gully"
- a Wainwwright route to the summit
w.jpg)
Pavey
Ark Summit
The
Pavey Ark summit was not far away and after topping
out we eschewed going directly to Harrison Stickle but
first, as proposed by Robin, visited Thunacar Knott.
This is a bit of a non-entity, possibly only designated
a top by Wainwright in order to have the requisite number
required by the publishers for the Central Fells book.
"Come on Alf, pull yer finger out. We
need at least one more."
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Harrison
Stickle from Thunacar Knott
We
then returned to the classics and climbed Harrison Stickle.
The descent proved rather tricky. The rocks
were very greasy and we had a few non-dangerous slips
on the way down that dissuaded us from going up what
looked to be even slippier Pike Ostriches*.
I suspect Bryan thought us wimps but he was kind
enough not say it.
*
It was supposed to be "o'Stickle" but the
spell-checker changed it. I rather like Pike Ostriches!!
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Stickle
Tarn, Great Langdale and Windermere beyond
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Don't
jump!
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Little
Langdale
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Instead,
he lead us across Martcrag Moor. This
time Bryan managed the descent to the Stake Pass without breaking
any ribs. Well, he didn't have any teenage youths
to race, unlike BB806,
and we weren't likely to give chase, even with his 70lb
sac.
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Moraines
at the top of Stake Pass
At
Langdale Combe we said our farewells. We saw him
climbing the path up Black Crags at a rather faster
pace than our descent of the Coast to Coast path, despite
his heavy load.
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Great
and Green Gable
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....
and off he goes
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It
seemed a long way back to where we started, our progress
being checked at one stage by a huge flock of sheep
charging up the valley.
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The
charge of the sheep
As
we reached neared civilisation, Tony said "I've got
a problem, boys. I've been out all day and too
much walking has left me shattered."
Mike
immediately said something quite unexpected.
"Simple"
said Mike, "take Diogenes' advice."
"Eh?"
we all said in unison.
"Solvitur
Bibendum
"Eh?"
we repeated.
"Diogenes of
Sinope
said 'Solvitur Bibendum'. It is solved by drinking."
That
is our excuse as to why we bibended up at the Sticklebarn
Inn.
Don,
Wednesday 19th October 2016
Meanwhile,
Bryan pressed on alone. Here's the story of the rest
of his trip:
Solvitur
Ambulando Solus
Said
goodbye to the BBs at 3:15 and headed up the climb to
Rossett Pike.
It
took longer than I thought to do the remaining 3 miles
and 1,500 feet to Sprinkling Head Tarn and the sun was
already dipping below the mountains as I arrived at
5 o'clock.
The
tent was soon up and the last rays of the sun lit up
the tarn. I got the camera out only to find the battery
was flat.
My
£12 pay-as-you-go mobile has a camera so I used
that, but with no memory card I was limited to 7 photos
of poor quality.
The
cloud closed in and the breeze got up so it was in to
the tent to start dinner. Freeze dried chile-con-carne
followed by rice and strawberries and a few cups of
tea. Grand.
It
was dark and cold by now and there was little prospect
of a moonlit night. So it was into the sleeping bag
to read and listen to the ipod until 10 p.m..
I
slept well and woke up at 6:30. I got the stove on and
had breakfast then looked outside. I could barely see
the tarn through the mist.
I
packed up and headed off into the clag at 8:30. Nearing
Esk Hause I glimpsed a small patch of blue sky. So rather
than head off down the valley I headed off up Esk Pike.
As
I reached the top the mist cleared to the west and I
got 5 minutes of superb views into Eskdale and the Scafells.
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It
soon closed in and I continued over Bowfell
and down to Three Tarns where I popped out
of the mist again to a clear sunny day.
I
never saw anyone until Three Tarns but from
there on I passed a succession of people
on their way up the Band in sunny weather,
all with no idea what conditions were like
2 hours earlier!
I
was down at the ODG for the 12:30 bus home
after a smashing couple of days in the hills.
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Bryan,
Thursday 20th October 2016
Day
1 : 7.9 miles / 4,148ft Day
2 : 5.9 miles / 1,468ft
Photo
Competition Results
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Correctly
identified by Tony as the wrapper from a
Swiss Roll that John gave to each of us
on his birthday walk.
However,
as Tony was there, Emma's suggestion of
a wrapper for a
sausage roll was pretty good.
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Well
done Emma for identifying the shadow of the tail of
my hat blowing in the wind. |
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Not
a bird's footprint nor a Santiago pilgrimage
route marker - we were on the Coniston hills, not in Spain!
It's a surveyor's
mark at the top of Coniston Old Man.
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So
the award for the best entry goes to Emma. Well,
there's nothing wrong with nepotism as long as you
keep it in the family.
Well
done, my darling daughter! Your $64,000 prize
awaits you. That will teach the others to try
harder.
| STATISTICS
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BB1636
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| Date:
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Wednesday
19th October 2016
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| Distance
in miles:
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9.2
miles
(Garmin)
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| Height
climbed in feet:
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2,643
(Anquet Harvey's)
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| Features:
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Pavey
Ark, Thunacar Knott, Pike o'Stickle
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| Comitibus:
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Bryan,
Don, Martin, Mike, Robin, Tony
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Map
shown: Anquet Harvey's
BOOTboys
routes are put online in gpx format which
should work with most mapping software. You can follow
our route in detail by downloading bb1636 .
To
discover which Wainwright top was visited on which BB outing
- although it may not be that up to date - or for the totals of the mileages and heights (ditto) see the Excel
file: BB Log.
You
can navigate to the required report via the Home
Page
Photos
have been gleaned from many sources
although mostly
from me and other BOOTboys. Likewise written comment.
I apologise if I have
failed to acknowledge properly the source or infringed
copyright. Please let me
know and I will do my best to put things right.
Unless stated
otherwise, please feel free to download the material
if you wish.
A reference back to this website
would be appreciated.
Wainwrights
To
see which Wainwright top was visited on which BB outing
see Which
Wainwright When?
This
may or may not be up to date!
For the latest totals
of the mileages, heights and Lakeland Fells Books Wainwrights see: Wainwrights.
Ditto warning!
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BOOTboys
2016
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