BB1720 : The School Camp

Thursday 22nd June 2017

Traditionally this started with the rather cruel climb over to Dock Tarn, an easy trot down to Watendlath and on to Keswick for provisions- ice cream and rum butter in my case.

I was only a sprog but Reekie & Co were old hands.  Their provisions included a crate of ale that they were smuggling into camp.  Did they think a bulbous orange cape would render them invisible?  Or was a tithe taken by a Master in cahoots with them?  I never found out.

Reekie had another claim to fame: his Mal-hat.  The first job on site was to dig our latrines- simply a trench in the ground, narrow enough to straddle but long enough and deep enough to cater for the bodily waste of dozens of youths and their leaders. Privacy was afforded by a simple canvas screen but of course it was only when you poked your head round that you found out if the lat was vacant.  Until, that is, Reekie provided his Mal-hat.  Why it was called a Mal-hat was something else I never found out but its purpose was clear.  When needed, it was hung on a pole to signify "occupied".

These memories of boyhood came floating before me as we passed by Stonethwaite on the Reekie side of the stream and started the evil climb up to Lingy End.  This was every bit as steep as I remember but time must have taken its toll on the original rough path as it is now replaced by one of the better stone staircases to be found in the Lake District.

Watendlath is a tiny hamlet by the side of a large tarn and was the home of Judith Paris in Hugh Walpole's Herries Chronicles.  

Refreshments were to be found sitting outside the farmhouse café- we were the refreshments for the midges and our crumbs for the finches.  I don't recall Lake District midges ever being so voluminous or so hungry.

Next was Grange Fell or, to be more precise about this area, Jopplety How then Brund Fell followed by a down and up to King's How.

The descent to the valley started easily enough but as we got lower, the bracken got higher and thicker so we lost sight of the path.  An improvised route had to be found, skirting round a rather steep drop, eventually emerging onto the Borrowdale road.

More School Memories soon came o'er me: The Bowder Stone - always a favourite after ice-cream at Grange although today we did it the other way round.  The steps were still there to get you to the top with its impressive view and the subterranean gap was still there at the base for uncomfortable underground handshakes from one side to another.

A new addition was a young lad who was performing acrobatics, practising overhanging free climbing.  Quite remarkable really.

A little further down we found a group of children being lined up for a fifty metre abseil down a cliff face.  Hmmm.

Soon we reached Grange and, as mentioned, the ice cream.  The sun had come out by now and it was needed.  Mandatory.

I inflicted a bastardised version of the School song on my companions.

Many* years on when afar and asunder
parted are those who are gathered today

When you look back and forgetfully wonder
what you were like in your work and your play

Then it maybe there will often come o'er you
glimpses of notes like the catch of a song

Memories of boyhood come floating before you
twenty and thirty and fifty-seven* years on

*Yes, I know the original was 40 but this is my updated version.  And yes, we did have a rude alternative but I would be put in detention if I repeated it here.

Further up the valley was our final objective- Castle Crag.  This is the lowest of the Wainwrights but the fact that consideration has been given to preventing access gives you a flavour of what could go wrong for the unprepared.  And John and I  were decidedly unprepared for the route that Stan took us up.  Diretissimo of course.  I didn't dare look back.

The view from the top is spectacular, up and down the valley.

Stan admitted later after driving us up scree and quarry debris at an uncomfortable angle that had he known what it was like he would have let us go up the normal path. Even that, on descent, proved steep and had it not been for the well embedded curving path would have felt uncomfortable.  

I forgetfully wonder if we climbed Castle Crag from School Camp.  I don't think so. Perhaps the Masters had some vague anticipation of the future concepts of "health & safety" and "risk assessment".

There is little more to add.  We returned to the car at Rosthwaite then stopped off at the Travellers Rest near Grasmere to review our School Camp report.  

Well done, BOOTboys.  Excellent.  10 / 10.

  Don, Thursday 22nd June 2017

Comitibus: Don, Stan, John

Map shown: Anquet Harvery's 1:25k

BOOTboys routes are put online in gpx format which should work with most mapping software. You can follow our route in detail by downloading bb1720 .

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 heightages (ditto) see the Excel file: BB Log.

You can navigate to the required report via the Home Page

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BOOTboys 2017

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