BB0740  The Calf Revisited

Sunday 30th December 2007

Contrary to my speculation at the end of the BB0739 report, we did manage to fit in another outing before the year end.  After all, it would not be Christmas without Ian’s seasonal visit to the fells!

Bryan almost decided not to come as BB0739 had been such a superb outing and anything else was likely to be an anti climax.  Plus the fact that the weather over Christmas had been dire.  However the forecast was promising and he, like the rest of us, needed to shed a pound or three of turkey and mince pies, so he suggested we revisited The Calf and this time, he would try not to get lost!

I must admit, initially I was a bit annoyed at the suggestion.  Partly this was because I would have to unscramble the travel arrangements I had already made. Partly because I have probably done the Calf more than any other hill in the last three years but more, I suspect, because I hadn’t thought of going to the Howgills.  But the suggestion did have a lot of merit.  It was not too high, not too boggy, not too hard and not too far to travel.  So the arrangements were changed and off we set.

The day was not the stunner for which we had hoped.  As we approached Sedbergh we could see that the clag was down on Winder, albeit nowhere near as low as on the previous Bootboy visit, the infamous BB0503.

Sedbergh in the gloom

Team photo on Winder

We parked at the recreation ground and decided to tackle Winder direttissimo.

Although quite steep, it was not as severe as several brutes that we have overcome this year.  Good firm grass under foot (despite the recent heavy rain) and no need for hands.  

However there was no view from the top- the brass plate pointing out the various sites was utterly superfluous today other than as a point around which to gather for the team photo!

As you can see, there was no danger of Ian disappearing, given his fetching flourescent shorts!

In the mist we made our way along to Arant Haw, then up Calders and finally to the Calf with only the occasional glimpse of anything approaching scenery.  En-route we met several parties of very polite young men (occasionally with a young lady) and concluded they were ex Sedbergh boys, returned for a nostalgia visit.

We decided to come off to the west rather than take the direct route back to Sedbergh (as I have always done previously) so we dropped down Bram Rigg.  As we emerged from the cloud, we found a suitable vantage point to have lunch (turkey butties and Christmas cake, of course) with a panorama opening up in front of us from the estuary around to a snow topped High Street.

Mist clearing, offering Lake District panorama

Meanwhile, behind us, the Howgills were starting to show us what we hadn’t seen earlier!

Mist clearing, revealing the Calf

The Howgills really are a lovely set of hills.  A complex web of deep valleys and grassy ridges.

Western folds of the Howgills

Lower down we had two obstacles to overcome: Bram Rigg Beck and Swarth Greaves Beck, both of which were inevitably very full and quite a challenge for those of us, unlike Ian, who are shorter of leg.

We had one more decision to make. To head down to Birkhaw and pick up the Cumbria Cycleway back to the car? Or alternatively to climb a little and contour around the fell above the farm wall?  For a moment it looked like the twopenny randomised decision maker that Stan had found in Sedbergh would be used to toss for a verdict.  

However the thought of more enraged becks to cross on the fell made me plead for the cycleway and to my surprise this was accepted by acclaim.  Perhaps there was a game of chicken being played?

It was a pleasant stroll down the farm track and along the cycleway.  In the distance we could see a small plane circling Sedbergh several times.  Presumably, we deduced, a former Sedbergh school boy who had been given a plane for Christmas and was taking his girl friend for a joy ride to show her where he spent his formative years?

Farm track to the Cycleway with Sun!!!

And so concluded another Bootboy outing and, definitely this time, the Bootboy year. Whilst it had been unfortunate that half the walk had been in thick mist, the second half had been really enjoyable to experience for the first time, for me at least, a new part of the Howgills.  As for the year, unquestionably a record with 40 outings taking the Bootboy team total for the year to 334 miles and 101,748 feet of climbing!

Don, 30th December 2007

 

Distance: 9.5 miles  (Garmin/ Memory Map)

Height climbed: 2,726 feet (Anquet)

Wainwrights:  Winder, Arant Haw, Calders, The Calf; (Walks on the Howgill Fells)

For the latest totals of the mileages, heights and Lakeland Fells Books Wainwrights see: Wainwrights.

If anyone wants to claim other peaks, please let me know and I will submit them to the adjudication committee!

 

 

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2007 Outings

  • BB0701 Loughrigg - the GPS test
  • BB0702 Whinfell- Castle Craggs
  • BB0703 Wansfell Pike or the Stockghyll picnic
  • BB0704 BOOTboys Cancelled Day plus High Altitude Report
  • BB0705 Out of the Mist and into the Cloud
  • BB0706 Cockups and much much more
  • BB0707 Equipment testing day - High Rigg
  • BB0708 Seat Sandal
  • BB0709 Circling Hollow Moor
  • BB0710 Latterbarrow
  • BB0711 Eagle Crag and Sergeant's Crag
  • BB0712 Bakestall, Great Calva and the Great Divide
  • BB0713 Helvellyn- the range; North to South
  • BB0714 Ease Gill to Great Coum
  • BB0715 Stone Arthur, Fairfield and Apocolypse Now
  • BB0716 Caudale Moor and Hartsop Dodd
  • BB0717 High and Low Rigg or maybe a Rival?
  • BB0718 Oh No!  Not Steel Fell Again?
  • BB0719 Mad Dogs and Easedale Tarn, Codale and Tarn Crag
  • BB0720 An English Munro:  Helvellyn via Catstycam
  • BB0721 Levers Water Circuit
  • BB0722 By Steamer to Hallin and Place Fells
  • BB0723 The Dove and The Deep Dales Round
  • BB0724 Wainwright's Worst Wet Walks!
  • BB0725 To Hell in a Bucket.  And Back!!!
  • BB0726 Wrinklies on the Crinklies and the Return to Hell!
  • BB0727 BOG OFF- Pen-y-Ghent & Whernside
  • BB0728 Shipman Knotts and Half a Horseshoe
  • BB0729 Pikeawassa and the Fusedale Round
  • BB0730 A Gray Day
  • BB0731 Another Gray Day
  • BB0732 Gable and a Great Deal More
  • BB0733 To Monroe or Not to Monroe?
  • BB0734 Nabbing the Nab
  • BB0735 Helm Crag and a Question of Ethics
  • BB0736 Gowbarrow Fell and Glenridding Dodd
  • BB0737 Middle Dodd and Red Screes
  • BB0738  An Adventure and a Test
  • BB0739  Ticking Off Langdales
  • BB0740 The Calf Revisited

 

 

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

 

Wainwrights

Bryan has kindly produced a log of which Wainwrights have been done by which Bootboy in the "modern" era, i.e. since the advent of Bootboys.  

To download the Excel file click on Wainwrights.  

If anyone wants to claim other peaks, please let me know and I will submit them to the adjudication committee!

 

BOOT boys

This page describes a 2007 adventure of BOOTboys, a loose group of friends of mature years who enjoy defying the aging process by getting out into the hills as often as possible!

As most live in South Lakeland, it is no surprise that our focus is on the Lakeland fells and the Yorkshire Dales.

As for the name, BOOTboys, it does not primarily derive from an item of footwear but is in memory of Big Josie, the erstwhile landlady of the erstwhile Burnmoor Inn at Boot in Eskdale, who enlivened Saint Patrick's Day 1973 and other odd evenings many years ago!

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