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BB1206
: Armageddon Revisited
Thursday
16th February 2012
Oh,
where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
Oh,
where have you been, my darling young one?
I’ve stumbled
on the side of twelve misty mountains
I’ve walked
and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways
I’ve stepped
in the middle of seven sad forests
I’ve been out
in front of a dozen dead oceans
I’ve been ten thousand
miles in the mouth of a graveyard
And it’s a hard,
and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard
And
it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall
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Do
you remember Bob Dylan's apocalyptic anthem
written during the 1962 Cuban nuclear missile
crisis when Kennedy and Khruschev went eyeball
to eyeball and it seemed like the end of
the world as we knew it was imminent?
Of
A
Hard Rain is Going to Fall,
Dylan said:
Every
line in it is actually the start of a whole
song. But when I wrote it, I thought I wouldn't
have enough time alive to write all those
songs so I put all I could into this one.
When
we visited Latterbarrow on BB0710,
it
looked reminscent of the aftermath of a nuclear war.
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The
prospect of bad weather on the higher fells gave us
the opportunity to see the extent to which recovery
had taken place. Today was not the day to stumble on
the side of twelve misty mountains. It was time to revisit Armageddon.
Latterbarrow
after the Hard Rain had fallen, 2007
First,
however
and thanks to Mike's generosity, there was yet another opportunity to sample
a Linthwaite
Wabberthwaite sausage! For Tony, this has
taken over as his luxury breakfast of choice now that
Greggy's no longer produce Corned Beef pasties.
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Mike
produces breakfast
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Bryan
inspects ball whilst Tony is scoffing
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Tony
produced a football signed by the Leeds United players
in their pre-Premiership glory year (1992) which, for
some strange reason, Bryan found even more ecstatic
than the sausage.
After
the sausage fest, we walked down to the ferry just in
time to see the gates close and the boat move gently
away from us.
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Farewell,
ferry
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Bryan
inspects ball whilst Tony is scoffing
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To be fair, it didn't take long for it
to return and take us over to the western shore and
its strange aluminum boat.
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Looking
up .....
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.....
and across Windermere
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After a couple of miles of
heading north along the lakeside, we were wondering if we
had found the right path to branch off for our objective.
I consulted my map and had a bit of a shock. I
could see how to climb Fairfield but not Latterbarrow.
Wrong one brought. Failed at the first time of
testing. Fortunately Bryan, as you would expect,
was better prepared and able to guide us up through
the woods to the battlefield. It was little changed.
A few conifers were starting to change the impression
but it will take a long time before the scars diminish.
Armageddon
revisited
Another
view of the devastation
After
climbing a most unusual stile, we soon summited. Fortunately,
the actual top of Latterbarrow is quite a pleasant grassy
mound with spectacular views (on a clearer day) over
Windermere and also to the west. A good place
to take lunch as long as you can get out of the wind.
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Comitibus
: Strange
stile, Latterbarrow
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Latterbarrow
summit
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Windermere
from Latterbarrow
Bryan
checks the map
Rain
started to set in as we made our long way south, discovering
en-route another battlefield.
One
of Dylan's "Seven sad forests"?
The
route passed a couple of minor tarns, evidence of some
serious logging activity, and then St Valentine's Tree.
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The
first minor tarn
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Strange
tree, Latterbarrow
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Serious
logging
Second
minor tarn
The
descent to the ferry reminded me of ski resorts where
you can return down a forest trail that is hair-raising
on skis and not that easy on foot. Just before
the bottom, we were totally taken by surprise to find
a building about which we were all ignorant, namely
Claife
Station.
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Claife
Station as seen by me .....
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.....
and from below
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According
to the plaque, Thomas West's 1778 guide to the Lakes
described several viewpoints or stations where "tourists
could enjoy the best view of the Windermere landscape".
This one, however, was built in the 1790s and
"was at its most fashionable in the 1830s and 40s,
when it was used for parties and dances as well as for
landscape appreciation".
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National
Trust artist's impression
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and
picture on warning sign
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It
is now in the hands of the National Trust, sadly derelict
and fenced off
Same
angle as on sign, different weather!
There
is little more to report. Just an uneventful ferry
crossing and climb back up to the Linthwaite and the
awaiting car.
Awaiting
the ferry
And an apocalyptic vision:
Oh,
what did you see then, my BOOTboy son?
Oh,
what did you see then, my darling young one?
I
saw a pub full of pies and no Tony within it
I
saw a
big Alpine peak but no Bryan to climb it
I
saw a five star
hotel with no Mike to promote it
I
saw a Bob Graham round
but no Stan to support it
I
saw a BOOTboys report with
no Don to upload it
I
saw a BOOTboys web site and
nobody to read it
And
it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s
a hard
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall
Don,
16th February 2012
These
Foolish Things
I
was taken to task by occasional BOOTboy
(well, he does live in deepest Dorset) Tim who reminded
me that when he and his wife, Margaret, visited us several
years ago, they went on a walk that passed Claife Station.
He
recalls that when he mentioned it to me, I told him
that I wasn't aware of its existence. As is often the
case these days, I had completely forgotten but, on
being reminded, it made me think of the well-known song
These Follish Things
in which:Noel Coward strangely omitted this verse:
The
day that Tim went to The Claife Station
He told me
then it was a great sensation
Me, he now upbraids
Because
the memory fades
Remind me of ... what was it again?
With
apologies to the original writers who are variously
shown on the internet as being:
- Eric Maschwitz, Jack
Stachey and Harry Link or
- Holt Marvell, Jack Strachey
and Harry Link or
- Andy Spearpoint, Dolan
Hewison, Perry Saunders and Justin Crawford
- or was
it Dave Dee, Dozy, Beakey, Mick and Titch?
West's
Stations
Chris
P also took me to task, gently, about the aforementioned building.
He wrote:
I
know how you like accuracy so I am querying the name
Thomas Weir as I have always believed that one of the
first guides to the Lake District was written by Thomas
West.
Many
of the "stations" were known as West's stations.
Sometimes visitors were encouraged to look at
the views with the help of a mirror.
My
apologies and the text has now been corrected. I
can only blame failing eyesight or the wrong spectacles!
STATISTICS:
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BB1206
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Thursday
16th February 2012
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| Distance
in miles:
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10.5
(11.3 including ferries)
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| Height
climbed in feet:
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1,892
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| Wainwrights :
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Latterbarrow
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| Other
Features:
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Claife
Station
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| Comitibus:
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Bryan, Don, Mike, Stan, Tony
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BOOTboys
routes ares put online in gpx format which
should work with most mapping software. You can follow
our route in detail by downloading BB1206
To
see which Wainwright top (excluding Outlying Fells)
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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