BB1505 : Fifty Shades of Gray

Thursday 12th February 2015

Now don't get too excited- it's Gray not Grey.  Same colour, different spelling so that you don't get confused.  Nothing to do with the book.  It's just what we saw today.  Or maybe a lot more shades of gray.

It was what we expected.  The forecast said that it would be murky and misty and it was.  Fortunately we had picked a route whereby if everything went wrong and visibility was reduced to one shade of gray, we could simply follow the wall / fence around the tops on the eastern side of the Kentmere Valley, thereby picking up three more Wainwrights for Terry- Shipman Knotts, Kentmere Pike and Harter Fell.

And that is what we did.  Not a lot to add other than we were in mist most of the time so that, clothing excepted, the predominant colour was gray in all its many shades.  

Lunch was taken at Kentmere Pike, standing and using the trig point as a table!

There was more snow underfoot than I had expected.   Soft and at times deep snow going up, thinner and more frozen snow on the descent. Fortunately we all had microspikes.  

The most remarkable feature was the unusual waffle-like pattern made by the frozen snow on the wire netting of the summit fence.

Approaching Harter Fell

Briefly, on reaching Harter Fell summit, it brightened and looked as if we might be relieved of the gray but it didn't happen.

Harter Fell summit

Eventually, on descending the Gatescarth Pass, we dropped below the gray-line and life reverted to normal.  Suddenly I remembered a question Jamie asked me when he was very young.  I think he must have been watching a repeat of an ancient TV programme like The Flowerpot Men or Andy Pandy.  Or maybe The Lone Ranger.  The question was whether in the olden days there was no colour and that life was in black and white? I recall thinking what a strange yet at the same time perceptive question to ask.

No doubt these days his question would be whether in the olden days everything was in Fifty Shades Of Gray?

Don, Thursday 12th February 2014

Bonus Photos From Mike .....

.....and from Terry

 plus some on the right hand column.

BOOTboys routes are put online in gpx format which should work with most mapping software. You can follow our route in detail by downloading bb1505 .

To discover which Wainwright top was visited on which BB outing - although it may not be that up to date - see: Which Wainwright When?

For the totals of the mileages and heights (ditto) see: BB Log.

Photos have been gleaned from many sources although mostly from me!
Likewise written comment.  
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BOOTboys 2015

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