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BB1513
: High Cup and Bottles
Thursday
9th April 2015
Spring
has sprung and, for a few days at least, the weather
is what you would hope for when the daffs are out and
the blossom is emerging.
Mike
has been very patient. He has wanted us to go
to High Cup Nick for ages but, instead, we have taken
him almost everywhere but! Time for his reward.
Plus a surprise.
Had
Tony been with us, I suspect he would have made us stop
in Appleby to re-open
Lady Anne's crypt
but as he wasn't she could rest in peace and we pressed
on to park at High Cup House.
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Our
route to the Nick was via the slopes of Middleton Crag
and up between the two flanks of the canyon. The
rim was reached by a steep but easy scramble. From here
we had a good view of the remarkable valley with its
near vertical sides.
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A
sentinel on the north wall!
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Up
the Nick
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View
of the Nick from top centre
Objective
achieved, we followed the Pennine Way for a mile or
so until we reached the footbridge over Maize Beck,
the stream that drains the fell eastwards to the River
Tees.
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The
turning point
Here
we turned back along the other side of the beck and
to the Nick where we stopped for a lazy, sunny lunch.
A
strange feature of the walk was the many, many mounds
that look like molehills, both in the valley and on
the top. I have never seen anything like it on
the hills before.
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In
the valley.....
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.....
and on top
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There
were also lots of old, grassed over ones, not dissimilar
to those seen on Scout Scar on BB1401
which we were told were anthills.
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High
Cup fell ponies
Our
route thereafter followed the Pennine Way towards Dufton
but we turned off along an old quarry track which led
down to Town Head, not far from the car. This is where
I had a surprise in store for the lads. Here to
be found is the High
Cup Winery.
We were invited in for a tasting following which
James treated us to a bottle of the Rhubarb wine.
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High
Cup Winery
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A
cheeky little rhubarb
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What
a pleasant drink it was to sup in the afternoon sun whilst
sitting overlooking the Eden valley.
Two
more High Cup bottles found their way into my rucksac-
legitimately paid for, I hasten to add. I didn't
Nick them.
Don,
Thursday 9th April 2015
Addendum:
The day after writing the report, I was killing
time in Kendal and discovered there was an exhibition
in Stricklandgate House, featuring maps and photos of
Old Kendal.
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On
the wall was a massive old-time map of Westmorland,
of which county High Cup Nick then
belonged except that wasn't its name. According
to the map, it was then known as High Cote
Nick.
This
makes sense. Cote meaning side and
Nick meaning a cut or indentation.
Viz:
a high sided indentation.
The
land above the Nick is shown as disputed
territory although it did not say who was
in dispute with whom.
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Happy
Birthday Terry
Terry has
at last been able to update his Himalayan blog. You
can catch up with him at Everest Base Camp and Much More
He
has also posted on Facebook
this picture of himself celebrating his birthday.
| STATISTICS
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BB1513
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| Date:
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Thursday
9th April 2015
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| Distance
in miles:
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11.1
(Garmin)
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| Height
climbed in feet:
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1,707
(Memory Map)
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| Features:
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High
Cup Nick
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| Comitibus:
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Don, James, Mike, Stan
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BOOTboys
routes are put online in gpx format which
should work with most mapping software. You can follow
our route in detail by downloading bb1513 .
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
2015
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