BB1611 : Ulterior Motives

Thursday 17th March February 2016

Bryan had an Ulterior Motive.  He wanted to have a look at the Wainwright route to Gimmer Crag.

John also had a Wainwrightian Ulterior Motive.  He wanted three more ticks in the Central Fells book.

James had a Ulterior Motive for his absence that would have offended the Race Relations Board had it been written in English but as it was in Australian it had an entirely different meaning and was totally forgivable.

Roger and I were just glad to be able to enjoy what promised to be a spectacular day on the fells.

Across Windermere to the Langdales

We set off from the Old Dungeon Ghyll hotel whence Bryan's Ulterior Motive soon nearly came adrift.  AW describes the direct path as "interesting and easy" apart from the "abominable scree slope just above the wall".  I feared Bryan would use the word "interesting" to described the scree itself but it turned out that he was just as frustrated by it as us but for a somewhat different reason.

Having looked and climbed all the way up the scree we still hadn't found the Wainwright path.  We checked maps, explored different directions, regrouped, checked gps and maps once again.  We knew exactly where we were and that was exactly where the path should be but it wasn't.  We had wasted far too much time so pressed on upwards, eventually to find a faint trail with a split in it.  Bryan went left to examine Gimmer Crag whilst the rest of us continued up the hill, soon to re-group at Loft Crag.

Bryan was still frustrated by the lack of evidence of the alleged path.  He did feel somewhat appeased afterwards, however, to discover that he is not the first to have had this problem- there is a similar story to be found on the Wainwright Society Forum.

From Loft Crag (which John did not need) we headed north to two that he did- Thunacar Knott and High Raise.  It was a little hazy so the distant views were not as clear as they might have been but it was still a magnificent day to be up in the hills.

Scafell range round to the Gables

Skiddaw and Blencathra

The third Ulteriorially Motived Wainwright was Sergeant Man, an easy stroll across the moor.

Descending to Stickle Tarn we pioneered a new route somewhat to the west of the normal path.  Bryan remarked on the contrast from the view on his visit only 12 days earlier.

Once at the tarn we gave Jack's Rake a good looking at from a sensibly safe distance before dropping down the steep, rocky path alongside Stickle Ghyll.  By the time we reached the bottom, all had developed a common Ulterior Motive: a well earned pint at the Old Dungeon Ghyll.

Don, Thursday 17th March 2016

BOOTboys routes are put online in gpx format which should work with most mapping software. You can follow our route in detail by downloading bb1611 .

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
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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.
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BOOTboys 2016

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