BB1612 : Let's Do It !

Wednesday 23rd March 2016

"Let’s do it in the summer," said I, "when it’s nice and dry."

"No, let’s do it in the winter when it is frozen." said Bryan.

"Let’s do it now!" said Stan.

So we did.

The “it” in question is the “Deer Forest”, a boggy area between Rest Dodd and The Nab, two Wainwrights that both John and Terry needed.

We managed to obtain a bit of a concession. We crossed back across the beck and climbed to the next bridge, just below Hayeswater (where the reduction in water level thanks to the dambusters could be clearly seen).  But instead of following the normal path, Stan drove us up direttisimo by the wall.

I don't know what Tony had had for breakfast but he stormed up to the Rest Dodd summit, well ahead of the rest of us.

We could see the Nab directly in front of us.  We could also see the Deer Forest peat hags.  However, once we dropped down to the hags, we discovered that Stan was right.  Even though today was rather cloudy, the week of fine weather that we had enjoyed had more or less dried them out and it was a much easier passage than I had expected before we undertook the relatively short climb up the Nab.

Tony in the hag, Rest Dodd behind

Looking back, Rest Dodd looked evil and it was hard to believe we had descended it without difficulty.

Although The Nab is essentially an “Out and Back” walk, there is an escape route in bad weather but you are not supposed to use it other than in an emergency.  Consequently we re-crossed the Deer Forest hag albeit by a more westerly route.  We could see the deer on the skyline watching us suspiciously.

Deer on the Deer Forest

Normally we would have continued up and over to Angle Tarn for lunch but Tony was getting rebellious and demanded we stop for lunch.  "Please, let's do it" he implored.  So we did.  The consequence was that the next 300 feet or so on after-lunch legs was very hard going.  Eventually we reached the regular path that runs along the side of one of my favourites, Angle Tarn.

Angle Tarn

Somehow on the descent we took the lower path that I generally try to avoid as it is narrow and has a steep drop to the left.  Had I realised, “Let’s NOT do it,” I would have shouted.  But we did it and all survived.

The return to Hartsop passed without incident.  The defibrillator wasn't needed.

BOOTboys routes are put online in gpx format which should work with most mapping software. You can follow our route in detail by downloading bb1612 .

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!

   E-mail addresses on this web site are protected by

 Spam Trawlers will be further frustrated by
 Spam Blocker: help fight spam e-mail!  

BOOTboys 2016

BOOT boys
If you want to join
The BOOTboys
Inter-Galactic
Fan Club
let us know and
you will receive
automatic notification
of new BOOTboys reports

Click on
to contact us.

For the Index pages
of our various outings
click on the relevant
link below:

The photos & maps
on these pages
will normally retain
reasonable quality
if you expand
your screen
to view them.

 BOOTboys^© is a Lakeland Enterprise production brought to you by
Comitibus Communications^©