BB1708 : Open or Closed?

Wednesday 1st March 2017

Would that make any difference?

Or would the weather make any difference?

Well, yes, the weather did.  It was OK when we parked near Low Borrow Bridge and made our way up Borrowdale (the Westmorland one).

It was still reasonable when we reached the decision point described in the leaflet. Should we head straight up to the telecommunications station or turn left and "treasure the chance to visit the amazing scarp headland overlooking the Lune Gorge, focused upon the cairn on Grayrigg Pike"?

Put like that, who could resist the temptation?

Route finding was simple.  Follow the wall.  The climb was quite steep.  

No chance.  

It might well be "a fine place to dally in the summer sun" but that was not today.

Instead we retreated and aimed for the summit column on Grayrigg Common.  The "extensive view" would not cause "worthy delay" today.

I was using my phone to navigate and I have to say that it was spot on in leading us to a point where the communications mast appeared in front of us.  But then it disappeared.  And came back.  It reminded me of Donovan.  First there is a pylon then there is no pylon then there is.

Tony was now desperate to eat so I left him with Terry and Robin whilst I tried to find the wall stile.  I failed but did eventually find a large boulder that served as ladder.  

Having finished his lunch, Tony was worried that I had forsaken them so phoned me.  I was just on the other side of the wall!  I did eventually find the stone wall stile but by then the others had crossed over by more impromptu methods.

The weather was now clearing.  From the mast compound we had extensive views, but for once we couldn't see Blackpool Tower.  Not that it mattered as we had our own tower.  

In the end I gave up.  My hands were numb.

I fared better with the second number.  That was answered straight away by a human lady and I gave her the information about location and damage.  She asked my name, which I gave her.  She then asked to which of the forces I  belonged?

"BOOTboys Kendal Division, ma'am, at your service" I was tempted to reply. Instead I said I was private citizen out for a walk with my friends, that I had told her about the problem and it was too cold to continue the conversation.

The boys were worried now.  Had the call been traced?  Would there be balaclava-ed squaddies leaping out of the next building, machine guns in their hands?  How long did it take for a Eurofighter to reach us from its Lincoln base?

As you might expect on such a day, there was no-one to be seen at the lower, larger compound but that too had damage.  Open.  

I wasn't going to phone again.  They would find it if and when they responded.

It was still good weather and the Borrowdale valley and surrounding hills were mostly cloud free.  

Should we continue with the original plan?  Or should we take the well marked path down to the valley?  One look south-west gave the answer.  Enjoy the sunshine but get off the hill.

So we did.  It was a very pleasant stroll down to the valley and back to the car.

However, this shortened outing would not do our stats any good.  So we decided to head in the opposite direction to see if we could find the Roman Fort that is marked on the map.  Maybe we did.  You would need a good imagination.  

Could that possibly be the reason that all the pubs in Tebay were closed?  So we took the Station Inn at Oxenholme by surprise.  That was definitely open.

Mabbin Crag will have to wait for another day to see if that is truly open.

Don, Wednesday 1st March 2017

Comitibus: Terry, Don, Tony, Robin

Post Script- a thought about using my phone as a gps.  Assuming you have the right map (which I do- OS 1:25k) loaded on your phone and assuming that the weather is kind, it works well.  However touch screens are inoperable with serious gloves and fickle with painfully cold hands (as our painter and decorator can vouch, having received two mysterious calls from me this afternoon).  The phone is no substitute for a proper gps in such circumstances.  Backed up by paper map and compass of course.

David W, Friday 3rd March 2017:

Hi Don.  Greetings from Formby.  Just opened this week's opus to find we've copied you again.  We are just back from doing the Whinfell Ridge from Huck's Bridge!  We didn't have any problem through the woods on Mabbin Crag, though we were going the other way.  The description in the online leaflet is pretty accurate, except that the second stile doesn't exist any more, there's just a little post either side of the fence.

We also saw the damage at the repeater station, so there's obviously no great rush to get it fixed.

After visiting the scarp headland (which is pretty amazing if you haven't been before) we just returned to the gate and yomped straight down, which was straightforward, though I might not have enjoyed going up that way.

The original plan was to go straight down to near Hause Bridge on the A685 by the minor ridge north directly from the cairns, which looks quite feasible, and then try the Whinash ridge as the return route.  But it started raining while we were having lunch at the cairns, a couple of hours earlier than forecast, so we cut it short.

Don:

Hi David, good to hear from you.  Your route is basically what we set out to do, only the other way round and starting from the eastern end. 

Interesting to know that the path through the woods was good.  I am told that when that woodland was planted they left no path but the fell runners took a dim view of this and beat a way through.  However when Bryan and I tried it, several years ago, BB1244 , the path seemed to have vanished and it was difficult pushing through deep vegetation.  Maybe we just missedit.

I can imagine the fun you had yomping down the slope.  I found it hard going up by the wall but perhaps I am just out of condition- not had many “challenges” lately.

The rain probably did you a favour.  I think the Whinash Ridge is best done from Roundthwaite (just off the A6), first going up Jeffrey’s Mount (up the nose direction from Roundthwaite Abbey- not that we have seen any ecclesiastical buildings) where the view is probably fairly similar to that from Grayrigg Pike.

The descent down the wonderfully named Breasthigh Road is really nice and Bretherdale has an interesting collection of abandoned buildings.

Greenholme also has (or at least had) some interesting features.  See BB1440.

Map shown: OS 1:25k

BOOTboys routes are put online in gpx format which should work with most mapping software. You can follow our route in detail by downloading bb1708 .

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 heightages (ditto) see the Excel file: BB Log.

You can navigate to the required report via the Home Page

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BOOTboys 2017

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