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BB1915
: The Beginning, the Middle and the End
Wednesday
24th April 2019
They
say (whoever "they" is) that every
story should have a beginning, a middle
and an end. This one certainly does.
The
Beginning:
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The
beginning was likened to something
out of the Keystone Cops. I
have to concede that it was
my fault. I got my miles
and minutes mixed up. AA said
that it was 24 miles to Stanah;
I told the boys 24 minutes.
Consequently
Robin’s car, in which I was
travelling along with John and
Bryan, was considerably behind
schedule for meeting at the
agreed time. Martin, of
course, got it right.
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As
we approached Thirlspot we spotted Martin
driving his car, with Mike and Terry on
board, heading in the opposite direction.
We all waved then each driver, unbeknownst
to the other, decided to turn round at the
next opportunity.
Shortly
afterwards we spotted Martin heading in
the opposite direction. Once again
each driver, unbeknownst to the other, decided
to turn round at the next opportunity. And
again. And again.
This
could have gone on all day (no, there wasn’t
a phone signal available) had Robin not
found a strategic location where he could
capture Martin’s car approaching in the
same direction. Eventually, therefore,
we were able to travel in convoy to the
allotted meeting place.
Why
had this all happened? Basically because
Martin had arrived at the allotted place
at the allotted time. We were so late
that he had thought that either he or we
had got it wrong so had set off in search
of us.
The
Middle:
Once
the Beginning was resolved, we set off on
the Middle. In comparison, it was
far less frenetic. A steep climb up
alongside Stanah Gill (a Stannah chair lift
would have been appreciated) to the Sticks
Pass col.
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A
comparatively easy climb up to Stybarrow
Dodd followed, then on to Watson’s Dodd
to find somewhere out of a very cold and
strong easterly wind in order to have lunch.
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Unfortunately
the long distance visibility was somewhat
hazy and much of the terrain is relatively
featureless, so the photos are not wonderful.
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By
now, I had now achieved my objective of
finishing off all the Wainwrights in the
Eastern Fells book but there was still
plenty of time before the weather was expected
to deteriorate so we decided to add Raise
to the itinerary. Can you see the
ski tow?
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This
gave us a view over to Helvellyn and the
edges.
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We
took the Brown Crag route off the fell.
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It
was shortly afterwards that the Middle ended
and the End began.
The
End:
Mike,
Bryan and I decided to take the path that
led straight for the King’s Arms at Thirlspot
passing en-route the "lavadas"
that take the water to or from Thirlmere.
I forget which.
The
others took a different path, heading straight
for Stanah where they would retrieve the
cars.
Mike,
Bryan and I had a very pleasant pint outside
the King’s Arms at Thirlspot but the others
did’t show up. What could have gone
wrong? Whilst we pondered on the question,
Mike, Bryan and I had another very pleasant
pint outside the King’s Arms at Thirlspot
but the others didn’t show up. What
could have gone wrong? All this took considerably
longer than the beginning’s mix up.
Eventually
they arrived. It turned out that they
had a navigational malfunction and had tried
to pass through some land that was private.
Unfortunately they were spotted by
the landowner who made it very clear that
they were not welcome. I thought that
he must have been brave as Robin is a very
big man and a former rugby player of considerable
standard; i.e. not a person to be trifled
with.
Robin
later explained that twenty years ago he
might have adopted a different approach
but when the man’s wife appeared and was
even more aggressive, he felt discretion
was by a long way the better part of valour.
As
a result, they had to retrace their steps
which meant some 200 more feet of climbing
and half a mile of diversion before they
reached their cars. Consequently,
no sooner had they met us at the pub than
Martin, Mike and Terry had to set off home,
leaving Robin, John, Bryan and me to top
up our glasses. All of which meant
that some of us enjoyed a considerably more
relaxed End to the story than others!
Don,
Wednesday, 24th April 2019
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