BB2118 : It's not the path we follow.....

Friday 29th April 2021

“Where are they?” we wondered.  We were on our way up and knew that they were on their way down.  The paths we were following should have crossed by now.  In the distance, maybe 500 yards away and considerably lower down, I saw a white hat.  I phoned Mike hoping firstly that I’d get a signal and secondly that he was white hat man.  Right on both counts.  Slowly his group came into view.  Somehow we had missed each other.  The path they were on was not the one we had followed.

So our covidly secure encounter was far more secure than envisaged.  Would we meet again?  Quite possibly.

I should explain that this week our numbers exceeded that permissible under the Covid regulations so we had two teams.  Stan, TV Mike and & I, the Red Team, set off early from the Mason’s Arms in an anticlockwise direction.  The Blue team, t’other Mike, John,  Philip, Stuart & Tony started considerably later from the Gummer's How car park.  They were following the path Mike had followed previously. Ours was the reverse circuit.  The paths should cross on their northern descent and, as you now know, it was by some distance.

From the top, we really could see Blackpool Tower.  Can you?

There seemed to be a lot of cows out today.  Some with rather scary horns.

Our circuit led us down to Simpson Ground Reservoir .....

..... then east as far as Crag Wood where we turned north for Cartmel Fell church.

It was near there that we saw that enigmatic statement:

It's not the path we follow, it's trail we leave behind

Our paths had not crossed a second time.  To shorten their outing the Blues had followed one rather shorter.  However, we did end up at the same place, The Mason's Arms (suitably distanced on separate tables of course).  

As for the trail left behind- you can see that on Relive, below.

Don, Thursday 29th April 2021

It was a good plan to start with. Leading the Blue team means making allowances. One might have a backache, another might impose a mileage limit. Yet another might have a dodgy knee or (true this) an important appointment at the Tap in the afternoon that cannot be missed.

The original plan was for about 9.5 miles and just under 2,000 feet but it was to shrink drastically. Never mind, it was a beautiful day and, as we waited for one straggler at the car park, the views north were absolutely stunning. But it was cold. So a full frontal attack on Gummer's How would warm us up.

Once conquered we continued north. By the miracles of modern technology and from a suitable social distance (he's behind you, by half a mile) we saw Don and co going the other way anti-clockwise on the same route.

The stroll through Blake Holme Woods is a delight. In contrast is the fierce deforestation around Lightwood. An appropriate name. Here we had coffee and afterwards it was a hop skip and a jump  (for some) to the Monument on the top of Cartmel Fell. Facing south we enjoyed a lush green panorama whilst having lunch. The original plan would have continued South but someone said “Go west old men”. So we did. Then it was all downhill from there, by car, to the Mason’s Arms.

And no sooner had we arrived, our socially distanced friends did too. Well met indeed.

Mike B, Thursday 29th April 2021

Comitibii:

Route:

Blue: 7.4 miles, 1,132 feet                                Red: 10.8 miles, 1,865 feet
Map: OS 1:50k

RELIVE

Unfortunately Relive is short of pictures.  My phone was running very low on juice. I suspect Relive is a heavy user so what with that and WhatsApp and Outdoor Map Navigator plus other things that seem to switch themselves on when I am not looking, the battery ran very low.  Click on the picture to Relive our trail.

Musical Supplement

Tony was bemoaning the recent absence of music in these reports so proposed the woman with the most beautiful, powerful voice that hes ever heard and for whom he would have left his mother when he was young (before he met Pat, of course).  He hasn't a clue what she's singing about and doesn't care. It's  Nana Mouskouri singing Fidaki.

Uncle Google suggests:

I discovered that Nana came from Chania, as does Danae (Jamie's wife), so I asked her if the translation was accurate. Danae confirmed that Uncle Google had done pretty well. It is about a little snake that lives in a stream and the mother says how wonderful it will be when it grows up but also how scary.

Danae's' mother really likes Nana as does Robin who confessed that he had been a fan for many years. He suggests you try Nana’s magical version of Mark Knopfler’s Why Worry at full volume.  

He adds that whilst Nana’s is great , no-one does it like Dire Straits - one of his all-time favourite tracks with its uplifting, healing themes.

Robin also proposed a song from what he considers Bob Dylan’s best ever album, Desire, from 1975: One More Cup of Coffee with EmmyLou Harris on backing vocals – "Dylan at his most enigmatic."  To my ear it sounds very Greek influenced.

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STATISTICS

BB2118 : It's not the path we follow.....

Date:

Thursday 30th April 2021

Features:

Guumer's How

Comitibus:

Blue:  John, Mike B, Philip, Stuart, Tony,
Red: Don, Stan, TV Mike

Distance in miles:

Blue: 7.4
Red: 10.8

Height climbed in feet:

Blue: 1,132
Red: 1,865

GPX track

BB2118.gpx

Tony

Don

Mike B

Stan

Stephen

Terry

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