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BB2318
: And Then There Was Only One Half
Thursday
1st June 2023
It
was on the 7th October 2010 that Stan and
I, aided by Bryan, reached the summit of
Scafell Pike and the completion of all the
214 Wainwrights- BB1037
: This is the Way the Wainwrights End.
On
BB1218,
with the rare situation of Tony being in
charge, the first conquest on my second
round took place. Stan started about
the same time on his third round.
Progress
knocking them off has been slow. It’s
hard to think back and identify why other
than, obviously, the restrictions of the
covid years coupled with the sad fact that
age was slowing us (or at least me) down.
The big days that we used to do were
now beyond us (or at least me). Nonetheless
we have quietly plodded away and, as of
this morning, we had only five and a half
left to do. The five we could mop
up in one round if we were capable of repeating
BB1024
Rendezvous on Haycock.
After all, it was only 11.8 miles
distance and 4,210 feet of climbing.
Would
the subsequent 13 years of aging and expanding
waistlines be capable of such a feat? Well,
we had to try.
Stan
kindly volunteered to drive. All the
other BOOTboys, found excuses not to join
us. Hair washing, child minding, knitting
club meetings; that sort of thing. Some
even fled the country.
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So
we set off to Wasdale with no Sherpas and
having to carry all our own provisions,
including gallons of water to cope with
what was expected to be the hottest day
of the year.
As
before, our first objective was Middle Fell
and we made quite a good fist of it.
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This
time we decided to bypass Seatallan and
head straight for Haycock.
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It
was here that the 13 years began to tell.
BB1024 makes little mention of the
climb other than it being the direct route
and that we arrived fifteen minutes ahead
of schedule. Today it was a good job
there was no schedule. It is steep
and awkward though not dangerous. Fortunately,
it wasn’t the scorching day that had been
predicted. Unfortunately, that meant
I was carrying rather more weight than proved
to be necessary. I was quite weary
when we reached the top. Stan is more
of a natural athlete and didn’t seem to
suffer quite so much.
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All
day long the Scafells, and on this occasion
a passing pilot, kept a watch on us.
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It
was a relief that the route to Caw, after
a rather bouldery descent, is a fairly gentle
stroll along the ridge.
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The
challenge then was how to reach Seatallan
without having to climb back up Haycock.
The map suggested there was a route
round the far side but Stan spotted the
possibility of a traverse that would lead
us directly to the bog that lies between
the two hills. It worked. Fortunately
the weather has been so good recently that
the bog was mostly dry and easily re-crossed.
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I
wasn’t looking forward to the Seatallan
climb. To be fair, it was a lot less
challenging terrain than had been Haycock
but those thirteen years were really catching
up with me. I alternated between my
Cwm Rhondda climbing theme (I am weak but
thou art mighty) and the “fifty paces then
pause” strategy. Stan, with his innate
stamina, was indeed mighty and didn’t seem
to have these problems. Eventually the top
came in sight. That was the bulk of
the work done. Not only could I relax,
we could have lunch and enjoy the view,
with the Great Gable screes clearly showing.
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It
remained only to drop down easily to Buckbarrow
to complete our objective. It then
seemed an arduous descent to the road and
an even more arduous trudge back to the
car.
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The
round had been a challenge but we had enjoyed
some splendid views and achieved the objective
with a slightly shorter and rather less
gruelling route than in 2010. Not
that we found it gruelling in those days..
Now we have just one half of a Wainwright
left. Why a half? All will be
revealed when it succumbs, hopefully not
too far in the future.
Don,
Thursday 1st June 2023
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