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BB2530 : Steps; Bad and Good
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Wednesday
6th August 2025
As Paul Simon almost sang:
More news on the doorstep,
I couldn’t
take the Bad Step.
Not this time. Or at least I wasn’t looking forward to
it. Neither was Martin. Age catching up with us.
Even Stan, who I thought would want to romp
up it, insisted we should go the other way round. The Race Route, he called it but maybe he too
isn’t as adventurous as he was.
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That is why, after parking near the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel,
we set off up The Band to visit the Crinkles (or Crinkle Crags as they are more
properly called).
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It’s not difficult and
the views are good.....
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but it is a bit of a slog climbing the long nose for 2,000
feet before emerging at the Three Tarns (no, not a pub- there are three little
tarns).
The way south over the Crinkle summits is partly marked by
helpful cairns but not entirely and we managed to find ourselves a little off
piste. However map and compass (i.e. GPS)
soon got us back on track which was just as well as the weather was going off
and the higher Crinkle tops vanished.
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I
was wondering whether we might have to abort and use the gps to track back, if
I could work out how to do it (note to self - must practice). However, the cloud cleared and we could clear
see Stan’s goal for his Big Day, hopefully soon to be.
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We successfully achieved our goal,
the top Crinkle. The descent could have been via the Bad Step
but, if it is tricky to get up due to it being a short but true rock climb, it would be
near impossible to get down it. Or so we
thought. We found the path that
circles round the hill, meeting a sensible lady and child that had wisely chosen
that route whilst her husband was being a hero.
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We emerged just below the Bad Step where there were a couple
of people.
We soon realised that one of
them was attempting to descend and was in real difficulty.
The other was the aforementioned hero
who had successfully climbed the Step and was
now trying to guide the former down.
The
first thing was to get the man to turn round and face the rock rather than
trying to get down on his back side which could have led to a real disaster.
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He then directed the moves that needed to be
made and all was well in the end.
We pressed on, skirting Great Knott, to the top of the path
that leads from Red Tarn to the valley. 1,300 feet of stone staircase. That was hard work. Uneven steps, hard on the feet with some
tricky stream crossings. Very fatiguing. It was a great relief to reach the car.
Of course, as you would expect, the day finished not with a
Bad Step but a good one. In fact a very
Good Step. Into the Hare & Hounds at
Bowland Bridge. Cheers!
Don,
Wednesday 6th August 2025
This week’s song isn’t American Pie, as you might have thought,
but, more appropriately perhaps, Bad Legs - Bad Step. Play at your own
risk!
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