Spice/Walkwise Patterdale walking weekend

Travelled up to Patterdale in the Lake District on the Friday 10th to meet Sue for a late lunch. Patterdale is located at the end of Ullswater which is deep in the Cumbrian Mountains. Sue and I had a walk down to the next village of Glenridding, about a mile to view the lake, it's steamers and have another beer. Whilst it was dry when we walked down the forecast was not good for the Saturday. All the walkers gathered for the customary drink before the evening meal and it was nice to see an old face from the Cheddar walk - one of our guides from Walkwise - John.

The meal over, and well fed were we, we all gathered in the back room so that the other guide, Paul, could give some brief details of Saturday's walk. There are always two, a hard and an easier walk - the hard walk would be 13 miles with 3,300 feet ascent; this is the one for me. it was pleasing that on Paul's suggestion we go for a beer in the pub across the road, the whole group went.

Saturday dawns nice and wet so it's down to the restaurant for bacon and eggs and a cup of tea. We set off as a group and boarded the local bus which took us to Aira Force, a waterfall close to Ullswater along the Aira Beck. As there had been a good bit of rain the force was in full spate as the photo's show. Once we had all taken our photos and seen the waterfall we split into our two groups.

We took a path up behind the falls through bracken and grassland gently rising around the edge of what is Watermillock Common. As the scenery was magnificent and rain had let off we stopped for a quick breather around the Spying How area, great vistas along the whole of Ullswater and surrounding mountains.

After the brief stop it was up and over Glencoyne Brow into the valley itself. This is classic valley sculpted by glacier action, steep U shaped and our path took us along the side of the valley and under Scot Crag and Glencoyne Head itself. Lots of becks and rills to cross, all in full flow due to the recent rains. We were treated to a bit of sunshine along the valley side but as we decided to have lunch at the valley head the heavens opened and it was back on with the wet weather gear.

I bless my trip to NZ as I came across a pair of overtrousers that unzip all the way up the leg both sides - great as I do not need to remove my walking boots. it only takes a couple of minutes to put on or remove and pack away.

The views back down the Glencoyne valley are beautiful, even in the rain - out over High Dodd on the opposite side of the water and way up towards Pooley Bridge at the other end of Ullswater. After lunch it was then a brief walk up to the saddle and into Sticks Pass, walking beside Sticks Gill. Here we passed a couple who were pushing their mountain bikes along the rather rough and awkward trail. The lady looked shattered and complained that it was 'his' idea!! The man told me that they were going up to Helvellyn, then would ride down from there - hope they made it okay.

At the top of Sticks Pass you come to a crossroad, straight over you descend to the north end of Thirlmere, right would take you up over Great Dodd and left to Helvellyn which was our route. You could not see any of the features ahead due to the cloud but whilst walking up the path towards Raise the clouds parted briefly to give us wonderful views of Thirlmere and back down towards Ullswater as well. The path was quite steep going up to Raise through stony ground, the path marked here by small cairns. I was acting a back marker today as a couple of the ladies were struggling uphill and through this section was rather concerned as I lost sight of the main group (was only 8 of us including John).

Boy was I happy to see the large cairn on Raise and to see the other guys as well. Raise is at 883m, Aira Force is about 180m so we had climbed some 700m but still had another 80m to climb in height. Sounds great but of course we descended 50m off of Raise and then up to 863 to cross over the Whiteside Bank, back down to 800m crossing the saddle before starting the final ascent to Helvellyn. It was here on the saddle that one of the ladies felt ill and could not go any further, thankfully with me being back marker I was able to holler for John to return - he was lost in the cloud ahead. He came back and after a half hour managed to get the lady and her friend up to where the others had stopped. Bearing in mind it was wet, cold and very windy stopping for this length of time is no joke. It was obvious one of the ladies could not go on so Mike offered to escort her back down off the mountain. This is a difficult call as really the group should stay together especially when the conditions are poor, however Mike said he had been to Helvellyn before so was happy to do the escort; if he had not been there then I would have volunteered.

Once they moved off downhill we continued the climb up onto the top which was totally covered by cloud. We walked to the shelter and I took a photo of the remaining group - in their finery. Then it was retrace the steps for a few metres to find one of the descents - Swirral Edge. I did not realise that I had signed up to act as a mountain goat but to descend off of the mountain one had to scramble and climb down though very jagged tumbled rock then out along the Edge. The clouds had thinned by now and what a sight, sheer drops either side - wonderful.

We could have climbed Catstye Cam which is at the end of Swirral Edge but time was now against us so we kept to the main path down to Red Tarn, then to follow Red Tarn Beck to where it joined Glenridding Beck. We met up with Mike and the other lady at the confluence of these two rivers, they having come down the shorter route across Red Screes and around Glenridding Common.

After a brief few minutes it was then a slog down to Glenridding itself and along to Patterdale. I was positive someone had increased the distance between the two villages, my feet and calves ached.

The hotel provided another excellent evening meal and after Paul had explained the itinerary for Sunday it was back across the road to the pub.

After a decent breakfast the long walkers gathered at the front of the hotel and said their goodbyes to the rest of the group, then it was a short drive up Hard Knock Pass to the pub and car park at the top. Only needed two cars as there is 7 of us for this 8 mile walk, 2,200 feet ascent.

It is a short stiff climb from the off right up past High Bull Crag which is on our right. The views all the way up are spectacular, right across Ambleside and to the coast. We took a breather at Stony Cove Pike and looked over all the ridges and valleys that face south, what a view. From here we skirted Threshthwaite Crag and gazed upon the trail that went up to the top of Thornthwaite Crag - our path, must be a 1 in 5 gradient. First though we had to scrabble and climb down vertically some 70m, across the saddle and up the 1 in 5 slope which was actually not too bad. At this point we had fell runners coming at us from both ways so useful in having to get off the path to let them through - catch your breadth. Once at the top we had a brief stop by the beacon on top of Threshthwaite Crag before joining the course of the old Roman Road we call High Street.

I have heard and read about this path and wanted to walk at least part of the route. Our part took us high onto the ridge with Hayeswater on the left and Blea Water on the right. We had lunch on the High Street with a commanding view down Riggingdale Beck and across the valley, over to Shap and the Pennines. Where we sat we had Kidsty Pike to our left.

After lunch our path took us to The Knott, which we climbed and had a great view over Hayeswater and back over the route we took along the High Street. Our route was now going to head back towards Patterdale between Rest Dodd and Brock Crags and down to Angle Tarn. The views from here were more of Patterdale valley, Brothers Water with views right across Helvellyn and surrounding mountains. At Boredale Hause there was a discussion whether we should climb up to Place Fell - more as a joke than being serious. Consensus was no as people had a journey to do that afternoon so we made our way down to the hotel.

Amanda took Mike and I to collect our cars and on return we had a drink with the rest of the team, Sue, Karen, Paula and John before they left for home. I had booked an extra night and so had Sue. Being full of aches and pains we managed to walk across the road to the pub for a meal and a chin wag on the weekend, which we both agreed was worth it - even with the pain!!

Monday saw us saying our goodbyes, Sue is going to Yeovil and myself to Bedford. At Pooley Bridge I turned right to follow the road to the A6 south of Penrith as I wanted to drive the 10 miles or so south to Shap village. I did not find it a pretty village and with dour weather turned around and drove back to Penrith and Jct 40 of the M6. Instead of driving down the M6 to the M61 and across the M62 i decided to to the A66 across the Pennines to Scots Corner. In my family this was a well known turning off point for our pilgrimage from Hertfordshire to Scotland for the annual holidays when I was a nipper. It has all changed now, the roads bigger and more free flowing - i.e. the old roundabout has long gone. One picks up the A1 which if you turned right you would end up at Edinburgh but I needed to go left for Ferrybridge and southwards. For those of you who are much younger than me the A1 was known as the Great North Road and preceded the M1. It was the main arterial route from London to Edinburgh and even to this day there is no motorway that directly connects London and Edinburgh.

Motorway wise you would use the M40/M42 from London, or the M1; then take the M6 to the Scottish border and from there drive the M74 to Glasgow. From Glasgow it is the M8 across to Edinburgh. It is only in the last couple of years that the final upgrading of the 10 miles or so across the border has been upgraded so that there is continuous motorway where the M6/M74 join.