Training Log Archive: schnitzer

I finally caught a stomach bug. I thought I was basically invincible to this type of thing but this one seemed particularly aggressive, contagious. Or maybe I was just low after so much exercise and travelling. Anyway we all went down like dominoes, one after the other.

I missed the beginning whilst in England but got back home in time to help Elmin through the night Thu/Fri and from about 1am Saturday it was my turn to help myself through the night.

On the way to pick Hugo up from school in the afternoon I did actually do some lower leg drills, maybe that is the way forward - fit it in when one can?

Grey Knotts - Great Langdale via Scafell Pike

Not as calm or cloud-free today but no reduction of ambition. Started out early, quickly ascended Green Gable and then dropped down to Styhead Tarn. Then took the corridor route to summit Scafell Pike and achieve our main goal.

On the top of England others dared us to venture around to the windy side of the summit, or even up the stairs onto the top. We did that, took a few photos and had a laugh and a chuckle over how safe and comfortable the conditions were compared to those we experienced on Sunday.

After that the long walk back to the Langdale valley followed which very almost broke us. A little bit too ruined to really enjoy the pint and cheesy chips we ordered once we arrived at the hotel. Then we checked in and got given a room on the top floor - yes of course.

Lining Crag - Rosthwaite

So with the backup plan of descending all the way to civilisation we stumbled upon the wind-free haven on top of Lining Crag. Well I say wind-free, it wasn't totally free of any wind it was just not switching between gale and hurricane force like everywhere else we had been in the couple of hours before that. Good enough however to get the tent up, cook dinner and even relax with some music on while we compared splits from the earlier event.

The next morning the weather had turned all peachy, we got up and took our time making breakfast and packing up. Once we were about ready to move on an old guy turned up with his dog and we exchanged our very recent histories. Upon hearing of our original plan of setting up camp over Ullscarf around Blea Tarn he explained that it was actually pretty boggy over there and that, considering almost every time he had ascended past Lining crag in the early morning that he had stumbled upon wilderness campers, we were almost certainly better off where we ended up. Nice!

Rosthwaite - Grey Knotts via Dale Head

Once down in the Borrowdale valley we stopped off in Stonethwaite and quickly found that the Inn is closed on Mondays. Next stop was the Yew Tree farm tea room in Rosthwaite, Linda's pasty and chutney with coffee and then cake with more coffee.

Over lunch we reduced our original ambition once again, not because of the weather this time rather because we simply had not started early enough to fit everything in. So Dale Head, Robinson, Buttermere and Haystacks became Dale Head, Honister, Grey Knotts instead.

A really nice ascent with the sun on our backs at times, met a jolly chap on the summit of Dale Head who had a passion for time-lapse photography. In return for his enthusiasm and pleasantries we shared some of our Jura 10 year-old Scotch with him. He seemed to think we were very civilised to have packed such a beverage in its original bottle and to be frank we were very inclined to agree.

Really rewarded today for our ordeal the day before with beatiful, calm weather and good visibility. Such a constrast the second evening, took our time almost 700m above sea level on Grey Knotts to find a really good spot for the tent, cooked outside, drank whiskey, reminisced over the very recent past and planned the very near future.