Month: March 2017

Post 125:  12 April 1995: Day 5 – Black Sail Hut Youth Hostel to Eskdale Youth Hostel – The Underpant Trail.  14½ miles

After breakfast, we all gathered outside to put our boots on. The youngsters were ready first, eager to get on with their journey.

‘Where are you going today?’ I enquired.

‘To the summit of Pillar.’

‘Oh, we are also heading there. Maybe we’ll see you on there?’ I joked, thinking that they would arrive there well ahead of us old fogies.

We carried on chatting for some twenty minutes in no rush to ascend Pillar at 2927 feet. Suddenly remembering we had over 14 miles of hard walking ahead we eventually left the hostel in bright sunshine to begin the steep climb up the Black Sail Pass. We then headed off along the ridge towards the top of Pillar. The youngsters soon came into view and, feeling considerably better than the previous day, I shot up the ridge to catch them up.

‘Oh, we thought we would be on the summit first,’ said one of the youngsters, Bernise, clearly disappointed that someone who probably did not look much younger than their parents had caught them up.

‘Don’t worry, I am sure you will be able to keep up with me,’ I joked.

Sure enough we approached the summit together, but the youngest one burst into a run, determined to get to the summit first. I had no such ambitions and just smiled.

They then reached the trig pillar and one of them climbed onto it so that I could take a picture. I couldn’t resist climbing onto the pillar, forgetting that I had dodgy knee ligaments and, if I were to jump off, I would probably be a mountain rescue case. At 6ft 2.5 inches on top of the trig pillar on top of Pillar, is this a world record for Pillar?

My companions thought this was hilarious and threatened to leave me there, until one of them took pity on the ‘old’ man and gave me a hand down. There is little doubt that an energetic climb to a summit can lead to tremendous endorphin highs. Forget drugs, take up fell walking.

The descent was less pleasant as we had to follow the scree run from Wind Gap to the head of Mosedale. Scree runs are not nice, steep scree runs are agony. The pressure on the legs, in particular the knees, is incessant and, as your feet and the scree give way, you end up on your backside more times than it pays to count. Dan was dressed in faded beige trousers (up-date – a forerunner in the fashion stakes for Nicholas Crane who was much later to acquire fame in the TV series Coast!) so that by the time he reached the end of the scree he had a black bottom (see hostel picture below). When I reached the end my muscles were screaming, my knee ligaments were sore, I had bleeding blisters, sweat was pouring out, and I was covered in dust. It was with great relief we were able to dip our feet in the ice-cool Mosedale Beck and spend half-an-hour sunbathing.

A few days later we heard that a walker had died of heat exhaustion on this very day – in April.

A bonus for our efforts was that we saw Peregrine Falcons and Buzzards swooping overhead, or were they vultures waiting for the dead bodies? Not waiting to find out we carried on to Wasdale, past Burnmoor Tarn, so deep blue it looked unreal, then to Eskdale Youth Hostel, arriving at 5.30pm.

At the reception were two East German ladies who were having great difficulty choosing from the breakfast menu due to language problems. Do they have porridge in East Germany? Dan’s language skills were useful again as he had a working knowledge of German. One of them joined us in the Woolpack Inn in the evening, but only Dan could have a meaningful conversation. However, I was impressed as she was a Guinness drinker. The lost energy of a long and energetic but memorable day’s walking, was soon restored by a huge plate of steak and chips, washed down with Guinness. My view is that fitness is measured by how quick you can recover from your exertions; our recovery was fairly rapid that evening.

Post 124: The Staveley-Foxfield Horseshoe – the Underpant Trail 

11 April 1995: Day 4 – Keswick Youth Hostel to the Black Sail Hut Youth Hostel – 12 miles

We left Keswick at 9.15am and, despite a gentle walk to Portinscale, I felt very lethargic and had the runs. Fortunately, I found a public convenience at the boathouse at Nichol End. The problem was either caused by the extra helping of peach crumble the night before, vitamin B deficiency resulting from too much exercise or worse the first symptoms of andropause?

I found the climb up Cat Bells quite hard, (some photographs taken on an later occasion)

and progress along Maiden Moor and High Spy was not a lot better. I was definitely having an off day. After a welcome lunch at Dale Head Tarn, I straggled along at the rear of the party until we descended steeply to Honister Pass. A steep ascent then led up to Haystacks and Innominate Tarn, where we remembered Alfred Wainwright, whose ashes were scattered thereabouts.

A remarkable wall of cloud rose up from the depths of Ennerdale, as though there was a presence in the area.

The descent to Scarth Gap was particularly tiring and I was relieved to arrive at the Black Sail Youth Hostel, only to find it locked. The warden arrived to let us in just as we were chilling down and gentle rain started. It was a small miracle that this was the only rain of the whole walk, something very unusual in the Lake District.

The hostel was occupied by someone called Brian Smith, who said he had met Wainwright and written a book called, Exploring The High Fells with a Wainwright Guidebook. There is indeed such a book. There were also three youngsters aged between seventeen and twenty keenly playing chess, and a father and two children. By all accounts a quiet night, as on other occasions it has been full to the eighteen capacity, late comers having slept on the lounge floor.

That night, Dan, a fresh air junkie, did his best to finish us off with hypothermia by leaving the curtains open. At least this time the windows were closed. However, the sunlight came through early in the morning, waking me up. I decided to go outside to wash in the stream, taking photographs of the dawn towards Great Gable. What a wonderful sight, as rays of sunlight pierced the gap between Green Gable and Great Gable.

The air had a crisp freshness about it. Small wonder the Black Sail Hut Youth Hostel is one of my favourite hostels; staying there in good weather can be a unique magical experience.

Post 123: 28 February 2017, Cleveland Circles 18

Leaving home at 7.15am we reached Castleton, just as a puff of smoke appeared in the distance. This was a sign that a steam train was on its way.

Sid did an emergency stop on an icy steep hill.

As far as steam trains are concerned boys just don’t grow up. It may surprise you to hear that a Skoda can even do an emergency stop, but Sid’s has four wheel drive and winter tyres on. I then jumped out of the car into a cold frosty morning and took up position to get a couple of photographs of what we think was a Black 5 being re-positioned as it only had one carriage. It had a good steam trail. A good start to the day!

Arriving at Skinningrove things soon went downhill when I discovered that I had not brought the North York Moors East map. I only had the West map. An Oscar Moment!

For the first 17 walks only the North York Moors West map had been needed. But now both maps were required. This was a cardinal sin as it could either mean getting lost or cancelling the walk and therefore would normally be an error warranting the stocks (see previous blogs).

However, after 43 years of marriage I am adept at blaming the wife for most things that go wrong and my mitigating circumstances to the Ethics Committee (of which I am Chair) was that my wife’s train from Banbury to Cannock the previous day had been delayed an hour, which meant we didn’t get home until about 9.30pm and so I hadn’t had time to complete a proper kit check. This was accepted by the committee, but the diver on the harbour front looked a bit sceptical.

Fortunately, I had the guide book and Sid did have the East map and so we set out at just after 9.00am on a bright, but cool morning. The local authorities must have had advance notification of us coming as they had started repairing the paths! I did wonder whether this was financed by EU money, in other words my money, which they then pay back. Either way, I do appreciate that some care and attention is going to this region, which has suffered from industrial decline.

As we climbed the coastal path the views back were beautiful.

We soon came to the National Trust section of Hummersea. Louis Hunton was born in this area in 1814 and studying the cliffs hereabouts showed at the age of 22 how ammonites could be used to index fossils for identifying different rock strata. Sadly he died two years later. Early deaths at that time seemed prevalent in this area (see previous blogs).

We continued to ascend the delightful coastal path.

Evidence of the alum workings could be seen below us. It is known as the first chemical industry and alum was used for fixing dyes in the textile industry and leather tanning. In the process, urine to supple ammonium was an important requirement. Given the cold often found in this area I would imagine there was no shortage of urine!

The cliffs in this area are the highest along the whole of the east coast of England at 213 metres.

Some mining for potash still goes on this area and we believe this platform was doing exploratory geological investigations.

Before leaving the coast we had a brief glimpse towards Staithes and part of our next walk.

We then passed Boulby Mine, which is one of the World’s major potash producers. This is used for fertiliser and, as a by-product, salt is collected for icing roads. Due to its high depth the mine is also used for research into dark matter, which is found in space, consisting of WIMPS (Weakly Interactive Massive Particles).

Heading further inland along Ridge Lane we passed an unusual, unfinished house.

After a delightful lunch, in bright warm sunshine, on grassland overlooking a very green valley, we crossed Black Gill Beck on a new path and new bridge.

After crossing the bridge the path became muddy, slippy and steep and Carol went into ‘fall down mode’  – three times.

An accident enquiry was initiated and it was decided that, after her falls and Sid’s fall on a previous walk, it would be my turn next on a future walk!  

We then went through Spring House Cottage gate, which was very ornate.

A grey wagtail was spotted alongside Kilton Beck in Skinningrove

and finally we propped Carol up at the end so she wouldn’t fall over again!! The back of her trousers were covered in mud so it was a good job we were in Sid’s Skoda and not my Volvo.

A very enjoyable walk and early signs of spring were apparent.

Miles Walked 11.1

Calories Burnt 1,300

Average Pace 19.25 Minutes per Mile (bit slow due to the mud on most of the paths)

Steps 25,765