I had a nice trip to the Lakes over the weekend with Teepee and Scrogger, it was a kit testing trip, a start to our Cape Wrath Trail planning and an opportunity to get the legs hill fit again. We planned a short circular route as none of us were exactly 100% with our various injuries and ailments. With me working Friday morning and the Bank Holiday traffic on the A1, we didn't arrive at the car park until later in the day, instead of the planned 7 miles to the first camp we cut it short and camped lower down at around the 4 mile mark.
The walk out
The sun was really hot in places on Friday afternoon, we stopped for shade under some pines after one climb
Looking down into Mardale
Climbing
Camp for night one, a lovely spot next to the waterfalls at the base of Bampton Common, great views down the lake
We spent the rest of the evening lounging around camp, talking about kit and CWT, we were all away to our beds fairly early. The camp site we'd chosen offered great views to the east, Andy said he'd give me a shout if he was awake for sunrise. Sure enough at some ungodly hour Andy shouted over so I poked my head out of the DuoMid, apologies for the wonky angle but I was still half asleep.
The moon was still up, I took a few pics and crawled back into the doss bag for a snooze.
An hour or so later the sun was properly up, shining bright through the cuben fiber I got up and put a brew on.
Pete's up
After enjoying the warmth of the sun, the ice melted off the shelters whilst we made breakfast, it was porridge for me and Andy, Pete was having eggs
It's my first time out with the DuoMid so lots of pics sorry
After breakfast we packed and continued on our route up Low Kop, High Kop and Wether Hill
Looking back down Raven Howe
Helvellyn and Striding Edge in the distance
Rest Dodd and Satura Crags behind, the direction of our next camp
Coming down off Rampsgill Head
Not far to go now, but Andy was having seconds thoughts with his plantar fasciitis giving him some gip, I managed to talk him into carrying on though
Looking back at Hayeswater from just below The Knott, another nice place to camp
We reached Angle Tarn above Patterdale by 13:30, the sun was really hot so we flaked out in the heat, Pete had a snooze, I messed about with the DuoMid and Andy did some repairs.
A helicopter buzzed a few times, we think it was tourist flights
As the light faded Pete had a bash at spinning, success on the first cast but the prize was just a sunken smelly pack cover, I fancied having a scramble on the inviting crags of Angletarn Pikes but I had a banging headache from dehydration, I just took a few pics and lazed about camp
Tea was a Packit Gourmet Big Easy Gumbo, wow, the best backpacking food I've ever had, another order will be going in pretty soon
Not long after tea I was ready for bed, a headache, dehydration and a touch of sunstroke and I was pooped. I crawled into my bed about 9 o'clock and lay listening to Pete and Andy for a while before dozing off. Wind the clock on until 04:30 when I'm woken by something snatching the pillow out from under my head, I was using my backpack for a pillow but something had just pulled it under the edge of my tarp shelter and legged off with it, I reached over and lifted up the edge of my tarp and could see a young fox stood there with my new pack in it's mouth. I wriggled out of my bivvy and doss bag, grabbed a trekking pole and ran outside, the fox dropped my pack and ran off with me shouting all sorts of pleasantries at it. After a good nights kip and the rude awakening I thought I might as well stay up now, it was nearly getting light anyway. I got back in my shelter and got a brew on, then I realised my brew kit had vanished, I grabbed my headtorch and went out searching. Looking over at Pete and Andys shelters I could see they'd already been visited by the fox, their stuff was strewn about all over the place. I found my brew kit fifty yards from my shelter half way up a hill, the fox had chewed great holes in my bag and punctured every sachet apart from two
Andy must have heard me wandering about and appeared outside his tarp not long after, we mooched about looking for his kit in the half light, we found his backpack, trousers, cap and pouch cosy but his food bag was nowhere to be seen. It was a similar story for Pete too, anything containing food was away up the hill. Luckily I'd stuffed my remaining food in my backpack so it was fairly safe until the fox tried to nick it from under my head. So it was half a Nature Valley bar for those two and a porridge for me. Andy and Pete wondering what just happened
After a brew each we packed up, with very little breakfast it was going to be a tough start to the day. Looking back down to Angle Tarn
Crossing under Buck Crag, over Prison Crag and back up to High Street
On High Street we picked up the path for Kidsty Pike where we descend down into the valley. Riggindale and Haweswater looking like a mill pond
Kidsty Pike
A nice finishing bimble along the lake edge and back to the car, a great weekend lads, amazing weather for easter in the Lakes, lets hope they get easier as the year progresses
Kit list can be found here ...
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...2aUNJalJ5cXRCRTFDZWs3YWc&usp=drive_web#gid=11
Hopefully the link will work, I'll figure out how to embed it at some point
The walk out
The sun was really hot in places on Friday afternoon, we stopped for shade under some pines after one climb
Looking down into Mardale
Climbing
Camp for night one, a lovely spot next to the waterfalls at the base of Bampton Common, great views down the lake
We spent the rest of the evening lounging around camp, talking about kit and CWT, we were all away to our beds fairly early. The camp site we'd chosen offered great views to the east, Andy said he'd give me a shout if he was awake for sunrise. Sure enough at some ungodly hour Andy shouted over so I poked my head out of the DuoMid, apologies for the wonky angle but I was still half asleep.
The moon was still up, I took a few pics and crawled back into the doss bag for a snooze.
An hour or so later the sun was properly up, shining bright through the cuben fiber I got up and put a brew on.
Pete's up
After enjoying the warmth of the sun, the ice melted off the shelters whilst we made breakfast, it was porridge for me and Andy, Pete was having eggs
It's my first time out with the DuoMid so lots of pics sorry
After breakfast we packed and continued on our route up Low Kop, High Kop and Wether Hill
Looking back down Raven Howe
Helvellyn and Striding Edge in the distance
Rest Dodd and Satura Crags behind, the direction of our next camp
Coming down off Rampsgill Head
Not far to go now, but Andy was having seconds thoughts with his plantar fasciitis giving him some gip, I managed to talk him into carrying on though
Looking back at Hayeswater from just below The Knott, another nice place to camp
We reached Angle Tarn above Patterdale by 13:30, the sun was really hot so we flaked out in the heat, Pete had a snooze, I messed about with the DuoMid and Andy did some repairs.
A helicopter buzzed a few times, we think it was tourist flights
As the light faded Pete had a bash at spinning, success on the first cast but the prize was just a sunken smelly pack cover, I fancied having a scramble on the inviting crags of Angletarn Pikes but I had a banging headache from dehydration, I just took a few pics and lazed about camp
Tea was a Packit Gourmet Big Easy Gumbo, wow, the best backpacking food I've ever had, another order will be going in pretty soon
Not long after tea I was ready for bed, a headache, dehydration and a touch of sunstroke and I was pooped. I crawled into my bed about 9 o'clock and lay listening to Pete and Andy for a while before dozing off. Wind the clock on until 04:30 when I'm woken by something snatching the pillow out from under my head, I was using my backpack for a pillow but something had just pulled it under the edge of my tarp shelter and legged off with it, I reached over and lifted up the edge of my tarp and could see a young fox stood there with my new pack in it's mouth. I wriggled out of my bivvy and doss bag, grabbed a trekking pole and ran outside, the fox dropped my pack and ran off with me shouting all sorts of pleasantries at it. After a good nights kip and the rude awakening I thought I might as well stay up now, it was nearly getting light anyway. I got back in my shelter and got a brew on, then I realised my brew kit had vanished, I grabbed my headtorch and went out searching. Looking over at Pete and Andys shelters I could see they'd already been visited by the fox, their stuff was strewn about all over the place. I found my brew kit fifty yards from my shelter half way up a hill, the fox had chewed great holes in my bag and punctured every sachet apart from two
Andy must have heard me wandering about and appeared outside his tarp not long after, we mooched about looking for his kit in the half light, we found his backpack, trousers, cap and pouch cosy but his food bag was nowhere to be seen. It was a similar story for Pete too, anything containing food was away up the hill. Luckily I'd stuffed my remaining food in my backpack so it was fairly safe until the fox tried to nick it from under my head. So it was half a Nature Valley bar for those two and a porridge for me. Andy and Pete wondering what just happened
After a brew each we packed up, with very little breakfast it was going to be a tough start to the day. Looking back down to Angle Tarn
Crossing under Buck Crag, over Prison Crag and back up to High Street
On High Street we picked up the path for Kidsty Pike where we descend down into the valley. Riggindale and Haweswater looking like a mill pond
Kidsty Pike
A nice finishing bimble along the lake edge and back to the car, a great weekend lads, amazing weather for easter in the Lakes, lets hope they get easier as the year progresses
Kit list can be found here ...
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...2aUNJalJ5cXRCRTFDZWs3YWc&usp=drive_web#gid=11
Hopefully the link will work, I'll figure out how to embed it at some point
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