Autumn in The Lakes

20/10/13

On the Old Man of Coniston.

It rained a lot in the week we were here, I climbed Skiddaw from Keswick and went part way up the Old man of Coniston.

Kids in the camper, watching Mars Attacks

Also had a few days in the northeast of England having a night out with the kids in the campervan, did a little geocaching around Whitley Bay

Autumnal October.

Ben Venue.

Picked Diane up from work on the Sunday afternoon and sped off to The Trossachs, stopping at Cobeland camping in the forest site for two nights. The site was almost empty during the time we were there, a pity as the area was very pretty with the autumn colours and mists. I spent the day climbing Ben Venue, It started out as what looked like the prettiest of walks, but due to forestry work it turned into a mucky muddy dangerous mess, detours adding a couple of extra miles and hours on to a very tedious walk. I finally got to the top of Ben Venue, in cloud so no view. Had to resort to a back up plan, came off the mountain via Bealach nam Bo where Liam Neesam used to run his rustled cattle, sorry that should read Rod Roy, that was the best move to make, took about 4 1/2 hours up and 2 hours down.

Rested my legs on the journey down to the Lake District for two night there, turned up at the Caravan Club site only to find I hadnt booked, it was at the Caravan and Camping Club site just down at Troutbeck Head where we were to be. This turned out great, a little closer to the fells and other walks, I didnt need to move the van which is always a bonus. I think I prefer this site to the other, we have been to both, and I'm sure we will go back, when we cant get into the Keswick site.

The following day I climbed Blencathera,  a better day out even if the cloud was low again giving nothing much in the way of views. I had been hoping to go up via Sharp edge but I couldn't find my way on, not had much luck in the scrambling side of things, after a look around, visibility about 25 yards, I gave up and took the easy path to the top, but all in all not a bad day.

Van at Troutbeck head, background Blencathra.

Again after a couple of nights we left to see the kids on Teesside. We took the young ones to Whitewater campsite on the river Tees, just for the night, which they seemed to enjoy, especially watching Despicable Me. I took a walk over Carlton Bank, easy going and a nice wind down from the other walks.
The van performed well no trouble from it, feel a little more confident about it. The arial worked well and we thought a bit more about doing up the inside, what we might do here and there. I did give it new wheel trims before this trip.

Back on the road again

Maragowan campsite, Killin.

10th of September. With the van back on the road we went off to Braemar for the weekend. Wet weekend walk with a couple more later on in the month, bagging a Munro and a Corbett.
Mid October break and we went off to Killin, Stirling and it rained, it rain almost none stop for 3 days. It was just nice to be away in the van with somewhere new to look out the window at. 
Killin is at one end of Loch Tay and there is a great big trail of geocaches along its southern shore, one of the reasons we chose to go there, one was even at the site where they shot the famous Killer Rabbit scene in Monty Pythons Holy Grail, but we did one in the rain and gave up, just wasn't fun. 
As it rained at ground level it turned to snow about 1000 feet above us, not the first snow of this autumn/winter, there had been a fall a week or so earlier in the Cairngorms, I witnessed the remains it when I tried for Cairn Gorm itself, never quite made it but I am planning a get away to there in the Christmas holidays. That was a good chilled out couple of days.
Moved south on the way to visiting the kids on Teesside, stopped off for a couple of night in Troutbeck, Lake district, one and only reason, to climb Helvellyn. 

Red Tarn from Swirral edge.

Really enjoyed my walk up onto Helvellyn, again started of badly, not paying attention to the micro navigation in order to get a good start, think I have now learned my lesson but not been in a situation to test that yet.

Took a longer approach than I really wanted however think it was for the better in the end. A nice smooth approach to Red Tarn then onto the top via Swirral edge, a bit of a scramble but then all of a sudden there I was at the top, took me a bit by surprise.

I had a very nice chat with a couple of guys at the top before returning across striding edge, set off a little later so the decent was in the twilight, got to the van and it was dark. The wife was there, coat, hat and gloves on and armed with torch, notebook and phone, "I was just coming to look for you".

Went off to see the kids for the weekend, they were just breaking up for the holls, we had to go back too work on the monday.

Planning for the Christmas break and a few adventures between now and then.