Castle Rock

On Friday I went down to Castle Rock with Evan where we did a few climbs. It was a bit chilly today and we wrapped up warm. The first climb of the day was 'via media' graded severe. The first pitch was simple, but it took a while setting up a belay. The second pitch was more complicated, and could have been much more enjoyable were it not for my cold hands. The top gave great views of Skiddaw, with a thin scattering of snow around the summit. We then went down and decided to leave a VS with limited gear placements, as the temperature had seemed to drop even more and my teeth were beginning to chatter. We headed over to Yew Tree Climb a v.diff. I started leading and got up to the yew tree 15 metres up the pitch ready to place my first runner around the tree, only to realise I'd left the slings at the bottom. I therefore had to down climb to collect them, before working my way back up to put the sling round the tree, before doing a long run out all the way to the the top. While setting up a belay at the top a  few snow flakes were carried through the wind, and not long after that the temperature rose again. We then did the last climb of the day. A severe+ on a slab called 'Slab Route'. I was now warm and this was by far the most enjoyable climb of the day. Easy but technical climbing all the way to the last 3 metres where the wall goes vertical and a few bold moves lead to the top.

All in all a magnificent day unfortunately with no photos though.

Ethan

A week in the life of Ethan

I have realised I haven't really been posting regularly and I think it is because I haven't really viewed anything I do in my normal week to significant but I suppose it might be of interest to a few people........

I'll start with last Saturday........

I went to Kendal wall at my usual time of 3:30pm. I get the bus from Orton and get a fantastic view of the Howgills, from the high road up to Kendal. I arrived and had a bit of a boulder before meeting up with Adam (climbing partner). We went into the main hall to do some routes. I was very pleased to have lead a 6b+, although I had to hang on the rope 2 holds below the top for a minute (to try and get rid of the lactic acid eating at my arms), before completing the final move to the top. Feeling good after this, I thought I would attempt to lead a 6c+. I struggled to even start this and after falling of on a sloper before getting to the 4th quickdraw, decided it was better to spend my time on a different route, so I did a quick 5+, just to avoid a mental block about climbing that line, before moving on to the huge over hanging 6b. I got a bit of the way up but after a few falls decided to come down. It was very nearly time to go and my arms were almost dead, I had decided it was one for next week.

I was pleased to be picked up of the bus in a 4litre Jaguar, that Mike and Val who were staying for the weekend owned. I think my blog entries need a picture in them to make them more exciting so here's a pair of cool (but rather random) pictures Mike took on Sunday of me losing in a race to the other side of the river against Val (I thought my route would be quicker but it turns out legs are faster than arms).

 On Monday I went for my usual run up to the road on Orton Scar, after school. Although it's only 7mile it is a great bit of training as it involves a lot of uphill in it. 

By the way this entry will only involve the active things I do in my week, otherwise there would be a lot of 'what I watched on telly tonight' kind of thing and 'What I had for lunch today'.

On Tuesday (After school) I went for a run to Jack Daw scar in Kings Meaburn and back. I took a new route through fields on a badly marked public footpath, which involved me getting lost and wading across the river once or twice and at one point trying to run out of a farm yard I'd ended up in accidentally. Luckily the farmer didn't spot me and mistake me for a thief, fleeing off into the distance. 

I finally ended up at Jack Daw Scar, after sticking to the river like glue for 3 miles. I decided to run back on the road as it would have been stupid to head back the same way. I arrived home with wet trainers and socks, but I had, had quite a nice little adventure for an after school run; wading across rivers and worrying about being shot by angry farmers all added to the excitement of taking a new route without a map. Jack Daw Scar is actually a nice little cliff with quite a few good routes up it, ranging from I think Severe to around E3, I would be very keen to go climbing on it in the summer, if I had the equipment.

On Wednesday at school (and you won't often here me talk about school on this blog) I was given a little note from a teacher that one of her neighbours had written to me. This wasn't just any neighbour however, it was Leo Houlding one of the best Rock Climbers in the country and possibly the world. When I got home my 60m Edelrid Python climbing rope I had ordered arrived in the post, this would give me the length to climb on the main wall and the King Kong wall at the climbing wall. I then went to Kendal wall and did a bit of bouldering up in the Green Room and Marmot Loft.

On Thursday I did nothing of note (Lets call it a rest day).

On Friday I went for a short run (short because I forgot my head torch and had to come back early).

And today (Saturday) I finally got the chance to go to Kendal wall and use my new rope on the higher walls, only to find that there was a competition thing on that took up most of the main wall and the higher walls. So we just did some bouldering instead.

That's quite a typical week for me really (apart from Leo Houlding writing a note to me). So you now know that I am doing something when I haven't written for a while, just all of little value in terms of writing.

Comments are welcome as always. You might have also notice the new look my blog has got. The main thing to notice is the box just below the navigation bar at the top of the page, where you can enter your email address and receive my new blog entries by email then if you want something else to notice there is a little survey box you can add an answer to. It is just a way for me to know a bit more about the people who read my blog (if there are any?). Also I have been told by my Mum to make it clear that the way to leave a comment is to click the button at the bottom of the entry that says "comment". I thought this was quite self explanatory but my Mum clearly thinks differently.

Thanks for reading,

Ethan

High Street with Rex

Haven't written in a while but have suddenly done a lot because of my half term holiday. I spent all of last week (Monday-Friday) at Glenmore Lodge on a Winter Skills course where despite there being little amounts of snow I learned a lot and had a great time. However I won't write about it, as it was more of a skills course and the photos weren't too great as it was often misty. What I do want to write though is about a little trip out I had with Rex.

Sunday morning was extremely clear and the wind was rather tame, so I decided to go for a little run with Rex. I had been thinking of running on the Lakeland fells for a while now and had decided for some time that High Street would be the main objective of my next exploit. I always wonder about long runs across the fells and about the endurance required. My regular run is usually a 7 mile run crammed in after school on Tuesday's and Friday's, I don't have much opportunity to run any other week nights and the darkness puts me off going much further. About a third of time I run I am running up hill, but it is still a relatively friendly ascent when looked at from a 'fell running' point of view. But even the best struggle to run up the steepest of slopes in the middle of a long distance run. But it is hard to find a happy median. Even when you have the energy to run up steep ground, is it economical to do so if you have a full days running ahead of you?

The last time I saw Haweswater it was on a small walk along the road in the rain with my family and the dogs (Zak and Rex). I didn't really appreciate such beauty back then as I was much younger, so was probably more concerned about getting wet and cold. But today I didn't see how anyone could have overlooked it. The weather was fantastic and the views were magnificent.........

I set out with Rex from the car park at the bottom of Haweswater and headed for the ridge up to High Street. The Ridge was long and rather steep and it wasn't long before I was reduced to walking up it. Rex on the other hand managed it well, only walking because of me, and still going for the odd sprint further up the path. I find this rather frustrating as I spend my weeks running and climbing while he lies around half awake waiting for his tea most days! However I think most humans would have struggled to ascend the ridge by anything other than a walk, so I didn't feel to put off while watching Rex pounce about in front of me. After all I was still managing to do a bit of jogging when the slope relented every now and then. It wasn't too long before we reached the summit and we had overtaken all the walkers in our site (I was glad it wasn't the other way around!). Hills such as Cross Fell, Great Dun Fell and Murton Pike dominated the sky line to the North of me sitting smug at the other end of the Eden valley, whilst hills such as Helvellyn and Blencathra stood out to the west along with the rest of the Lake District. And as for where I was standing 'The Roman Road' a track pretty much unnoticeable today which was used centuries ago to travel between the 2 forts of Brocavum near Penrith and Galava in Ambleside. Being a huge plateau the summit was also used to hold summer fairs on in the 18th and 19th century where the locals would gather on the 12th July to watch the horse racing and meet up with old friends, often returning livestock that had strayed away from their shepherd.

After a short break, the run was mostly downhill on to The Knott where I realised that I was limited to taking only 8 photos as I had left my memory card in the other camera at home. However I did get a couple of shots of a contented looking Rex once he put his tongue away and stopped searching for leftovers, that the Ravens flying overhead had clearly beaten him to. It was then on to Rest Dodd, which did actually look a bit of a rest as it was quite a bit lower down than the previous two summits but once getting to the bottom of it I realised I was much too drained from the big slog up High Street to run up it in one burst, so stopped half way up it for a bite to eat and a drink. It wasn't long before I set off down towards angle tarn (not the one near Esk Pike) and back down into Patterdale, where I slipped on a fleece and my walking trousers before the gentle stroll along the pavement to Glenridding where I had a quick look around before sitting outside the Traveller's Rest with Rex, who was having quite a lot of fun hassling people on the way out of the door. And I enjoyed watching him too as at least half the people who walked past him gave him a stroke, many passing comment about what a nice dog I had.

All in all an active Sunday and a nice end to the holiday I had just had.

Comments welcome.



Ethan

Blencathra

Mum on the summit of Blencathra  

It seems that Sunday is the only day of the week that I have free. The oppurtunity to head out on the fells is often closed by accidently lying in too long or having to do something else. This Sunday though was different. The skys were clear and the rain hadn't been seen for a few days, I was up at 8:45am and I had persuaded Mum to come up Scafell Pike with me the night before. I went down stairs feeling excited. I hadn't been high up for a while and it was beggining to get to me. However my plans seemed smashed when I soon realised I was the only one up. Dad came through 10 minutes later and explained that Mum hadn't slept well and she wouldn't get up untill 9:30am.
        I was lounging around waiting for Mum to show her face. She didn't get up untill something like 10:10 and considering we had been planning to set off at 9am a trip to Scafell Pike seemed less and less likely. We both now seemed half hearted about getting out the door. Mum was tired and I was doubting the time we had to do it all in. For about 30minutes we had decided we weren't going out. I was now annoyed I knew that i could have spent the day doing something constructive but now I was sat in the house at 11:30am doing nothing one of the best oppurtunities I would have in a while to get out and do something. I then had a burst of energy that stopped me self-pitty. I told Mum we could go to Blencathra and soon we were ready and off.
       We had arrived at 12:20pm and I felt an increasing amount of impatience and irritation building up inside me. This soon passed once I had taken my first few steps up the mountain. I tried to stick to Mums pace as best as I could as I didn't want to race off and risk putting her off coming with me again. I used the rests Mum took as oppurtunities to take photos. The weather was clear but the fells were a little hazy in the distance. This made a fantastic veiw to the eye but to my new camera I was trying to work out settings on, the veiws weren't quite as rewarding. After stopping for lunch and warming up our hands as best as we could we soon travelled on up until we got to scales tarn. Sharp Edge was looking even more notorious with the odd patches of snow on it and it didn't seem a great option considering it was slippy and I wasn't quite sure how good Mum would be with heights. About 20 minutes later we had arrived on the summit and the veiws of Thirlmere and Derwant Water were astounding in the mist. Descent was quick and it wasn't long before we were back at the car. I was refreshed. I had lost the stress I had built up from life lower down and shown Mum the beauty of the Lakeland fells. All in all we had a great day.

Exploring the North Pennines

Last week I decided not head up to Cross Fell because of bad weather, I was a bit annoyed that I didn't go on but knew that I would get little pleasure out of it on my own on a day like that. Fergus joined me for Murton Pike but went back after that, as the fog was low and he couldn't stay the night anyway. I did a  loop around High Cup Nick with minimum visibility. So I was keen to get on up to Cross Fell this weekend, this time in the company of Fergus and Rex.

  

This week I planned to go around High Cup Nick and onto Great Dun Fell and Cross Fell. We set of from the farm in Murton at about 10:10am. This time rather than walk around the edges we walked through the valley. Rex was over joyed to be out and about in a new place and expressed his excitement by running around and demonstrating his remarkable athletic ability, which always makes me feel slow and lazy and generally seems to put most human bodies shame. I was keen to have a nosey around a bit more and possibly climb a gully or two. I saw one and it looked fantastic. It had a huge boulder that had fallen and jammed itself between the two walls. I asked Fergus if he could hold Rex while I went up. The rock of High Cup Nick is very Brittle so it's important to take care when selecting hand holds. After a few minutes of simple scrambling I was on the top. I walked to the edge and looked over the cliff to see Fergus and Rex waiting patiently and looking quite small. I shouted hello to them both before making my way back down.

We then worked our way along the bottom of the cliffs until we came to the rock fall at the end of the valley, where we went up the large gully onto the top. We then walked along the western side of the cliff tops until we came to the drystone wall which leads all the way to the bottom of Dufton Pike. We hand railed along it for 20 minutes or so. If you have been reading my blog since it first started you will remember the walk I did in the Lakes with Fergus in June. Despite knowing his boots were a size to small for him he came along anyway and although it slowed him down quite a bit he managed quite well considering the pain he claimed

to be in. He said the first thing he would do when he got back would be to buy a new pair of boots. Here we were 4 months later and Fergus is still in the same old pair of boots. So a frequent topic of conversations was yet again complaints of pain in his feet. Despite being 1st October the temperature must have been about 25 degrees celsius at this point in the afternoon. I was walking quick and was a bit reluctant to stop, as I wanted to get to the bothy before night fall. We had joined the Pennine way at the bottom of Dufton Pike and were heading for Knock Fell. We were both dehydrated and Rex was also hot. I decided that it was worth having a nice break by a river to fill up on water, let rex have a paddle and finally allow Fergus to rest his feet. After half an hour we continued. We kept going on the long walk to Knock Fell. The three of us all sat down admiring the distant Lake District fells as they stood proudly over the Eden Valley, the sun gradually creeping down into dusk. I put my arm around Rex and realised this was one them moments that you look back on with a smile across your face. A short time later we made it onto Knock Fell. I gave Rex his tea, as he seemed to be lacking his usual energy. The big 'Golf Ball' on the top of Great Dun Fell, that can be seen from Blencathra on a clear day and from my house in decent weather, was now very close indeed. We came to the road that led up radar station on the fell. This is used by workers there and is apparently the highest road in Britain. After a short stroll up the road we were as close to the summit as we could get, with out sitting on top of the station or being done for trespassing. We walked around the fenced of area and then onto Little Dun Fell. Cross Fell was our final objective of the day. At 893m (2930ft) Cross Fell is the 9th highest fell in the country and the highest point of the Pennines or any other part of the country outside of the Lake District. We ascended relatively quickly and the view was amazing from the summit a few photos were taken before we headed of the fell and looked around for the hut. We couldn't see it for a while until I spotted it and we set off towards it.
In fairness I had told Fergus that the day wouldn't be as long or tiring as last time and it kind of was in the end. I find it hard to stop and stay still when I have a planned destination. I'd sooner get there and then relax.

This was my first time in a mountain bothy and I was very impressed. Greg's Hut is well maintained and well stocked and I immediately felt cosy the moment I stepped inside it. A few others came with even more supplies. I had brought some fire lighters but they burned out. They had some so we used them and I got the fire going well. There were about six staying altogether but five of them were scared off by us so went outside to pitch tents, but one poor soul had to stay as she didn't have a tent to escape to. Rex, who has a tail that reacts to noise kept us awake. I stupidly donated my camping mat to Rex so had to sleep on the hard wooden platform above the fire. We ate quite well though. I am trying very hard to not use dehydrated camping meals as there expensive and disgusting. Fergus had some lightweight super noodles but I can't bear to look at them, considering they pretty much the only food I ate on my 12 peaks challenge. I brought some pasta and some carbonara source and ate it quite happily.

In the morning I had Ready-Brek and Semolina, which was quite a nice start to the day. Fergus had 'Cup o' Soup'. We then packed and after feeding Rex his Breakfast we left. I forgot to pack the Rex's Bowl. It's one of those red Sea to Summit X-bowls. If anyone's back up there before me, could you let me know if it's there still. We said goodbye to the other 5 who returned back to the bothy to cook breakfast on their stoves, and I tried my best to apologise to the women kept awake all night by Rex. She pointed out that what actually kept her awake was me commanding Rex to "Lie Down!". She even seemed to feel sorry for the dog, as if I was taking away his rights by trying to stop him wagging his tail in the middle of the night. On the way out of the bothy I couldn't help notice the beauty of the Pennine fells when looking to the north, I'll perhaps explore them some time. As for now all that remained was a quick descent into Blencarn before returning home.

A fantastic trip, with the company of two good friends.

Thanks for reading,
Please feel free to leave comments.

Ethan

The 12 Peaks Challenge

The 12 peaks challenge was successful just to let you know first of all.

I am going to write each day out in sections so you can break it down into bits. I’ll try not to go on for too long, but I had an exciting time and have lots to write about.

I first had the idea to going up the highest 10 of  ‘Walking Englishman's’ list of England's Highest Mountains. I would carry a backpack with all my food and camping equipment just like usual and wild camp on the way. Looking at the map this route looked very manageable which was part of the reason why I decided to do it. Since then I learned about the 10 highest Wainwrights these didn’t include Lower Man, Broad Crag or Ill Crag because of their small prominence, but instead included Nethermost Pike, Catstye Cam and Pillar. To do these three would involve a lot more walking just to get to them. I decided the best way to do this was to merge the two lists together which lead to a total of 13 peaks, the ten Wainwrights with the 2 crags and Lower Man as extra. I then bought a Wainwright Hill Chart from ‘Guideus’ and looking at it realized it wouldn’t be too much more work to do the 11th and 12th highest Wainwrights on the way. So to sum things up I was doing the top 12 Wainwrights and what many people would class as the top 15 peaks in the Lake District, which if it wasn’t for Cross Fell in the North Pennines would be the 15 highest in the country. This manageable trip now looked like a tough challenge and I was beginning to wonder whether I would manage it at all.

Day 1

Bowfell Summit

I was dropped off in Langdale at 10:20 and after saying goodbye to Dad I set off up the Band to get to Bowfell, the 6th highest fell of my challenge and the 6th highest in the country. When I got to the three tarns area where Crinkle Crags and the Band both stop to give way to the magnificent Bowfell I couldn’t help notice a camera crew of 2 men with a man possibly in his 60’s being filmed going up. One thing I heard him say to the camera was “You can see why they’re called ‘Three Tarns’.” This was all said while filming me walking up. When I got to where the man was standing he said “Good Heavens! That’s a heavy load, I suppose you have to be young.” I couldn’t help but ask him “Will I be on the telly walking up there then?” and he replied “Probably, it depends if you choose the right channel.” This guy struck me as the kind of person I should recognize off other TV programs but I didn’t, so I just spoke to him like anyone else on the fells. When I walked up a bit further I saw two ‘fix the fells’ people and I recognized one of them off Julia Bradbury’s Scafell Pike episode. I felt particularly odd at this point I had set off for a week of walking through the Lake District on my own. Now I know just as well as anyone else how busy the Lakes can get at this time of year, but I hadn’t been walking 2 hours yet and I was feeling star struck with the hope of a television appearance. 

Great End - South-east Gully

Scafell Pike Summit

After summiting Bowfell I then went on to Esk Pike, no.11 of the Wainwrights. My knee was a bit achey at this point but nothing to worry about. I had started using the technique of taking a picture of my brand new NB baseball cap on the summit cairn to show I had been there when I got back. I did this on every summit throughout the week and it feels like a good bit of evidence to back up my success, not that I am likely to need it. I then went down into Esk Hause and up Great End I had read in the Wainwright guide at home about an ascent up one of the gullies and made a mental note to check them out next time I was on the summit. I looked at one and thought it could be doable but would probably choose to do it with out the weight I was carrying and possibly with a friend, (it is very difficult to find a committed outdoors partner though). After Great End I went on to Ill Crag. I was the only one on it which I find a bit of a shame considering it has amazing views of the River Esk running down into the valley where Cam Spout is. However it is always nice to know that there are places to go for those of us who love that feeling of peace and wilderness. I then went across to Broad Crag where again there was nobody around. Out of the two crags I prefer Ill Crag but would Broad Crag would probably offer good shelter from the wind if you wanted to have lunch there. It was then up to Scafell Pike the highest in the country. This was my 4th time on this fell and I was pleased to see Blackpool Tower and the Isle of Man to back up the rumors.

I had the remainders of my lunch on Scafell Pike before heading up to Sca Fell; England’s 2nd highest mountain. 

Sca Fell Summit

Great Gable - On a Great Day

I was at the base of Gable just after 7 o’clock and headed up at a reasonable pace for this time of day to be on the summit just before 8 o’clock. On it were two very friendly fell runners admiring the view. One took a photo for me before they descended. I rang Mum and Dad before heading down myself and setting up camp on the col between Great Gable and Kirk Fell.

Day 2

Great Gable and last nights camping spot
from the path up to Kirk Fell

Pillar Summit

I woke up at 7:50 and had overslept. I unpitched and made breakfast with the intention to set off as quick as I could in order to get a good start to the day. After doing Great Gable last night instead I wasn’t as concerned about whether I’d manage to complete the days route. Today was more about getting over to the Helvellyn range, but I would have to do Pillar as part of my 12 peaks and on the way didn’t see any harm in doing Kirk fell and Haystacks as well. It wasn’t long before I was on the summit of Kirk Fell, as I was camped on the col already some height up it. After taking a photo or two I headed down off the fell and up towards Pillar. The first half of today’s route was very much like my first solo backpacking trip in Easter. I didn’t plan this deliberately it just turned out that way. The only difference was I did the traverse along Pillar instead of going to the summit. I was on Pillar at a decent time so rang home. I couldn’t get a signal it appeared but apparently Dad could hear me although I couldn’t hear Dad. I planned to scramble down onto the traverse and then descend off that through the forest but I couldn’t find the right way down so just went back off Pillar the way I came and on to Black Sail Pass. Quite often on these trips I do, where I’m carrying a heavy pack in hot weather I feel dehydrated. I have improved this by getting a filter bottle which means I don’t have to boil my water. However it still takes a while to get the water out of the filter so I often only drink when I feel particularly thirsty. Coming along Black Sail Pass it wasn’t long before I came upon the Youth Hostel. There were plenty of people sat outside it and I asked one of them if there was any drinking water inside. He said that there was and the facilities were open to non-residents as well so I could even make a brew if I left a donation. I went inside and filled up my bottle to the brim and drank it on the spot, then I filled it up again and drunk it just as quickly, before filling it up again to take with me up to Haystacks. I couldn’t help notice the cosy feeling this old shepherd's bothy had. The small dining room was full of old chairs and the Kitchen had many great facilities, yet it still has it’s old feel. I think that I might stay there sometime in the winter so I don’t have to buy a warmer sleeping bag in order to camp. 

Black Sail Hut

I then headed up towards Haystacks, Wainwright’s final resting place. It really is very unique. Although its very safe, you have to make use of the handholds in order to get to the top. Then there is a whole fell full of life to look at. It looks the perfect place to camp and one day I’ll camp there but seeing as it didn’t fit in with my route I stopped by Blackbeck tarn to have lunch (dehydrated Beef Stroganoff), heading down to Honister Hause Slate Mine where I had an ice cream and bought a chocolate rice crispy cake. The place itself looked quite remarkable. It has a Via Ferrata course there and guided slate mine tours. It looks like the kind of place you can spend the day quite easily. I then joined onto the Allerdale Ramble for a short length of time before heading into Rosthwaite where I rewarded my body with water and cola before heading up to Watendlath and finally to Blea Tarn where I would camp for the night. Blea Tarn is a fantastic tarn. It is probably one of the biggest in the Lake District although not as visited as Sprinkling Tarn or Styhead due to its remote location. When I arrived there were a group of girls there who had set up camp. They looked like they were on a D of E trip or something. When they saw me arrive they looked concerned. I waved but no one waved back. “Are You alright?” One of them shouted “Yes.” I replied.

Blea Tarn

“Are you on your own?” another asked “Yes,” I said “Why?” What did they mean by that? Why wouldn’t I be on my own! I hesitated for a moment before replying, “I just.....do. Seeya!” I then went off to the other end of the tarn and after putting up with the midges while having tea, I went to sleep.

Day 3

I got up at 07:30 and packed up. I didn’t have breakfast because I couldn’t put up with all the bites I was getting. I set off for Thirlmere stopping to clean my teeth and zip off into my shorts which I deliberately didn’t do until I was far from the midges. I walked along the shore of Thirlmere reservoir before crossing the busy road and heading up to Nethermost Pike. I hadn’t had much to drink and a lot of the streams marked on the map had dried up.

Helvellyn - Red Tarn

Raise Summit

When I got to Nethermost Pike I was unsure of the summit. I had a quick stroll onto High Crag before finding out that it wasn’t the right one and then went back onto Nethermost Pike to do the whole cap on the cairn thing. The views of Striding Edge from it’s southern side were quite magnificent. I then went over onto Helvellyn, where taking my cap off the cairn nearly knocked the whole thing over. I then went down by Red Tarn to fill myself up with water before heading up to Catstye Cam and ringing Mum and Dad for a quick conversation. I then went onto Lower Man, the last of those fells which aren’t always classed as fells. My final peak of the day was Raise the smallest out of the peaks in the challenge. The Summit itself was very nice and had a beautiful cairn. I descended down towards Shoulthwaite. My bad knee was really starting to cause me grief. It was aching on almost every step and I was overtaken by a couple with trekking poles. I was concerned at this point as I had done all of the peaks in my challenge apart from one, Skiddaw. This was no time to give up! I stopped and seeing as I was on my own I had a good, stern word with my knee basically saying I was going to go up Skiddaw even if I needed to replace it when I came back down, so making descents painful wasn’t going to put me off any. When I got to Shoulthwaite I realized that when planning the route I hadn’t really thought about following paths and had relied on my navigational skills to get me across random fields up to the Castlerigg Fell area. This was easier said than done as it involved certain bits of fence hopping and I was carrying 15kg. Also I lost where I was for a while after switching maps, but when I found out where I was I hand railed along a stream and a few fences and ended up camping not far from Walla Crag. After pitching my tent and having my tea, I put my fleece on and walked over to Walla Crag where I sat watching the sun set over Keswick and Skiddaw with a strong signal to have a nice long conversation with my parents. My knee was feeling better and I was confident I would make it up Skiddaw the next day.

Camping on the Final Night

Day 4

Keswick in the morning

I woke up at 7 o’clock. For the first time on this whole trip the clouds were showing signs that rain was inevitably coming. I headed down into Keswick where I bought breakfast at Greggs, expecting to have a nice change from the rubbish I’d been eating over the past 3 days. It wasn’t much better, but it gave me a lot of good energy that helped lift my spirits, and at least the hot chocolate was nice. I then bought some water and headed out of Keswick and up to the car park at Latrigg. I could feel the joy of completing the challenge already and after a final lot of hard work I reached the summit of Skiddaw and rang home in celebration. There was a couple on the summit and one took a photo of me.

Skiddaw summit - A Success!!!

My challenge was now a success and I felt the trip had given me plenty of great moments with very few bad ones. I felt I could finally say I had done something to make note of. I descended into Keswick in about 1 hour and was happy to see my Dad who looked just as happy with a slight concern to how wet and tired I looked, so he took me straight into a pub and watched me wolf down a Steak and Ale pie with Chips, while I spoke to him about the last few days. We then looked around Keswick for a bit and I bought a very interesting book from Oxfam. It seems to be a first edition of John Hunt’s ‘The Ascent of Everest’. This was written in a month and published in 1953 the same year as the ascent. John Hunt was the expedition leader. I haven’t really started reading it yet but it looks really interesting with photos of the trip and a first hand account of all the dedication and organization involved in it.

If by any chance you enjoyed reading this entry then please look out for my next one about the Picos de Europa. It is a family holiday so I will make sure I spend most of it with Mum and Dad doing things together but I should hopefully get the opportunity to get out of our cottage and head up some of the fantastic mountains in the area some of which are over 2500 metres, though I won’t be doing too many of them!

Thanks for Reading

Ethan 

The Calf & Cautley Spout

Yesterday (Friday 22nd) was my last day of school. While I was at school I thought that it would be good to make the most of spare time I had. When I got home I started thinking about doing a walk. My first thought was High Cup Nick in the Pennines, but I've been up there quite a few times recently so decided to go somewhere new. The Howgills are a big gathering of fells sitting between the Yorkshire Dales and The Lake District. There are many appealing things about the Howgills. For me it is the peaceful nature of them often complimented by the lack of visitors.

I set of from Teasdale at 3:40pm. The first part of the walk I had done twice before, over Hooksey to Randy Gill Top. My Mum had printed off a load of different routes to do in the Howgills from the internet and a few months ago I managed to persuade her to do that one with me. She was very glad she came in the end and for the past 3 months has been saying she'll go on another walk with me sometime.

When I got to Randy Gill Top I headed down west to the river that had a path alongside it leading up to the Calf, the highest of the Howgills. In the distance I could see the silhouette of another evening rambler making his way up to the summit.  I got to the Calf at 5:40 and couldn't resist the childish temptation to stand on the Trig Point. I could look one direction and see the mighty bulk of the the Lake District Mountains and then the other way to see what looked like Pennygent in the Yorkshire Dales. The motorway that I had admired the Howgills from when I was little, I was now looking at from the Howgills some years later. I had a certain feeling of magic when I thought back to just a few hours ago, being stuck in school with the frustration of the classroom, the teachers and the kids. Now I was up here with a free, clear head looking down at civilisation with little to envy.  There was no place I could have picked better to celebrate the end of a school year and the begging of the fantastic summer holiday which lies ahead of me. I descended along Cautley Spout England's largest waterfall, it was fantastic to finally meet it! When getting to the bottom I realised the time and ran the last kilometre, when I got back home we all went out for a meal to celebrate Mum's birthday.