Tonight an idea was born



On the summit of Dent, Tuesday night ride.

The Lakeland Terror

For the record, the Jersey was the inspiration for the Challenge.

The Omega block

The Omega block is an atmospheric weather block that resembles the greek letter Omega. It causes the jet stream to take a long detor north of the UK then back south over the European main land, sucking up warm continental air from Africa. During an Omega block weather in the UK can be settled and unseasonably warm.

Sunday 18th March 2012 a trip around Ennerdale.

Looking down Ennerdale towards Pillar

The head of Ennerdale valley, above the lake.

Can I go for a swim?....Can I?

Ennerdale looking West towards Anglers Crag

Coniston - 1 March 2012

Today, a rather dingy and damp day, I found myself looking for an adventure.

Sailing on Coniston has been on my 'things to do' list for a while. With Peel 'Wild Cat' island to explore and its North/South attitude which should make the wind more favourable than lakes like Derwent it has always looked promising, I'd just not got there with the dinghy...... until today.

The first challenge was where to launch without paying an arm and a leg in parking and launching fees. I'd heard that Brown Howe was cheap and you could launch a dinghy so I thought I'd check it out.

The signs at Brown Howe car park say 'no powered craft to be launched', judging by the carefully placed boulders they want to limit boats to those that can be carried. Luckily my trailer fitted between then - just, with a little scrapping of the mud guards, so most launching trolleys should be be OK. Also, luckily for me, they are trialing a £2.50 all day parking charge. So that was it - £2.50 to park and launch, a box full of butties and a flask full of coffee - off to a good start.

A tight access path

The path from the car park is about 100 yards and not to steep, getting to the water was a doddle, getting back to the car 5 hours later was a little more tricky, but I managed it single handed.

Looking North with Peel 'Wildcat' island in the distance

As I said earlier the day was damp and dingy, so not photogenic in the slightest, but the sailing was great. I manged to get pretty much to the head of the lake running all the way, but the winds were slight and very weak at the north end so it took a couple of hours. I then had a three hour beat back down the lake, the wind then picked up and made the run back great fun. I had intended on landing on Peel island but was running out of time and as the wind was blowing from the west right into the harbour it would have meant lowering the sail and rowing in so I decided I'd leave it until next time and take Ellie back to explore. According to the SatNav I clocked up 15 miles so it was time to go home.

The one thing that I really noticed was the wind was fairly constant not blustery as it usually is on Derwent. Anyway it was a great day.............I'll be back.

5 hours of fun.

The curse of the Westerly Wind!!

Today looked like a perfect sailing day. Westerly 10 - 17 knot wind, rain from the west later. So I got up early and headed back to Derwent Water.

The thing with Derwent is that it’s surrounded by mountains so you'd think that wind from any direction would be fickle. Well both Southerly and Northerly winds are fairly predictable, an Easterly can be gusty and can take you off guard but a westerly is a curse. The wind gets caught around Catbells and swirls so what one minute you’re running with the wind the next its dead ahead bringing the sail and boom crashing around. Getting back into Nichol End can also be a challenge as you have to sail dead into the wind to get back in.

Today was a challenge but not that bad as the wind was light but very unpredictable. At one point I could have sworn the wind at the front of the boat was going in a different direction to the wind at the back!

Derwent 17 2 12

Winter sailing

Andy and I took my dinghy out for a winter sail today. I wanted to test a few mods I've done and also get the new sails out.

Well it started off as a row as it was flat calm, so we rowed down to St Herbert's Island, half way down the lake, for a cuppa (out of the flask) and an explore. The island is fairly well used as you can see from the 'woz ere tree but it's not waring that badly as the people who do venture there do make the effort and take everthing they bring with them, a rare thing nowadays. There is also signs of camping on the island even in the winter. The amount of trees seem to keep up well with the demand for wood for the camp fires.

As we were there the wind got up a little and so we had a chilled out sail back to Nichol End for another cuppa.

Flat calm.



The 'woz ere tree on St Herbert's island



Andy with Skiddaw in the background.













Back for a cuppa



Derwent winter sail 12-2-12.wmv

Lakeland Skiing

With a dodgy forecast for the weekend I took the opportunity to have a day off on Friday and got the skis out. Its surprising how often I can get out skiing in the lakes so long as I'm prepared to walk, alot! one of the best places is Calf Cove between Great End and Broad Crag. Theres a natural bowl that gathers snow but rarely a cornice, at 2800 ft the col is high enough to keep the snow a while.

Upper Wasdale from Stand Crag

One of my favourite routes up is from the Wasdale valley floor straight up across the corridor route to Lambfoot Dub a small tarn high above Wasdale on the West flanks of Great End.

Frozen Lambfoot Dub

From here its just a short climb upto the col above Calf Cove, this route takes you far away from the day trippers and paths, into the mountains.

The top of Calf Cove looking towards the Langdale Pikes

From the top of Calf Cove, if the conditions are right, its possible to Ski down towards Sprinkling tarn

Calf Cove with Great End behind

Following the path down takes you back past Sprinkling and StyHead tarns with views of Keswick and Skiddaw in the distance.

Keswick from near Sprinkling Tarn

My route

A tired out max (for a change)

Here's a dodgy skiing video I put together for a bit of fun.

Skiing Calf cove.wmv

Blake Fell night ride

Well the rain has stopped at last, now everything is frozen instead. On Tuesday Col and I braved the cold and headed up Blake Fell near Cogra Moss with our new(ish) Chinese lights. LED lights have come on leaps and bounds in the last few years with what was a couple of hundred pounds plus only two years ago, you can now get better lights for around £30............ Viva China and Ebay!

Luckily there was not much wind as it was around -5 deg C on the top, still too cold to stay for more than a few seconds. There was a little snow on the summit which made for an interesting descent. It’s a fantastic night ride with a very fast grassy descent.