Castle Crag

Pic 1 - High Spy from Castle Crag

Pic 2 - On the summit of Castle Crag

Pic 3 - Borrowdale.

I recently paid a visit to Castle Crag up north in Cumbria. Although it is not classed as a mountain with it only being 951 ft in height I have to say that is one of the most beautiful I have climbed in the Lake District . It is quite impressive in appearance displaying forest, rock face and beautiful pasture on its lower slopes, it also has a number of caves with the most famous being Millican Dalton's Cave named after Millican Dalton , the eccentric and self styled "Professor of Adventure" whom used the cave as his summer home from the 1920's until shortly before he died in 1947. It was originally called High Hows Quarry and it lies to the west of the beautiful and crystal clear waters of the River Derwent which winds its way down from Great Gable via Seathwaite Fell. I parked in the lovely hamlet of Stonethwaite and walked the short distance along the river bank with the sheep and cattle until I came to the footpath that leads up the southern slope, it's a fairly easy climb which took me to the top of another hill that afforded wonderful views back into the valley of Borrowdale , such rich and fertile land. From this point I noticed some awesome wild camping spots with cool views to wake up too. As I climbed the sty to make the final approach to the summit, my mate Lee spotted one of our rare native Red Squirrels having his breakfast so we spent some time watching him before eventually climbing to the top of the crag itself. The final approach is through some massive slate scree banks where a zig zag path has been created up to the top, from this point you get a magnificent view looking onto High Spy which appears to be vertical as you face it. Once on top of Castle Crag you are presented with such wonderful views down into Borrowdale and also North over Derwent Water to Keswick and the big lump of Skiddaw at it's rear with some of the higher peaks still holding onto their snow. On top of the crag there is a war memorial dedicated to the men of Borrowdale whom fell in WW1



The day I climbed it was quite pleasant and warm although a tad cloudy so I managed to bag Castle Crag and have a wander down the Langstrath Valley on the other side of Stonethwaite before the weather deteriorated. The highlight of the day however was not Mr Red Squirrel nor the magnificent scenery but a Robin Redbreast on the top of Castle Crag whom flew right up to my feet and allowed me to share my sandwich with him.

Honister Via ferreta

I have just recently been up to Honister in England's beautiful Lake District and completed the Via Ferreta at http://www.honister-slate-mine.co.uk . It was a fantastic weekend as I took 9 workmates with me most of whom had not done anything quite like it before. We spent two nights at the Tan Hill Inn which in itself was good fun but the day at the mine was excellent. The day started with a tour of the mine which is still actually working and producing the best slate in the world it was also interesting to hear how difficult it was during the Victorian era with lads as young as 8 working in these mines. We are so fortunate these days aren't we? The highlight of the day however was doing the Via Ferreta up Fleetwith Pike to a height of around 2300 ft . What is a VF? A via ferrata (Italian for "iron road") is a mountain route which is equipped with fixed cables, stemples, ladders, and bridges. The use of these allows otherwise isolated routes to be joined to create longer routes which are accessible to people with a wide range of climbing abilities.
The VF at Honister at the moment is the only one so far in England and Great Britain and it is a beauty, it also has a spiffing zip wire which takes you 80 metres across the crag to a quite vertical section of VF on the other side. I will not go on to much about the VF as you can see the photos by clicking this link and then clicking 'view slideshow' as well as check out the site. http://www.flickr.com/photos/cjk/sets/72157614540771553/

Great Gable

Great Gable is a beautiful mountain situated at Wasdale Head in Cumbria opposite the Scafell Masiffs and adacent to Black Sail Pass which nestles between the mighty Pillar and haystacks. I chose to tackle it from Seathwaite rather than from Wasdale Head as I had just recently climbed Scafell Pike from Wasdale Head. The climb started with a scramble up Sour Milk Gill for about 1000 ft followed by a long drawn out climb between Base Brown and Brandreth to ascend Green Gable. Green Gable is to the rear of Great Gable and it gives on a clear day wonderful views of Gable Crag on the back of Great Gable along with a fantastic view down the Black Sail Pass and the River Liza. From Green Gable we dropped slightly to the south and then began the climb up Great Gable. The weather remained unpredictable with cloud and rain followed by sunny spells but I was able to see opposite Sprinkling Tarn and further on the summit of Scafell Pike. Finally reaching the top I was met by a strong wind which denied me being able to boil up some water for a cup of tea. The top of Great Gable indicates that it is a war memorial, and it is in fact the largest memorial in Europe with a large number of climbers grouping on its summit each rememberance Sunday. Down below to the south is Wastwater and Wasdale head with the Wasdale Head Inn, home of the biggest liar competition. http://www.wasdaleheadinn.co.uk/.

Whilst on the top I slipped and twisted my ankle which made it difficult coming down especially in the dark but hopefully I will find the time to visit Great Gable again to check out its world famous needles on the south traverse. Pictures include the sun going down over Wast water, a view down Black Sail Pass , myself on Great Gable & myself on Green Gable with Great Gable crag behind me.