Monday, 27 February 2012

Was I sleep walking?

I am battling on writing my new opus which relates anecdotes under various headings, one of which  is  “Epics”. This will include happenings that were particularly arduous, or unexpectedly eventful.
Part of the process involves me trawling back through an outdoor activities diary I kept for several years. I was surprised by reading details of a walk I did in 1991 which, by my standards, was monumental - perhaps even “epic”, but the strange thing is I have no recollection of this undertaking. At the risk of boasting here is the detail verbatim from my diary:
I had Ann and Jill follow me to a point on the minor road North West of Dockray, up from Ullswater where I left my car, and was then transported back to Kentmere where I was dropped off and started my walk.
I think I must have got away early, perhaps about 7:00 a.m. Again I am writing this from memory five years or so later. I had a good day, and ticked off the following peaks over 2,500ft. The Knowe, Harter Fell (two summits?), High Street, The Knott, Kidsty Pike, High Raise, then back over High Street to Thornthwaite Beacon, Stony Cove Pike, and down to Kirkstone. Then Red Screes, Dove Crag (2603), Hart Crag, Greatrigg Man, Fairfield, Dollywagon Pike, Nethermost Pike, and Helvellyn. I missed out Catstycam, Lower Man and Brown Cove Crags, but went on to Kepple Cove, Raise, Stybarrow Dodd, Watson's Dodd, and Great Dodd to land me back at my car.
I plotted this route with Memory Map just straight lining and it measures 27 miles with 13,562 feet of ascent. Taking into account the twists and turns of the paths the mileage would be quite a bit more. The ascent figure is staggering, and makes me wonder about Memory Map's accuracy.

2 comments:

  1. That was quite a day Conrad.

    I have read that digital mapping software over-estimates ascent but is fairly accurate regarding distances.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That is the quickest comment I have yet received to a post!

    I have had a feeling about those ascent figures for some time. I suppose I could labour over the map and check it, but it would be a bit tedious.

    ReplyDelete