A few years ago, I had a wonderful day in the Arrochar Alps with a good friend, Malcolm Lomas, aka Sol. We have known each other since the 50s. Sol is the eternal optimist, an ideal companion on the hill and the the safest guy in the world for rock climbing. He always sees the patch of blue sky before anybody else, and I have always respected his judgement.
On that crisp, cloudless blue sky day, with snow cover on the tops I remember having that pleasantly satiated feel after seven hours and anticipating relaxation back at the caravan, and then Sol... "It's great isn't it. You just don't want to go down do you?" Sol was always ready for more.
Another time we used mountain bikes for a couple of Munros. Returning to the car after a strenuous day Sol opted to cycle the six miles back to the caravan leaving me to come back by car.
Sunday had a similar feel. My commenter Gimmer is another old friend. We go back further than Sol to our school and scout troop days. List ticking is aired from time to time here. I unashamedly wanted to finish my four remaining Lake District Marilyns and suggested Holme Fell. It can be assumed from the six hours we took compared with a less than one and half hour there-and-back dash I had read about, that our motives were more focused on enjoyment than list ticking on such a glorious day.
As you turn up to Tilberthwaite from the Coniston road the rocky south west prow of Holme Fell is dominant. I have always thought it would make a good scramble and we were half considering this, but we opted for an easier route.
On Sunday I had that "...just don't want to go down" feeling.
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| Bog Ashpodel |
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| I am particularly drawn to heather - seems a bit early here? Langdale Pikes at skyline - see next shot for zoom to pikes |
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| Holme Fell summit. Windermere in background |
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| On the way back |
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| My speculation re scramble was enacted. We saw a couple high up on the face after our ascent. There seemed to be one pitch marginally justifying the rope which is shown here. I think that I was on 21 x zoom. I am well pleased with this performance of the Panasonic TZ40 |
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| They are just finishing the pitch shown above. I have reversed the order of these two pics. to fit my narrative |
I have been corrected by Gimmer. The lake in the photo is of course Coniston not Windermere. Also our route went further north than indicated, as far as the ford in Little Langdale.
ReplyDeleteLooked a lovely day, good pics.That scramble is in Brian Evans book.
ReplyDeleteEnough breeze to keep away the bugs I'm guessing. Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteHolme Fell is a bit of a favourite of mine. Did you peek into Hodge Close quarry, or the nearby Cathedral Quarry? I didn't know that scramble, so I shall be looking it up in the scrambles guide.
ReplyDeleteMark - Holme Fell is worthy of being on your favourites list. I was aware of Hodge Close Quarry from my rock climbing days and we did have a quick look. I never climbed on it - most of the stuff there was well beyond my grade.
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