Wednesday 3rd February
School Knott SD 428 967
Grandsire SD 432 972
Nameless SD 428 967
Brant Fell SD 409 961
Wainwright on School Knott:
"It is a favourite playground for the youngsters from the housing estate at its base and a gentle excursion for the older residents whose mountain days are a dim memory."
Another short winter day with Bowland Climber combining two chapters in Wainwright's Outlying Fells. Over the last few weeks I have commented on capitalising on weather windows, and today was the only good forecast for the the week - blue skies, sunshine and a cutting sharp wind - brilliant for this six mile round. Quite a lot of our connecting paths were on the Dales Way. I have not walked the whole of that route, but must have done a large part of it in bits, and here was another section walked - I reckon it is one of the best LDPs in the country.
Having traversed the first three of these peaks we descended to cross the valley for the fourth . There were quite a few people about, but I think we still saw ourselves as hardened fell walkers until we passed the time of day with an approaching elderly, well spoken, genteel lady carrying a shopping bag, who turned out to be on her way home from a coffee morning at the golf club.
Brant Fell summit was a delight of rocky outcrops - we were spoilt for choice for a lunchtime perch.
As always with BC endless, previously unheard anecdotes abounded, and other conversation was wide ranging. At one point we were talking about the Spanish Civil War and we both had a mental block on the title of Hemingway's book - for me that was particularly hard to bear because it was a read so strong in my memory from over fifty years ago. Later in the afternoon, lying in my recuperative hot bath, For Whom the Bell Tolls rolled into my aged mind.
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| Approach route to School Knott |
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| Bowness and the Langdales |
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| Langdale Pikes |
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| BC and a guy we met on the summit of School Knott - he gained my respect for recognising my Dachstein mitts which I bought in 1960 to go to Norway with my Thursday friend Pete. |
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| Moss |
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| The Band, Bowfell and the Crinkles, left. Langdale Pikes right |
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| Click to enlarge |
Funnily enough, we had a conversation about the Spanish civil war during today's walk, albeit it was brief and established that I know next to nothing about Spanish history. Hemingway was not mentioned.
ReplyDeleteWe picked the ideal day. Pleased that bell rang in your head, baths can obviously reach parts of your mind that fresh air can't. Hope my anecdote about whiskey bottles in the bath wasn't involved.
ReplyDeleteI obviously meant 'whisky'
ReplyDeleteGayle - it would be fascinating if it turned out the two conversations were taking place at exactly the same time. Boring scientists or statisticians would say that that would not be exceptional, but I would like to think there is some mystery about such things.
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BC - I didn't notice the slip on my first reading. Not surprising as my post originally misspelt genteel as gentile which I have just corrected, hopefully before Big Brother has read the post. Your more colourful anecdotes are safe with me.
Funnily enough, we had a conversation about the Spanish civil war during today's walk, albeit it was brief and established that I know next to nothing about Spanish history. Hemingway was not mentioned.
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