Buck Barrow SD 151 910
Whit Fell SD 158 929
Burn Moor SD 151924
Kinmont Buck Barrow SD 146 909
Wednesday 16th March
When I am walking alone I have recurring thoughts accompanying other random musings. One of those frequent visitors, in the appropriate context, is imagining that I am "on top of the world," and so it seemed this day.
The Corney Fell Road rises from sea level at the foot of Dunnerdale to climb over the fell. It is steep, undulating, mostly unfenced, and single track, cutting off a massive loop of the A595 for the adventurous on the way to points north including Seascale and Whitehaven. If you choose the wrong time of day this wilderness and quiet road is transformed into the local version of the M40 by workers fearlessly commuting to Seascale nuclear reprocessing plant - timing is unpredictable unless you are in the know because Seascale is staffed on a shift system.
Our starting point was from the remote summit of the road. This Wainwright chapter is the equivalent of the South Shiel ridge when Munroing when you bag seven summits in one outing - here we bagged four, and three of them had splendid three hundred and sixty degree views from rocky prominences, including the Isle of Man, and for the first time for me, with a little stretch of imagination the coast of Ireland. The feeling of vast open space was enhanced with a huge blue sky and invigorating spring in the air, hence the visitation of my "on top of the world" leitmotif.
Other examples, especially on backpacking trips, are making mental mathematical calculations of time and distance to predict arrival times at certain destinations, pondering on the nature of my digs for the evening whether pre-booked or to be identified (hopefully) on arrival, wondering on the possibility of refreshment opportunities such as cafés, shops, chuck wagons, or pubs, and on starting a steep descent, the recurring phrase "please fasten your safety belts".
Today there was no room for such thoughts in the good company of Bowland Climber with an endless exchange of interesting conversation and admiration of our surroundings.
CLICK PHOTOS TO ENLARGE
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| Kinmont Buck Barrow (left) ascended on the return. Right, Buck Barrow which Wainwright likens to Stac Polly |
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| From Buck Barrow summit |
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| Whit Fell |
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| Whit Fell summit |
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| Isle of Man - full zoom |
Cafes, refreshments
To revisit comments at another place I always click on your Conrad - I have to as you display them at such a tiny size!
ReplyDelete:-)
Cracking views Conrad.
That should read... " I always click on your pictures, Conrad...."
ReplyDeleteAlan S - that's good to read. I wonder how many others do? I nearly always click on other people's blogs, and invariably the difference is well worth the effort.
ReplyDeleteWhy not make your blog's text column wider? This will automatically increase the size of the pictures and make your blog more attractive visually.
ReplyDelete:-)
AS - I will have a look at that possibility but I don't want to risk trashing the whole setup, and I can't be bothered if it means faffing about in HTML, but thanks for the suggestion
ReplyDeleteIt is now 8:10am and I am awaiting the arrival of BC to set off on another Outlying Fells foray so, at the moment, better things to do...