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Saturday 28 February 2015

Me and the Pooch Go Camping

borrowdale 2 027

There was a certain amount of unfinished business at Rosthwaite, so me and the dog went back. The campsite was closed, or, at least, locked but this didn’t deter us from putting up the tent and the farmer came, declared that I must be mad and charged me nine quid for three nights. It would have been four, but there was a storm involving drifting snow and closed roads on the Monday, so there was some slight delay…

eagle crag and dog

eagle crag 

And so, Wednesday dawned wetly. The wetness went on most of the morning so, after consulting the dog, we decided to have a longer snooze than we should have done and eventually, when the last drips of drizzle had splattered the tent, we set off, up through Stonethwaite and on up the impossibly steep path towards Dock Tarn.

summit of knotts

temporary tarn great crag

At the part where it levels off a bit, we turned left for the bagging of Knotts, a 400 metre TuMP where, it seems, nobody goes, specially not Wainwright or any of his fans and acolytes. This turned out to be an error, however – we should have turned right. (dhuhh) Thus, we missed the bagging of High Crag, which was definitely on my List Of Things To Bag, in favour of Great Crag, which wasn’t , as I’d already been there.

great crag smug dog

It was such a nice walk, though, so far, and Great Crag – a Wainwright (more dhuhhh) has a cracking view. Innocently, and forgetting that I’d already been here some thirty years ago, I congratulated myself, kissed the dog, embraced the summit cairn and severely damaged a  Warburton’s Thin thing, charged, as it was, with some Mackerel with a twist.

to the pub!

The rest of the walk was rubbish. The path goes North through an area of lank grass, of no use to man nor beast, bog, (frogs quite like bogs, I suppose) and dying heather – a sloppy. squelchy walk over a poor landscape of which the National Trust should be ashamed to have allowed to deteriorate into this mess, frankly.

I pointed Lucky towards the Riverside Bar at Rosthwaite for a brief moment of celebration for the bagging of two new hills. Lucky likes this pub for it’s warm fire and the fact that everybody seems to like him there – the barmaid even knows his name. She doesn’t know mine, though!

lucky's favourite place in cumbria

Except, I’d only bagged one…

lucky caught ripping up a shredded wheat packet

It chucked it down big time from about six at night till well after  Thursday lunchtime, melting much fell snow and turning rivers and streams into raging rivers and streams. This meant that me and Lucky got lots of sleep. I read more Beowulf and sipped scotch whilst Lucky ripped up bits of paper between bouts of doggy snoring and doggy  running and yelping dreams.

view from castlehead

from castlehead

black crag (I once climbed this!)

So, it was late when we set off for Keswick for the bagging of Castlehead and Grange Crags – both of which provide superb views for very little effort – thus three ticks for the trip – I thought I had four – and I missed my little Birkett, stuck, as it is on the side of Glaramara and permanently in hill-fog. It’ll wait. I’ll do it later with a proper walk along Glaramara and Allen Crags.

Lucky did get four ticks by the way – he’d never been up Great Crag.  There’s nothing worse than a smug dog.

Couple more pics below…

from grange crags

jaws of borrowdale

8 comments:

One Girl and her Dog said...

Looks great Mike. I'm glad Lucky enjoyed the camping and snoozing in front of the fire.

Best wishes.

Paula.

John J said...

I recognise that fireplace. I went to that pub recently you know. The beer's very good. So's the fire.
Shame you had so much rain. If you camped in the summer the rain might be warmer. But it might not.

FellBound said...

Camp site at Rosthwaite????? Or Stonethwaite??? That might very well be me being pedantinistic but I likes to know the various camping options and I didn't think there was anything legal like in the way of camping at Rosthwaite.

What is Lucky like in the tent? Hyperdog Moss can't keep still and drives me doollally what with his eating, drinking, licking, cuddling up to me etc all night. I think its just a ploy so I book him into the kennels as he prefers the nice kennel lady to me.

Dawn said...

Looks fantastic Mike, cracking photos, well done to you and Lucky

Alan Sloman said...

It only occurred to me the other night. You can be safely tucked up in your tent with Kylie and "Lucky, lucky lucky, Lucky lucky lucky in love."

(I'm not quite sure I got enough "lucky"s in there)
:-)

Mike Knipe said...

Paula/Fellbound - Lucky seems to like camping and once he's tucked in, he's reluctant to come out again, specially if its raining... his only problem is thunder - scares the willies out of him (and me too, as it happens)
Fellbound - On being pedantic, I've just re-read my post and I didn't actually say I was camping at Rosthwaite, only that I had unfinished business there, although it might be inferred, of course, but pedantics are pedantics , innit?. Chapel House Farm is, of course, at Stonethwaite

Mike Knipe said...

John J - They remembered the dog and the wet patch you left on the floor by the fire..... Norra bad bar, though. I may have to return.
Dawn - The pics are better than the experience, although it was all OK, I suppose, if you like sleeping.
Alan - The last time I heard that song was when it was coming out of the back of a ghillie's landrover up as it passed us up Glen Prosen. I was camping with somebody who is never mentioned on this blog. You know who I mean...

Unknown said...

Stunning photos. Some inspiration for later in the year, thanks :-)