The first trip of 2014 was to one of our regular campsites, Sykeside in Brotherswater. The weather had been very bad over the last couple of days, with storms coupled with high spring tides leading to flooding in many areas.
Luckily the weather seemed okay as my alarm went off at 0600 on my day off! Grey and murky with steady rain.
As is customary, a quick stop off at Booths in Windermere provided a reasonable and filling cooked breakfast along with other supplies for the walk.
We arrived at Sykeside around 10:00 and began to set up the tent. In the event of high winds and worsening weather, I had brought the Mountain Hardwear Trango 2.
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| Mountain Hardwear Trango 2 (old version) |
The ground was saturated as is usual for this time of year. The main part of the campsite was closed with only small areas of higher ground available but this was more than adequate for our needs. There were no other people here and we had the site all to ourselves.
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| Me, Mountain Equipment 'Changabang' & Satmap Active 10 |
I had decided on a short route, up through Dovedale aiming for Priest's Hole for lunch, then over to High Hartsop Dodd and back to the site. After a short wait for Matthew, we set off into the rain.
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| Matthew & Michael |
We walked through the campsite and turned left at a local farm making our way up the valley of Dovedale.
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| Dovedale Beck in full flow |
We slowly made our way up towards the steeper part of the ascent to Priest's Hole. A fellow walker who had come up from the other side told us that there was heavy snow falling above 700 metres so we quickened our pace to intercept it!
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| No sign of snow yet |
The approach up to Priests Hole looked very gloomy. Visibility was poor and without good map reading skills and / or GPS, I think you would struggle to find it on a day like this. I won't be giving away any secrets as I've read it's frowned upon to pinpoint the exact location (even though you can just use your eyes).
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| Heading up into the gloom |
At last we arrived and began to reach the snow level.
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| Matthew at the approach to the cave |
It was nice to see the first snow of the year for us. The path was frozen and you didn't want to stand too close to any edges......
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| Beer belly providing insulation |
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| Poor visibility and difficult terrain |
Priest's Hole was clean, no rubbish had been left as has been the case on other occasions. Lots of graffiti though adorning the walls which I'm not a fan of.
It was time for a well earned lunch break. Having sat down and stopped moving, the cold began to bite. Michael had brought a bottle of Mulled Wine up with him which he heated up in the Jetboil.
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| Inside the cave, preparing for hot mulled wine |
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| Mulled Wine ! |
I don't think there are many better places to enjoy some hot mulled wine, looking out across the snow covered crags and into the grey murkiness below.
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| Suitably warmed up - note graffiti above ! |
Soon it was time to continue up to the summit of Dove Crag and head back out into the snow. The wind was beginning to pick up so it was time to make a move.
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| Tricky ground with steep drops below |
We began to climb up toward the summit plateau. The wind had really picked up by now and exposed skin was feeling the pain.
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| Approaching the summit |
The visibility remained poor as we reached the summit and traversed along toward High Hartsop Dodd.
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| Cold ! |
After the first snowball fight of 2014, we carried on towards High Hartsop Dodd.
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| Brotherswater in the distance with Kirkstone Pass to the right |
As we descended, we gradually left the snow and ice behind. I slipped on the grass and landed full force on my right hand side - my jacket is now a different colour:
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| One side of me was black |
Having regained my composure and stopped swearing at the grass we continued our descent, spurred on by thoughts of the fire and real ale at the Brotherswater Inn.
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| Nearly Pub time |
The descent seemed to go on forever. I'm either getting older or heavier and my knees don't have the same shock absorbing properties as they once did !
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| Looking back at Dove Crag |
We were soon back to the tent. Matthew was staying under his tarp so began to set up.
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| Matthew reunited with his iPhone |
Matthew realised that he had lost his iPhone somewhere on the route. After a frantic hour of searching he gave up hope. We tried ringing the phone in the pub and it rang out a few times, then went straight to answerphone. It was not looking good. 'Find my iPhone' didn't work. Matthew was on the verge of suicide, we tried one last time to ring the phone and it was answered by a lady who had found it and taken it back home to Burton on Kendal. Matthew was straight off to collect it. Thanks very much to the honest person who did that.
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| Homebrew by candlelight |
Matthew had brought along a keg of his 5% homebrew so we had a few glasses of that under the now clear sky before heading back to the pub for a few more pints.
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| Woodfords' Wherry |
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| Brotherswater Inn Christmas Tree |
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| Serious face |
After a good meal in the Inn and a few pints whilst warming up by the fire, it was time to head back to the tents and finish off the home brew. The sky was completely clear and the stars were amazing given the cold air. The Andromeda Galaxy could just be made out with a naked eye.
It was time to retire to the tent and after a good nights sleep, head home before the next Atlantic storm rolled in.
A great start to 2014, fingers crossed for some proper winter weather to come! My coat is still not clean.
Happy New Year !
