Haystacks again, warm and windy

Kira, Pete and Bella with Buttermere and Crummock Water behind.


Well I have been up Haystacks again, last Friday, and this time with kira and Pete and Bella. We walked over Fleetwith Pike too and it was a splendid day. The weather has been wonderful and our faces were starting to go pink.

The Keswick Mountain Festival bookings are going well and all the folks booked to go up Haystacks with me are going to be given a free Salomon T shirt worth £22. So if you are still hesitating about this book quickly to ensure you get a place and a T shirt!

A good walk with very good company

The weather was lovely on Sunday when we went up Haystacks, a little bit breezy as we stopped for our 'elevenses' but after that the day improved so much that when we headed down towards Buttemere, most of us had to stop to shed gear!

This picture shows us on the way to the top with a view on the horizon of Great Gable on the left and next to it you can just see Scafell Pike.


The next shot shows some of the party making their way carefully across the top towards the second summit. Wainwright always said you needed to watch where you put your feet and nothing is truer than on the traverse across Haystacks, so if they are looking down and not at the camera you know why!


We stopped just past the tarn on the top for a while to look at the view as the summit was becoming crowded with other walkers who mainly came up from Buttermere the way we were going to go down. It really was quite crowded at times and I suppose we can put that down to the exposure given on the TV lately. Incidentally, that tarn on the top is not on the OS maps, if you don't believe me check it out.
Anyway, we had a fun day out and you can see I enjoyed it from the last photo but what I was pointing my finger at I don't know. I also see that Ronnie was thinking about something, I wonder what?
So thank you all, Pam, Liz, Ann, Sarah, Paul, Tony and Ronnie for being such Good Companions.

Spring flowers

Hi everyone,

I have just taken a shot of my Coronation Cowslips beginning to peek through the dead leaves in the garden. We had a couple of lovely walks around the lake last week with friends from Glasgow, it was very windy and cold and the lake was full of white horses, but you could sense that Spring was here with the daffodils all out in the woods. It was so windy that although they asked to go up Skiddaw before they came to stay, when they arrived here they changed their minds! So it was up to Seatoller and wander down to Grange which was delightful with a nice cup of tea at the end outside the cafe, then take the boards down to the lake and the launch back to Keswick. They were well pleased and it seemed to me that sometimes its best to be sensible and know your own limitations, that way they didn't end up Skiddaw in a terrific blow which I doubt they would have enjoyed at all.

Anyway, the weather is improving and so is the situation here with regard to the builders. They have gone because the front bay window is finished, just all the tidying up and painting to do and new floor boards to fit (Pete is wonderful at DIY).
Meanwhile the covered way is nearly complete too because we spent Sunday putting the roof on and I will soon be able to hang up my washing to dry when its wet and also dry our gear when we come back from Keswick Rambles undertaken in the wet. Here it is almost finished.

Saturday sees our first walk of the season too, so we hope to see some of you outside the Moot Hall and renew old acquaintances.