I
had always intended to save Blencathra for our last Wainwright, 'cos I
can think of no better way of spending 2-3 hours than climbing Hall's
Fell ridge and descending Doddick Fell. So off we set, Sophie
and I - and I reached for my camera to take the first picture, and of
course the battery was flat! Devotees of this riveting saga
will recall that my camera has let me down once before this summer, but
this was going to be our final triumph - and no pictures...
Well, I wasn't going back to charge the camera (no, I hadn't got a spare, I'd only just got the camera and I'm not that well organised), so off we went, up the familiar path past the Blencathra Hunt foxhounds' kennels - very noisy - across Gate Gill, in full spate, and onto Hall's Fell. In Keswick it had been a dry and breezy day; here it was dry and very, very breezy. As we ascended, it also got colder, so I decided to put on my anorak. This took about 5 minutes, with me sitting down, back against the wind, and hanging on like grim death to the discarded rucksack to prevent its being blown off the ridge. Even Sophie came to snuggle up to get some protection! Not perhaps ideal weather for tackling the scramble near the top, but luckily most of the time the wind was blowing us onto the ridge rather than off it.
Near the top I found myself near a young couple also ascending the ridge, and a cunning plan occurred to me. Having chatted to them a bit, and congratulated them on choosing this route - they hadn't done it before - I waited for them at the summit, and told them my sorry tale about the camera. "No problem!" said Louise, and whipped out her camera. "Ah, yes, well...", she continued after a short pause: the battery was flat. And here we met the difference between a walker and an organised walker: Mark took off his rucksack and started rummaging around for the spare battery. At this point another couple turned up, and started taking pictures, so I offered to take one of them both on the summit. "Oh, yes, please" they said, and gave me the camera. I squinted through the view-finder - and it went blank. The battery was flat. This was not my camera day.
By now Mark had found his spare battery, and lo! we got some pictures after all. Thank you Louise and Mark, you saved the day!
Click on any picture below for a larger version:
If you would like to sponsor me and Sophie in our quest to walk all the Wainwrights for the Great North Air Ambulance Service(it's never too late), please click here - and thank you for your generosity!
Well, I wasn't going back to charge the camera (no, I hadn't got a spare, I'd only just got the camera and I'm not that well organised), so off we went, up the familiar path past the Blencathra Hunt foxhounds' kennels - very noisy - across Gate Gill, in full spate, and onto Hall's Fell. In Keswick it had been a dry and breezy day; here it was dry and very, very breezy. As we ascended, it also got colder, so I decided to put on my anorak. This took about 5 minutes, with me sitting down, back against the wind, and hanging on like grim death to the discarded rucksack to prevent its being blown off the ridge. Even Sophie came to snuggle up to get some protection! Not perhaps ideal weather for tackling the scramble near the top, but luckily most of the time the wind was blowing us onto the ridge rather than off it.
Near the top I found myself near a young couple also ascending the ridge, and a cunning plan occurred to me. Having chatted to them a bit, and congratulated them on choosing this route - they hadn't done it before - I waited for them at the summit, and told them my sorry tale about the camera. "No problem!" said Louise, and whipped out her camera. "Ah, yes, well...", she continued after a short pause: the battery was flat. And here we met the difference between a walker and an organised walker: Mark took off his rucksack and started rummaging around for the spare battery. At this point another couple turned up, and started taking pictures, so I offered to take one of them both on the summit. "Oh, yes, please" they said, and gave me the camera. I squinted through the view-finder - and it went blank. The battery was flat. This was not my camera day.
By now Mark had found his spare battery, and lo! we got some pictures after all. Thank you Louise and Mark, you saved the day!
Click on any picture below for a larger version:
 |
We
done it! Not Everest exactly, but not bad for a young dog and
an old dog. We had both had a great time over the past six
months, and will have lots of memories to mull over. Mind you, the immediate objective was to get down out of the wind! At least, it wasn't too cold. |
| For those of you
who are unfamiliar with
Hall's Fell ridge, here is the middle part. The scrambly bit
and summit are just out of shot on the left. |
 |
If you would like to sponsor me and Sophie in our quest to walk all the Wainwrights for the Great North Air Ambulance Service(it's never too late), please click here - and thank you for your generosity!