Thursday 18 November 2010
I don't see myself as a natural blogger. I haven't kept diaries since the 60's and re-reading them is an experience both a painful and embarrassing. Hopefully my blog will be (relatively) interesting, not embarrassing (certainly free of teenage angst) - and brief.
It's November and I have now been living in my motorhome for over a week in a Keswick camp site overlooking Derwentwater. The weather has not always been the most clement; there have been gales, heavy rain and frost. There have also been clear skies with breathtaking views of and from the fells.
Living in a motorhome in winter is a very different experience to summer camping.
Early morning
I have had to concentrate on warmth and heat retention. So far I have been reasonably snug. But the evenings are long and very dark; the TV becomes very important so I have become a tuning expert.
I'm still working out how things work in the M'home; I had problems with the boiler and had to get someone in to help me sort it out, which turned out to be a fuse that needed to b fiddled with (once I'd found out where the fuses are). I still have to change a gas bottle - I really don't know how long a bottle lasts and am dreading it running out in the middle of a wet dark evening – if it does I will just go to bed. And I haven't used my oven yet.
Previously I have done some walking around Keswick but have never spent more than one night at a time in the town. The main street has been pedestrianised. At 5.30 on a weekday evening it feels bleak. I have had lunch in a lovely vegetarian café for lunch, the Lakeland Pilgrim. Food shopping is easy as Booths stays open until 9pm. And there is a cinema; I went to see The Social Network and enjoyed it. There were only 4 people in the Circle.
Catbells; looking down on a flock of birds.
Keswick from Catbells
Little Town from Catbells
I had never been up Skiddaw before, I am now able to tick that off. A slog up and down Jenkin Hill, and, between the clouds, stunning views so absolutely worth it.
Looking down at Derwentwater
Skiddaw Trig point
Looking back at Skiddaw
I walked up Catbells and came back through Little Town and I have been up Walla Scar.
It's now Monday 22 November. I have had a weekend sojourn in Leyburn. I intended to help with the decoration of Andrew and Shelagh's new bungalow and I suppose I was able to contribute a small amount. I'm not sure I didn't just get in the way.
I am now in Ravenglass at the camp site which is on the left before the road goes under the railway lines. It's a lovely wooded site with only 4 other vans.
Having left Leyburn in low cloud, and driven across the Pennines in the damp, it wasn't until south of Cockermouth that the skies cleared and the sun came out. Despite the sunshine I had a sleep after arrival. I think that was as a result of getting very cold and feeling sleepy once I had warmed up.
I've been to Ravenglass before (as some of you are aware). I went to the Ratty Arms for supper at about 8 p.m. The Ratty Arms is new in my terms (i.e. since the '60's) and is the former railway station. The pubs and the hotels of Ravenglass that existed in the '60's have all gone or changed beyond recognition. A Monday night and there were only 5 punters in the pub. When one looks back at the '60's and recall the vibrancy of country pubs one almost regrets the drink-driving legislation. Just as I walked in I realised I had forgotten my purse. I explained I had to go back and get some money and asked when they stopped serving food. The barmaid said they hadn't served any food all evening but they could probably put on the chip fryer for me. So I ordered sausage egg and chips and walked back to the camp site for the money. The food was served up a couple of minutes after I got back and was good. The beer was also good and they couldn't have been more welcoming. By the time I left there was just me, the landlady and one other woman, discussing the floods of a year ago, cats, breeding dogs and docking dogs' tails.
One of the reasons for visiting the pub was to pick up a time table for the Ratty (the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway) which had it been running, would have given me lots of walking options in Eskdale. Sadly it doesn't. At this time of the year it only runs at the weekend. Which makes me wonder whether the countryside has always “closed down” quite so extensively in the winter. So I still have to decide what I will do tomorrow; the weather forecast is good for the north west coast.
Friday 26th November
The following day was a lovely one. I got the bike out and cycled up to Boot.
Muncaster Castle
Boot + Scawfell
On the way back I visited Irton church which is a Victorian rebuild. There are two lovely Burne-Jones stained glass windows, as well as excellent views of the Scafell masssif so well worth the detour.
On the Wednesday I caught the train (Carlisle to Lancaster) to Silecroft in order to climb Black Combe. Black Combe dominates the southern aspect of the view of the bay in which Ravenglass, Seasccale and Sellafield sit, with St Bees Head to the north. I have to quote Wainwright here (from “The outlying fells of Lakeland”):
Black Combe from road to Bootle Station
“As a viewpoint it is unique. Half of the panorama is the glittering sea, with the Isle of Man seen in stark outline and Wales, Ireland and Scotland as shadowy silhouettes on a high horizon of water. A fine array of mountains is the landward feature, the fells of southern Lakeland ranging across the scene and appearing, at this distance, incorrect perspective, while round to the east the Pennines and the Bowland Fells form the background to a colourful landscape of undulating terrain pierced by long estuaries and dotted with scattered small towns and villages. The coast is seen, an unbroken line, from St Bees to the Isle of Walney.” Wordsworth was impressed by the view from the top of Black Combe too.
Ravenglass, Seascale, Sellafield, St Bees + Scotland
The weather was bright and clear, cold but with little wind. I can't say I could see Wales and Ireland but I'm sure I could see Castletown on the Isle of Man and definitely the Galloway hills.
South east from summit
Scawfell from summit
I had decided to walk back to Bootle to catch the train back to Ravenglass. I only had a Landranger map and lower down there was not a distinct path. I ranged around quite a bit, definitely lost but made a decision about which direction I wanted to go, which was across a beck which had a high fence on my side so I had to find somewhere to cross the fence and the beck. I made a bee-line over a rise covered with dead bracken to find a place to cross the fence and a path down beside a dam to a crossing place. But the beck was running high and fast and the stones were slippery. So, off with the boots and socks and paddle across.
My shadow before I got lost
After that drama I wasn't sure I would catch the 14.03 train – the next one was 15.39 - but I got to the station with half an hour to spare. Bootle station is 1.5 miles from Bootle and there is little stirring around the station. It is a stopping station so you have to make your desire to get on the train known to the driver otherwise he (she?) will not stop. The sun was low and the station was open and to keep out of the now chill wind I had to stand right at the back of the open shelter with no view of the track. There was no-one else wanting to catch the train, I wanted to keep warm but not to have the opportunity to wave at the train driver. However there is a level crossing on the north end of the station and I worked out that someone was lurking in the level crossing box and the gate had to be shut, so as long as I could see the end of the level crossing gate out of the wind, I would be OK. I was astonished to see the chap who had been lurking in the box come out and manually move the gates ie. there is so little investment in this line that the gates are not moved electronically. The following day when driving south I had to wait at another level crossing, further down the line, not at a station, where the Railway man had had to drive out in a van to close the level crossing gates.
I went back to the Ratty Arm that evening and was pleased to see it was busier with one group playing dominos and another darts. Good to see some traditions live on.
25/11/10 I moved to Staveley, between Windermere and Kendal (with a required stop at Lakeland (Plastics) in Windermere). Since Tuesday snow has been forecast (and subsequently falling) in the North East. While it has been cold in Cumbria (very cold at night, had to put more clothes on in bed) the days have been clear. Frosty but, mercifully, no snow. And that is still the case. An hour after I had arrived at the camp site my gas bottle ran. It was still daylight and I got someone to help me.
North towards Staveley
26/11/10 I had a day's fish cookery course booked at Lucy Cook’s in Staveley. I walked in from the camp site just as the sun was rising and walked back in the dusk/dark. The course was gutting and filleting fish as well as cooking. The intention is, when on the big trip around Scotland, I will be able to deal with freshly caught fish bought from the quayside...
27/11/10 Woke up to a couple of inches of snow but still determined to drive back to Lymington. It was touch and go grinding up the compacted snow on the lane from the camp site to the main road – but I just made it and made it safely back to Lymington. My current plan is I won’t be staying in the m’home until March so that’s the blog for the time being.
