Meet Report

6th to 8th July 2018 - Chapel House Farm, Lake District - Borrowdale

Wow! The fabled Summer of Actual Sun continued to accommodate a second camping meet! And shine it did, all weekend!

A meets secretary diary error meant a change of date and venue but the campground (Chapel House Farm, Borrowdale) was very accommodating and very comfortable. Margaret duly left her car in the middle of the EMC-designated area and went to the pub which made it a little trickier for some of us later folk coming from north of the border to find somewhere to pitch.  T’other Clare brought her trusty van having already done a swim en route (of course). Tiffin (aka “doglet”) brought the latest in mountaineering equipment: a squeaky pig. The campers loved that.

I started off the weekend with a run up Glaramara on Saturday morning, then joined Martha, Emma and Tiffin for a long walk up Grains Gill onto Broad Crag and the summit of Scafell Pike (not too many 3 peakers, to our delight) and returned along the Corridor Route where doglet insisted on being carried, and Claire and Martha insisted on cooling off in Styehead Tarn.

Gillian and Margaret did a huge round of Newlands Valley, starting on Catbells and finishing on Robinson where they met someone who delightedly called out “42!”. Apart from being the answer to life, the universe and everything, this is also the number of peaks on the Bob Graham round. Gillian reckoned she and Margaret looked much fresher than those folk did though.

T'other Clare and Alan H decided to go out and climb something and, after setting a probable new route (“moderate, easy in the grade”) on Cam Crag, topped out onto Rosthwaite Common and went for a cheeky (very cheeky) dip in an obscure tarn on their way back down.

Alison and Kenny, who were also visiting the area but not staying at the campsite, joined us in the pub for drinks and football avoidance (difficult).

Sunday was just as nice, and we had a leisurely breakfast in camp before splitting off into three groups. The Glaramara Gang (Gillian, Margaret, Martha, Emma and Tiffin) went up Glaramara and enjoyed superb views; G and M continued on to do a circuit route back down Grains Gill to Seathwaite whilst the other 3 returned by the same route. Tiffin was apparently exhausted after her big weekend and slept continuously all the way back home. The Catbells Conundrum consisted of myself and Alan H; Alan for a shorter walk and early return to the Borders; I continued as a linear run as far as Grey Knotts, collecting an Ecuadorian buddy called Chris at Dale Head and depositing him near a signpost pointing all the way back to Keswick.

Much of the credit must go to my semi-aquatic namesake (group 3 – the Buttermere Boob) for swimming across Crummockwater (swim 1), via idyllic Scale Force plunge pool (swim 2) up to Red Pike, down to Bleaberry Tarn (swim 3) and back across Buttermere (swim 4), still getting home at a more reasonable hour than she would after a regular EMC Scotland trip!

Kenny bumped into Killian Jornet on the summit of Scafell – the latter going on to break the long-standing BG round record by over an hour. Alison was climbing with her partner nearby; an ambitious plan to do 2 routes foiled by the wait for others on the crag to finish their route. They abseiled off Broad Stand and ended up having a 12 hour day.

As I write this 3 weeks later it still hasn't rained...