Carlisle & District Rambling & Fellwalking Club
Walk & Event Reports
Sunday 5th June 2016
A Walk
Mungrisdale Round
7 Miles Grade 1
Leader: Pete Bowyer
Reports by Pete Bowyer & John McKay
Photos by Pete Rutland, John McKay, Pete Bowyer & Bruce McMillan
Pete's Report
9 of us set off from the phone box in Mungrisdale in almost perfect weather. Only a few minutes up the track towards Bannerdale Crags we encountered one spectacular consequence of last December’s Storm Desmond in the shape of a collapsed section of the path and a footbridge completely ripped out of its moorings and rendered unusable. This meant we had to cross the river-bed to regain the path higher up – fine in the current dry weather, but I’d advise anyone attempting this manoeuvre after a heavy downpour to go equipped with flippers and a snorkel. The ascent to Bannerdale was enlivened by a series of completely unnecessary questions to the leader about the route ahead, which simply demonstrated that few had bothered to read the leader’s carefully-crafted walk-description. Once we’d got that sorted, good progress was made along the lip of the Crags, at which point two of the party peeled off to take a more direct route back to the cars, avoiding Blencathra. And then we were 7. Lunch was taken on Hallsfell Top, surrounded by the usual crowds, attracted to this, the more accessible side of the mountain. We then descended Scales Fell by the zig-zag path and dropped down to the head of Mousthwaite Comb, before a final, gentle climb onto Souther Fell and the direct path to the Mill Inn – our arrival coinciding miraculously with that of Peter and Joan who’d left us earlier. There seemed to be general agreement that we’d explored some relatively unfamiliar corners of a familiar mountain.
Pete
John's Report
My first A walk for quite a while and what a brilliant walk it was. Fantastic weather, fantastic area and fantastic company. We set off up the valley on the farm track but after just a short distance the track came to an abrupt end, it had been totally washed away by the recent floods. We made a slight detour and were soon back on track and making the long climb up to Bannerdale Crags. We had a short break at the top and Pete and Joan headed off for the summit of the Crags and the rest of us set off to tackle Halls Fell and the summit of Blencathra. Blencathra, as usual, was very busy with lots of people making their way up Sharp Edge. We had lunch at the summit and Bruce, from Glasgow, ate his “piece”, an expression I haven’t heard for a long time, a sandwich in these parts but a “piece” in Glasgow. During lunch Heather gave me some alarming news, I’ve long ceased to be a youth but I’m still a great fan of Youth Hostels and have been using them for sixty years. Heather, who has been managing a hostel for the past couple of weeks, told me you no longer need to make your own bed. One of her tasks as manager was to make all the beds in the hostel. What is the world coming to, Youth Hostels are becoming more like hotels every day and are losing their charm. The YHA should think again, the ethos of Youth Hostels is being eroded, halt the decline, bring back bed making I say. I got off my soap box and we headed off for Souther Fell. The descent from Souther Fell is normally very steep and awkward but Pete had found a new way down when he explorated , a new word invented by Heather, the walk recently. Before long we reached the Mill Inn where Pete and Joan were waiting, having arrived just a few minutes before. Refreshing drinks and ice creams were consumed to round off a perfect day. Many thanks to all that came along for their company and a special thanks to Pete for leading and for his wonderful explorating. A special word of thanks to Heather also for coming up with a new word, I’ve invented some words myself in my time but none fit for publication.
John
