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| Looking across Side Farm to Helvellyn |
After the wettest winter on record I reckon we deserved
today’s fabulous weather and I took full advantage with another training walk for the
TGO Challenge which is exactly 2 months away.
My Skod driven thought processes were active again as I packed my day sack ready for my walk. I plundered the grocery cupboard and stuck loads of canned food in the bottom of my pack. Not to eat of course, just to add weight to give myself a better workout. Nothing too odd about that. But here’s the weird bit. I spent some time deliberating over which cans to take. I rejected baked beans in favour of kidney beans; tomato soup was put in and then taken out and replaced with chopped tomatoes. What was that all about then? But in the end I was satisfied, and with 3 litres of water added and the bits of kit and food I would actually need for my walk, my pack weighed in at 11.7 kg which is a good old weight to start to get the shoulders ready for the backpacking gear I will be carrying across Scotland in May.
My Skod driven thought processes were active again as I packed my day sack ready for my walk. I plundered the grocery cupboard and stuck loads of canned food in the bottom of my pack. Not to eat of course, just to add weight to give myself a better workout. Nothing too odd about that. But here’s the weird bit. I spent some time deliberating over which cans to take. I rejected baked beans in favour of kidney beans; tomato soup was put in and then taken out and replaced with chopped tomatoes. What was that all about then? But in the end I was satisfied, and with 3 litres of water added and the bits of kit and food I would actually need for my walk, my pack weighed in at 11.7 kg which is a good old weight to start to get the shoulders ready for the backpacking gear I will be carrying across Scotland in May.
Perfect weather. I
parked in Patterdale and set off along the track to Side Farm and, ultimately,
Howtown. Ullswater was still and calm when I began my walk, and the Helvellyn
range, and later Gowbarrow were reflected perfectly in the lake. This is a
curious path. One moment it runs at little more than a metre or so above the
lake; then it will be 50 or 100 metres higher up, yet the ups and downs are
barely noticeable as you walk. Perhaps it is the distracting beauty of the
scenery that makes it pass so easily. This beauty was certainly the reason for the
little incident that saw the humiliation of hyperdog.
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| Thed Helvellyn range and Sheffield Crag reflected in Ullswater |
I had drunk several large mugs of tea before setting out
today and it was not long before the consequences of this were apparent on my middle aged bladder. With no
one about I was able to do the necessary, and I went about this business whilst
staring distractedly across the lake from my hillside. And then I looked down. Hyperdog was looking
up at me with a puzzled face whilst a stream of almost neat Typhoo bounced off
his back. He didn’t seem to have the gumption to move. As we set off again little did I know that this dog can carry a grudge a long
distance.
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| Hyperdog got his revenge as I sat on this bench looking down to Howtown |
We reached Howtown. The Howtown Hotel, where I had planned to have a
pit stop, was closed until the end of March so we set off back to Patterdale with a diversion up lovely
little Hallin Fell now in mind. On the way, just above Howtown, we found an old wrought iron seat on the
fellside overlooking the lake on which I sat to eat my sandwich. As I did this my back suddenly felt warm and
wet. I turned to see Hyperdog behind the bench, leg cocked. I could have sworn
he had a grin on his face. One all.
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| Hallin Fell |
Hallin Fell is short and sweet. The cairn at the top is magnificent; the views more so. Then it was down to Sandwick and back on to the same path as the morning and an hour or so in the afternoon sunshine to Patterdale.
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| From Hallin Fell |
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| Hyperdog on Hallin fell above Ullswater |
21.1km, 798 metres climbed. 5 hours 50 minutes in total. A good workout.
