Lake District 2011: Day Four - Going Home

Sunday morning. It is another lovely day. Sheila Nicky and Katy decide to go swimming before breakfast. After a leisurely breakfast and get ready for departure. Our ferry leaves Holyhead at 5:15 pm so we have plenty of time.

Nice Morning for a Swim?
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Wastwater Swimmer
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"I'm not Swimming"
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Morning Day Four Uploaded by M+MD

The setting for the hostel is wonderful. The building itself is also very pretty dating back to the early 18th century. It's certainly worth thinking about again.

Just one last group photograph and we are on our way.
For the record and from the left, Martin, Mark, Barney, Eoghan, Sheila, Louie, Nikki, Katy and Senan.

Job Done - Ready for Home, Uploaded by M+MD.

Lake District 2011: Day Three - The Big One

Day Three The Big One

It was a beautiful morning and the forecast was good. Today's plan was simple. We intended to climb Scafell Pike, 3,200 feet. It is just a 3.5 mile hike up from Wasdale. The contingency plan was that if it was too much for us or the weather was bad we would do Lingmell which is beside Scafell Pike and is on the same route.

Lake District 2011, Uploaded by M+MD.

We drove to the other side of the lake and started up Brown Gill. This route had a number of options. We had a choice of two routes up Scafell Pike. It also allowed us a fall-back objective Lingmell, which is 2,700 feet if Scafell Pike proved too much. Brown Gill is probably the most direct route up Scafell Pike, It is just a 3.5 mile hike with a climb of about 3'000 feet.

We met a group of "3 Peakers" coming down the path we knew we were on the best route. They had climbed Ben Nevis and Scafell Pike, and were about to drive to Snowdon. It was only 10 in the morning so they had had an early start.

Steady Progress - Short Break
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There were lots of people on the path. We made good steady progress. The path had been paved with steps for much of the route. It was also one of those quick rising routes that a a little more difficult at the start - but very satisfying and also gave a good reward for effort.

After 2 steady hours walking with lots of short breaks it was clear that Scafell Pike was not going to be a problem for anyone in the group. As we reached the col between Lingmell and Scafell Pike it was only 12.15. It was time to make some choices. The first decision was that we would all go for Scafell Pike - the was still a good 700 feet of climb to go. But since we had already climbed about three times that we were fine.

So the contingency plan was unnecessary. However Lingmell was one of those Wainwright peaks I hadn’t bagged yet. So while Sheila, Louie and Senan waited on the col the rest of us took the 30 minute detour to climb Lingmell. It was worth it. The views were fantastic.

From Lingmell
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First Peak - Lingmell
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On Lingmell
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The Scafells from Lingmell
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Back with the main group at 12.45 we were ready for the last 600 feet to Scafell Pike. We were well ahead of schedule and I started to hatch another plan. We were on top by 1.30 along with about 300 other people!. We found a quite shelter and had lunch.

On Scafell Pike, Uploaded by M+MD.

Lake District 2011: Day Two - The Screes

Day Two it was lovely and bright in the morning. I was awake early and walked down to the lake for a quick sketch. The hostel was quite, we had a good fry-up for breakfast. Then the sandwich making team got into action. We were ready to leave at about 9.45. It was raining. Our route today starts and ends at the hostel.

Its Raining, Uploaded by M+MD.

We were walking from the hostel up to the ridge above the Wastwater screes and then walking back along the bottom of the screes. First we had to walk through the woods. It was raining pretty hard. It eased off a little as we started to climb, but as we got up to the ridge it stopped.

Through the Woods
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Rain is Clearing
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When we got to the top of Whin Rigg it was clear. We could see right down to the hostel. You could see Sellafield and the Irish Sea appearing from under the raincloud.

Sellafield from Whin Rigg
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Hostel from Whin Rigg
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We then had an easy ridge walk to the next top. We were at 2,000 feet. There was a centre path through the open moor. But over to the side there was a path along the edge with fantastic views down to the lake and the screes – you could call it vertigo ridge. The views down the scree cliffs were fantastic.

Open Moor
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Vertigo Ridge
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Vertigo Ridge
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Vertigo Ridge
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We had lunch on the next top (Illgill Crag). Then we took the long walk down to get to the start of the screes.

Lunch Time
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Down to Wasdale Head
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The screes path is about 3 and a half miles long. It starts off nice and easy through ferns and bracken above the lake.

Through the Ferns
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Yewbarrow from the Scree path
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After about a mile we came to the first scree. The scree was small and these was a nice easy level path along the screes. After than we had more bracken, then some more easy screes. Then we came to some small but slippery boulders. Then we came to what could only be called a boulder field. It was about 500 yards across and the scree was large rocks. Some were unstable and some moved under your feet. I suddenly remembered why I had only done this once before! It was a very challenging and slow scramble across.

Boulder Field from Above, Uploaded by M+MD.

We were running well behind schedule. Barney and I had planned to meet Katy and Mark at Windermere railway station at 6pm. It was clear we were never going to make that. Barney speeded up, as he wanted to have a shower before we went to collect them. I found the big boulder field very difficult. The path was hard to follow. I went too high above the path. and although I was a long way ahead of the others when we started across the boulder field, they were within talking distance by the time I was finished. I speeded up after that but I was nearly an hour behind Barney. We managed to contact Mark and Katy and told them we would be about an hour late. We still had an hour drive to Windermere.

The others were a long way behinds us. They made it safely off the screes. Sheila took a tumble on the easy path. When they got to the hostel Sheila and Nicky went swimming. We met them later at the pub for dinner. It had been a very pleasant morning and a very difficult afternoon.

Ill Gill Head
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Whin Rigg
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Note to Self. Twice is more than enough times to walk the bottom of the screes. It is very pretty - but the boulder field is very difficult. Once you are half way across it feels like you are trapped. The only way to escape is to continue.

The forecast for to-morrow is good. Scafell Pike is the plan - we will see!

Lake District 2011: Day One - Yewbarrow

The ferry left Dublin on time at 8.45. We were in Holyhead at 10.45 and on the road just after 11.00. It is a four hour drive from Holyhead. We stopped at a service station just below Preston to have a cup of coffee. Just as we were leaving I heard a familiar voice behind us - Sheila, on her way from London had stopped at the same services. Its a small world!
The drive from Holyhead is dual carraigeway and motorway for 3 hours. It was a tough final hour as we drove up the Duddon valley and turning left at Ulpha. It was not as bad as the year we went over Wrynose and Hard Knott - but it was slow and winding for the last 45 minutes.

Our plan was to meet at the car park at the foot of Yewbarrow. It was raining as we drove into the valley and alongside the lake. Yewbarrow is often photographed because of its position halfway up the Wasdale valley. More than any mountain it looks like an upturn boat. It is one of the two Wainwrights I am planning to add on this trip. As we parked I thought that we may have to cancel due to the weather. Sheila had arrived five minutes before us. As we were consulting and considering, it stopped raining.
So we set off at 4pm. It is a serious first walk – 2,200 feet. It is a no nonsense climb as the path rises directly from the lake.

Wastwater Uploaded by M+MD

We puffed and panted as we started to get our "mountain legs" but we were encouraged by the sight of the lake getting smaller below us. We started up the spine of hill along a wall. Once we were over the wall the path moved across the hill and towards a gully. We scrambled up the gully, the lake still receeding. After about an hour we reached the first top of the gully. At first we were disappointed because we could see there was still quite a bit of a ridge walk to get to the top. But then as we got to the top of the ridge, suddenly, there was the view. It was breath-taking. The lake was now below us, down a vertical gully. The sky was clear and we could see Great Gable; Scafell Pike, Scafell and all the mountains around.

Up the Gully Uploaded by M+MD

Gaining Height Uploaded by M+MD

Yewbarrow Ridge Uploaded by M+MD

Louie Uploaded by M+MD

As we continued on the ridge the views were amazing. We had a clear view to the top of Scafell Pike, a rare sight. Finally we reached what looked like the top. Then we saw that the real peak was about 500 metres away - though not much higher. Finally, we made it. After a rest and some chocolate we continued down towards the col with Red Pike. We cut down an a path before the col - it was a little rough and a little steep but we made it down to the valley. After ten minutes on an ill-defined path beside a stream we joined the main path down the valley. The rest was easy.

Yewbarrow Summit, Uploaded by M+MD.

Wastwater Youth Hostel
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We did the walk in just over 3 hours. We headed back to the hostel and checked in. We were all in one big dormatory with the boys on one side and the girls on the other side of an internal partition. It was perfect. By the time we had got ourselves together it was just nine o'clock. We rang the local pub to see if we were too late for dinner – we were! But they took our order on the phone and ten minutes later we were tucking into steak/salmon and chips and pints. A successful first day behind us, a Wainwright bagged and mountain legs getting into shape.

Lake District 2011

We are planning another Lake District trip. This year there are nine of us.
Some newcomers: Barney, Eoghan, Louie and Nicky,
a couple of sometimers: Mark and Katy
and some all-timers: Sheila, Senan and Martin.

It is the usual 3 day format.
Arrive on Thursday around 3.30, get a quick warm up walk.
Friday a full day walk getting ready for
The Big One - on Saturday.

This year we will base ourselves in Wastwater youth hostel. It is a lovly early 19th century house on the shores of the lake - the lake is just at the bottom of the garden.

Bagging Wainwrights

There are 214 hills in the 7 Wainwrights pictorial guides to the Lake District. They are not exactly all the biggest hills - though they are pretty close. Lots of people (mainly from the North of England) make it there ambition to climb each of these hills. I have done about 67 of them - though I am not certain of some of the early adventures. A couple of days on the walk I did in 1981 are a bit vague - especially the first day when I climbed Grasmoor above Buttermere and the last day when I climbed High Street.

There are now lots of resources on the internet for walkers and climbers. This site allows you to mark each hill you've climbed - pretty cool. My Wainwrights

This weekend I hope to add another five to this list. Watch this space.

New York, New York Saturday 15th August

The Taxi arrived on time. We said goodbye to the house, put on the alarm and posted the key in the letterbox. We were at the airport by 8.30. It was a very easy check-in and we were at the gate 10 minutes later. We got some breakfast and played Bananagrams to put down the time.

We were flying with Jet Blue and I would have to recommend them. The seats were comfortable - they take out a row or two for additional comfort, quite the opposite approach to Ryanair! The Air Hostess was hilarious. As we boarded she was holding a toddler in her arms whom she introduced to everybody boarding as the captain. She managed to get us all singing - "I don't do Rap" - a reference to the following SouthWest Airlines Steward:

But she had all the passengers clapping and singing "If your Happy and you know it Clap your hands ". She was a regular comedienne. It's a three hour flight and Jet Blue have individual live TV and pay movies. For some reason the live TV wouldn't work and in the spirit of customer service they opened the pay movies to all for free. The movie we watched was "I Love You Man". It was hilarious. At the projectile vomit scene I laughed so loud the passengers in front (who were watching something else) looked around to see what was going on! Ooops! The time flew and as we landed the TV came back and we watched Tiger warming up for the 3rd round of the Bridgestone Invitational.

We got a taxi into New York ending up taking the Midtown Tunnel and arriving just below Grand Central. Its my favourite way into New York - the buildings seem to reach the sky once you come out of the tunnel! We checked into our double double at the Roosevelt Hotel on Madison and 45th street. It was a tight squeeze with all our luggage. But we weren't planning on spending much time in the hotel!

5th Avenue, New York
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We needed to get started in New York and we needed something to eat, so Lisa introduced us to Chipotle on 42nd street at Bryant Park. Then we headed up 5th Avenue towards 59th Street.

We spilt up when we saw s Barnes and Noble. We needed to find a copy of top 10 New York so that we could find the diner Lisa and Katy enjoyed so much last year. After spending about 20 minutes in the bookshop we decided that it must be EJ's on 73rd and 3rd. Lisa confirmed it later. Senan and I headed back up 5th Avenue to see if we could locate the girls.

Time Square
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We wandered into H&M and sure enough - there they were - as if there aren't enough shops on 5th Avenue. We left them to it and continued up 5th avenue until we reached the Apple Store. There we spent an hour playing with the iPhones and Macbooks until Lisa and Mags joined us. We paid a visit to FAO Schwartz toy store, which is right beside the Apple Store, before heading back to the hotel for a brief rest and a change of clothes.

Saturday evening we got the subway down to Spring street and walked over to Mulberry Street where Little Italy was in full Saturday night swing. We got a nice spot on the footpath and we had an excellent Italian meal with a nice bottle of Gavi to wash it down while we watched the world go by.

We headed over to Time Square to show Senan the lights of Broadway. By the time we got back to the hotel we were exhausted. Half a day done - two and a half more hectic days to come.

Last Day and Packing Friday 14th August

Well after that interesting day yesterday we have arrived at out last day in New Orleans. Packing is the name of the game today. We go through the house moving everything towards our bedroom. Then we take some time by the pool.

Street Singer
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Trombone
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Mags and I head into Riverwalk where we can get the Louisiana Sales taxes back. Riverwalk is a big shopping mall. We ask at the visitors desk convention centre. They are not sure and direct is to a shop downstairs. They are not the place but they direct is back upstairs. Just when we thought this might all be a bit of a fools errand we spotted it "Louisiana Sales Tax Refund Centre" can't be any clearer than that! We collected our refund of just over $40 in cash. If we had known the procedure earlier we might have recovered more - next time we will be wiser!

New Orleans Streetcar
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Then we took a stroll down to Cafe Du Monde for a last but of New Orleans flavour. We had coffee and beignets and listened to the street musicians. The we got the tram back to where we had parked the car. We finished packing and booked a taxi for 8 am in the morning - our flight to New York is at 10 am.

We went out to Crescent City Steak House for dinner. We had excellent steak in a real old style restaurant - only been around since the 1930's. It was a nice close to an excellent fortnight. We have had warmth and relaxation combined with good food and good music as well as a couple of good away days. We have been busy - but not too busy and we are ready for the hectic pace of New York. We will certainly try to get back to New Orleans again. There is still so much to see and do. It has been a very interesting time to be there four years after Katrina. The city has made a lot of progress in four years - but the scars are still visible in places. It would be interesting to see what another few years would bring.

Outside Cafe Du Monde, Uploaded by M+MD.

Beach by Day, Zydeco by Night Thursday 13th August

Gulfport Mississippi, Uploaded by M+MD.

Well we thought it wouldn't be a holiday without going to a beach. According to the Internet there are no real beaches in Louisiana but if you want a beach you should travel East. Florida is only 3 hours away by Highway. Much nearer to New Orleans are the beaches of Mississippi at Long Beach, Gulfport and Biloxi. We settled on Long Beach. We left around 10 am and were at the beaches before 11.30. The beaches were beautiful with miles of white sand running beside the road.

Gulfport Mississippi
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Strange Pedelos
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The area was damaged by Katrina and we could see lots of evidence of recent repair though no evidence left of the damage. There were areas of the beach where the parking and the footpaths were being relaid and also there were some very small immature palm trees along the edge of the beach. We stopped and checked out the water - it was warm! There was also a funny looking fish swimming in the shallows. There was nobody on the beaches - it was a little eerie. There were lots of beautiful beachfront property. Of course schools in New Orleans opened last week. It seems like they must all be back in Mississippi too. We know that they are not back in New York yet - Senan checked his friend Kevin's school and it isn't back until the second week in September.

We decided Long Beach was too quite and drove along the beaches until we reached Gulfport. It was also quiet though we came to an area opposite a Marriott Hotel which had a number of sun beds for hire and a car park. There were even a few people around. That looked good enough for us. We hired 2 double lie outs for the day and got ourselves set up under a sun umbrella. We put on the sun cream and tried to stay in the shade as much as possible. We read our books. The temperature was in the mid 90's but there was a lovely fresh breeze off the sea.

Shelter from the Sun
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Life is a beach
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At about 3 we went looking for food. We found a strip mall leading back to the Highway, but nothing interesting in the line of restaurants despite driving all around. In the end we settled for a Subway. We all agreed that it hit the spot. In the afternoon we went in for a swim. The water never really went much above the waist, but we managed to swim after a very long walk out from the beach. What was most strange was these flying or jumping fish which started to appear p front of us. They were about the size of a large mackerel and they seemed to jump rather than flying. There were a line of posts which probably marked deeper water - we never reached out that far. On the top of each pole was a Pelican. They were not very interested in the flying fish - maybe they had just eaten! They were more interested in holding onto their perch on the post!

Water like Soup
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Tides Out
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We packed up at 6 and were home at 7.30. We decided to try our luck at the bowling in the Rock N Bowl again. It was also a zydeco night. Zydeco is Creole country rock music with lots of dancing; button accordion and washboards. We had read about it but had no real idea what to expect. Well the first thing that we found was that the place was hopping - even busier than Saturday night with Kermit Ruffins. Everyone was on the floor dancing. The dance was a strange combination of two step and jive and lots in between. The accordian and leader of the group is Geno Delafose. His album was noiminated for a Grammy in 2008. You can see the washboard (worn around the neck; and the accordian as well as the dancing in the video clip taken that evening.

It was a great backdrop to our improving bowling. We were just a little hungry and we got some fries while we bowled. After the bowling we watched the music had a couple of beers and even did a little dancing ourselves. It was another great night at the Rock N Bowl.

Dancin' to Zydeco, Uploaded by M+MD.