Wednesday 2nd January 2008
This was one of those days where everything goes wrong and you wish you could just crawl back into bed. First off, the day before this holiday I came down with a cold, which was not very good timing considering and then I got very little sleep the previous night because it was New Year's Eve. So with lack of sleep defeating my ability to fight the cold I made my way to the train station where more problems appeared. Engineering work in Rugby was over-running and resulted in my train being cancelled so I had to go to Birmingham, and then the train I caught wasn't the advertised one to Edinburgh, but to Manchester. Along with dozens of others passengers I got off the train in Wolverhampton and returned to Birmingham only to find that the next train was also cancelled.
Eventually I caught a train to Crewe and thence to Oxenholme, which was what I thought I should have done instead of returning to Birmingham, but I had just followed the crowd, which is maybe a lesson to me: to do what I think I should do, and not what others are telling me to do. When I arrived in Windermere I was not only two hours late, but I had also suffered tremendously with my cold in the air-conditioned trains so I didn't feel like doing much walking. After taking a bus to Ambleside and buying myself lunch, I decided that I would do a short walk, over Loughrigg.
I went up Loughrigg on my very first day in the Lake District back in 2002, and I returned on the last day of that holiday, but I had not been back since so now I was returning to my very first Wainwright for the first time in over five years. Leaving Ambleside near St. Mary's Church passing through Rothay Park I climbed up the hill past Park Brow Farm and out onto the open fellside. Once in open country I made for the high ridge on the western side of the fell and climbed up to a cairn that afforded me with views across the illusive Loughrigg Tarn (I wouldn't be surprised if this was the first time I had seen it) and beyond to murky views of Langdale. The climb continued along a clear path until I reached the south top where I turned around saw an amazing view of Windermere as the weather began to clear.
This was one of those days where everything goes wrong and you wish you could just crawl back into bed. First off, the day before this holiday I came down with a cold, which was not very good timing considering and then I got very little sleep the previous night because it was New Year's Eve. So with lack of sleep defeating my ability to fight the cold I made my way to the train station where more problems appeared. Engineering work in Rugby was over-running and resulted in my train being cancelled so I had to go to Birmingham, and then the train I caught wasn't the advertised one to Edinburgh, but to Manchester. Along with dozens of others passengers I got off the train in Wolverhampton and returned to Birmingham only to find that the next train was also cancelled.
Eventually I caught a train to Crewe and thence to Oxenholme, which was what I thought I should have done instead of returning to Birmingham, but I had just followed the crowd, which is maybe a lesson to me: to do what I think I should do, and not what others are telling me to do. When I arrived in Windermere I was not only two hours late, but I had also suffered tremendously with my cold in the air-conditioned trains so I didn't feel like doing much walking. After taking a bus to Ambleside and buying myself lunch, I decided that I would do a short walk, over Loughrigg.
I went up Loughrigg on my very first day in the Lake District back in 2002, and I returned on the last day of that holiday, but I had not been back since so now I was returning to my very first Wainwright for the first time in over five years. Leaving Ambleside near St. Mary's Church passing through Rothay Park I climbed up the hill past Park Brow Farm and out onto the open fellside. Once in open country I made for the high ridge on the western side of the fell and climbed up to a cairn that afforded me with views across the illusive Loughrigg Tarn (I wouldn't be surprised if this was the first time I had seen it) and beyond to murky views of Langdale. The climb continued along a clear path until I reached the south top where I turned around saw an amazing view of Windermere as the weather began to clear.
After visiting the summit and the east top, and with the sun beginning to peak through the breaking clouds, I descended the manufactured path with the views across Grasmere that were stunning especially during my traverse of the Loughrigg Terrace. Leaving the awesome scenery behind I dropped down through the trees to White Moss car park where I caught a bus to Keswick. This walk, although short was still fabulous and shows what makes the Lake District so special, even with a fell that was only 333 metres high. For much of the walk my nose was pouring and I got through several tissues, so I was just hoping that after a good night's sleep I'd feel much better in the morning and be ready to do the walk that I had planned for the next day. 
No comments:
Post a Comment