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| Our walking group (photo by Daxa) |
There are always three things guaranteed on a Twitter walk:
fun, adventure and chocolate brownies. The Pike O’Blisco walk had all three in
abundance.
Our starting point was the Three Shire Stone on the Wrynose
Pass and as well as some of the usual crowd, there were new people as well. It
is always nice meeting people on these walks and whilst we are all very
different and come from different parts of the country, we all love walking the
fells. There were nine of us on this walk with five dogs in all shapes and sizes
including Tilly. Phil brought along his new puppy Molly and her and Tilly
became firm friends.
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| Molly |
We set off on the path towards Red Tarn and whilst cloudy,
it looked like the sun could appear at any minute. We were all chatting and
admiring the views and the dogs were running around happily. The path was
getting snowier with each step but it was soft snow so was easier to grip and
it meant Tilly had a great time playing in it as did all the dogs. Red Tarn
itself was completely frozen, which upset Tilly as she had been looking forward
to a swim but she contented herself with eating some snow instead.
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| Tilly waiting for me |
It was a short but steep final ascent to Pike O’Blisco up
quite a rocky path. Needless to say I was at the back but I was delighted to
have Daxa for company who is a slower walker like me. We eventually joined the
others on the summit and looked out over Crinkle Crags, Bowfell, the Langdale
Pikes and the valley below. Beautiful. It was Molly’s first Lake District
summit and she seemed pleased with her achievement.
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| Being "rescued" by Tilly |
After a quick chocolate brownie (delicious as always) and
coffee stop, we headed on across the slopes of Pike O’Blisco to head down to the
narrow road in Great Langdale as our next target was Lingmoor Fell. This should
have been fairly straight forward but with snow all around, it proved rather
eventful but an awful lot of fun! The snow was thicker on that side of the fell
and before long, we were all descending a snowy slope, digging our heels in to
try and grip. I think Phil was the first to fall (not helped by having Molly
tugging on her lead) and slide a few metres but several people slipped. At one
point, there was a short but very steep section and having witnessed the less
than elegant descent by some of the group (and noticing at least three cameras
pointing in my direction), I decided sitting down and sledging was the best
solution. Tilly had already run down it and was playing with Lassie at the
bottom but seeing I was taking so long, she came back to rescue me. How sweet!
She waited beside me whilst I got myself into position and then (not so
helpfully) stood right in from of me just as I pushed myself down the slope so
had to leap out of the way!
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| Tilly action shot from Phil |
We got down unscathed and took our turn to watch the rest of
the group make their descent. This was pretty much the way the next half an
hour went – lots of slipping and impromptu sledging. On one slope, I decided to
just sledge all the way and ended with a “ta da” moment with Gina capturing it
for posterity. Dave did the same later on but on a rather steeper slope and his
efforts to slow down using his walking pole ended in the pole having a 90
degree bend in it!
With all the hard work behind us (so we thought) we were now
on grassy slopes but unbeknownst to us, the grass was frozen and Gina had a bad
fall and hurt her knee. We did not think it was serious at this point though
and just needed rest so we had a lunch break. The views were spectacular down
into the valley and to the Langdale Pikes, Bowfell and Crinkle Crags. Molly and
Tilly took turns posing for the camera and then Tilly went into “feed me
treats” mode (those eyes though are simply heart-melting). Jim decided a
traditional sandwich was not enough though and brought out a cooking device
with a saucepan and rustled up some potatoes dauphinoise! I need to be a bit
more creative with my walking lunches as a cheese and chutney sandwich just
wasn’t the same after that.
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| Lunchtime |
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| Tilly at Blea Tarn |
We headed off but it was soon clear that Gina’s knee was
quite badly injured so we had a change of plan. When we got down to the road,
we split into groups. Some continued to the summit of Lingmoor, Dave, Terry and
Adam headed back to get the car and Daxa and I waited with Gina. Whilst
waiting, I decided to take Tilly around Blea Tarn as she had missed out on a
swim in Red Tarn. We headed off and as the sun had come out she had a lovely
swim and chased several sticks. The view along the valley to the Langdale Pikes
was mesmerising and I could have sat in the sunshine there for hours. We headed
back along the road to where Gina and Daxa were still waiting and before long,
Dave arrived in the car (having had a long trek back up the Wrynose Pass) and
we all met at the Three Shire’s pub for a drink and to laugh at our adventures.
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| A girl's best friend (photo from Gina) |
Another great Twitter walk. Sadly Gina’s knee was quite badly
injured but hopefully she can still run the London Marathon this year. Get
well soon Gina!
