SO another academic year has come to a close and it now
gives me the time to get stuck into the blog and get regular content going
again.
With summer now upon us, TeamFell are counting down the days
until we get into the Lakes. We have a nice two-week period of time to conquer
summits and enjoy the hospitality of Cumbria and if the weather is good that
would be a bonus!
We are heading up to Birchbank campsite, which is just south
of Coniston and we are going to try and cover a lot of the southern fells. Some
of which we have already done but the main focus will be on the ones remaining.
Birchbank is a fantastic working farm with a campsite and
cottage on the grounds, for us it is a pure Lakeland experience and an article
will feature in our Hidden Gems section of the site to tell you all about this fantastic place. It is two miles from the
main road and is tranquil, traditional and tremendous!
Updates
We have been working on a photo album containing all our
Wainwright summit shots (shown above). We are going to continue this until we
have all 214 photographs. Fingers crossed!
Viggo has lost loads of weight and he is now what he should
be for his breed. Here is a lovely photo that illustrates the difference, taken
from Viggo’s very own twitter, @ViggoTheSmooth .
THE days are short but getting longer and if like me you are already counting down to your next sortie to Cumbria this piece will definitely catch your fancy!
While doing some research into Fix the Fells I came across a fundraising effort from Ian Shackleton. He produces a really high quality poster that shows all 214 Wainwright peaks along with tarns, lakes, roads and youth hostels.
The summits are neatly colour coded to match the infamous pictorial guides and listed in altitude order all on a beautifully presented poster. This map sits wonderfully on the wall and once framed it makes a lovely feature in any setting.
The man behind the creation of this map is Ian Shackleton, who has admired Wainwright for many years.
A close up of the Coniston area shows the intricate beauty of this work.
"This map is dedicated to my father, Howard Shackleton who introduced me to the Lakeland Fells some 45 years ago. The map has taken over 400 hours to complete. Like Wainwright's Guides, it has been a labour of love. It is designed to be a piece of art, pleasing to the eye and something which people would be proud to hang on their walls. Every fell and every tarn are accurate in terms of Grid Reference. It can be used to plan future routes, familiarise yourself with the proximity of the fells and tarns or simply to reminisce about days spent on the fells."
Of every A1 map sold at least £1 will be put to Fix the Fells and at only £14.99 plus P+P this work of art will hardly break the bank. We’ve had ours up as pictured now for about two months and it still grabs our attention so I definitely recommend it.
Not only will it look good, not only will it be useful, not only will you stand reminiscing in front of it, you’ll be giving a little back to the fells we all know and love. I now whole-hearted urge you to head to Ian’s site here http://www.wainwrightfellsmap.co.uk/the-map/ and get your sen a copy!
AFTER a relaxing day rowing on Coniston Water with Jasper (dogs are allowed on the rental boats) we decided to try The Sun Inn for a meal. And oh boy, we picked well. We’d seen the place a few times, the first being the day we climbed to the peak of the Old Man of Coniston on a three peak circular walk, as it’s right next to the footpath you take up to the Coppermines valley.
It’s a beautiful 400 year old pub with gorgeous views which actually precedes the village itself in age. The interior is just how you you’d expect and old inn to look - dark yet cosy, with agricultural tools and fox heads decorating the walls.
We sat down on a pew opposite each other with two pints of Tag Lag, Jasper lying at our feet after a long day attempting to chase ducks while on the boat, and took a look at the menu.
The 400 year old Sun Inn and it's warm welcome
Oh wow! Sticky toffee pudding - (which we should shorten to STP because of the amount I am probably going to mention it on Fell!) I’ll make room for that. Greg decided to go with the whitebait to start, while I had nothing (I was preparing for dessert already).
As a seafood newbie, who hasn’t eaten a great deal of shellfish or fish in the past, but is slowly developing an appetite for it, I liked picking the odd whitebait, nicely fried crisp with a semi-battered outer, and dunking them into a tasty dill mayonnaise. Although I made sure to decapitate them first - I’m not quite at the stage where I can eat fish heads just yet!
They were very nice though, and a generous portion arrived at the table for the price.
For the main, I had half a roast chicken stuffed with black pudding. Beautiful. The chicken was juicy and flaky and the black pudding complimented the flavour of the chicken. Again this was a generously sized portion and disaster struck! I realised the horrific fact that I was full! No sticky toffee pudding for me.
Meanwhile Greg was still hungry enough to demolish his steak and ale pie with chunky chips and veg. I don't know how he does it. The pie reportedly had lovely hefty pieces of steak and a rich, stocky gravy. Needless to say, the food was fantastic, and Jasper agrees too, as he enjoyed some scraps of chicken, steak, black pudding and chips from his spot under the table - lucky dog!
The staff and other customers were very accommodating and friendly, in fact Greg got chatting to the locals at the bar for ten minutes before I got my drink! And the owner even came over to check we were having a nice time and even went to get Jasper a dog treat as soon as he’d spotted those big brown puppy eyes staring up at him.
Fantastic service all round; we were made to feel really welcomed. Great food, great inn, great people. We will be back, to eat another glorious meal (and hopefully next time save room for dessert) or come and stay in a room for a relaxing weekend away.
HOW do I know about a little peak on the southwestern coast of the lakes? And what is it that keeps pulling me back to it? What makes this a hidden gem?
Well, first it is important to offer a few facts, standing at 2,000 feet Black Combe is no giant, but it is certainly no slouch either. It stands some ten miles from any higher ground and is just four miles from the Irish Sea.
Jasper on Silecroft beach with Black Combe behind.
Childhood Memories
From a young age my family would go unto the lakes for a holiday and stay at my grandparents static caravan in the village of Silecroft. Silecroft boasts a cracking beach (shingle when the tides in and a vast expanse of sand when the tides in), a compelling golf course (which my grandad, dad, cousin and I would play), a train station, The Miners Arms which serves food, the caravan site and the pony trekking centre.
One thing, above all else excited me back when I was young just as it does today when in Silecroft was looking upon that mountain. Exiting the caravan would result in being greeted by the awesome presence of Black Combe, punctuating the skyline, sometimes brooding, masked in a clouded guise. Peaceful and serene in the still sunlight, but colossal and forboding when skies grey and tempest comes.
Puerile Pioneer
For a number of years I never managed to attempt a climb as I was simply too young. All in good time though, my dad, sister and I had a effort at Black Combe and got what I believed to be at the time to be about three quarters of the way up.
In retrospect it was more like less than halfway! At that point having got past the steepest part of the ascent and come between a pair of thigh like spurs, the cloud came in and made visibility very limited. We ate our butties and headed back the way we came for Silecroft.
Adult Accomplishment
It was a fair number of years until I reattempted and conquered the Combe. I’d stared at it from the beach, from the car when weaving along the A595 under it’s mighty foothills, and then finally in 2013, as a precursor to TeamFell, we traversed on a pilgrimage to Whicham church, where the ascent begins. In homage to years of imagination and vivid recollections of it’s stout silhouette we reached the summit.
Black Combe and all it's intricacies will be covered in far more detail in the Summits Tackled section. But here and now I want to describe to you what makes this climb is different to other more well known peaks.
On the first leg of the climb you rise up between two root like spurs and hit a steep section that gets the pulse up and while having a thirty second breather, turning round instantly gives you a staggering perspective of the Duddon Estuary. In good weather it gleams and shifts peacefully with Morecambe Bay behind it to the south. In truth all the way up the views are stunning. The Isle of Man is a westward landmark, while it is not until the summit (if coming from Whicham) that you see north and east. When you do though, it is well worth the wait.
Jasper in a mac, on the summit of Black Combe.
From this cornerstone, the view is cinematic, Black Combe is a guard standing vigil, protecting its taller inland counterparts to the north and west. As previously noted, Black Combe is ten miles from any higher ground. This gives you a feeling of status, topping a column far enough from interfering neighbours to harbour a full 360 degree vista. In my opinion it is worthy of far more recognition and visitors. I say this hesitantly, as one of the lovely things about walking Black Combe is the tranquility. It’s a little off the beaten track and so the desolate quiet is refreshing. In other words don't all go at once, this one is definitely best served chilled.
This pleasant walk has views in abundance, wildlife, peace and fun all wrapped up in a 2,000 foot package. Every year there is the Black Combe walking festival led by local guides who give even more background to the area and the mountain. It is absolutely worth making a note of the late summer weekend event for next year!
On their website, www.walkingfest.org.ukthere’s loads of really good walking guides with maps, including a good looking Black Combe circular. Ive also embedded a video from their site below as you can catch a glimpse of Black Combe in all its glory behind a couple of interviews regarding the tourism in the area.
Finally, thank you for letting me share one of my favourite places with you and I hope I have done enough to get you to try it, and find it equally as fascinating and compelling as me.
It’s just special.
What Haystacks was to the great Alf Wainwright, Black Combe is to me.
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