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 The Wasdale Gazette The Wasdale Gazette started off life as a collection of near incoherent ramblings of mine posted on the Online Fellwalking Club web page (www.fellwalkingclub.co.uk). Each week I would write about life in Wasdale as I saw it and for some strange reason people seemed to enjoy it! As time went on the gazette went from a weekly edition, to a fornightly one and then to a monthly and then......well then it stopped altogether as life became too hectic to write it any more. The loss was mine; as I did enjoy writing it and it gave time for reflection, so in an attempt at restoring the ritual, I have decided to post the gazette once again; but this time here on the WasdaleWeb . For those expecting a concise report of events in the valley, or for those who wish to read a polished literary masterpiece then this page is not for you. The gazette is a highly personalised, sometimes opinionated and often poorly-written piece of reflection on life in what I consider to be simply the best place on Earth. Guy Newbold - November 2007 First of all an apology ! Despite my intentions to the contrary I have been very remiss at writing this piece, it had been my hope that others would write pieces here and stop it being just me but I guess you are stuck with me :) Well where to start ? So much has happened since the last gazette entry so I will do my best to cover what my mind recalls and I think i will do it in installments to make sure it is covered. I would think it cant have escaped anyones notice that Wasdale and Wastwater has been voted as Britain's favourite view ! Of course we all knew that is was but it's nice to have it official. What you may not be aware of is the huge increase in visitors that this program generated and to a smaller extent still is generating. To drive up during the program time and just afterwards you would have been very surprised by the number of cars parked by the lake at the road spilt, in fact I have never seen so many cars there at anyone time before in all my time here. The last time there was as many people there to my memory was when the AA filmed their advert there and had hundreds of people in high visibility jackets running around! Perhaps more surprisingly was the amount of local people who made the trip from the West coast towns and villages to the valley because they did not realise that it was there ! equally there was plenty of people who made the trip over from the Central lakes, again because they just did not know about the valley. Opinion on this influx has been mixed, some people worry that too many people will ruin the very scene they come to see, others love the bustle and the spreading of the word. Traders of course have been delighted with the extra long tourist season that has been encountered, personally I was heartened by the whole event, the more people who come and sit and enjoy the better in my mind. The wild and beautiful places of the Lakes and in Britain in general are always under threat from development, and the more people who enjoy the view the more chance we have of preserving that for future ages to enjoy. Now though as the nights draw in, and the weather is not so good , the valley is returning to it's quiet normality. The bracken is now a rusty colour and the evening sunsets are red and golden as the sun dips and casts a shadow on Great Gable. This time of year to my mind is Wasdales finest, and many a happy night is spent with my camera, just hoping to get the perfect shot. Hopes also turn this time of year to a winter filled with snow capped fells and icy gullies, of late there has been little call for ice axes and crampons , but the hope of a hard winter is always there, fingers crossed. The pace of the valley life is slowing down now, with the traditional end of season fast approaching. It used to be that after the Great Gable Memorial service on the summit the pubs and shops shut up and closed down till the following Easter. Today thought the pubs and shops remain open and although the pace slows, people still arrive and enjoy the solitude of the Winter, and off course enjoy a Christmas break. Last year, a well know local Christmas Humbug, decided to escape the turkey and party hats and instead go for a walk up Scafell Pike. Happy that he would have the fell to himself , he pottered about taking paths normally crowded with peak baggers and three peakers, he arrived at the Bandstand summit cairn expecting to eat his sandwiches in silence and enjoy the view. However , as he approached from Lingmell Coll and passed the large cairn that makes the edge of the plateau, he could make out an odd red figure on the summit already. Not deterred he assumed it was another like minded soul , there to escape the festivities and headed on towards the top. Imagine his surprise when upon reaching the top there was a gentleman totally dressed in Red with a father Christmas hat on, who happily greeted him with a "Happy Christmas" ! It has not been reported if this was St.Nicholas himself stopping off after a long night, as the gentleman made quick his escape trotting off whistling merry Christmas, but it's a nice thought to think that each Christmas morning a happy Santa visits the summit of England's highest fell ! I might go up myself this year with the intention of taking his photo, I might even take a carrot just incase there is a reindeer there. March 2006 The long awaited return ! - Well I must admit it came as a bit of a surprise to see that it was so long since I last updated the gazette. Time here has just flown by and without really noticing it 5 months has disappeared and we are heading out of Winter towards Spring. Which of course means we have lots to report from this the finest of Web site wise these months have seen some huge changes as you will no doubt be aware, these changes will carry on with lots of new additions planned for the new year, and of course if there is anything that you would like to see please do drop me a line and if I will do my best to oblige. November was a great month as always, with no half measures anywhere, its either very bad weather or very good, and for most of the month it was great. The highlight of the month for me was the remembrance day service on Great Gable, this year I took a recorder and talked to myself all the way to the summit, which you can hear, should you have trouble sleeping, on the Wasdale Inspiration pages from the main menu. The day itself was a cold but clear day with blue skies above, and ice under foot. Eight or nine hundred people left early and made it to the summit to listen to the short service and observe a few minutes silence in quiet prayer. It strikes me as an odd thing to do if you put your mind to it, get up early and set on up Great Gable with a strict time scale to obey, you need to be there by 11.00 am of course, and you do so in the full understanding that the paths will be busy, the top hugely crowded and if you can hear the service you will be lucky ! And yet every year the crowds do just that , they defy all the usual norms of fell walking and actively seek out timetables and crowds, just to have a few short minutes of remembrance. It says something for the outdoor fraternity that such an act is undertaken and seemingly getting more popular each year, in these days when the young are seen a hooded thugs, there were a good 150 on Great Gable, and when people walk with their heads hung to avoid direct eye contact, on Great Gable everyone talks to each other, and they do so because they are there not for themselves this time, but for those who enabled them to have the freedom to do so. It is trip I make whenever able and intend to do so as long as I am able, as it recharges ones faith in the human race and disbands the gloom that seems to gather in all the other aspects of modern day life. No gloom that day though , sun and ice, a truly superb day, it was however, the last for a while and December was mainly a damp affair with little snow or ice but plenty of water. The new year dawned slightly dryer, just in time for the council road repair workers to descend on the valley road to begin some much needed patching work, a job which is now finished in the main, but threw some questions up to me that highlight the absurdity of the days we live in. Wasdale is of course a truly amazing place with a fragile environment which needs protecting and no one should be allowed to just dig or work rough shod over the area. However these repairs seemed beset by regulations that were designed not to have common sense, but to avoid litigation. For example the Down in the Dale bridge at Wasdale Head has lost some of its top stones which have been knocked off by 3 peak mini buses striking the wall ( don't get me started ! ) , now these stones have fallen in the beck below, but the workmen are not allowed in to retrieve these stones from half a foot of water in case they disturb the Salmon that "may" spawn up the river or damage the delicate environment of the beck bed ! Children build dams in the beck, sheep drink and walk though it, kayakers paddle it and get in and out of it, and at least 4 cars to my memory have left the road and ended up in it at this same point. However, one workman in a pair of wellies isn't allowed to go and pick up a dozen rocks that fell in , and becouse of this, the visitors to the valley need to look at a half falling down bridge for another few months. Bizare, truly bizare, while people barbecue on the lake bank, drive onto the sssi shore of Wastwater so that they are not too far from the cars, park on verges to avoid a 5 min walk and leave rubbish on and around the lake seemingly without ever being brought to task , workmen can't pick up a stone! I see the day when a risk assessment will need to be completed before walking up the Pike or parking to admire the view. Anyway, that's just me ! Back to the valley for a bit without the rants. So January started dry but soon was wet ,and saw the becks breaking their banks and the roads flooding well above axle height on a normal car, on the same day as the AA chose to film their new advert with 300 extras next to the lake !( see the New section ) And I know I said I wasn't going to rant anymore, but that has reminded me of the second incident in the last few months which made me doubt my own sanity and wonder if perhaps it was I who was indeed mad ? During these storms I was working in the valley at the Barn Door Shop helping them out while they took a break, on my way in I was approached by a very wet looking lady on the side of the road who asked if I would be so kind as to help her get her car out of the flood where it was stuck. I agreed of course, and gave her a lift back to her car which was a little Fiat, the Fiat inconsequential I think its called, which was nearly half submerged and as wet inside as it was outside. So I drove the lady through the flood and reversed back in to the water in my Land Rover and pulled her car to safely. A little more towing and she was installed on the village green with her car to await the AA to get her started, not a hard job I would have thought, especially as there was 300 of them in the valley at the time! I drove on to work to open up as normal, when a gentleman approached and told me in no uncertain terms that the car I drive was morally and ethically evil, and I was by association, the devils own relative. A little taken aback I pointed out that it has lower emissions than 50% of modern production saloons, and was dramatically lower in carbon footprints than the new Mini, I also pointed out that with 90 % of the total amount of Land Rovers ever made still functioning, it would be driving and working 40 years after his modern car was rotting in a land fill site . I also highlighted that I didn't live in With that I returned to opening the shop with the gentleman following behind me. Once inside he timidly approached the counter , clearly shocked to see me behind it, and asked in a mouse voice if he could borrow the phone to call the AA as he and his wife had got their car stuck in the floods ! I let him make the call before pointing out that he might want to walk to the green as I thought he may be surprised to see his wife and car there already ! Anyway, that's just another digress on my behalf, but it does illustrate that a) it rained a lot in January and b) people are often total arses. February , has been another mixed bag, but in the main its been fantastic with the very cold weather leading to some nice snow and ice on the very tops but remaining clear with blue skies along with it. Indeed, as I sit writing this there's not a cloud in the sky which is a bright blue and the summit of Scafell and The valley is once again beginning to liven up a little, the first half term week was quiet but still busier than the other winters weeks and its looking set to be a busy Easter, and if the weather continues it will be superb. The bracken is now totally dead of course, and provides its one usefull purpose of the year which is to give a huge red blanket to frame the firey sunsets on Great Gable that we get at this time of year. The lambs have arrived in the fields towards the coast but it will be a while yet before the Herdwick lambs appear in Wasdale. The light as well is fantastic at this time of year, with bright sunsets with the sun low in the sky giving superb reflections in the lake both at sunset and sunrise. Hopefully I'll get some nice photos, I've already got a few which you can find in the new screensaver, but I'm hoping for many more to come. Right that's me all ranted out, I will make a mental note to make sure that I don't rant so much in future and also to update the Wasdale Gazette more often so that Rob, the one reader I know it has, cant whine at me for my tardiness ! October 2005 I write this from the warmth and dryness of my study as I look out at what I can only call "chunks" of rain battering the world outside. To call it rain would be doing it an injustice, these pitter patter rain drops hurt when they hit, it's rain plus, with an attitude. However, I shouldn't complain its November after all, and despite the odd stormy day we have once again had not a bad month. Yes, it put down a months rain in 6 hours a couple of weeks back, and indeed it did gust up to 70 miles an hour on the fells over the weekend and I would have to admit to getting wet a few times on the bike, but..........it could have been much worse for October. The valley still looks resplendent with a covering of leaves remaining on many of the trees now starting to turn golden, but only starting mind you. The bracken thankfully is now dead or dying, and is in most places level with the ground after some windy days. Everywhere now looks like it is beginning to anticipate the winter months, and its been a while coming, the turn is late this year and this is evident in the plants and indeed animals in the valley. Anyway enough about the weather ( for the moment anyway !) October of course is the month of the Wasdale Shepherds meet and show, and this years event was another one to remember. You can of course see the nuts and bolts on the show day page on the site , along with endless photos and some amusing video of the Terrier racing . The day began in the wind and rain ( cant keep away from the weather you see ) and looked set to be a wash out with the National Trust ready with a pump to help with water impingement remedies, this however wasn't needed as the day progressed from poor to radiant and put on a real show for all those who attended I've often thought that the true beauty of the Wasdale valley is not seen on the days when the skies are blue and the screes are reflected in the mirror still waters of the lake, and if indeed there is a true Wasdale day of beauty then this show day was one. The valley went through all its moods in the course of the show, the dark and broody mood with the cloud down at ankle height and a wetness in the air that chills, was the one that we woke up to. Then as the day progressed the cloud never really left completely but the sun shone behind it and the fells appeared clear of cloud in glorious sunshine and then as quickly were covered again in a cloak of white that highlighted the immense domineering beauty of the fells behind and gave an air of mystery to the place. This is the day that the valley looks it best, and boy did it look good on show day. On the ground things were less other worldly, the show was crammed with the traditional elements and also many new attractions, that were enjoyed by all. The animals were judged first and then displayed, and not just sheep there was a good selection of local dog breeds and even the odd goat meandering about. The dogs were raced and judged, the terriers followed a trail onto the fells , the fell runners ran up Kirkfell the hard way in stupidly fast times, and the beer tent was awash with beers brewed 100 yards away at the Wasdale Head Inn. The show day is a good reflection of the valley itself, more than capable of putting on a show if need be and very capable of holding your attention. The show day is late in the season and can often be held in bad weather , but every year the same crowd of locals and visitors alike make the pilgrimage to the valley head and enjoy a great and simple day out. After the show lifes slows down a little as everyone readies themselves for Winter, the nights are drawing in of course and the crowds begin to get less and less. This year will be even quieter than normal as the road is being worked upon and will be closed for some periods of time ( see the main site), but once complete the valley will be all the better for it and all those potholes will be a distant memory. So with October now a memory we've got November to look forward to in the valley and although a quiet month it can often be a good winter weather month, with dare I say it, even a dusting of snow on the ground? Regardless we shall be on the summit of Great Gable on Remembrance Sunday for the service along with hundreds of others no doubt. So if you are approached by a weather beaten chap with a scruffy dog asking you to speak in a microphone for a piece on the service ,then say hello as its me recording a piece to go live on the site , so watch this space....... September 2005 The Turn... For a while it seemed that the Summer was never going to end, the hot days kept on coming, the trees and the bracken stayed green and the Swallows were flying late. This week however, the Autumn has landed with a thump ! The swallows that have been flying around and chirping well into the evening outside our cottage, have smelled the change and gone to warmer places, and the storm clouds have been gathering. Twice last week I got drenched cycling in the valley after setting off in the sun, but despite the rain and the gloom the valley is looking radiant. The rain and the wind seem somehow to have blown the cobwebs away, and with the green still present in the bracken and the autumn light, we have had some stunning vistas. Walking around the foot of the lake this weekend, with clouds gathering over Scafell and Gable , I got to thinking. Here , half way between the YHA and the pump house is a seat, looking directly up the lake at the classic Wasdale view. You couldn't find a better place to sit and think and admire the countryside if you tried, and there was no one else there. However, looking over to the shelter by the road side, were half a dozen cars with the normal crowd of people milling around with cameras and taking pictures . And that's when it struck me, the classic view of the valley is the lazy view ! if you look through the internet, books, magazines , whatever, you will find the view of Wasdale from the cross walls shelter. Its there in all its moods, with filters, clouds, sun, rain the lot, the angle changes, the view alters slightly but all taken within 5 mins walk from the car and the road. I'm guilty of it too, I've taken hundreds of pictures from there, many of them on this site, but its not the right place, its just easy to get too, the right place is on that seat. It was that, that got me thinking, a while ago a friend who worked at the Wasdale Head Inn had a favorite statistic he liked to quote which was that 90 % of the visitors to the Anyway, while I sat there reveling in the realisation of my errors, another thought presented itself ( two thoughts in one day I was on a roll ), location aside , what makes the perfect picture of Wasdale? What captures the essence of the place? To me its not that sunny day with Gable cloudless and the Screes reflecting in the lake. Its a slightly cloudy day , with Gable hidden and the light playing tricks on the Scree and Heather on Whinrigg. You can't see the head, Gables hidden, Yewbarrow looks huge taking the foreground now that the background is hidden, but you know that there's more there, hidden behind the cloud, looming , towering above the lake. That's my memory, my mental picture of Wasdale, and another great reason to return to the seat to sit , and think , and stare. There's plenty of cloud to hide the view as I write this, Autumns in control, with the weather changing between clear and sunny and totally out of control wind and rain. The valleys not quiet though, there's still plenty of visitors, now that the children are back at school a different set of people come to the area. An older set , who are less obtrusive and who mark the slowing down of the season as the end approaches. October sees the Wasdale Head Shepherds meet, followed by the remembrance day service in November on the summit of Gable, and that's it for a few months. Remembrance Sunday was when the local hotels would shut down for the winter in order to carry out maintenance and give the staff and owners alike a well earned break. Nowadays the hotels and shops remain open and a steady trickle of visitors still arrive to enjoy the peace and quiet that the winter brings, but in the main its a quiet, reflective time of year in the valley, and while I love the summer months I also look forward to this time just to be able to sit and think and enjoy the peace. Anyway , enough of my witterings for this month, I will of course be at the show if anyone fancies popping into the barn to say hello ( one sugar in my tea please) and I'll be shivering n the crowd on Great Gable ready to report once again April 2004 - August 2005 The return of the gazette! Well; starting a new edition of the gazette is always difficult, but even more so when the last one was written well over a year ago, and a lot has happened in the intervening' months so this may well be a long edition. Firstly, may I apologies for having not written the gazette for such a long time, I do however have a good excuse, as for a large part of the time between editions I've been away working in the The time away has served to reinforce what others already knew, which is that I don't function very well away from the valley. The Wasdale area is simply the place that I must be, its here that I flourish and I've never found anywhere else that feels the same. But what is the draw? Is it the fells, the landscape, the people, the wildlife or the way of life? Well for me its the sum of the all of them I think. The Midlands are a great place if you look at it on paper, they have country parks, all the services and shops you could ever need' and its right in the middle of the country and so a stone throw from Derbyshire, Wales, the coast and the like. You never have to travel more than 20 Mins to find what you need, its all very convenient. And it's that it boils down to with me, is convenience the be all and end all of things ? I argue not. The Western Lakes is not what you would call a convenient place, its a long haul to the M6 the main access out of the area, the central lakes are an hour away, its a 60 min journey to the shops and back, and the take aways don't deliver ! I argue that it's because of this that life flourishes. We use the butchers for meat, the bakers for our bread, fruit and veg come fresh, we walk to the shop for a paper or a stamp, and in doing so we talk to each other and use local services and a community is built on the fact that life isn't convenient. As I write this I can look out the window and see the screes bathed in Sunshine, and of course want to go and climb them, and they are as much a part of the life as everything else. So for me you can keep fast food and fast living, I'm happy to keep it slow, safe and in the shadows of the fells, even if its not too convenient! Anyway that's plenty about me, philosophy not being my best subject 'I'll leave the meaning of life for another day and return to the subject in hand, i.e. Wasdale. The valley is now entering one of its quiet phases, as the bank holidays have ended, the children are returning to school and the lambing, harvesting and hay making have finished for another year. Its not been a bad year really, plenty of good weather to take the edge off some of the worse storms in memory. We've had the road to the head under 3 feet of water, Lingemell house has been flooded more often than Tim would like, and my mud flaps blew off my landrover in a storm the wind was so strong. The valley though seems to have coped well though, with only a few scars to mark the bad treatment. The summit cairn on Lingmell (itself repaired in the early 90's by the then staff of the Wasdale Head Inn) has collapsed in the winds , down in the dale bridge has lost a lot of its cap stones which fell foul of transit vans driven not as well as they could be, and the bridge to the campsite and been declared unsafe, removed and replaced. The road itself has suffered its own set of traumas as well, built in its current form in the 1970's its suffering badly from erosion and water damage and is set to be repaired completely ( with some considerable disruption) in November of this year. Which leads on to the footpaths, which have taken the normal battering from many happy walkers feet, and a few not so happy . The Lingmell Coll path up to the summit of Scafell Pike is having some major work done to prevent any further damage being done, and is host to the highest JCB in But despite all these ups and owns the valley has coped very well and as the greens of the summer bracken now slowly start to fade to browns, we are entering one of my favorite times of year in the valley. September can be a superb month, if the weather holds we get a long summer to walk in the serenity of a quiet valley, and if it turns and the rains come we get a fantastic demonstration of the force of nature, there's no between in September and Wasdale either shows its teeth or its smile. That's about it really from me, but before I conclude this edition I feel I would be remiss if I didn't have my normal rant at the behavior of a small minority of people who in my mind just don't "get" the valley. Why go into the fells and leave a trail of rubbish behind which then gets collected by people who have some respect for the area? Why light a BBQ on the shoreline and leave areas of burnt and destroyed grass along with bags of rubbish and discarded fag butts? Why park you car, and play the radio so that you can hear it from your picnic spot? Why collect all your rubbish together after your three peak event and leave it by the side of the road? Why go into the fells in city clothing despite the weather and expect to be reduced when you get cold? And finaly, if you can't understand that leaving rubbish is awful, that imposing your music on people enjoying the peace is not on, and damaging a fragile ecosystem so you can cook you sausages is bad ; the why come here in the first place, what are you getting out of it all? Thankfully these actions are in the minority, and even more thankfully the majority of people help to curb the bad effects by picking up rubbish and the like when they see it. It really is beyond me that people can even think about behaving in a way which despoils the area, if that's in your character, what draws you here in the first place? Still the majority enjoy and respect the valley and treat it with the respect and awe it deserves and long may that continue. March / April 2004 Lambs Well once again I'm late in writing the gazette and March has rolled over into April; as usual you have my apologies and I will try to condense nearly two months of Wasdale life into some sort of coherent ramblings! Where to begin?, well the weather is always a good starting point , and what a few weeks we've had, with sun, snow, rain and wind in equal proportion. Just when it looks like summer is on the way I look up only to see snow on the summits and the wind picks up and blasts the leaves from the trees. After a disappointing winter with only a few days of good snow and ice conditions I'm pinning my hopes on a hot and dry summer; last years evening swims in the lake were greatly enjoyed and I look forward to their return. Despite the weather the seasons are marching on and the valley is beginning to green up after the browns and greys of winter. The bracken is thankfully still brown and not reappearing , but the grass is coming into colour and the bird life returning once again. Life too has arrived in the form of new lambs, only the crossbreeds so far but even the Herdwicks are due to arrive this week, and the valley is bursting with life as the ewes now in the intakes and lower fields are bleating their lungs out, either at their young or at another's. I've even had a complaint from a camper that he was awoken at 5am by the sheep - ah the joys of the country life, eh! Annoying and frustrating as the sheep are, its nice to have them back in the valley bottom. Yes, they wake campers up, yes they deliberately lie down in the road in front of your car, and yes they steel your sandwiches, but somehow it just wouldn't be Wasdale without them. The bird life too has returned with goldfinches in the gorse and more alarmingly, a lot of crows and magpies which will not be good for the soon-arriving lambs. A crow or magpie is more than capable of taking a new born lamb and it is a time for the farmers to be ever-vigilant in protecting their flock. It's only since starting to work part time on a farm that I have realised just how vulnerable the new lambs are; the National Park warden and I have a standing joke about the number of signs that appear on the gateposts warning of lambing time and asking people to control their dogs. I had thought them excessive , but having seen now the damage that can be inflicted and the thoughtlessness of some of the owners I have revised my opinion; Chris, you are right to put up the signs. Of course it not just wild life that has returned to the valley; the holiday period is now upon us and with it have returned the people. It's great to see people coming back into Wasdale and enjoying the fells and the nature; however as everywhere we have also had the idiots return. I own a 4x4 vehicle which I use daily for work both on-road and off-road , however it is beyond me to understand those people who take their vehicles for fun off-road in areas that they are not permitted to do so. There are plenty of green lanes and permitted areas for such vehicles, what then goes through the mind of someone who arrives at the lake, an area of outstanding natural beauty and a SSSI, who then proceeds to drive off the road onto the common land and get stuck? Anyone with a brain can see this area is fragile bog, and the mess that was made removing the two vehicles that have done this so far this year will take months to heal. Likewise the ruts left by those who insist on driving down to the lakeside or parking on the verges when there are plenty of proper spaces for vehicles yards away? I for one will be not be sitting by if I see such stupid damage occurring. Still, thankfully idiots are in the minority and the season so far has been a happy one. The rock-fall in Lord's Rake continues to pose a threat but people seem to be avoiding this route; footpath work continues with the National Trust doing some great work on the Let's hope the optimism of Easter continues throughout the year , and let's all hope for a long hot summer. Feb 2004 Winter or Summer? The seasons seem to have been somewhat confused in Wasdale of late with the weather seeming to alternate between summer one day and winter the next! There have been days when the road has been iced up in places and yet the trees are in blossom and the gorse in flower. Indeed a pair of mallard ducks on the lake also seem to be confused as they are swimming around with a clutch of ducklings following closely behind. This has meant that while other parts of the country have been digging themselves out of snow drifts, we have had little more than a dusting on the summits, and the odd patch of ice on the high fells. Winter climbing has as a result been a mad scramble to catch the odd day when the routes are in condition rather than a good season. Still mustn't grumble really, the conditions have led to some great clear days with sun on your back and frost under your feet. I took the opportunity of the good weather to take my son Connor up the Pike this month during the half term break. I should point out that this was not my idea, instead it was his constant requests to climb it that finally made me give way. And what a day we had, we started off up the Brown Tongue path to tuts from a young group behind us saying " we'll get stuck behind them now ", only to leave them behind as we set a steady pace, indeed by the time we got to the beck crossing at the bottom of the tongue, they weren't even at the kissing gate quarter of a mile below, never under-estimate the enthusiasm of youth! We then set a good pace up the fell, stopping only for the odd drink or piece of energy chocolate and made the summit in 3 hours in a light snow shower, another hour and half and we were back in the LandRover drinking hot chocolate. We had a great day, Connor wanted to do the climb and so there was no whinging or moaning , just question after question, " whats that," " why do we go there Dad" " How was that made "......................... , I'm now hoping that Connor we soon be looking after me on the fells instead of the other way round. It reminded me why I love the fells so much, the enthusiasm , and the pure delight in just going for a walk in some of the finest mountains in In the valley it's been a hectic time with the farmers taking advantage of the good weather to repair the walls and fences, and the visitors flocking in first for half term and then for the clear weather. Now however as we enter March the valley becomes quiet again in the run up to Easter which is early this year. So in the quiet patch I intend to get a lot of work done on the site before things get a bit hectic and the web site will slow down as a result. December / Jan 2003/2004 Snow and rain Now that Christmas and New year are over, it is once again time to update the Gazette with some more inane ramblings and thoughts. My new year resolutions for the Gazette are to waffle less, update more regularly and improve my spelling....we'll see! Well as per usual December was a quiet month in the valley and apart from the Christmas and New year celebrations things were moving along slowly here in Wasdale. The main tourist season over we settled into the usual winter weather of rain and wind, not the ideal time for a walk , but looking on the bright side the conditions were perfect for kayaking. Then after periods of seldom seeing a visitor, the speed picked up a little as the Christmas visitors landed. I should perhaps explain what happens here at Christmas as it is something out of the ordinary. As Wasdale does not have a huge shopping centre and scores of pubs lined up together the festive season is not a huge event, but perhaps because of that it is closer to the original spirit. The guest houses and pubs are open for those who like to escape the commercialism and get away from it all, and the Wasdale Head Inn hosts a Baa Humbug break which guarantees no plastic santas or Christmas trees. That's not to say the people who come are miserable, far from it, they just want to do Christmas on their own terms and as a result the same people come back year after year. So as people arrived it was like a reunion as past friends caught up on the news of the year, and those new visitors were warmly invited into the family. The spirit was happy and friendly , not busy or commercial, just friendly. Christmas day dawned and it was raining, but not put off, a large congregation gathered in St.Olaf's for the 11.30am service . This is a family service and children warmly welcomed by one and all, it is a truly great event, not stuffy and to me is just how a Christmas service should be. Once the worship was over everyone ran to avoid the rain into the Wasdale Head Inn for mulled wine and mince pies. Perfect. The rain didn't really give up until the New year when snow and ice arrived, snow on the fells and ice on the roads. Everyone visiting got excited and ice axes and crampons were dug out of the garage and polished and sharpened in readiness for a huge dump of snow and superb winter conditions on the fells. Hope springs eternal as they say, but it was not to be and by the dawn of New years day, most of the snow had gone, and the remnants were turning to slush in the wind and rain. And that is how it has remained pretty much since then, rain and wind with the odd clear day between. I'm perhaps in the minority , but I love the winter weather and while everyone else is hoping that we don't get a snow storm, I am positively longing for it. So fingers crossed for a great Jan & Feb with HUGE amounts of snow to play in on the fells, just keep an eye on the webcam. Happy New Year Wasdale Gazette October / November 2003 Cameras, Canoes & Camping Well the first thing I need to do is apologise, which is not a good way to start! I'm afraid in my attempt at rewriting the website code to ensure it fits well across all sorts of viewing platforms , I forgot to write an October gazette. To say life has been hectic would be an understatement, life in the valley has been slowing down as it does at this time of the year, but virtually the web site has been growing and expanding rapidly. The most obvious change of course is the arrival of the Great Gable Web cam which is now recording everything that happens every 10 mins, if you haven't had a look do so, we can just see a dusting of snow today so the reward will be good. Also keep a eye out as in the very near future we shall also see a Scafell Pike webcam which will see all three of the highest peaks in the Anyway enough about computers and websites, they are after all just a way to look at and find info about the valley, and it is the valley itself which is all important. This time of year is magical in Wasdale as the lush growth of the summer (and what a summer ) starts to die back and the greens are replaced with reds and browns. The bracken, horrid stuff, has now all but wilted and shows its one redeeming feature, which is to make a carpet of browns and tans against which the red winter sunsets on Gable can be framed. The sunsets at this time of year are superb, Gable glows iridescent red, the Screes shine with a purple shimmer and Perfect. I like winter, not that the summer was bad, but give me cold fresh days with a blanket of snow, over hot summer days anytime. I enjoyed the summer swims in Wastwater at the end of each day, but I truly look forward to winter walks in the high fells. It has become a bit of a custom that as soon as the snow arrives I start going for long fell walks after work in the dark. If you have never tried night walking in winter then I would recommend you give it a go (assuming you are able and happy with the navigation of course!). The mixture of snow and moonlight, and of course the absence of any other people, is both humbling and inspiring in equal amounts and I can hardly wait for the snow to arrive in full. It's strange that I tend to walk further and longer on night walks than I do during the days in summer, night walking tends to highlight things that you haven't seen before and of course you have time to reflect. We have had a dusting now though , so it looks set to be a good year. Unfortunately we have to go through the slushy and wet period of weather first but you can't have everything. Anyway enough about the weather, the valley has of course slowed down a little of late as the guests and visitor numbers have dropped. The valley is of course still very much open and all people are very welcome but as the weather gets colder and the days get shorter life does slow down. The sheep have all been gathered in the main, and the cattle are sheltered for the winter, and even the hardy few campers that arrive are trustled up in down jackets and 5 season sleeping bags. Wasdale has a unique winter system, given that we are so close to the coast we very rarely get very bad winter conditions on the ground at sea level but move up a couple of hundred feet and the snow can be there in abundance Come and visit, have a look and enjoy the snow, and even if you do get snowed in and have to delay your departure, there could be worse places to be trapped! And of course while everyone else prays for a mild winter I shall be doing my snow dance and wishing for an early ice age to set in. Gulf stream, pah! who needs it? Anyway that's about it really from Wasdale, the pace has slowed , the days shortened and life eased a little. We are now looking forward to a nice Christmas spent in such a wonderful spot, and if you have time or fancy a change dig out your warm gear and head for Wasdale for Christmas, I may even buy you a pint on Christmas day! The Wasdale Gazette September 2003 Auctions, Rain & Helicopters Apologies for a later than normal gazette this month, things have been a tad hectic here in Wasdale and with the WasdaleWeb in particular, and so I completely forgot to write a new one ! You would assume that September would be a quiet month here in the valley but far from it this year, as even though the total numbers of visitors has started to decrease after the summer rush, the number of events seems to have increased. This month we have had the Mountain Rescue fund raising weekend, the Scafell and the Lingmell fell races, as well as the Wasdale show (OK so that's in October but like I said I'm late at writing this) and we have also played host to 2 sea king helicopters practicing in the fells. All in all the time seems to have flown by. Where to begin with so much happening ? well how about the MRT weekend seeing as I organised it. Once a year we hold a weekend of events designed to raise money for the team and this years event was in September. A marquee was hired and erected behind the pub, bands were booked, treasure hunts planned, displays organised, auction gear scrounged and by the time the weekend arrived, we were all set to have a great time and then the rain came . Now for months we have had no rain, the wells have been drying up, the lake has been shrinking and the sun has been out, but on the Friday of our event the skies opened and it poured. Still undeterred we held an evening of music in the marquee which stood up much better to the rain this year than it did last year, and when we all staggered off to bed the clouds had gone and we were hopefull for a better day on Saturday. Dawn broke Saturday and guess what, it rained again, proper Wasdale rain, horizontal, diagonal and stair rods! The result was that we couldn't do the displays, the dog handling seminar could not go ahead and the tin shaking was a wet and not overly successfull affair . Still we were hopeful that the clouds would part at some stage , and then the final nail came.........our pagers went off. A gentleman had sustained a broken ankle on Slightside in Eskdale on his way down from Scafell, and so we quickly packed everything back into the vehicles , put on our new waterproofs and headed round to the next valley to the rescue. The gentleman was located after an hours walk in, treated and then carried off to the waiting ambulance and thankfully was warm and dry very quickly. We then headed wet and weary back to Wasdale to carry on with the fundraising , still undeterred the evenings events were held and the auction was indeed a success and raised over six thousand pounds for the team, so it was after all a very worthwhile weekend even if it didn't go exactly to plan. It must be a British trait, but surely no where else in the world would a group of wet people gather in a big tent in the aid of a good cause determined to have a good time regardless, my heartfelt thanks goes out to all those people who turned up and joined in and made a wet weekend a success. My apologies also go to those people who turned up on Saturday to see the team and found a wet marquee with a group of helpers in it and a sign saying "sorry there is nothing to see, we are on a rescue", that is after all the nature of the beast, we go when we are needed regardless of what we have on, but apologies never the less. The Sunday after the auction was a more sombre day as it marked the 100th anniversary of the Scafell pinnacle disaster when 4 young climbers fell to their deaths on the pinnacle (click here) .To mark this event we held a memorial service followed by a walk up to the pinnacle to lay a wreath and pay our respects, and of course it rained. But is was good to see a group of 10 prepared to honour the memory of these lads and spend a day trekking up to their memorial, as they say on remembrance day "lest we forget" , well on that day we didn't and hopefully somewhere looking down were 4 young men who lifes were remembered. And that was that for the rain, for the rest of the month we had mainly sun and wind. The RAF came and based a helicopter in the field by the pub, much to the amusement and delight of the passing tourists , as they flew in and out the mountains and landed close by to the sound of camera shutters. The fell races too went well with some superb times being recorded, 40 mins to the top of Lingmell and back and 50 mins to the top of Scafell Pike and back, almost inhuman these fell runners. And then we held the show, and of course it rained once again. The show was however a great success as the shepherds and visitors alike gathered to watch the fell race (Kirkfell and back) , the hound trails, wrestling, sheep and much more. The rain didn't seem to dampen the spirits and the field filled up with people coming to one of the last shows of the year. The show day is always a good day, it marks the end of the season more or less, and the farmers and other valley folk all come together for the one day and just enjoy all things Wasdale. And why not where else in The Wasdale Gazette August 2003 Bank holidays, sun, and idiots with fires Well that's it , all the bank holidays have been used up and the Autumn calm has now descended upon the valley, after a busy and on the whole superb August. The last Bank holiday is normally the busiest of the lot here in Wasdale and this year it was no exception. The local campsites were full by Friday morning and by Saturday you would have been very lucky indeed to get a pitch anywhere in the National park and the result was a lot of semi wild camping (more of that later !). There were literally hundreds upon hundreds of walkers and climbers based in the valley enjoying a hot and sunny weekend, along with similar numbers just sitting back and relaxing by the lake. It got me wondering if the Bank Holiday was a British phenomenon or if other countries had them also? The logic is great, give everyone a long weekend off so that they can go and enjoy themselves without the worry of going back to work on Monday, but the reality is somewhat differant. This year the motor ways were jammed up with traffic as everyone fled the cities and headed for the hills, then once there the peace loving fellwalkers struggled to get a campsite and then spent the weekend as part of a huge mass of people trying desperately to avoid each other ! No not for me the bank holiday break, I'm glad to be working them and having the time off at a less hectic time of year. Still everyone did enjoy themselves, the campsites were well behaved as everyone respected each others space and need for a good nights sleep, and the pubs although busy were still friendly and relaxed places. It was a happy place to be this year and now that they hoards have departed and the schools gone back, Wasdale feels strangely empty. There was however one down side to the bank holiday this year that really got under my skin, and that was the idiots with fires. Because the campsites were full many people were forced to spend the nights wild camping, and the majority did so discreetly and with sympathy for their surroundings, having a great couple of days in the wild, but not all. All along the length of Wastwater there were tents pitched by the shore, most were gone in the morning with little or no sign of ever having been there, but a dozen or so left leaving fire places burnt and scared into the earth! What possesses a person to come to a beautifull part of the country only to then light an open fire, burning whatever they can lay their hands on ( trees, fences, signs ect...) and then pack up and go home leaving a huge mess that will take years to heal? It is beyond my comprehension, luckily the National Trust did a great job of repairing the damage so that in most places it is hard to see where the fires were, but that for me is not the point. There were dozens of other campers staying out that night who could have had a fire but had the sense not to, only the idiots ignored all common sense and destroyed parts of the most beautiful lake shore in the It must be said that the idiots were in the minority and August this year has been on the whole fantastic. The sun has shone and the rain for the most part stayed away. The valley has bloomed with a bumper harvest of purple Ling heather blanketing the Screes, Yewbarrow and Scafell, and adding a splash of colour to brighten up the views. Its amusing that the fell with the least amount of this heather was the one which should have the most. Lingmell , the fell of heather was blessed with only one small patch of purple this year, but that sort of makes sense for Wasdale! While the heather has bloomed the bracken which is normally still in full growth has started to die and turn golden at the edges after all the sunny weather. Nature too seems to have enjoyed the sun and while the lake level has dropped the wildlife seems to have flourished. The house martins and Swallows have been massing at the head and on the lake we have had at least four pairs of great crested Grebes ducking and diving along the length of Wastwater. There has however been no further mention of the Wasdale Puma, must be the hot weather keeping it at home :) And that is about it for August, the path repair teams have continued to do a stirling job on Great Gable, The Wasdale Gazette July 2003 Warm water and Helicopters It has to be said that on occasion it rains in Wasdale. The Eskimos have 100 words for snow apparently, and here in the valley we have more than that to describe rainfall, due largely it has to be said to the amount of time people spend discussing it. As a result the most commonly heard sentence in the valley has to be, "Does it ever stop raining here?" Closely followed by "Do you know I've been coming to Wasdale for 40 years and I've never seen the summit of Great Gable". Well not this year, indeed this month the most heard comment has been "Excuse me do you sell sunblock" along with "Excuse me I seem to have turned the colour of a lobster, do you have any after sun by chance?" as a very close second. The sun has come out and with it, so have the people in shorts and sun hats and on occasion very little else. Indeed it has been so hot that they lake shore has become the Costa dell Sol and the becks have become swimming pools, and perhaps even more surprisingly the water has actually been warm, and I don't mean warm for Wasdale but genuinely warm for anywhere. It has been superb, I've even taken to having a swim myself on my way home just to cool down a tad, of course it can't last and all too soon we will no doubt return to the normal Wasdale environment, but at the moment a quick dip on the journey home has become the norm. The thing is, fun though the sunny weather of July and the cooling swims have been, I do prefer the sultry mask and changeable pattern that you normally fine here in the summer. It's not that I'm some sort of miserable fun hater, its just that to my mind a touch of cloud adds so much to the view that it is worth missing out on the sunshine for. The cloud when it is low and swirling in Wasdale, highlights the crags and defines the fells silhouette, so that each day something new is added to view and sense of magic falls over the entire area. Give me that over a perfectly clear sunny day anytime, but then again I'm sure that I am probably alone in that view as the 100's of extra visitors this month bear testimony too. It's not just visitors that have increased in number this month either, the good weather has brought with it fast and furious activity by the footpath repair teams. The white bags of rock that have been creating so much interest of late have now magically been gathered up into straight lines on the paths they are being used to repair. This in itself has continued to create interest and wild speculations, but of far more interest has been the activity of the helicopters used to move these huge bags of rock. These little commercial machines have been whizzing up and down the valley lifting huge loads with seamless ease for the last few weeks now. And whenever they have landed either at a farm or in the field behind the Wasdale Head Inn,they have attracted around them huge groups of people eager to have a look. All in all they have created quite an uproar when ever they have been working, not neccessairly in keeping with the quiet and peacefull valley but interesting and needed never the less. July has also seen the plant life taking the opportunity of the warm humid spell, to bloom and grow with bracken and heather springing up and up with renewed force. The once bare fell sides are now teaming with plant life and of course the insect life that comes along with it. This year has been a bumper year for both midges and ticks alike with the sale of chemical preparations going through the roof since last month as people have tried in vain to keep them at bay. But we shouldn't grumble to much as with this boom in insect life we have also seen an increase in the amount of bird life as well, with over a 120 differant species spotted in the valley last month alone. My favorite being a pair of Great Crested Grebes who have taken up residence on the lake, I can sit and watch them diving and playing on the water for hours on end but they have always moved on when I've started swimming to join them ! And who knows if this boom in animal life has been responsible for the emergence of a monster here in Wasdale ! Yes believe it or not it was reported in the local paper this month, that we now have a wild Puma hunting in the fells and valley floor. A black Puma like creature has been seen running thought he valley before disappearing into the bracken or fells. Now call me a sceptic if you will , but there are rather a lot of small black creatures in the bracken at the moment and we call them Lambs! But hey who knows perhaps there is a wild cat hunting in the valley, and while we are at it why not spot a monster in the lake as well, it hasn't done Loch Ness any harm at all has it? Anyway the summer is moving on and July seems to have flown by in no time at all, it will soon be time for the Wasdale show and final bank holiday , and then into the long winter months once again. But that doesn't matter each month brings with it new joys, as well as dislikes and I personally enjoy them all no matter what the weather brings. Now where did I put my shorts................. The Wasdale Gazette June 2003 Plastic sheep June is a great month in Wasdale, of course every month has its own mood, but for some reason June stands out a little as being just that bit special. And the reason? well to my mind it is when the valley truly starts too come to life after the winter. Easter is the time when the visitors begin to come back to the valley, but its not until June that the campsites and car parks start to fill up, as tourists and locals alike begin to rediscover the delights of Wasdale. And its not just in terms of people that things speed up, the landscape changes in June as the browns and greys of the winter begin to be replaced with fresh growth and blankets of green. Even the Screes, famous for being dark and brooding find a lighter side with the bracken and heather bringing them alive in bursts of colour. And this years crowning glory has been the weather, OK so we have had some rain, but on the whole the sun has been shining and the clouds have been clear, we even managed two picnics on the lake shore in two weeks, which is a record for us. And it's not just me, others too have noticed how the feel in the valley changes with the arrival of the years new growth and the influx of people. The atmosphere is noticabley different as life begins to return, of course Wasdale is superb at any time of the year, but once people are here the mood lifts. Perhaps it is because the people who arrive here are so generally awed by the valley and happy to be here, that a little bit of their joy rubs off ? Or it could be the remoteness of the valley compared to the likes of Langdale and Borrowdale , which mean that in the main those people who come to Wasdale do so because they genuinely want to be here, and not just because it is a tick on a list of places to visit whilst in the Lakes? Whatever the reason is the valley takes on a different feel in June from that to be found in all of the other From the upper class climbing parties of the eighteen hundreds, to the university mountaineering clubs of today, people arrive in the valley and make it their home for a few days. The normal pace of everyday life then slows down to join Wasdale time and as a result people are relaxed and generally happy, the whole atmosphere of the area becomes one that is pleasant to be in, and that on the whole begins in June. This year we've also had another influx into the valley, one which has had people puzzled all month. Small white dots have appeared all over the fell sides, too small for tents but much too big to be sheep or birds and the result has been much speculation and debate as to the origins and purpose of these objects. Wild theories have been bandered around, with some saying they are a form of hill art, others suggesting huge flocks of seagulls, one hapless chap was even overheard being told that they were plastic sheep positioned on the fell to replace those killed during the foot and mouth epidemic! The truth of course is much less interesting in that they are in fact white one ton bags , full of rock that the National trust is using to repair the footpaths. Never the less it has provided, and continues to provide much argument and amusement in the valley, personally I favour the huge flocks of ten foot high seagulls invading the mountains theory :) The usual rush of three peaks events also arrived , with thousands trudging up the Brown tongue path during the night to raise money for a host of differant causes, this year has been one of the better years, as many have chosen to come during the day and in smaller numbers in an attempt to minimise the impact they have. But still lots have arrived and continue to arrive during the night with all the associated problems that brings, indeed I have collected a huge amount of litter this year, more than normal. It is a state of mind that bemuses me, why on earth come all the way to the most beautifull area in the country, and then desicrate it by leaving bags of litter blowing about in the wind? Still thankfully these episodes are from the minority and on the whole most do their best to leave the place as they find it. The warm weather has also brought a rush in the numbers of people enjoying the lake, and on occasion this month you would have been pushed to find a single beach area on the whole of the shore without a family enjoying the scenery and a picnic. The number of campers also increased, with all the sites looking full for most of the time. Of course the downside to camping in June is the army of little biting creatures that the new growth of bracken brings, likened to the Scottish midge the Wasdale variety is indeed a hardy creature and not the most pleasant companion. So if you do visit us in June I would recommend industrial strength midge spray , as if you are the only one on the campsite without it , you could find yourself host to a lot of unwanted attention! Still all things come at a price and if the price of all this superb weather is a few midges then so be it, the good weather, the people enjoying and appreciating the area, and of course the huge flocks of plastic sheep roaming around the fell sides, have made this June one to remember, and hopefully it has set the pattern for the rest of the summer. Fingers crossed.
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