Patterdale Walking

Saturday

I’d arranged to meet one of my work colleagues, Chris, on Saturday to help him learn a little navigation…

Chris is fairly new to whole hill-walking thing, but has enthusiastically booked himself on to a Kilimanjaro trek early next year. I suggested that he needs to get fit to make sure he does’t fail or hate the experience. With that in mind I’ve given him a proposed list of training objectives for the coming months. But Chris then asked, “How will I find my way round the Langdale Pikes Pete?” Only then did I realise he’d never used an OS map before. So I offered to teach him the basics, and thus a day out in Patterdale was planned… Our friends Chris and Helen joined us for the weekend.

Sunday

The rain was still falling on Sunday morning as forecast. And with that forecast we had arranged to meet Chris and Helen in Patterdale for some gill scrambling. Hoggets Gill was the chosen route. Gill scrambling was a good choice if only because you always fail to notice how heavy the rain is and how damp you are getting because the water in the gill is pouring down the sleeves of your jacket!

After we reached the top of Hoggets Gill, and we spent a few minutes enjoying our sandwiches on a convenient grassy lookout, we made our way across to Dove Crag to poke around looking for the Priests Hole…

After all that activity it was time for the time honoured post-adventure reward: tea and cakes. Back in Ambleside enjoying our cakes we got on to analysing Helen’s need for new waterproofs. Her trousers in particular were long past their best, having served three generations of her family well in the hills! But it was the debate about whether a waterproof jacket was rightfully called an “anorak” or not that was most fun. After some Googling – as promised – we can now confirm that Chris does not wear a “gay beaded item worn by Greenland women or brides in the 1930s”!