Despite the less than perfect forecast this past weekend was a particularly busy one with loads of diverse activities including:
- an introduction to open water swimming,
- enjoying excellent company and great food at the SMC meet at RLH in Langdale,
- scrambling in the rain on Pavey Ark, and
- the launch of the new Langdale guidebook.
Coniston Water
Laetitia has been enjoying her open water swimming this past summer, and now she has dragged me in too! “Dragged” is the right term for this as I can tell you getting in to the cold water of a Lakeland lake is not easy for a land lover like me. And to think the water is relatively warm at this time of year and real open water swimmers go in wearing just their trunks! :freeze: Anyway, I’m not a very strong swimmer but I had expressed interest in the activity from the point of view of enjoying another aspect of the Lake District’s beauty. Viewing the fells from the middle of a lake is wonderful. However, I do find it quite scary to think about the consequences of getting tired or cold so far from the shore and so totally out of my depth. So before my introduction in Coniston Water on Saturday I insisted we stop and buy a drag-along buoy for safety. It’s something to hang on to for a rest, and offers enhanced visibility. This latter aspect is especially useful on a day like Saturday when the rain was hammering onto the surface of the lake creating a kind of mist at the perfect height to conceal a swimmer from other water borne craft.
SMC Meet at RLH and scrambling in the Rain over Pavey Ark
On Saturday evening we were booked on the SMC meet at the Wayfarer hut, RLH, in Langdale. This is a super sociable catered meet run by our friend Dick. Unfortunately the combination of beer, gin and tonic, wine, and scotch meant I was very much worse off on Sunday morning! Although the initially dry morning weather quickly showed signs of deteriorating to showers. Hence a plan was hatched to go for a scramble up the classic Jack’s Rake on Pavey Ark. This plan had the added attraction of not being too demanding of my hammering head! 😳
Langdale Guidebook Launch
Sunday evening saw us at the Stickle Barn in Langdale for the FRCC‘s first ever formal guidebook launch party – after many many hours of work by Max and his team the latest and greatest Langdale guidebook is done! It’s a brilliant book and should make finding, climbing, and enjoying some of Lakeland’s best rock climbing a great deal easier! (Although it is a bit embarrassing how many of our photographs have found their way in to the guidebook! I can only guess the editorial team didn’t have that many other photo submissions to work with. Not that they are bad pictures – we of course think they’re great pictures – it’s just that there are quite a few!)
In just a few days time you’ll be able to go here to buy your copy of the new Langdale guidebook!
I only once attempted Jack’s Rake but retired shortly after the start due to vertigo. I really wanted to do it too.
Pete, you missed a trick. Looking at the waves on the water all you had to do was wait, on shore, until the ‘arbitrary spot’ of water came to you. Try it next time if you want to keep your feet dry, just don’t tell Tish I suggested it :zip:
Hi
Lucky for some 😀
I’m member of both clubs and still couldn’t get a place on the meet 🙁
Well Terry you do have a habit of leaving things to the last minute – better to commit early perhaps…