A new crag for us, near Thirlmere, not extensive but worth a visit.
The road around Thirlmere is still closed, but that means it can be used as a car park – why not? We drove up to the barrier and positioned ourselves as close to the wall as possible. Perfect!
We opted for the ridge route to the upper crag, with an abseil descent. It was a bit of a slog with tired legs from yesterday’s bike ride, but we had the hill to ourselves and beautiful views.
We found a good abseil point which took us just left of our chosen route, Red Dwarf, a three star E1. There is another abseil which we hadn’t spotted at first, which takes you down the line of the route.
The route itself was a bit dirty, I had a coughing fit after inhaling some dried moss, but it was good fun. Pete made it look easy as usual.
We only did the one route because I wanted to have time to explore the shrinking reservoir. We stopped at Wythburn Church car park – I can’t believe I’ve never stopped there before – and took our life in our hands crossing the road to the reservoir. The water is low.
Climbing and sightseeing over, it was time to get back for Sunday roast.