Footpaths Are For Wimps: Nethermost Pike
Friday 31/5/2019 to Sunday 2/6/2019
The members of the walking group Footpaths Are For Wimps - a group of seasoned walkers - drove from various parts of the Northwest to Glenridding on Friday afternoon and evening. Our plan was to walk (some might say hike) up to Eagle Crag, then further up to Nethermost Pike then on to Cock Cove, over The Tongue, and up to Dollywagon Pike then back down past Ruthwaite Lodge. Things didn't go quite to plan, but please read on.
Also; we didn't make up these names, but yes it was why we decided to do this route ;)
We've stayed at the Gillside campsite numerous times. I think because it's got a good butty van and is near enough to a nice pub.
Friday afternoon I arrived at Gillside campsite and the weather was horrendous. It was extremely windy as I drove on to the site and met Iain who had already pitched his tent. I walked up to the farmhouse with Dave, who had also just arrived and paid the campsite fees. £12 per night is great.
We walked back to the camp and wondered whether it was a good idea to pitch our tents or not. The wind was blowing so strong and Iain informed us that his tent pole had snapped in the wind. So as he attempted to fix his tent, Dave and I started to pitch our tents. The weather was so bad that we all jumped into my car for half an hour to see if the wind would subside.
It was still a mammoth task when we decided to start as the extremely strong wind was preventing us from pitching them. After a lot of struggling we managed it. All three of us also pitched Jen's tent - she was arriving later after she'd finished work. I brought along a 6-man tent for us to use as a communal tent. Pitching this one was hilarious. The wind took the tent and it dragged 3 of us up the field, so much so that 3 guys came to help us. With the 6 of us, we managed to pitch it. With spare poles from one of the tents, Iain managed to prop up his broken tent.
My tent was oddly shaped, but in the wind we had, it was the best we could do.
We unpacked our cars and set to making tea (some people call it dinner lol). I fried some sausage and buttered some bread. Nothing like a good sausage butty and a cup of tea.
MasterChef lol
The remainder of Friday, once Jen turned up, constisted of drinking and chatting. I made a hot water bottle and put in my sleeping bag. Never done this before but it's definitely the way to go 👍🏼😁
I went to bed about 23:45 and I left the other three up drinking.
Saturday morning I was woken at 8:01 am by Jen who was happy as Larry shouting "Good Morning!". We all got up and got dressed. Then whilst Jen made her fry-up breakfast us guys, after a quick loo stop we headed for the catering van. Sausage and bacon barm for me with a cup of tea (are you getting an idea of my diet? lol) Delicious. Got back to the tents where I made another cup of tea and then we all put our boots on ready for our walk.
Planned Route
Iain, Dave, Jen, Paul
We set off around 10 am from the campsite and made our way for our walk. The route above was what we were supposed to be taking but it didn't quite go that way. Iain has a GPS device which has mapped our actual route (see below). As you can see at the start there is a bit of backtracking. This was due to Jen having an issue with her knee and she had to return to camp. At times during the walk, I wish I had too lol. It was extremely tough going. Our original plan had to be changed because as we reached 100 metres from the top of Nethermost Pike and start our way back down. The weather closed in so fast. We couldn't see the bottom or the top and the weather was battering us.
Actual Route
Bad weather halted our ascent
We made our way back down and when we were out of the wind and rain we had our consolation shot of Whiskey. We usually have a shot of Whiskey at the summit - a kind of tradition.
So, anyway we made our way down and on the way we stopped at a waterfall where we thought it would be fun to stick our heads into the freezing water 👍🏼😁
Quite Refreshing shower
We then continued down off the fell and another few hours later we got back to the camp. My feet were burning but a quick change of clothes and put my trainers on and we walked to the pub with Jen who had a nice chilled out day in her tent. Cheers! Another tradition of ours is to wear our "footpaths are for wimps" custom made wristbands.
Back to the camp and a few drinks later two of us decided to take our tents down and put them away whilst it was dry. We both slept in our cars. We had noticed that the weather was supposed to be terrible again and with how the weather was like on Friday we didn't take any chances.
Woke up Sunday morning and the sun was shining although it has rained heavily during the night. I had a shower and came back to make my breakfast. The heavens opened and I was so glad I'd already put my tent down. Iain was the only one to have to pack his tent away in the pouring rain lol.
Once packed up we all decided to take a trip to Keswick. Shopping for walking gear seems to be another tradition for these types of weekends haha. This time though it was me who spent up. I bought a new rucksack, walking socks and tent pegs. We then went to The Puzzling Place a fun place of weird and wonderful illusions. After that, we all went home.
Click to view photos.
