This year's annual Explorers New Year meet was in a holiday cottage (well, 3 actually) at the Coniston Coppermines
30th: Pete made an early start (8am) for a gentle morning run up Wetherlam.
The cloud base was at about 500m, but nearing the South Summit, there were a few glimpses of sunshine...
...and tantalising views across the top of the cloud towards Fairfield. At this point I thought I was at the top of Wetherlam and therefore this would be the best view of the day.
But I was pleasantly surprised when the path continued upwards and I was treated to the following from the real summit:
Coniston Old Man:
Hellvellyn & Fairfield:
Scafells:
Swirl How:
Langdale Pikes:
The plan had been to head straight back to the cottage, but I couldn't resist
nipping up Swirl How for a second bite of the cherry.
This is the view looking back towards Wetherlam:
By now, some of the cloud to the north had cleared, giving an atmospheric panorama: (scroll right -> )
and a clear view of the Scafell group:
Later in the day: A walk with the youngsters, who were encouraged along the way with visits from the Chocolate Fairy.
Adrian (2¼):
Collecting icicles.
The Chocolate Fairy's cave.
31st: A bimble around Tarn Hows in freezing fog (while others were enjoying a total cloud inversion on the Fairfield horseshoe. Grrr.)
Emily with Iona (3¾):
Elena (7 months):
The frost formed fascinating spikes all over the trees.
Matthew (the newest member of the group, at 2 weeks):
The children got to eat their New Year's Eve pizzas before the rest of us, after making name flags for everyone's pizza order.
Sophie (2½):
Then they had their own New Year's party, including Pass the Parcel.
The many faces of Joseph (6 months - doesn't he look like his Dad?!).
New Year fireworks.
1st Jan 2009.
Gwyn & family had to drive back to Scotland at lunchtime, so we grabbed another
quick pre-breakfast jaunt (on New Year's Day - I know!).
The views weren't quite as special, but we enjoyed the run (up Coniston Old Man
and Swirl How).
The girls loved playing with Iona - so much that they started to pick up her Scottish accent by the end of the week!
The group photo was spoiled by some joker...
...but we got a good one in the end. Click here for a full-resolution image (6MB).
After lunch, we went for a short family walk. Looked out from the
cottage and saw a suitable small hill ("The Bell", 330m) and decided to make
that our objective.
The going was icy and scrambly - in other words, great fun. Here we are on
the top pointing back at the cottage.
On the way back we narrowly avoided a soaking while crossing the river.
2nd Jan: Swirl How
Having successfully conquered "The Bell Mountain" (as it is now known), we
decided we were ready to be a bit more adventurous.
Pete planned a walk in the style of Dora the Explorer, with the route broken
into sections - first to the frozen lake, then up to the windy ridge, then to
the mountain top.
This time we're talking about a real mountain though - Swirl How (804m).
The first part of the walk was familiar, as it went past the Chocolate Fairy cave.
Emily was impressed by this waterfall, so she took a picture of it.
It doesn't quite show up here, but Lever's water was a thick sheet of ice,
which made interesting noises when you threw ice or rocks on it.
Having achieved our first objective we pressed on up the climb to Levers Hawse,
stopping for lunch halfway up.
Still in good spirits, although it took a bit of effort to get our legs going again after the stop.
The wind gradually picked up the higher we got, and we began to wonder if
we'd make it.
Thankfully when we reached the ridge there were patches of shelter from the
wind, allowing us to stop and refuel with cake.
By this point, returning down the way we came seemed the harder option, so we carried on to the top of Swirl How (seen here in the background).
We did reach the summit (honestly!), but it was too cold, too windy, and
getting too late to stop for a photo-shoot.
The girls did fantastically well to make it all the way to the top under their
own steam, but some carrying was necessary to get down before dark.
All in all, a great team effort, and well deserving of a hot chocolate on our return (generously donated by Mark).
