Huw Griffiths: 2013

Time for another trip to the Lake District!

September is a great month to go because the campsites are relatively empty and the weather can still be quite pleasant. So after following the weather forecast for a while, a stretch of several days fine weather towards the end of September became apparent, and I went for it.

Day One: Set up camp at Castlerigg campsite near Keswick and then went up Cat bells (451m) - a popular ridge walk on the west side of Derwent Water; an hour to the summit and then followed the lakeside path back to the start point. (Click on photos to view them in full size)

View from Castlerigg campsite near Keswick

Day Two: Hay Stacks (597m) is reputed to have one of the best summit views in the Lake District. The five hour slog began at Buttermere with a 3 mile walk along Buttermere lake and the valley before a steep climb up to Hay Stacks. As often happens, the path became less than clear and I found myself scrambling up a gully before working my way round to the summit with spectacular views on all sides.

The photo above shows the end of Buttermere lake with Fleetwith Pike (648m) rising in the foreground. Haystacks is slightly off the right of the photo.

Here I am on the summit of Hay Stacks with Buttermere lake and Crummock Water in the background.

Innominate Tarn with Great Gable two miles away in the background - the view looking SE from Haystacks.

The sun had just set, and this view from the west side of Buttermere lake on the return part of the walk was certainly worth a photo.

Day Three: After yesterday's long walk, I decided it might be nice to do a spot of gliding, but the winds were light and SE which presented a challenge in finding somewhere suitable to fly. Binsey hill (447m) near Bewaldeth, a few miles north of Bassenthwaite Lake is a recommended flight site, but the contours make this more of a slope for SW/ S winds.

Here's the wonderful view looking south from Binsey hill, with Bassenthwaite Lake three miles away and Skiddaw looming on the left of the picture. I didn't fly there in the end as the wind was too light and unpredictable, but it was worth the climb for the view.

Back at base camp, this was the evening sky, looking west towards the Derwent Fells.

Day Four: Another fantastic day of blue skies and perfect conditions. This photo was taken while walking up Dodd (491m), which is a beautiful little mountain on the SW side of Skiddaw Forest, a few miles from Keswick. It is surrounded by forest and has the most charming views from the top.

Derwent Water over Dodd Wood from the summit approach of Dodd.

Panoramic photo of Bassenthwaite Lake from the summit of Dodd (3 miles NW of Keswick)

In the later afternoon it was definitely time to do some gliding. So with the wind blowing from the ESE, a study of the maps suggested Souther Fell (522m) seven miles to the east of Dodd should give some superb slope soaring.

And here is the view from Souther Fell looking SE towards Great Mell Fell (537m), a little over 3 miles away. My MULTIPLEX SOLIUS glider (2.2m wingspan ) had a great flight on one of the biggest slopes I have ever flown, as can be seen in these next two photos. It was one heck of a climb up there, and in retrospect I think it might have been better to have given the east face of Latrigg a go instead, which although semi-forested on the lower slopes, can at least be reached by car with relative ease.

Slope soaring on Souther Fell looking across to Great Mell Fell.

Slope soaring on Souther Fell.

Here I am on the summit of Souther Fell; the final shot of the holiday. It might look warm but it certainly wasn't!

Bwlch lies midway between the Brecon Beacons and the Black Mountains in south Wales. I'd heard that it was a particularly good place to fly with superb lift and parking near the flight site, so I thought I'd give it a go. The actual recommended flight site is on the edge of a large bowl, a couple miles west of Treorchy. By chance, my trip just happened to coincide with the the National Slope Soaring Championships which turned out to be something of a mixed blessing; on the one hand it was interesting to see the pros flying their super-fast carbon fuselage gliders whistling through the air at astonishing speeds, while on the other hand it meant that I had to fly further along the bowl so as not to infringe their airspace. Still, the weather made up for it, as did some phenomenal lift. It was a fair distance to go to fly the slopes of Bwlch, but it was worth doing, and I camped there overnight.