A weekend on the hills

A while back Matt and I realised we had a mutually free date in our diaries. After getting over the shock, we decided that it need filling, and agreed that a wild camp would fit in nicely.

Fast forward about 5 weeks, and, after some kicking round, in "The Mill" at Network, I agreed to drive to us upto Stickle Ghyll. Then we'd walk up, past Stickle Tarn, and camp somewhere between High Raise and Harrison Stickle.

Fast forward another week, and Tom Malcolm and Emma Cairns are now joining us. Also Dad's cars in for treatment....... Poo

Find out the day before that the car is useable (much to Matt's delight). So tootle up to Matt's house to pick up the other 3. Moan at Emma, due to the lightness of her bag, and set off to Leyland Tesco, both to fill up with Petrol, and let Tom buy some food. Continue driving up the M6, and laugh as Matt gets a phone call telling him that he's lost his wallet (but someone had picked it up). After arriving a Stickle Ghyll carpark and looking at the weather and surrounding mountains, we decide to leave sharps in the boot, and set off. Manage to reach Stickle Ghyll in less than 50 minutes, pretty good going considering the weight of the gear we were carrying, and the fact that Matt's knee was still understrength.

Due to the weather, and lack of climbers, we decided to go for Jack's Rake. Walked round the tarn, and redistributed some of the gear (in other words due to Tom being unsure of how he'd react to exposure, I became a pack horse). As we started climbing, I made point of keeping half an eye on Emma, mostly because I wasn't sure how she'd fair with balance and technique. Should have realised that someone who has been dancing competitively for umpteen years would have pretty good balance, and due to the spacial awareness dancing must encourage, decent technique. This allowed me to concentrate more on Tom who, due to the width of his bag had a couple of interesting moments. Top out at 1700 in t-shirts sweating...... More like June than February. Strike off towards High Rise to find a camp-site and eat.

Retire into the party tent, a ruddy Heavy Hyperspace, to spend 4 hours introducing Emma to Tom's, Matt's and my sense of humour, think she got the hang of it after an hour or so, and was soon joining in both the story telling and the piss taking. End up texting, Mr. Ridout, as he was in the area, which sets both Matt and myself off about the Ardennes trip, and then causing us to realise how long we've known each other.

Bed down at about midnight after spending a while looking at the stars and pointing out a few of the constellations to the others (thank goodness I've been helping with the astronomy badge at Scouts). Wake up about an hour later than we wanted to (something about Ren-land time) and strike camp. Cache the bags, and walk up High Raise to and admire the almost 360, total cloud inversion. Collect the bags, and head for Harrison Stickle and onto Pike of Stickle.

We arrange to meet up with the Network Ramblers at Angle tarn, and so head off cross country. Meet up and head down along Mickledon Beck. Stop off briefly to give Chris Prior a pack of tissues (at his age he should really know better) and walk out with Speakman and Tom towards the Old Dungeon Ghyll (ODG). Grab a pint of Coke and a tub of Ice Cream (I was peckish). Before heading home. Get a phone call from Ken just as we reach Ambleside (first sniff of a signal we'd had) and assured him that we were all safe and well. Closely followed by our parents.

Don't know whether my body knew that it now had 5 consecutive days rest coming up, due to half term (the first time I'd had that since before Christmas), but soon after Kendal, I started coming down with the Lurgy, and just feeling generally cr@p.

Head to Nando's in Southport for some tea, before dropping Emma off, then drop Tom off, before Matt and I go to Dick's to return tents and the like. Discuss Scouting with Helen, before finally getting home late.

End up feeling very tired, but having had a top weekend with one very good friend, one passing friend, and someone I hardly knew before the weekend. Got to know them all a lot better (if that's possible with Matt) and really do need to do it again sometime.