Up Periscope!

Trip Start Oct 10, 2008
1
9
16
Trip End Ongoing


Loading Map
Map your own trip!
Map Options
Show trip route
Hide lines
shadow
Where I stayed
Yorkshire Ramblers Hut
(Little Langdale hotels)

Flag of United Kingdom  , England,
Friday, November 13, 2009

The rain came down in sheets. There were gusts of wind that blew clouds of water across the motorway. The night was pitch black and spray from the road surface obscured the tail-lights of the cars infront. Many cars had their fog lights on to try to cut through the storm. 

The rain beat continuously on the windscreen. I started to wonder how many thudding drops glass needs before it starts to wear away. Would my windscreen be measurably thinner by the time I got to Langdale? How much water could the engine take? There must have been buckets of water running down through it from the bonnet above and dirty spray water drenching it from the road below too. I was amazed my little car kept going.

 Through this howling gale, Eartha (my six year old) and I were on our way to the Lake District for a gentle weekend's walking Yorkshire Ramblers' Hut
Yorkshire Ramblers' Hut
 . The weather did not seem to be about to comply.

The Climbing Hut was not one I had been to before. It is set about two miles off the main road down a potholed, rocky track. It took us a couple of attempts to find the right potholed, rocky track in the dark, but eventually we did. It is narrow and weaves around, zig-zagging between tight farm buildings, over cattle grids and past a lethal looking ford. The potholes were serious puddles. I'm sure my right headlamp dipped underwater as we drove through one of them.

Finally we arrived and dragged our bedding in as fast as we could before it succumbed to the wet onslaught. Vince was sitting infront of the open fire, doing a cross-word. The rest of the ridiculously hardy BMC had walked to the pub (20 minutes away, cross-country, across a little footbridge, in the dark and stormy night). Mad fools.

The bedroom had 15 sleeping places, consisting of 5 triple bunks. There were 14 of us staying, so it was kind of cosy. Eartha and I chose top layer bunks where you hit your head on the ceiling if you sat up too fast. Eartha went to sleep and I cracked open a bottle of homemade and joined Vince by the fire.
Slideshow Print this entry