Once again, we are heading across the water to the beautiful Lake District for the June Bank Holiday weekend. I have booked the exclusive use of a hut for IMC members for three nights: Fri, Sat, Sun: 4th, 5th & 6th June, leaving for home on the Bank Holiday Monday, 7th Junehttp://farm5.static.flickr.com/4035/4497084624_80c1f17079_o.jpg
The Lake District is where rock climbing first began, and small wonder, for here, clustered close together in a compact area, we have Enland's finest mountains and many of England's finest crags.
If hillwalking/scrambling is your thing, you will be as happy as a sandboy: you can head out the back of the hut and climb Helvellyn, taking in Striding Edge if you like a bit of scrambling; or head down the road to Langdale and do the round of the Langdale Pikes and Bowfell; or go up to Derwent Water and do the Dale Head circuit. From Seathwaite you can tackle the big ones - Scafell and Scafell Pike, Great End and Great Gable, while the hills above Coniston offer some fine walking or, for an airy scramble, tackle Sharp Edge on Blencathra. There are many more options, so get hold of a map of the area and drool over it. OS Landrager series 1:50000 No. 90 covers the central area, while Harveys Central Lake District map is also excellent.
As for rock climbing, well, you never had it so good. The Lake District needs seven definitive guidebooks to cover all the crags - there are literally hundreds of them - with thousands of climbs. But now the F.R.C.C. has produced an excellent guidebook "Lake District Rock" containing a selection of the best crags (over 60) with details of the best routes (nearly 500!), ideal for the occasional visitor to the area. Here you have roadside crags, valley crags, mountain crags and lakeside crags. All grades are catered for, all tastes are provided for, and all on excellent rock with good protection, and most with wonderful views as a bonus.
The Hut. Has plenty of bunks, and a large kitchen, with full cooking and dining facilities, including all cutlery and crockery, so you can choose to eat in or eat out. There is also a drying room, in the unlikely even it should rain. There are also wash rooms and showers (I have it on good authority that some people regard these modern contraptions as essential - goodness knows why...) And all this for a maximum of 10 euro per head per night. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2722/4496389295_a598d9291b.jpgThe near-by town of Keswick has ATMs; supermarkets; oodles of gear shops, offering a wide selection for all your climbing/walking needs (don't forget your IMC card); it also has a fine climbing wall, should it be needed. There are numerous fine old taverns dotted about the area, most of them offering good bar food, as well as the local brews, ( try some Cumberland Sausage and wash it down with a bottle of Scrumpy Jack - it puts hairs on the chests of the lads and, indeed, it may do the same for the ladies - though I have never been able to verify this..)
Getting There. You can sail to Holyhead and drive up - 90% of your journey will be on motorway/dual carriageway (allow about 5 hours). Or you can take the night boat to Liverpool/Birkenhead - sailing at 10pm Fri night, docking at 6am Sat morning - you can be on the hills/rock by 8.30am. Returning at 10pm Mon night to dock in Dublin Tuesday at 6am. Check out Norfolkline Ferries for best quote. Or you can fly/drive: Aer Lingus fly to Blackpool and Manchester; Ryanair fly to Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds.
You will need: to be an IMC member (this is a club meet); your own sleeping bag; some sterling coins for parking meters; to contact me when you have decided for definite that you are coming, and to let me know if you intend bringing a car (car drivers looking for passengers can post details of their departure time, etc., here); to be frugal in the amount of food you bring/buy (every year we jettison lots of perfectly good food because nobody wants to bring it home).
New members are very welcome - this is what being a member of the Club is all about, and a great way to meet, and get to know, other members. But remember, this is not a course - it's a do-it-yourself, out-and-about club meet: we won't be doing any teaching, but, on the other hand, you could learn a lot. If you wish to climb we will give you every encouragement and see to it that you are not left on your own (unless that's what you want), but would-be-climbers need to have completed the intoductory course and be up to speed with tying-on, belaying, basic knots and climbing calls. The best way (the only way) to ensure this is to continue climbing after the course is over, to join with other members on Thursday nights in the quarry and at every other opportunity - practise makes perfect.
We have already received a number of firm commitments, so, think about it, and when you have made up your mind contact me at germossateircomdotnet.
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jermoss
Re: June Bank Holiday Meet.
06 May 2010 14:30
# 2
There are still places available on this meet (it's a large hut) so it's not too late to sign on. We have cars going out on Fri morning and afternoon and the possibility of a car going out Fri evening.
We have only one of this year's batch of newcomers signed up, and would like to see some more. By the time the course finishes tonight participants will have learned a lot about rope work; tying knots and setting up anchors are things that can be practised at home, but the only place to learn climbing is on the rock. And there's no finer place than The Lake District for climbing. Super crags, set among super mountains, with plenty to do, no matter what the weather.
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