Carlisle & District Rambling & Fellwalking Club
Walk & Event Reports
Sunday 12th February 2016
A Walk
Ullscarf
8 Miles Grade 1
Leader: Phil Howarth
Report & Photos by Peter Flynn
There are strolls, there are easy walks, there are hard walks, and then there is Phil’s walk to Ullscarf. It didn’t fit into any category that I know of. 5 of us, Phil, Lesley, Lauren, Jim and yours truly set off from Dobgill car park at the far side of Thirlmere and meandered up through the woods to reach High Tove. The wind was strong by the lakeside, and stronger – much stronger – but manageable by High Tove. Reaching the summit was fun and games no.1. Ice. Lots of it, all along the track we had taken from the fence posts and requiring very considerable care and choosing every footstep with considerable caution. We all made it, Lauren in crampons which made a great deal of sense, the rest of us without. (I managed to forget my own boots and Jim kindly loaned me some size 99 work boots and they were too big to take my own crampons.) The next bit combined ice – not too bad as the track was fairly level – and wind stronger than any I can ever recall. It blew Lauren over and she hurt her ribs, and when we reached the summit the wind was ferocious. It had blown us up to the top, but facing into it for the descent was a different proposition and at times it was just impossible to move, so we had to jam the walking poles into the snow and hang on till there was a slight lull. Leslie and Lauren only made it by hanging onto Jim (he had the slight advantage of stature and physique). The spin-drift made it very difficult to see ahead and Jim went through a thinner piece of ice and up to his knees in icy water. Within a few minutes his trousers had frozen solid. We eventually made it down to the forest above Harrop Tarn and from there by the easier paths to the car park. The category we eventually decided on was that of “adventure”. It was a walk where we were on our own, where we genuinely had to fight for survival and the only issue we have now is who will play each of us when it is made into a film.
Many thanks to Phil for leading a brilliant walk.
Peter
