Buttermere Cragging & Camping

Members present: Lucie Crouch, Gareth Williams, Carolyn Mills.

 

In search of dry rock…

In the days before the meet the weather forecast for Northumberland did not look good. After extensive checking of forecasts it was concluded that the west Lakes might be slightly less wet, so the meet was diverted to Buttermere.

Saturday morning was damp to say the least. Following an extended breakfast we headed to Hodge Close Quarry where there was an “All Weather Gym”, arriving just in time for an extended lunch in the van. After Gareth had calculated his afternoon’s nut and dried fruit rations and packed these into a range of small plastic bags we set off to the gym. This was a part of the quarry with a 3-way tunnel, providing shelter for a number of bolted routes.  Gareth led Sport For All, finding it to be very sportingly bolted – there were two bolts on the route, one of which did not have a hanger.  The lower off chain was OK though, and we used it to set up a top rope for some of the other nearby routes, which provided some further entertainment.

The forecast for the next day was for sun, so after an excellent dinner cooked by Gareth we retired to the pub where we studied the Buttermere guidebook with renewed optimism.  However the next morning the cloud hung low over the hills and the crags of Buttermere were nowhere to be seen, so we set off to St Bees in search of some dry rock on the sea cliffs there.

Lucie decided to stay at the top of the cliffs, where she went for a walk, seeing and smelling lots of seabirds.  Upon reaching the bottom Gareth and I were disappointed to discover that the cliff was seeping and we couldn’t find a single dry route.  On the positive side, the sun had come out and we were by the sea – nice!  With yet more optimism we decided to try Ancient Mariner which looked dry for most of the route.  However, part of the way up I found that actually it was soaking and wet sand was coming off onto my hands, prompting a retreat.

The boulders at the bottom of the cliffs were dry and also happen to provide some excellent bouldering, so we spent a few hours trying some interesting problems before heading back up the cliff.  Not quite the weekend I had had in mind, but at least we found a few dry bits of rock.

Carolyn Mills