Guide

Jon de Montjoye

Hilary Sharp, Jon’s wife

Ordering Black and White Fine Art Prints

If you would like a memento of your trip or a gift, all of the black and white images are available as fine art black and white prints. Most of them were taken with a Mamiya 6 camera on Ilford 120 film and are available as high quality hand made darkroom prints in a range of sizes from 40x30cm to 70x70cm (size refers to mount and frame, image is a few cm smaller).

They have a 6 digit number at the end of the title to uniquely identify the negative to help ordering – just type this number into the search box in the World Landscapes Gallery and it will show the image and ordering information. Not all images are included so if you can’t find the ones that interest you just send me an email using the Contact page form on this website and we’ll sort out the details between us.

Thursday 24th March 1994 Travel to Haiming

I flew from Manchester to Munich and caught the shuttle train to Munich city station and then the fast train to Innsbruck. From there it was the very sedate local stopping train to Haiming at the end of the Otztal valley. From the station it was a short walk to the modern Hotel Fohrenhof.

Friday 25th, Saturday 26th March 1994 Solden Skiing

After a couple of days of skiing solo at Solden (ski area photos below were taken in 2019 as I didn’t carry my camera on these 2 days in 1994) I met fellow client Bob Cheesewright (a University lecturer from London) before our guide Jon and his wife Hilary arrived. I had met Jon the year before with Brian Hall, they were the guides on the Haute Route.

We were all staying at the Hotel Fohrenhof (now called Haiminger Hof) in Haiming nr Otztal, a very comfortable hotel. The landlady kindly gave me a lift to the next village of Otztal a couple of mornings to catch the bus to Solden, this saved a 2.5 mile walk. I still had the 2.5 mile walk back after skiing in Solden, but I needed the exercise!

Day 1, Sunday 27th March 1994: Solden to Braunschweiger Hut

We had a bit of a late start, Jon de Montjoye forgot about the clocks changing so we lost an hour!

Hilary drove us into Solden to the car park behind the main cable car where we caught the bus to the Rettenbach Glacier where we went into the cafe to prepare by putting on sunscreen and harnesses etc.

From the cafe we caught the chair lift to Rettenbachjoch where I took a few photos before we set off again. From the top of the chair we skied down about a hundred metres, then skied off to the right through deep powder above some cliffs.

Jon pulled a rope out of his rucksack, threw the end over the cliff and asked, “right, who wants to go first?”. Bob and I quickly decided that Hilary should go first, I followed thinking that I might be able to take some striking photos from below looking up. It was a mixture of abseil and side stepping down. Bob came after me and Jon was last since he had belayed us all from the top and had to take in the rope. Unfortunately, the rope was way too short for the drop so we side-stepped the last bit without it.

Once we were all at the foot of the cliff it was onto the glacier through fresh soft powder snow maybe up to 60cm deep. We skied over to the foot of the slope we needed, stopped to put skins on the skis, took off layers of clothes as it was quite warm and started skiing up towards the Linker Fernerkogel. We followed another skiers tracks most of the way to the top which saved Jon a bit of work.

There was a big metal cross at the top held in place by concrete and cables. Bob pulled out a miniature of Bailey’s Cream Liqueur for us to share to celebrate. So much for travelling super light but it seemed to go down quite well!

After some photos it was time to remove the skins, put the skis on and ski to the hut.

The snow was good with patches of ice at the top but porridge at the bottom near the hut. I managed to get a bit of a bouncy rhythm going in the powder and only fell once from leaning forward too much.

Bob had a bit of trouble because his arthritic knees were painful which limited him bending them. In fact, he never looked relaxed on skis the whole tour because of this and had trouble on the both the uphill and downhill ski sections, which was a real shame for such a spectacular trip.

We skied close to the hut before we took off our skis and walked up the last 400m to the Braunschweiger Hut. Had Chamois for dinner and a room for 4, luxury. The hut was quite spacious and wasn’t very busy. It even had running water but not in early morning, and the toilets were inside!

Peak

Linker Fernkogel (3277m)

Day 2, Monday 28th March 1994: Braunschweiger Hut to Vernagt Hut

We skied down from the hut then put skins on and skinned around to catch the T-bar long tow to Mittelbergjoch 3166m.

It was quite a tricky ski descent from here where we side-stepped over some rocks and down to deeply rutted ski tracks to traverse south until we needed to stop and put skins on our skis for the uphill, we were still on the glacier at about 3100m. It was quite crevassed looking towards Wildspitze so we followed the usual route to avoid these which took us southwest, west, southwest again and finally south-southeast until we were on the small plateau area of Mitterkarjoch 3470m at the foot of the Wildspitze. I felt quite lethargic today, Hilary thought it was probably just the altitude so I kept my fingers crossed I’d be better tomorrow.

There were lots of other skiers here and we all skinned up the steep slope in zigzags from the Mitterkarjoch to another small plateau at point 3686m to the west of the summit. Here we left our skis and rucksacks, put on crampons and picked up our ski poles which were more useful than our ice axes for the conditions.

We made our way up using the deep bucket steps in the soft snow to the steep bit at the top below the summit ridge. The last steep section to the ridge was smooth compacted icy snow so I was pleased for the crampons but it was relatively straightforward. Some people using downhill ski boots without crampons were having trouble because of the lack of grip under the soles of their smooth plastic soled boots. I was pleased to have crampons not just vibram soles on my boots!

Then it was along the ridge a short distance to the metal summit cross of the Wildspitze, 2nd highest mountain in Austria. There were spectacular views all round with blue skies so I took quite a few photos.

We came down the same way but one of my crampons came off about halfway back to skis but the snow was soft so it didn’t matter. When I adjusted the crampons to my boots before the trip I obviously didn’t make them tight enough (I adjusted them once we were back at the hut).

Back at the skis we took off the skins, clipped into downhill mode and skied down carefully over ice around some crevasses before a fast section.

We stopped before the next col for lunch and to put skins on. Then we skinned up and traversed around to Brochkogeljoch (3423m).

Once we reached Brochkogeljoch there was a queue of people waiting to descend. Jon just skied past them all and we followed, not waiting for all the others to move on.

Once we were away from the crowds Jon gave us some training in how to do kick turns on the move while going downhill which we practiced as we descended.

We continued down the Kleine Vernagtferner and across the Grosse Vernagtferner. The snow was very heavy now but we had a good ski down before we stopped to put skins on again to ski up a moraine bank which put us above the Vernagt Hut. From here it was skins off to ski down the last half mile to the hut on snow compacted by lots of skiers so it was like a piste!

The Vernagt hut at 2755m was a very large busy hut and we were in the second sitting for dinner. For the second night running we had Chamois for dinner. There was a big wash room with showers and once again the toilets were inside the hut. We were in a room for 4 again.

Peak

Wildspitze (3770m)

Day 3, Tuesday 29th March 1994: Vernagt Hut

We left the hut on skins heading north, which was the way we came in yesterday. There were lots of others going the same way with some icy zig-zags to negotiate on our way up.

I was having a bit of difficulty today with my kick-turns until Hilary pointed out that I was leaning forwards on the turn, as soon as I kept my weight back all was fine again.

We made our own way up rather than following the crowds and were mostly in the clouds with visibility of about 100m, heading left with crags on our left on a higher route to everyone else.

Next we skied across the Grosse Vernagtferner passing just left of the Klimastation at about 2800m, still in the clouds.

Jon kept up a steady pace right up to the edge of the rocky top of the Hochvernagtspitze where we left our skis, visibility was just 20-30 metres now.

The top was covered in ice and snow, very similar to a peak in the Scottish Highlands in winter but we stopped for lunch in the rocks.

It was tricky navigating for Jon in thick cloud as we headed south southwest slowly until we came to a rock rib marked on the map at 3510m. We needed to traverse back east and Jon skied off slowly telling us to stay put then he called for us to follow, the clouds were so thick we couldn’t see him so we slowly followed his tracks.

We went as far as another rock rib then skied southeast and then east past the end of the crags and across the Grosse Vernagtferner until we found the route that we’d used yesterday to ski to the Vernagt hut. We dropped below the clouds at about 3250m which made it much easier from here.

We had good snow to ski down and made fresh tracks in the deep powder higher up before it turned a bit heavy lower down but still good snow to ski. It was hot and sunny as we reached a small valley and the last section. Then, as yesterday, we put skins on to skin up above the Vernagt Hut before taking skins off and skiing the last few hundred metres to the hut at 2755m.

I felt a lot better today, the tiredness of yesterday had gone and I felt fine so it must have been the altitude. It was a short day so I had bratwurst and bread at the hut for my second lunch.

Peak

Hochvernagtspitze (3539m)

Day 4, Wednesday 30th March 1994: Vernagt Hut to Schone Aussicht Hut

Breakfast was at 6.30am and we were on our way by 7.30am with blue sky and cold temperatures.

We skied down a few hundred metres before stopping to put skins on and ski southwest along the ridge of a moraine bank which was narrow with tracks of skis along its crest.

Then we turned northwest before skiing southwest across the Guslarferner. It was quite an easy slope until near top of the pass where it steepened and was icy so we had to slam the edges of our skis into the ice to avoid slipping back. Some rocks were poking through the surface which didn’t help.

The pass was the Ober Guslarjoch at 3361m. We took off our skis and climbed up a relatively easy slope to Fluchtkogel summit 3500m. There were spectacular views from the top so I took quite a few photos. It was hot and sunny with clear blue sky all day.

We returned to our skis, removed the skins and skied down the Kesselwandferner to the west of the Kesselwandspitze.

We soon hit breakable crust which made turns difficult then it was deep porridge. Where the slope steepened we skied left into the crags and down the snow covered Delorette Weg footpath until the the snow ran out.

We took our skis off and carried them for about 400m until we found snow lower down and skied to the Hochjoch Hospiz at 2413m, which was closed, where we stopped for lunch.

We walked down to the valley floor, Bob had trouble keeping up here, crossed the stream by a snow bridge and up the snow bank on the other side where we waited for Bob.

Then it was skins on and we skied up a steep slope to start with then an easy gradient for most of the way to the pass. I kept dropping back to take photos of the group skiing up the valley.

Soon we reached Hochjoch pass at 2861m just above our hut for the night. We were on a pisted track from here down to the large Schone Aussicht Hut (Bella Vista Hut) 2860m which was right on the pass, reaching it at 2.30pm, this was just in Italy.

We had a large room for 4 people on the second floor and it was quite a creaky old building. The other 3 had showers so I reprimanded them for carrying completely unnecessary towels in true Peter Cliff fashion.

The hut was busy during the day until after 6pm as there were ski lifts and pistes of the Val Senales ski area close by. I had a drink on the terrace in the sunshine with Bob to end the day.

There were quite a few ski tourers staying at the hut.

Peak

Fluchtkogel (3500m)

Day 5, Thursday 31st March 1994: Schone Aussicht hut to Similaun Hut

Breakfast wasn’t available until 8am so we had a late start at 9am. There was blue sky but it was cold.

We skied downhill for a half mile or so, stopped to put skins on and continued east uphill across a steep icy slope.

The slope became very steep and icy, Bob had difficulty keeping his ski edges and harscheisen  biting into the ice so Jon laboriously cut steps for him and lifted each ski up into the slot.

We were soon past that short very steep section and the slope lessened for the last half mile to the Hauslabjoch 3283m.

In fact we cut the corner off instead of going to the col, we headed for the end of the ridge where a couple of other groups were milling around with their skis planted vertically in the snow. The end of Fineilspitze at Hauslabjoch is triangular and we headed for the nearest route up to the main ridge, a bit higher than the pass.

We took off our skis and left them lying on the snow as they still had skins on so wouldn’t slide away, put crampons on our boots and started up the ridge with an ice axe and one ski pole for security.

Bob was nervous about the exposure on the snow ridge so Jon tied him on a short rope with him while Hilary and I went up unroped, which meant I could take photos when I wanted to stop. It was steeper and rocky on the north side. The snow on the ridge was quite grippy and deep in places.  It was similar to a few scottish snowy ridges on Munro’s that I’ve done in the past.

Clouds were swirling around the mountain giving us good views every now and then. We soon reached the large metal cross on the summit of Fineilspitze 3516m where I took quite a few photos.

We returned the same way with the patches of deep grippy snow on some of the steps on the ridge made it easier going down.

After tying the axes back onto our rucksacks and removing the skins off our skis we skied down to the Hauslabjoch, down a steep section then across a plateau with an easy gradient to the east then south as we traversed round.

This was near to the place where the 5300 year old neolithic iceman Ötzi was discovered in 1991.

We continued our traverse around, back into Italy and to the Similaun Hut. The weather had closed right in now with the clouds down, poor visibility and it was very cold.

The hut was being refurbished and was very cold inside so I put several layers on for sitting in the hut. Most days I was just in a fleece zip polo top layer but at Similaun I put on a long sleeved T-shirt, long johns and 2 more fleeces just to keep warm indoors!

I had Speckrosti (bacon rosti), salad and a beer for lunch.

After this I went for a walk up the lower slopes of Similaun, our summit for tomorrow, weather permitting. I only went about a half mile as the clouds came down again limiting visibility to just a few metres so I didn’t get the photos I’d hoped for. I followed my tracks and compass to get back to the hut.

Peak

Fineilspitze (3516m)

Day 6, Friday 1st April 1994: Similaun Hut to Vent

We were up at 7.30am but the weather was bad so we waited in case it improved as we wanted to climb the neighbouring mountain – Similaun.

It didn’t improve so at 9.45am we left, heading for the valley. We had to ski close together because the visibility was less than 100m.

Bob’s axe fell off his rucsack as he skied but fortunately I spotted it as I was behind and picked it up for him.

The clouds cleared at around the 2800m level as we skied lower. We picked up a footpath just beyond the Martin Busch Hut, 2501m (closed), it was mostly covered in snow but we had to remove our skis and carry them a few times. Finally we came down to a pisted run which we followed to the edge of Vent, where we finished the tour beside the river.

We stopped for a team photo then walked along a road to the Hotel Post bar at 11.50am for a celebratory drink. I also had Wiener Schnitzel for an early lunch here.

Hilary made her way back to Solden to pick up her van and come back to collect us, we carried on drinking while we waited!

Cameras

Mamiya 6 for 6x6cm negatives, 50mm lens in CCS camera case on neck strap and waist belt so that it was instantly available, Ilford 100 Delta 120, Ilford FP4 220

Nikon AF3 for 35mm Colour Slides/Transparencies, just on a neck strap over one shoulder.

On downhill sections my Mamiya camera was usually secured in its case and the Nikon compact was in a jacket pocket or in my rucksack if no jacket was worn, just in case of a fall.

Equipment

Ski Mountaineering Skis: Kastle Tour Randonnee 180cm skis + Silvretta 404 Bindings

Ski Crampons: Silvretta 404 Harscheisen

Ski Climbing Skins: Pomoco (orange colour on left of photo)

Ski Mountaineering Boots: Dynafit Tour Lite 2

Crampons: Camp Arctic 10 step-in lightweight crampons

Ice Axe: Mountain Technology 50cm

Rucksack: Outside Rock 40 litre (made by POD, weight 1kg empty)

The post ski mountaineering otztal alps photos and diary appeared first on Dave Butcher.

In 1992 I booked on a ski mountaineering course with Glenmore Lodge in the Cairngorms. Unfortunately, It was cancelled due to lack of snow so, having built up to doing such a course I looked elsewhere for one.

I booked with Peter Cliff, who had written a book on ski mountaineering, that I’d read cover to cover, so I thought he would be a good person to go with as I didn’t know of anyone else. It was a 6 day course based in Argentiere near Chamonix in France, ending with a 3 day tour from Argentiere to Trient in Switzerland.

Sunday 3rd May 1992

I drove with my wife Jan to Harpenden in Hertfordshire on Saturday afternoon to stay with Jan’s parents. This gave us a short drive to London Heathrow Airport Sunday morning. I was at the airport before 6am as I knew it would take longer to check in my rucksack and ski bag with all the metal equipment they contained.

I was fortunate that the flights didn’t cost me anything as I had vouchers from British Airways to buy the tickets. This was because of appalling customer service at Heathrow Terminal 5 in December 1990 after my flight from New York to Manchester was diverted there because of bad weather. The only slight disadvantage was that there was no voucher seat available from Manchester for the outward journey, only for the homeward one. Hence we travelled down to stay with my in-laws in Hertfordshire.

The British Airways flight left at 8.30am and arrived at Geneva Airport at 11am. I then caught the 12.10pm train along Lake Geneva to Martigny station where I met Kieran and Sheila who were also on the Peter Cliff course. From their rucksacks and ski bags which had BA luggage labels I could tell they were probably on a similar journey to me. After introductions we caught the mountain railway to Argentiere, it left at 1.55pm and arrived at Argentiere at 4pm after a beautiful but slow journey through the mountains.

We walked from the station to the Hotel Le Dahu, checked in and then found our rooms – I shared a twin room with Kieran. Then we went down to the bar for a beer.

Late afternoon Peter Cliff came into the bar and introduced himself, as well as Tony Brindle his assistant for the trip.

We were still 2 short but we went upstairs for kit checks in our rooms and just emptied our rucksacks on the bed. Peter did a bit of weeding out of surplus clothing but not much.

Then we all had dinner together downstairs after which the final 2 arrived at 9pm and introduced themselves – Ed and Peter.

Our Guides

Peter Cliff an International Mountain Guide based in Argentiere, Tony Brindle (aspirant/trainee mountain guide and management consultant at the YMCA Lakeside Centre)

Our Group

Kieran (a London Underground maintenance engineer), Ed Grimshaw (a management consultant living in Coniston), Peter (a forester), Sheila (a GP from London) and me, Dave Butcher (Technical Manager for Ilford Photo).

Weather and Snow Conditions

The weather was hot and sunny making for difficult snow conditions – lots of heavy ‘porridge’ snow away from pisted areas.

We spent the first 3 days being taught how to ski difficult snow away from the pistes, which we all did quite badly!

Monday 4th May 1992

We walked from the hotel to meet Peter Cliff at the Lognan telepherique (the main lift from Argentiere) for 10am. We put skis on at the top and then caught the Bochard chairlift to the top and had a few ski runs down to find our ski legs and for Peter to check our abilities on pisted snow. Then at 11.30am we switched and did a few off-piste runs but it was now hot and the soft deep wet snow was tricky to ski. All of us were having trouble with the snow conditions. We skied down a gully full of moguls and stopped for lunch at a restaurant. I discovered that hot dog and orange juice isn’t a typical lunch for ski mountaineering!

After lunch we used the Bochard lift and the piste to work on our technique. I had to put more weight forward to press into the tops of my boots and push the ski tips down. One of Peter’s pet phrases was describing someone as having ski posture like a sack of potatoes if you were too round shouldered!

I learnt a lot about ski technique from Peter during the 6 days, he explained things in a way that I could understand. By the end of the course I felt that I was a much better skier, both on piste and off-piste.

We ended the day with drinks in the hotel bar with Peter Cliff.

Tuesday 5th May 1992

On the second day we went to the top of the Grand Montets lift, it was really cold in the shadows but warm in the sun.

We put skis on outside the lift station. It was steep and narrow to reach the glacier below which was covered in icy moguls and still in shadow. We all started skiing but Peter Cliff stopped us part way down and told us how badly we were all skiing and that if we fell on the next section we would go down a crevasse and die. Not the best way to put our minds at rest considering that this course was the first time skiing off-piste for most of us. Though this had the desired effect and made us ski more slowly and carefully. We skied around and under the cable car over the top of the glacier through loads of avalanche debris to the top of the Bochard piste, the easy bit compared to what had gone before.

At the Bochard piste Peter gave us an ultimatum, keep up with him as we ski down the piste or leave the course. It was a pretty easy wide red run and we started down with Peter in the lead then Ed, Peter (forester), me, Kieran and Sheila. We stopped half-way down and waited for everyone to join up. Peter stayed very quiet and we just continued down. At the bottom Peter Cliff stopped suddenly to look back up the slope and was almost run over by the 3 of us as we were following him so closely!

There was no sign of Kieran or Sheila. Kieran arrived a minute or two later – he had fallen after being cut-up by a snowboarder so his excuse was accepted. Kieran looked very stylish on pistes with his feet looking as if they were bolted together. Unfortunately, this style meant he was not very stable off-piste or in poor snow where a wider stance would have helped.

Sheila eventually appeared but was not going well, her arthritic hips were preventing her from skiing well in the difficult conditions. Peter decided that she would be unable to do the tour and told her she would have to stay behind. Sheila had joined the course knowing this was a possibility and was disappointed but not surprised.

The rest of us, without Sheila, went to the top of the Grand Montets again but this time we headed straight down for the Argentiere Glacier. The sun had softened the surface and it was much easier than the ice we skied earlier. We came down through the icefall and crevasses to reach the Lognan lifts. The run was several kilometres long and it was exciting skiing for all of us off-piste newbies.

We stopped for lunch and waited for Sheila to join us as arranged. We wanted to repeat our last run over the glacier but instead we all went up the Bochard lift, traversed away from the piste and practised using avalanche transceivers.

Peter then left us to finish the day however we wanted so we skied around the Bochard piste a couple of times before catching the lift to the valley. The snow was really soft and heavy now.

Wednesday 6th May 1992

The original plan was for us to ski the Vallee Blanche which Sheila couldn’t do so we asked Peter to change to something which we could all do. We caught the bus to Chamonix and walked up the hill to the Brevent lift station where Peter had planned for us to do a 1 day tour from the top station. Unfortunately, when we arrived from Argentiere it was shut for maintenance.

We walked back down the hill and caught the bus to the Flegere cable car where Peter had a run in with the lift staff. Mountain Guides expect to travel free as they’re bringing trade to the lifts with their clients but for some reason they didn’t accept Peter as our guide. Eventually he did get his free lift pass and we all followed him through after we’d paid. We stopped at the mid-station for a tea break.

After the break we all went up to l’Index for a short tour back to Brevent. Just as we were about to start a series of avalanches came down the slopes under which we should have skied. We would have been down there if we hadn’t stopped for a tea break! The plan changed again and Peter gave us a lecture and demo on testing snow and then we practised digging snow pits ourselves to test the snow condition. Then we spent the rest of the day skiing around Flegere as preparation for the 3 day tour coming up.

The snow became very wet and heavy so we stopped and decided to go down. Peter Cliff looked quite pale and ill and he said he was unsure if he would be able to do the tour, we’d have to wait and see.

Peter turned up later and did another gear check, including harness adjustment. The group gear was then shared out. I took a snow shovel and a spare ski pole.

The following 3 day ski tour was my first ski mountaineering trip in the Alps. Previously I had skied 3 Munro’s as day trips and done a few weeks in total of downhill skiing, mostly in Scotland and 1 week in Austria at Neustift and Stubai. I also did quite a few sessions skiing on dry ski slopes at Rossendale and Sheffield. I would describe myself as a steady skier but definitely not stylish!

Ski Tour Day 1, Thursday 7th May 1992

The day started with all 7 of us taking the Grands Montets lift (3250 m) from Argentiere. At the top Peter Cliff decided to have another kit check and told me I was carrying too much. He pulled out my waterproofs and all my hill food as Peter told us he doesn’t stop for food breaks (“you can eat when you reach the hut”) and I gave it all to Sheila who had come to see us off. He did the same for the other 3 too so Sheila had quite an armful of stuff to carry down.

From here we skied down the Glacier des Rognans across recent avalanche debris keeping above a rocky outcrop to the Argentiere Glacier. We stopped in the middle, well spaced out in case of unseen crevasses, to put skins on.

Then we skied up the glacier past the Glacier du Milieu, Refuge d’Argentiere (2771 m) and the Glacier des Amethysts all on our left. Finally, we turned off the Glacier d’Argentiere to ski up the Glacier du Tour Noirs to practice using skins on steep ground. The slopes were covered in about 5 cm of fresh snow on packed ice so on the steep slopes our skis had a tendency to slide away if you didn’t get the edges in properly.

All was going well until near the top of the steepest section Kieran slipped slowly all the way down the slope with Peter shouting down for him to “use your poles to stop” then when he was flat on the slope Peter called down “use your ski edges”, that didn’t work so Peter said “dig your elbows into the snow”. Kieran did that and skinned his elbows badly but didn’t stop until the bottom of the slope. Peter shouted down for him to come back up but he refused and waved at the nearby Argentiere hut that he’d never been to before and said I’ll go straight to the hut. Peter quite rightly wasn’t amused and skied down, tied him onto a short rope and effectively dragged him back up to join the rest of us.

We headed up further and the snow was softer so easier to ski. Then we took skins off and headed down towards the Refuge d’Argentiere. There was a bad section just above and behind the hut which we crossed singly 100 metres apart in case the slope avalanched. We checked in at the hut and then drank lots of tea to rehydrate before going outside to hang up our climbing skins to dry in the sunshine and admire the view from the terrace with a beer in hand, until clouds rolled in mid-afternoon. The 2 toilets were a bit primitive, 2 steel cabins each with holes cut in the floor.

Supper was chicken casserole, with red wine and bread. Peter then volunteered us to help do the washing up which we did and the guardian then rewarded us with some nightcap drinks.

We had a room to ourselves with room for 10 but there were just 6 of us so we spread out a bit when we turned in at about 9pm. Snorers near the window!

Ski Tour Day 2, Friday 8th May 1992

Some climbers in our dormitory were up early and made lots of noise sorting their gear until Peter told them to do it outside but we couldn’t settle so we all got up a few minutes later at 5am, much earlier than was needed. Breakfast was muesli, bread, marmalade and tea.

Once we left the Refuge d’Argentiere we were on the Ski Haute Route for the entire day. This is the ski mountaineering route between Argentiere and Zermatt in Switzerland which usually takes 6 or 7 days to complete. I completed this in 1993 and recently updated my photo diary – click here to view.

We left the hut at 6am, it was still twilight, and walked down the slope carrying our skis about 100m as it was very rutted with knee-deep ‘post-holes’ where people had walked up yesterday afternoon in the soft wet snow. Then we waited for Peter Cliff to catch up and tell us what to do next. He told us we would be skiing downhill so we put skis on to reach the foot of the Glacier du Chardonnet.

We headed down a steep icy slope, traversed around some ice banks and a bit further down to the Glacier d’Argentiere where we stopped to put on skins and harscheisen (ski crampons). Then we started up the Glacier du Chardonnet and made good progress up the lower steep section until Kieran slipped again and went a few hundred meters down the slope. He was having trouble getting the edges of his skis and harscheisen to grip.  Peter and Tony immediately went down to help him back up again while we waited.

Meanwhile, a group of 3 Americans walked past carrying their skis on their sacs, unlike everyone else that we saw. A few minutes later we heard shouting from above, one of the group had fallen down a crevasse and was saved from falling far by his rucsac. Peter made a point of explaining how that probably wouldn’t have happened if they had been on skis to spread the weight.

By now Peter thought we were behind schedule, making for challenging conditions later on, so he hurried us along as we skinned up the glacier. At 10am we reached the Col du Chardonnet (3323 m) and changed our skis from uphill to downhill mode and removed the climbing skins from the underside. While doing this I failed to notice that Tony had put one of his skis partly over the top of one of my skis and as I lifted it up his ski shot off down the Chardonnet Glacier looking as if it wouldn’t stop until Argentiere High Street (no ski brakes on touring skis)! Just when we thought all was lost the ski hit a divot, shot in the air and landed tip first in the snow. Tony was off like a shot and soon covered the 400 metres to be back with his ski after 10 minutes or so. We hoped Peter Cliff didn’t see the incident!

While all this was going on Peter Cliff was setting up a belay rope for us using the permanent belay point installed at the top of the col. One by one we clipped onto the rope and abseiled come side-slipped down the east side from France into Switzerland, with Peter at the top of the rope of course. Forester Peter went down first followed by Ed who found himself upside down at the top of the steepest bit – he said he hadn’t realised that the rope was still being paid out and as the rope he was holding tightly went slack he went with it head first instead of sliding his skis. We didn’t seem to be having a good day! Kieran followed me then Tony followed him. Finally, Peter took the rope in, packed it in his rucksack and skied down without any rope, showing us how it should be done!

From the foot of the col we traversed around the Glacier de Saleina on softish snow and stopped at the foot of the slope to a col for lunch. At least, everyone else stopped for lunch but Peter Cliff had taken all my hill food out of my rucksack before we started so I just watched everyone else eating!

Then it was time to put skins on the skis and ski up to the foot of the col, crossed the bergschrund where we took our skis off. From here we walked up carrying the skis up the last steep section to the Fenetre de Saleina (3261 m). Peter wisely carried his and Kieran’s skis to avoid any mishaps.

At the top we removed the skins from our skis, put them on and skied around the bowl of the Plateau du Trient to Col d’Orny. We stopped to put our skins on the skis once again and skied up the last short bit to the Cabane du Trient (3170 m) to arrive at 1pm. The terrace was a fantastic viewpoint over the Aiguilles Dorées and the Aiguille du Tour.

We went inside and drank lots of tea until we rehydrated then we sat on the terrace and watched the clouds drifting in from the Glacier du Trient and other groups arriving below us on the col.

We were all very tired but Peter kindly volunteered us to unload a helicopter cargo net of hut goodies that was dropped as we sat on the terrace drinking beers. Several trips later carrying cases and crates of wine, beer and food it was done and we returned to our beers.

We had clear blue sky and it was warm all day. The hut guardian was very friendly and looked after us very well although I was less than impressed with the cheese and tomato fondue that we all had for dinner. It looked like the chef had cut himself while making it with all the red bits of tomato floating in amongst the yellow gloop. An allergy to dairy products and general hatred of fondue didn’t help! Peter seemed to know the guardian and his wife well and, for helping with the delivery he generously plied us with a few drinks before we turned in at 9.30pm.

Ski Tour Day 3, Saturday 9th May 1992

Breakfast was just after 6pm. We put our skis on just an hour later and skied down to the Col d’Orny and then around the edge of the plateau towards the Aiguille du Tour. It was mostly downhill but on the few slightly uphill sections we were able to keep moving by stepping onto the uphill ski pointing slightly downhill. This kept us moving and was a neat trick I often used after this.

Eventually we stopped, put skins on our skis and raised the heel bale for uphill skiing. Then we roped up for the first time on skis and started uphill around Plateau du Trient crevasses and ice cliffs below the Aiguille du Tour. We had 2 ropes of 3, I was with Tony and Ed, as we all headed around the foot of the Aiguille du Tour (3544 m) to the unnamed Col between Aiguille du Pissoir (3440 m) and Le Pissoir (3319m) south of Col du Pissoir.

We side-slipped the steep top section by zig-zagging to and fro. As the slope eased we skied down on good snow with tall cliffs on our left and the Col du Midi (3232m) ahead of us before veering off to the right below the Aiguille du Midi on the Glacier des Grands. As we skied lower the snow changed to breakable crust and caught most of us out, I fell once here. Peter stopped us and talked to us about continually probing the snow as we skied so that we could adjust our style to suit the conditions.

We continued across the Glacier des Grands to just south of the Croix de Beron (Croix de Bron on french maps) where we regrouped and continued the long steep traverse on the Glacier de Beron, it was very hot now. We all made it down to the easier slopes below even though the snow was very soft now. We passed a few skiers coming up sweating buckets in the heat.

Then at about 2100m it was into a very unpleasant narrow gorge with steep sides filled with recent avalanche debris for several hundred metres. We all found it very difficult to ski through this. Kieran fell and slid into Peter Cliff knocking him over as he was just below him, they slid about 15m together. As they both stood up Kieran did it again and once more Peter was knocked over. Peter was furious with Kieran. It was tricky underfoot but falling over twice in quick succession, each time taking out your guide, is not a good look!

Peter and Kieran walked the rest of the way while the rest of us attempted to ski around and over the large blocks of avalanche ice debris. Eventually we had to stop and take our skis off too so Peter told us to walk down to Trient on our own. We were just a few hundred metres from the Trient river.

I took off a layer and put on more suncream ready for the hot walk out in the sunshine. We crossed the Trient Glacier torrent and followed the track down past the Chalet du Glacier (closed 1583m) and on the last few miles down through the woods to the road which was covered in avalanche debris in 3 places. Trient village (1279 m) was reached at 11.30am and was the end our trip which we celebrated with a well earned beer in the cafe. Peter Cliff joined us several minutes later and arranged transport back to Argentiere. We were all surprisingly quiet in the minibus taxi back to the hotel in Argentiere.

We returned to the Argentiere Hotel le Dahu where we were put in newly refurbished rooms with ensuite shower and toilet, luxury! We cleaned up and changed into walking clothes. I met up with Ed and Peter (forester) and we went for a walk up the path alongside the Glacier d’Argentiere. We stopped at about the 1700m mark, took some photos and returned to the hotel.

We had dinner in the hotel then went to a couple of other bars in Argentiere. On returning to the hotel late evening there was now a wedding reception in the hotel and we were all invited to join in! Everyone was very friendly, the drinks were free for the rest of the evening. I talked with Peter Cliff and Ed for a lot of the time, Peter was like a different person laughing and joking, very different from this morning when Kieran took him out twice. I eventually went to bed at 1.30am a little the worse for wear. At breakfast I discovered that Ed and Peter Cliff eventually turned in at 4.30am!

Sunday 10th May 1992

After breakfast, I caught the train to Martigny and then to Geneva Airport. I flew back to Manchester Airport with British Airways where my wife Jan picked me up and drove me home to the Peak District.

Clothing

Patagonia Capilene Lightweight long-sleeved T-shirt

North Cape zip polo shirt

Buffalo windshirt

Rohan Superstriders breeches adapted by my wife to come down 8 inches below my knees

Mountain Equipment fleece jacket

Berghaus Yeti knee-length alpine gaiters glued to my boots with a rubber rand under the sole

Equipment

Nikon FE 35mm camera + Ilford FP4 film

Kastle Tour Randonee skis, collapsible poles and Harscheisen (ski crampons)

Salewa Messner step in scissor crampons

Dynafit Tour Lite ski mountaineering boots with knee length Yeti Gaiters attached

Pomoco ski climbing skins

Mountain Technology 50cm ice axe

The post Ski Mountaineering Peter Cliff Course and 3 Day Tour appeared first on Dave Butcher.

We took just over 6 days to complete the route and went via Verbier, hoping for better weather than the other route through the Grand Combin range. The weather was pretty good the whole way, which was lucky for us.

Preparation

I didn’t have a fitness plan but had a week skiing in Solden, Austria, in January and another week skiing around Zermatt, Switzerland in early March. I had also done a few trips in February and March to Scotland to hike/climb quite a few Munro’s (Scottish mountains over 3000 feet / 914 metres). Finally, at the end of March I also had a couple of sessions at the Sheffield Dry Ski Slope. This is like skiing on toothbrushes so it’s quite different to skiing on snow but it toned the muscles up a bit.

I also live in the English Peak District and walked the hills at the weekends.

Our Guides

Our mountain guides were Brian Hall (from Derbyshire near where I live) and Jon de Montjoye (English but now living in Vallorcine near Chamonix). There was also an aspirant (trainee) mountain guide, Richard Masters, an instructor from Glenmore Lodge in the Cairngorms.

Our Group

Mark Rogerson (pathologist from Northwich), John Cameron (garage owner and ski instructor from Perth), Mark McDonnell (marketing manager), Michael and 12 year old son Mathew from Toronto, Gian (Radiologist), John Carney (on extended 9 week leave from his job), Team Purple (7 climbing friends who all wore purple Buffalo windroofs and were dubbed Team Purple as a result, including Kate and Patrick).

We were also joined by professional photographer Jess Stock and Vaila Macdonald (his wife and extreme ski world champion). Jess was taking photographs for a book on ski mountaineering around the world with a chapter and one iconic tour for each month of the year.

Our guides Brian and Jon had arranged for the group to have a practice day using the Le Tour ski lifts to practise off-piste technique, including side slipping down steep slopes and abseiling over an overhang while roped up. We split into 2 groups and I was mainly with Jon and Team Purple was mainly with Brian.

Ordering Black and White Fine Art Prints

Prints are available using the 6 digit number at the end of the caption to uniquely identify the negative to help ordering – just go to the Contact page and send me a message with this number and I will sort the details with you from there.

Wednesday 14th April 1993 Travel to Chamonix

Jan dropped me off at Manchester Airport in the morning for my flight to Geneva Airport. Then I caught the train to Martigny where I changed to the mountain railway to Chamonix for a spectacular ride through the mountains. Then a walk from the station through Chamonix to the Hotel L’Arve.

Thursday 15th April 1993 Argentiere Skiing

I decided to catch the bus to Argentiere and ski there for the day. On returning to the hotel my roommate had arrived, Mark McDonnell. He’d also arrived early to have a day skiing before the trip started.

Friday 16th April 1993 Argentiere Skiing, Evening Group Meeting

We agreed to go to Argentiere and ski the Grands Montets a few times to find our touring legs. It was a good day for skiing around the pistes too, there was blue sky with clouds below us. Grands Montets is a good viewpoint for photos as well.

There was quite a group of people in the car park outside the hotel when we returned from skiing and it turned out they were in the same group as us, waiting to ski the Haute Route. I had no idea there would be so many, there were 15 of us. At 7pm we all collected downstairs for the welcome meeting and kit check with our guides Brian Hall and Jon de Montjoye. In total the group was 20 people including us clients, 3 guides, Jess and Vaila.

Saturday 17th 1993 Group Preparation Day

We were picked up from the hotel and driven up the road to Le Tour so that, before starting the tour we could have a day with the guides checking out our off-piste skiing abilities and other skills, like using an ice axe to self-arrest. We also had a couple of goes at abseiling with our skis on. We used the lifts to get around the Le Tour area and then skied down off-piste. After lunch we skied down towards Vallorcine and then put skins on the underside of our skis so that we could ski uphill. After the lists closed for day we skied down to the Le Tour car park below where our transport back to Chamonix was waiting.

We were then split into 2 groups which we mostly kept for the trip. There was the group of 7 climbers so they were kept together in one group with one or two others and Mark R, Mark M, John Cameron and myself went with Jon. It turned out we were a faster group which suited my pace better and gave me more chance for taking pictures as there was always a group behind so no chance of being left behind or getting lost!

Day 1, Sunday 18th April 1993

We stayed in the same groups as yesterday but Michael and Matthew joined us for today making a group of 6 plus Jon. We started in Argentiere (1251 m) by taking the early lifts up to the Grand Montets (3250 m). Then at 9.10am it was time to put skis on and we skied down with Jon to the Argentiere Glacier. Here we stopped to put skins on and at 10.15am started up the Chardonnet Glacier to the Col du Chardonnet (3323 m). We stopped for a break to let the other group catch up then, after 10 minutes, continued to the col.

We reached the Col du Chardonnet at 12.45pm. There was quite a queue to descend here and when our turn came the steep descent was aided by a rope so that we could abseil-cum-sideslip down safely and reasonably speedily. I had skied this same route to Cabane du Trient last year with Peter Cliff but the descent from Col du Chardonnet this year was more difficult. I went down 5th and there was soft snow cut into a groove just wider than my skis, rather than the grippy smooth ice of last year. You had to be careful not to put the tips or tails of the skis into the snow bank on either side as it tried to tip you over.

We regrouped near the base of the col. Then it was around to the foot of the next col for a lunch break while we waited for the other group. It was hot now with the sun beating down on us. After 45 minutes and still no sign of them we started the climb up to the Fenetre de Saleina (3261 m). Jon and Mark R skied up making lots of kick turns but everyone else, including me, walked up in the bucket steps already made in the deep snow carrying our skis.

From the col we all put skis back on and skied down a gentle slope of heavy snow continually stepping up onto the uphill ski to keep going without losing too much height. Once across the Plateau du Trient we stopped to put skins on and skied up the last bit to the Cabane du Trient (3170 m) at 5pm for the first night. Dinner was at 6.30pm so we had time for lots of weak tea to rehydrate and then a beer or two.

My Nikon FM slr camera broke a shutter blade and was unusable for the rest of the trip.

Day 2, Monday 19th April 1993

We were up at 6.30am, dressed and packed our rucksacks before breakfast at 7am, which was bread and jam with tea. After a quick trip to the toilet we all gathered outside to put our skis on at 7.30am. It was another sunny day.

We skied with Brian today and John Carney joined us. We left the hut steeply downhill on icy snow while keeping to the right flank of the descent route, side slipped a steep section above a heavily crevassed Trient Glacier and then skied the traverse to the foot of the Col des Ecandies (2796 m).  From here we took our skis off, put them on our shoulders, and walked up to the col in the deep bucket steps already there in the snow. No-one skied up this one. Then at the top of the col it was skis on again before we skied down in deep powder and then heavily mogulled churned up slopes with patches of breakable crust. From the bottom there was a good run on spring snow then avalanche debris before skiing through some woods. It was heavy snow from here to a chalet cafe above the village of Champex at 11am. Mark M fell just before the trees and split his lip in the breakable crust snow and Gian spent about 15 minutes doing a temporary fix to hold Mark’s lip together. It would need stitches later.

We stopped at the cafe drinking cold Coke and waited for the other group, they turned up just 15 minutes later. Then we skied down a few hundred yards to where the snow ended, took our skis off, and walked the rest of the way to the village of Champex (1465 m) which we reached at about 11.30am. We had lunch in a restaurant in the village by the lake, I had roast beef and rosti – very nice! It was sunny and warm with lots of ice on the surface of the lake.

From Champex the snow ran out so at 1.30pm we were ferried in taxis to Verbier (1490 m), where I bought a Nikon AF2 compact for 250 SFr (about £115) to replace my broken Nikon FM slr. From Verbier we met at 4pm at the Attelas lift which we took to the top. Then we traversed around the mountainside on quite unstable slopes of heavy snow, with lots of snow slides around us, to get above the Cabane du Mont Fort (2457 m) so that we could ski down to it for our second night, reaching it at 4.30pm.

We had a big evening meal of vegetable soup cum stew followed by spaghetti, mince and salad. It had stayed hot and sunny all day again.

Day 3, Tuesday 20th April 1993

We were up in time for 6am breakfast of bread, jam and tea, and skiing by 7.10am on another cold bright morning. We were with Jon today and there were just 5 of us as Michael and Matthew were with the other group.

The first part was skiing on a pisted track with lots of avalanche debris to ski through. Some of the bits were the size of houses brought down by the hot weather – we had watched some of it sliding down yesterday afternoon. As we went higher we made our own way up the glacier ignoring the tracks of other skiers. Both groups were together at this stage. The last section to the col was steep and icy and the other group fell well behind. We reached the Col de la Chaux at 8.45am and had a short break while both groups assembled together.

Then we had a long downhill section on good snow before skinning up to the Col du Momin (3003 m) followed by a slight downhill and a long hot slog climbing most of the way, with one small downhill section that we kept skins on for. The last bit was steep and icy and the skis slipped around a bit until we reached a small shelf 100 metres or so below the summit of La Rosablanche (3336 m) where we took our skis off. From here it was just a short steep snow climb to the top at 11am. I followed Jon and Mark R but most stayed below. The view was spectacular so I stayed on top taking lots of photos for 15 minutes or more. It was sunny and hot with clear blue skies.

I came down and joined the others in having a snack. The other group started arriving from 11.30am. We took the skins off our skis and left at 11.45am. The snow was deep, heavy, wet and difficult to ski. As well as this our route to the hut was at risk from avalanches so we skied well spaced out. Despite the urgency we had to do lots of traverses in the tricky snow to descend the steep slopes and reached the Cabane de Prafleuri (2624 m) at 1.30pm.

We spent most of the afternoon sunbathing outside the hut, it was very hot. At the refuge we had to fend for ourselves (no guardian to cook for us). In fact Jess and Vaila cooked for us as a thank you for allowing them to join our group. We were relieved to be able to unload the heavy food and drinks from our rucksacks that we had been loaded up with in Verbier! I was carrying about 2kg of food which I really noticed when skiing downhill doing turns.

Day 4, Wednesday 21st April 1993

Breakfast was bread, jam and tea at 6am and there were 7 of us in our group as Michael, Matthew and Gian joined us. We were skiing with Brian by 7am and skinned up to the Col des Roux above the hut at 8am where we removed our climbing skins from the skis.

It was a steep descent from the col followed by a very tiring slightly downhill traverse across steep snowy slopes covered in fresh avalanche debris. The tiring bit was continually stepping onto the uphill ski to avoid losing height. The last section at the head of the valley was a good descent to the end of the frozen Lac des Dix (2360 m) where we stopped for photos and sun cream as there were blue skies and it was hot.

After our short break we put skins on the skis and zig-zagged up the steep slope at the head of the valley. Gian took us off-course for a few hundred metres but we soon realised and were back on track, caught up with Brian and soon found ourselves at the Pas du Chat. From here we traversed the slopes to follow a snow covered moraine bank that led us up to the back of the Tete Noir. We were to the west and quite a bit above the hut so we took the skins off our skis. From here we skied down on good snow until near the hut when it became heavy wet snow. We walked the last 50 metres carrying our skis over our shoulders and arrived at the Cabane des Dix hut (2928 m), a busy hut, at 1pm. There were fantastic views all around from here.

I had sausage and rosti at 13 SFr for lunch and drank lots of tea to rehydrate at 1.50 SFr per litre as I only carried 1 litre of water. I refilled my aluminium Sigg bottle with 4 bottles of mineral water at 4 SFr for 300ml. Later we switched to a beer or two at 4 SFr per small can. It was a good modern spacious hut. The weather closed in late afternoon and there was light snow so we were pleased that we reached the hut while it was good weather.

Day 5, Thursday 22nd April 1993

It was breakfast of the usual bread, jam and tea at 5.30am so that we were skiing with Jon at 6.30am with the same group as yesterday. It was a short distance of a few hundred metres down to the glacier where we put skins on. 

We headed up the shallow slope to begin with then it steepened and was covered with 5 cm or so of fresh snow on a firm base. After this we crossed the crevassed slopes of the Glacier de Tsena Refien close to the Pointes de Tsena Refien.

Next was the Col de Tsijiore Nouve overlooking the very impressive Mont Blanc de Cheilon (3870 m).  From here we skied southwest under some very large ice cliffs and over a heavily crevassed area using several snow bridges and lots of zig-zags to the Col de Brenay, a large plateau which heli-skiers were using as a drop-off point to ski back to Arolla in the valley below. It seemed somewhat perverse that it had taken us 5 days to reach the point they had reached in 5 minutes!

We dumped our gear on the plateau and quickly skied up to the top of the Pigne d’Arolla (3796 m) at 9.50am. There was blue sky and a few clouds, particularly towards the Matterhorn which we didn’t see. We took the skins off our skis and skied back to our rucksacks and continued down about another hundred metres to get out of the cold wind where we stopped for a short lunch break.

The weather started to turn and we skied down slightly mogulled slopes followed by a steep traverse through some thick cloud to the Cabane des Vignettes (3160 m) which we reached at 11.20am. We took our skis off and carried them as we walked the last 50 metres to the covered walkway leading to the hut entrance.

I had sausage and rosti for lunch for 12 SFr and lots of tea before we had one or two beers after we felt we were rehydrated, judged by the number of times we went to the toilet!

The hut has a very impressive position on top of high cliffs and is built of stone. The outside toilet is the most impressive of all, reached by a narrow 20 metre long metal walkway, both of which were bolted to the side of a cliff with an enormous drop beneath the toilet seat!

By 2.30pm the weather had closed in completely, turning colder with blizzards raging outside. Without a doubt this was the most spectacular hut of the trip.

Day 6, Friday 23rd April 1993

Breakfast was at 5am, the earliest that the hut guardian would do it. There was a long queue for the toilet as we left – fortunately, I had taken the precaution of going before breakfast. It was just about first light as we left at 6am. We needed crampons just to get out of the hut door and along the covered walkway because of the sheet ice. Then there was a steep drop on the left hand side as we traversed carrying our skis across to the top of the main route down from the hut. Once across this we changed from crampons to skis and with Brian we were off with 3 cols to cross.

We soon skied down to the Col de Charmotane (3016 m) below, where we put skins on our skis and skied up in clouds but visibility wasn’t too bad. The slope was steep for last section up to the first col of the day, the Col de l’Eveque 3392 m. The clouds lifted slightly but still no distant views. It was a good ski down on a slightly moguled slope at the top, with a traverse round a rocky bit called La Vierge and then down to the plateau of the Haut Glacier d’Arolla, opposite the Refuge des Bouquetins.

We had a brief stop here to switch our skis from downhill to uphill mode by adding climbing skins and releasing the binding so that we could slide the ski forward with longer strides. It was a long easy skin most of the way up to the next col but with a sting in the tail of very steep ice near the top so we stopped just below this to put ski crampons on. Then, after lots of tight kick turns on the ice by flicking the heel to bring the ski around quickly, we reached the top of the second col, the Col du Mont Brule 3213 m. We had a long break and lunch at the top waiting for the others and I took a few photos of the view to the east.

Then it was time to take off the skins before moving off for a long downhill traverse to reach the plateau about 100 m below the Haut Glacier de Tsa de Tsan in clouds. It was a bit cooler now and with a cold breeze.

It took us 2.5h to skin up to the Col de Valpelline 3568 m but there were no views to the Matterhorn because of thick cloud. Shame, it should have been one of the highlights of the trip.

Brian Hall gathered us all around and told us to ski close together and follow him as the route was heavily crevassed. We took the skins off our skis and skied down closely following Brian, as instructed. The Stockji Glacier was covered in about 30 cm of fresh powder snow and was indeed heavily crevassed. Part way down Jess Stock thought it would make a good shot for the book if we skied into a crevasse with a snow bridge part way down and back out again, which several of us did. He photographed each of us as we skied out of the crevasse. Probably not the most sensible thing I’ve ever done!

Then we skied south of Stockji to the Tiefmatten Glacier. It was quite dull now and my glacier glasses were too dark and low contrast such that I couldn’t see the snow clearly around my skis, so I switched to goggles. These were much better but I had to be careful that they didn’t mist up which was why I hadn’t worn them much on this trip. We skied below some enormous ice cliffs keeping fingers crossed nothing would break off as we skied past.

Lower down we traversed along very soft snow and breakable crust until we reached the foot of the moraine below the Schonbiel Hut. Finally, we put skins on again to ski up the glacier, onto the snow covered moraine and skinned part way up a steep snow slope above the hut. Then it was time to take the skins off and have a final few hundred metres ski downhill to reach the Schonbielhutte (2694 m) at 2.30pm for our last night in the mountains.

The hut was empty except for our group. I had sausage and rosti 13 SFr for lunch and lots of tea to rehydrate. The evening meal was pork fillet, a bottle of wine was 24 SFr and a small beer 4 SFr.

The toilets were a short distance from the hut and were very primitive but they had the most spectacular view I’ve ever seen from a toilet, across the valley to the north face of the Matterhorn!

It was a long day which ended with us sitting on the terrace of the Schonbielhutte sipping beer looking straight across the valley at the north face of the Matterhorn (4478 m) as the clouds parted later on. Quite a way to end the day.

Day 7, Saturday 24th April 1993

Breakfast was at 6.30am and we started skiing at 7.30am. It was quiet in the hut, most on the Haute Route carry on to Zermatt instead of stopping here.

We skinned uphill away from the hut for a few minutes following the route that we came in from, then traversed a steepish slope down to the moraine. From here we continued up to the edge of the Schonbiel Glacier on fresh snow where we stopped to take off the skins from our skis and convert them into downhill mode by clipping the heel down.

We skied down the Schonbiel Glacier in fresh snow on a firm base. A bit lower down there was a junction with the routes into Zermatt, we chose the right hand side of the valley and skied through dozens of small clear round marbles of ice glistening in the sun, mostly 2 to 5 cm in size. Then we made our way down through the trees, along flat sections where we were continually stepping onto the uphill ski to keep moving until we stopped and took off our skis and carried them to walk the last 15 minutes to the Restaurant Stafelalp at 9.30am. We had hot drinks while we waited for the others, I had a hot chocolate.

Jess took the team photo outside the restaurant (although I’ve never seen it which is shame). Then at 10.15am we skied down the Weisse Perle ski piste on reasonable snow where we had a leisurely ski down to the flesh pots of Zermatt (1614 m) ending at 10.45am just 100 metres from the Furri lift station as the snow ran out!

We caught the lift down to Zermatt and walked through the town to the Hotel Bahnhof near the station by 12pm. It was packed, so John Cameron and I went to another nearby hotel and had lunch there. I had schnitzel and chips for a change. We headed back to the Hotel Bahnhof for the agreed meeting time of 1pm before walking down the road to get a taxi-minibus to take us back the 2.5 hours to Hotel l’Arve in Chamonix.

Travel Home Sunday 25th April 1993

After breakfast and saying goodbye to everyone from our group that were still there I walked up to the station and caught the train to Martigny. From there I caught a train to Geneva Airport and flew back to Manchester Airport with British Airways. My wife met me and drove me home, I was too tired to drive!

Summary

What a fantastic trip in mostly good weather with excellent company. We were lucky with the weather as we heard several stories of people who had bailed out on previous trips. Apparently, some years most people make it and other years very few manage to do the whole route – all depending on the weather and snow conditions.

I was a steady skier before I started, having been skiing for 5 years and skied 3 Munro’s (the highest mountains in Scotland over 3000 feet / 914 metres) in Scotland. However, in Team Purple, who were all climbers, there were a few who hadn’t skied that much including 1 guy who had only skied for 7 days ever! He seemed to snowplough the whole way and I suspect that was part of the reason that the other group was moving slowly at times. Everyone successfully completed the trip.

I was very physically tired at the end of the trip but soon picked up after a couple of days. My weight was 69kg when I left home and 67kg on my return despite eating huge meals and downing a few beers in all of the huts on the route.

Cameras

Nikon FM 35mm camera + 28mm lens to start with but the shutter blades broke on the first day.

I bought a small Nikon AF2 35mm compact camera in Verbier so that I could continue taking mountain photos during this trip. The Nikon AF2 went back for repair after just 6 months (the rewind mechanism broke).

I bought a Mamiya 6 MF medium format camera and sold most of my Nikon gear after this!

Film

Ilford FP4 and 100 Delta 35 mm – I used 7 rolls of 36 exposure film.

Equipment

Kastle Tour Randonnee 180cm skis

Silvretta 404 touring bindings and harscheisen (ski crampons)

Kastle collapsible Ski Poles

Pomoco climbing skins for skis (orange colour on left of photo)

Dynafit Tour Lite 2 ski mountaineering boots with Vibram-type sole for when not on skis. These were great for everything except the downhills where they were too soft and flexible to provide much support. I used them for several years though as they were comfortable for everything else.

Camp Arctic 10 step-in crampons – rigid with a bale at the front and just 1 strap around the ankle so very fast to put on and take off.

Mountain Technology 50cm ice axe – I was told this would be unnecessary so I left it with my travel clothes at the hotel in Chamonix.

POD Outside Rock 40 litre rucksack – plenty big enough for my kit and some group kit

Sigg aluminium 1 litre water bottle. Bottled water was always bought the night before to fill it and I bought extra water to drink before starting each day as well as mugs of tea at breakfast. At each hut on arrival we bought a few 2 litre jugs of tea as we were really dehydrated. We kept drinking it until we had been to pee a couple of times, then we switched to beer in the afternoons and small glasses of wine with our evening meals.

Hill food – a few Clif Bars and chocolate bars, very small amount

Sun cream/block

Julbo Glacier Glasses with leather baffles at the sides and over the nose to stop stray light. On sunny days I had eye strain by days end. They were too dark and the contrast was really poor. One of the ear loops of the frame broke towards the end of the trip which didn’t help either! They went in the bin on my return and were replaced with excellent Vuarnet Glacier Glasses which I used for many years.

Smith ski goggles – mostly wore the glacier glasses but these were worn when skiing in the clouds as the glacier glasses were too dark and with low contrast lenses made it difficult to see the snow underfoot.

Clothes

North Face Stowaway Gore Tex lightweight jacket. I wore this a lot as it was a windproof and another warm layer but didn’t weigh much if it was warm and had to go in the rucksack.

Berghaus Gore Tex Overtrousers – not used the weather was too good

Rohan Superstriders Breeches – modified so that they were covered well below my knee, stretchy thick warm fabric, reasonably windproof

Wild Country Yeti Gore Tex Gaiters over my boots to seal the boot and gaiter together with a built-in rubber rand outside the boot. The gaiter part came over the bottom of the breeches.

Mountain Equipment Ultrafleece jacket – not used much during the days but worn in the huts to keep warm

Mountain Equipment Ultrafleece pullover – warm and reasonably windproof

North Cape midweight long sleeve zip polo

Patagonia lightweight Capilene long sleeve T-shirt – not worn much as warm enough without it.

Underpants x 2 pairs. I swapped to the 2nd pair after the 3rd day as that was roughly half-way.

North Cape thin long johns but these were too warm so I mainly used them at night in the huts. Sleeping between coarse blankets you needed something to make you feel more comfortable. For the 10 years that I was ski touring I don’t remember seeing anyone using a thin lightweight liner bag that you would use now.

Liner Socks and thin Knee Length Socks. I had 2 sets of these and wore them on alternate days so I always had a dry pair each day.

Hestra leather palmed fleece lined ski gloves – these were fantastic, my hands were always warm!

North Cape thin liner gloves – I didn’t use these inside the Hestra gloves but instead of them on warm days.

Lowe Alpine fleece lined cap which covered my ears and the back of my neck. I also had a sun hat.

Mountain Equipment fleece balaclava – not used, the weather was too warm.

The only spare clothes I carried were spare socks and underpants.

The post ski mountaineering chamonix to zermatt haute route photos appeared first on Dave Butcher.

I completed the Pennine Way in 16 days in 1974 so we were starting on the 50th anniversary of this! 

Last time I backpacked the whole way with 2 friends but this time I was hiking with good friend Al from Gloucester who hasn’t walked the Pennine Way before. We were also using Brigantes luggage transfer so we just needed light day sacks. We’ve used Brigantes many times before as they are very reliable. We were staying in pubs and hotels, so luxury compared to last time.

2024 is the first of 3 parts over a total of 21 days, so a bit more leisurely than last time:

2024: Kirk Yetholm to Alston 6 days

2025: Alston to Horton-in-Ribblesdale 8 days

2026: Horton-in-Ribblesdale to Edale, just a few miles from where I live, 7 days

I made a note of some places of mileages and times through each day but this was weather dependent to a certain extent. Rain stopped me doing this at times. Our usual walking pace is around 2.5 mph on hills, maybe around 3 mph on roads and 2 mph or so on steeper uphill slopes. Stops for photos and note taking are not included in these speeds.

We drove up on Monday 3rd June. Al followed my wife Jan and I in his car and dropped it off in Alston at the Alston House Hotel car park, as pre-arranged. 

We had a stroll to stretch our legs after nearly 3 hours in the car and found a cafe in the square for a tea break. My wife Jan then drove all 3 of us the last 2 hours to Kirk Yetholm where we stayed in the Border Hotel. It was about 220 miles from home in Tunstead Milton. 

The Border Hotel is usually the end of the Pennine Way for most people but for us it was going to be the start as we made our way from north to south. It’s about an 8 mile walk from home to Edale so I know the southern end quite well but haven’t walked the northern stretch since completing the Pennine Way 50 years ago. I managed to persuade Al to start in the north so that I could be in unfamiliar territory to see how much I remembered after 50 years.

Most of the days we will walk from north to south but for logistical reasons a few will be walked from the south going north. The first day is an example of this so that we are dropped off in the wilds of Cocklawfoot rather than finishing there and expecting my wife to wait until we turn up. Walking into the bar at the Border Hotel seemed a much better end to the day!

Tuesday 4th June 2024 Cocklawfoot to Kirk Yetholm

Day 1 14.6 miles 7 hours

Jan drove us to the start of today’s walk at Sourhope, near Cocklawfoot.

Jan dropped Al and I off a mile before Cocklawfoot, we crossed the bridge over the stream and walked along the road to Cocklawfoot Farm and the track up the hill.

The track was actually a major route over the ridge in days past called Clennell Street, an old trading route between Morpeth and Kelso.

It was 3.4 miles from Sourhope to reach the ridge at 11.05am and about an hour from Cocklawfoot Farm. It was noticeably windy here, we were obviously sheltered on the way up.

Then it was along a well slabbed path over the peaty landscape, so different to the miles of deep peat bog I struggled through in 1974. Kings Seat was quickly reached before heavy rain started at 11.45am.

At 12.20pm we passed the path junction for The Cheviot and continued for 10 minutes to Auchope Cairn 725m. The wind speed measured 37.5 mph on my anemometer, which is just about Gale Force. We pressed on steeply downhill to reach Auchope Refuge (also called Hen Hole Hut) at 1pm and 7.7 miles. Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t the one I sheltered in 50 years ago, they seem to have replaced the old railway goods wagon with a large garden shed! The rain eased off so I took a few photos.

After a 20 minute break we continued to Schil summit at 2.15pm and 9.5 miles, just off route. It was reached by crossing a stile and climbing the summit rocks, it was dry.

At The Schil the wind had dropped to 32 mph but the windchill reduced the temperature we felt from 6°C to 0.5°C.

We had sunny spells from 3pm as we made our way down through a farm to the road to Kirk Yetholm.

We reached the Border Hotel bar at 4.45pm for a well earned pint and stayed at the Border Hotel again.

14.6 miles in 7 hours, 2910ft (890m) ascent. Max height 2457ft (750m).

Wednesday 5th June 2024 Cocklawfoot to Byrness

Day 2 17.2 miles 8 hours

Jan drove us round all the way to Cocklawfoot Farm so it was just an hour to do the 2 miles along Clennell Street to the ridge. There’s lots of room to park cars and turn around before the bridge near the farm entrance. We started at 9.25am.

It was bright, sunny and a bit breezy but we soon warmed up as we climbed the hill track to the ridge.

The ridge going south was similarly well slabbed like yesterday to the north so we covered the ground quite quickly. We reached Windy Gyle at 11am 3.5 miles in the rain and wind. We didn’t stop long! The sun briefly came  out soon after.

Mozie Law 552m was reached at 12pm 5.5 miles. The rain had stopped but it was still windy.

Lamb Hill was just a few minutes further on at 7.2 miles from Cocklawfoot, and the sun came out!

Another 10 minutes and half a mile saw us at Yearning Saddle Lamb Hill Refuge. We sat outside having a 15 minute break for a chat with other Pennine Wayfarers who were heading north. The refuge was a similar large garden shed type design, similar to the Auchope Refuge closer to Kirk Yetholm.

At 3pm 11.5 miles we reached Chew Green Roman Fort. We wandered around here to try and gauge the size of it – it’s huge and photographs don’t seem to do it justice. The defensive ditches around the outside are still quite deep in places too.

The route follows the edge of a military firing range and red flags were flying so we pressed on.

We followed the tops, like a high plateau, before descending steeply from Byrness Hill through freshly cleared forestry to Byrness.

Just before reaching civilisation Al decided to head butt a tree after tripping over a rock on the path. Luckily the tree was unharmed. It was difficult to tell if Al was affected as he still kept coming out with his usual gibberish! I was sure he’d be fine after a pint or so and this proved to be the case.

We arrived at Forest View Inn at 5.30pm, our abode for the night. I tried to stay here in 1974 when it was a YHA hostel. I was backpacking with good friend Chris but the YHA was closed and in quarantine because someone had an illness that the local GP couldn’t identify and thought it could be something serious. We camped on the campsite down the road instead.

Forest View was a very friendly place full of other Pennine Wayfarers from far and wide. There were 14 people walking north but only Al and I were walking south.

Dinner was Spanish Chicken with Chorizo Sausage and beers from the First and Last Brewery in Bellingham. 

During the evening I received a message from Jan to say our accommodation for tomorrow night at the Cheviot Hotel in Bellingham wasn’t available. Our booking was lost during the change in ownership! 

Fortunately, Jan managed to book us into the Riverdale Hall Hotel on the edge of Bellingham instead. 

17.2 miles in 8 hours, 2.7mph average moving speed, 2752 ft (840m) ascent.

Thursday 6th June 2024 Byrness to Bellingham

Day 3 16.6 miles 7.8 hours

The only downside of Byrness Forest View was that our room was too small for me to do my normal morning stretches for my bad back. Luckily I managed to find a small bit of floor to do a few to get me going.

We had a good cooked breakfast, had our photographs taken outside for posterity by Oli (he photographs most people that stay with them and posts the pics on Facebook), and left at 9.15am. It was sunny with a cold breeze.

It was easy walking on good tracks to start while I warmed up so I was fine.

We walked along forestry roads for quite a way. There were lots of huge log stacks beside the tracks.

Eventually, at 11.20am we turned off the forestry tracks onto footpaths through forest to open country.

There were quite a few birds in the area around Black Hill and Brownrigg Head including Stonechats and Sky Larks.

We stopped for our lunch break by a stream at 2pm. By this stage we had seen 20 people walking north.

At 3.45pm we walked into Bellingham and spotted an A-board near the old station  directing us to the First and Last Brewery. We didn’t want to appear churlish so we immediately diverted and as luck would have it their tap room, adjacent to the brewery, was open. I can highly recommend the Eclipse Milk Stout.

From the brewery it was just 15 minutes to walk the ¾ mile to the Riverdale Hall Hotel.

We checked into the hotel at 5.30pm and were in room 2, a huge twin room, with French doors leading out to a balcony overlooking the hotel cricket ground. This was definitely the best room of the trip but it was also the most expensive.

Coincidentally, the hotel also sold First and Last Brewery beers, even though when we asked the staff at the tap room they said the hotel didn’t sell it. 

16.6 miles, about 6¾ hours excluding brewery diversion.

Friday 7th June 2024 Bellingham to Once Brewed

Day 4 15.7 miles 7.2 hours

Breakfast was good, lots of it and fast service so we were away by 9am. It was sunshine and showers from the start so we put on full waterproofs before venturing outside.

At 11am and 4.8 miles we stopped at Low Stead for a bite to eat. I just had a chocolate bar. There was a conveniently placed chair at the side of the track so we had a sit down for a short break too.

At 1.10pm we stopped for lunch in a sheep byre on Haughton Common between Currick and Hawk Side. This was quite a memorable place for me because this was where I wild camped while backpacking the Pennine Way in 1974.

We reached Hadrian’s Wall at 2.55pm, just west of Housesteads Roman Fort and Cuddy’s Crags.

At 3.40pm we walked down to what should have been Sycamore Gap but it looked a bit sad without the tree. A mindless act of vandalism cut the 150 year old tree down on 23rd September 2023.

This is what it used to look like. I took this in July 2006 on the way back from taking landscape photographs along the Northumberland coast for my portfolio.

At 4.10pm we walked into Twice Brewed Inn where we had a room booked. We went straight to the bar before checking in. The Twice Brewed Steel Rigg Porter was very good.

We stayed in room 2 (same number as the hotel in Bellingham last night) but this one was a tiny twin room at the Twice Brewed Inn just south of Hadrian’s Wall. It was so small that Al could just reach over from his bed to hit me every time I snored. It was probably the smallest room for 2 people I’ve stayed in for a long time. Unfortunately, they have a captive audience as, apart from the hostel next door, there’s no alternative in the area if you’re walking.

15.7 miles in 7¼ hours, 1400ft (425m) of ascent with 2.7 mph average moving speed.

Saturday 8th June 2024 Once Brewed to Greenhead

Day 5 7.8 miles 3.8 hours

I had to do my morning back exercises and stretches on the bed as there wasn’t any spare floor space. However, the breakfast was good being both a cooked breakfast and buffet.

At 9.15am we left the hotel and in 10 minutes had retraced our steps back to Hadrian’s Wall. 

Just after this, at Steel Rigg, there was a country showground which looked like it was about to open to the public. We didn’t stop.

A bit later we reached the road at Caw Gap. The wall climbed away quite steeply on both sides of the road.

Shortly after leaving Milecastle 42 the path descended to a track to Cawfields Quarry, now flooded and used as a recreation area and car park.

There was no information or active archaeology going on that we could see at Great Chesters Fort. The site was very large but obviously part of a working farm. There were very few areas visible above the greenery, just the odd bit of stone wall here and there. The outline of the fort was very clear though.

We reached the Greenhead Hotel soon after Thirlwall Castle ruins. It was just a half mile detour from the main route.

I had a Blackhall English Stout, another very nice beer. 

When I backpacked the Pennine Way in 1974 I tried to stay here with my 2 friends. We were soaked through and just wanted somewhere to dry off. The receptionist was just finding us a room when the hotel manager came along. He asked what was going on, the receptionist told him, and he instantly said they didn’t have a room. He left us in no doubt that he didn’t like the bedraggled look of us. Unfortunately, that also meant that we had to walk another 2 miles to Gilsland to find a bed and breakfast to stay, making it a 21.5 mile day.

Luckily, times have changed and Al and I weren’t bedraggled so they let us in. 

We stayed at the Greenhead Hotel in a very comfortable room to the rear of the hotel. The restaurant was busy in the evening but they managed to fit us in and we had a tasty meal.

7.8 miles in 3¾h with 630ft (195m) ascent at 2.6mph average moving speed. 

Sunday 9th June 2024 Greenhead to Alston

Day 6 17.5 miles 8 hours

The cooked breakfast was good and set me up for the day. Then we packed our bags and Al took them down to reception ready for Brigantes to pick them up and take them to Alston. 

We left the hotel at 8.50am in the sunshine, but it was chilly. It stayed dry all day.

At 11.20am we stopped for a short break at a ruined barn after Hartley Burn. It was cold, dry and windy.

We soon crossed the A689 and were walking over moorland with few good features to pick out.

We could see a path through the vegetation beside the road up to the old railway track above and at 1.25pm we were on top of the Burnstones viaduct near Knarsdale Hall. Al went down to the road below to find out from a passerby where the nearest pub was. With her directions we diverted to the Kirkstyle Inn just up the road. It was marked on the map but we didn’t know if it opened at lunchtime. It was just a few hundred yards off route so we were soon there.

By 1.35pm we were sitting down in the Kirkstyle Inn for a mostly liquid lunch of Corby Ale and a bag of crisps.

The break didn’t last long as we were on our way at 1.55pm in the sunshine heading back to Burnstones Viaduct to pick up the trail again.

Al had painful feet from blisters on blisters, a common occurrence for him on our long treks. The path from Slaggyford officially crosses several fields to reach Alston but there’s a footpath beside the railway tracks all the way to Alston. This was much easier underfoot such that Al limped into Alston station at 4.25pm.

We headed into the main town square and went to the Turks Head for a pint of Black Sheep bitter. Beer is a well known remedy for sore feet and the good thing is you don’t have to rub it in, you just swallow it!

We left the pub and arrived at the Alston House Hotel at 4.50pm. Al had left his car in their car park on Monday – and it was still there!

17.5 miles in 8 hours with 1900 feet ascent 2.7mph average moving speed.

Monday 10th June 2024 Travel Home from Alston

We had a family room with 3 single beds so there was lots of room for the 2 of us. Al had 2 beds – one to sleep in and one to put his bag on. I only needed one, my bag was on the luggage stand! Having a bad back it really helps when I don’t have my bag on the floor.

After a good cooked breakfast we packed up and loaded our bags into Al’s car which was still parked in the hotel car park. Al then drove us back to Tunstead Milton to drop me off. After a bit of a break Al drove back to Gloucester.

Summary

In total we walked 89.4 miles in 6 days from Kirk Yetholm to Alston, including pub and brewery diversions. 

In 2025 we return to the Alston House Hotel to start the next leg of the walk to Horton-in-Ribblesdale.

Equipment

Camera

Panasonic Lumix DMC TZ100, a good travel camera as long as you can keep it dry. Al once poured his pint over a previous one and it couldn’t be repaired so I had to replace it. Quite why he wasted perfectly good beer doing that I’ll never know.

On wet days I used my Motorola Edge 20 mobile phone in an Aquapac waterproof case to take a few pictures. All the mobile phones I’ve had take acceptable pictures until you try and zoom in to the subject – then they’re rubbish! That’s why I use the little compact camera rather than just relying on the phone. Being a professional photographer makes me more critical of picture quality than most people I guess?

There are over 150 images in this blog post and every one of them has been edited in Photoshop. They were all cropped, often just top and bottom to remove parts of the image that were distracting or didn’t add anything to the scene. I also set the black and white points and then often adjusted the brightness and contrast. That was pretty much the extent of the picture editing. The colour balance has not been touched and everything that you see was on the original file so they are effectively the views that I saw, nothing has been added. So if you go to the same place these are views that you will see, the lighting and weather may be different but the view will be very similar if not the same.

Maps, Etc

Satmap Active 20 with Ordnance Survey 25k and 50k detailed maps. I programmed the route and uploaded it onto the GPS so route finding was very easy. I used it exclusively in the OS 25k map view for the extra detail of field boundaries and similar helpful features. 50 years ago I had to carry all 10 of the OS 1 inch to 1 mile maps (63.36k) for the entire route in my rucksack. It’s so much easier these days with GPS and luggage transfer so I only carry maps for 1 day!

Harveys Pennine Way North 40k waterproof map. I used this daily to see a larger view than that shown on the GPS screen to pick out the names of the neighbouring hills, etc.

Ordnance Survey 25k maps covering the daily route, just in case we wanted to divert off the narrow area shown on the Harveys map or something happened to the Satmap GPS. I didn’t use these at all but I still always carried them – you never know when you might need them.

Cicerone Guide ‘The Pennine Way’ and OS 1:25k map booklet. The guidebook wasn’t carried but was referred to each evening ready for the next day. 50 years ago we all carried a copy of the Wainwright ‘Pennine Way Companion’ guidebook – the one that pretty much everyone used at that time. I bought mine in 1973 which was 5 years after it was first published and it had already been reprinted 18 times! It was essential as the OS maps didn’t clearly show the route of the Pennine Way. In places the OS maps didn’t show the route at all! The main advantage of the Wainwright guide over the Cicerone guide was that every mile was marked on the hand-drawn maps in the guidebook – this was really helpful, as well as the detailed sketches of features to look out for.

The Cicerone map booklet was used every day to see the way ahead and around us, except when it was raining! The GPS screen is quite small (3×2 inches/7.5x5cm) so having a map for the wider view is useful.

I always carry a compass or two but I didn’t need to use either. It’s very different now with GPS technology compared to 20 years ago. For example, when I did the Munro’s from 1984 to 1996 I had to carry a map and compass in my hand all the time and refer to them almost continuously in bad weather or on untracked mountainside. Now I just glance at the GPS hanging from my rucksack strap which clearly shows the planned route superimposed on an OS 25k map and my exact position. The GPS is also completely weatherproof and has an excellent battery life of well over 20 hours.

Anemometer 

Kestrel 2000 pocket anemometer. It gives wind speed, temperature and wind chill. Always useful to carry if expecting windy or very cold weather. 

The post Pennine Way 2024 North to South: Kirk Yetholm to Alston appeared first on Dave Butcher.

The Southern Upland Way is Scotland’s official Coast to Coast Trail from Portpatrick in Dumfries and Galloway on the west coast, through the Scottish Borders, to Cockburnpath in Berwickshire near the east coast. It was 218 miles long and took 15 days in two parts – 12 days in April and 3 days in September 2023. Mostly I walked it on my own with my wife Jan dropping me off in the morning and picking me up in the evening. Some days Jan walked with me in the morning for a few miles then turned back to the car so that she could pick me up later. The official website for the trek is run by Dumfries and Galloway Council.

I decided not to carry my heavy professional camera equipment for this trip as I also have a chronic back condition. Just using a small, light digital camera was the compromise I decided upon, hence all the colour photos in this post. 

I also took Naproxen every day after breakfast because I’ve found over the years that taking it before the pain starts reduces the pain or stops it completely. Taking it after the pain has built up does nothing.

To view larger versions of the pictures go to the Google Blogger version of this post which is in 2 parts:

Southern Upland Way Part 1 Portpatrick to Beattock and Moffat – on Google Blogger for bigger pictures. Click on each picture for the largest version.

Southern Upland Way Part 2 Beattock to Cockburnspath – on Google Blogger for bigger pictures. Click on each picture for the largest version.

Day 1 Saturday 15th April 2023 

Portpatrick to Castle Kennedy 14.4 miles 6.2h

Jan parked us near the public toilets at the end of Portpatrick Harbour. There weren’t many cars about at 9.30am on a Saturday. As soon as I got out of the car I could see birds flying over the harbour water heading into the harbour walls, they were Black Guillemots, lots of them and they were nesting. I loaded up the Mamiya 7 Camera with Ilford 400 Delta 120 film and headed around the harbour for some photos. There’s a new Southern Upland Way finger post at the far end of the harbour from where we parked, pointing to the start which is by the toilets. It was warm and sunny 12°C with a cold wind.

I started from the information panel at the start at 10.05am and immediately walked up the shallow stone steps to the cliff path at the top – good view over the harbour from the top.

Then there’s a good track to follow to the sandy cove of Port Mora. There was a waterfall over a cave entrance – Ouchtriemakain Cave – as the path led to the beach.

The first undersea telephone cable between Scotland and Ireland was laid in 1852 between Port Kale and Donaghadee 27 miles away on the Irish coast. The old cable house, a double octagonal building, is on the edge of the cove.

The Killantringan Lighthouse, 11.40am 3.2 miles.

Jan turned back here and took my heavy Mamiya 7 camera and my fleece jacket that I didn’t need.

There was an information board near Knockquhassen about hidden treasure, Ultreia signs, Kists and Waymerks. I hadn’t seen anything like this before on the treks that I’ve done previously, and I’ve done a lot of them! There are 13 art installations along the trail marking a Kist containing coins unique to that Kist. Before and after most of the Kists are small metal plates on the way posts with the word Ultreia. This is the only clue given to the location of each Kist. I found 10 Kists on my trek but returned and found another 2 a year later. One wasn’t on my route on Day 4 as I used the alternative route which missed it. There’s a leaflet shown below that shows the information more clearly.

I stopped for 10 minutes for a bite to eat from 1pm just below the hilltop before walking along the path parallel to the reservoir. It was a bit like walking through a nature reserve with so many birds flying around, calling and singing.

Kist 1

I spotted the kist from the path at 1.25pm but didn’t realise what it was as I wasn’t familiar with the hoard until seeing the information board a little way before it. The Waymerks were in a glass jar to protect them from the elements but quite a few were rusty.

The first Ultreia sign that I spotted was on an uprooted post after I’d found the first Kist.

I reached Pilanton Burn, which appeared to be a fishery, at 2pm it was 8.7 miles from Portpatrick.

Then it was on towards Stranraer with views over the town, sea beyond and ferries coming and going at 2.20pm.

A country lane bypassed the town and took me down to the busy A77 and after crossing found the Culreoch World War 2 gun emplacements ruins, not a lot to see as what’s left is quite overgrown!

After this I followed a short section of the old military road, through a wood behind some houses to a road where I ended the day in Castle Kennedy. Jan was waiting for me opposite the entrance to Castle Kennedy House, I finished at 4.15pm 14.4 miles.

Day 2 Sunday 16th April 2023

Castle Kennedy to Balmurrie 11.2 miles 4.8h

Parking at Balmurrie is limited and remote so I walked this leg in reverse. I started at Balmurrie and walked to Castle Kennedy. Jan dropped me off at Balmurrie Farm at 10am and I walked back along the tarmac farm road to the road to New Luce which was just under 1 mile.

After the road junction there was a bit more tarmac single track road before the route took off across a few fields. These were invariably occupied by quite large herds of cattle which seemed to congregate around the stiles. Fortunately, they quickly moved off with one group in particular using the track I needed as if they knew the way! This part of the route was very muddy, as in deep mud and lots of it. Visibility was very poor so I didn’t see the Caves of Kilhern a few hundred metres off route or Cruise Back Fell Iron Age Hill Fort just off route too. However, I photographed the info boards which showed what I missed.

I finally reached the road at the hamlet of Cruise and after short section of road crossed the river on a substantial bridge. Then after crossing the railway the route enters Glenwhan woods and climbs uphill.

Kist 2

Just where the path turns across the slope of the hillside I came across a post with the Ultreia plate on it so it was time to keep an eye out for Kist 2. This must be the easiest one of them all to find as it’s just a couple of feet from the trail with bits of rag hanging from tree branches and some boxes on the ground being the Kist.

The Clootie Tree and rags were part of an old Celtic custom.

The Kist was a lidded box set into the ground. When I arrived at 12.40pm a young woman was brewing a cup of tea on it so I didn’t see inside the box but she told me it was empty. One Waymerk to be claimed later.

As I came out of the woods the route followed a wall on one side and the forest on the other and it was a very wet track in places as I plodded along.

I reached the road at 1.50pm where there was an information sign about the Standing Stones of Glenterrow but it wasn’t the weather for diverting to have a look. There was also an information board about alternative routes for the SUW and a few day walks, as if the SUW wasn’t enough!

At Castle Kennedy park I followed the road past 2 large lochs, through the gates at the other end, and the last few yards to Jan and our car at 2.50pm, it was just over 11 miles from Balmurrie.

Day 3 Monday 17th April 2023

Balmurrie to Bargrennan 17.1 miles 7h

I was dropped off at Balmurrie Farm wearing full waterproofs as it was a wet start to the day at 9.45am.

There’s a bit of farm track before the route turns off across the moor past the Neolithic Cairn Na Gath which I didn’t divert to considering the poor weather – I was walking in low cloud and could just see it a couple of hundred yards away.

Shortly after this there was another information board about the use of the land but it needs a good clean or replacing so that it can be easily read.

Before reaching the forest I had my first view of the turbines that make up a huge wind farm. They were barely visible in the low clouds but made quite a noise to let you know they were there even when you couldn’t see them. Then it was into the woods on a well surfaced, well marked track.

At 11.15am and just under 4 miles from Balmurrie I reached the Beehive Bothy, a really interesting shape and interior for a bothy.

Soon after the bothy the Laggangarn Stones were passed in a small clearing in the forest.

A few minutes further on, on the other side of one of the major forest roads, the route was almost completely blocked by a fallen tree. You needed to be a bit of a contortionist or a limbo dancer to weave through the branches to the track on the other side, not great for my bad back!

By the Wells O’ the Rees junction the track was mostly above the forest into bracken and grass covered hillside.

The summit of Craig Airie Fell was well above the tree line and had good views over the forest, Loch Derry and wind farms in every direction.

I passed the path to Linn’s Tomb and stopped for a bite to eat near Derry Farm at 1pm. It was brightening up so I took my waterproofs off and packed them away.

A good forest road led to a proper tarmac road just before Darloskine Bridge, this was about half an hour from my lunch stop.

There was a good single track road so about 40 minutes later I was walking through the hamlet of Knowe and there was even a bit of blue sky showing through! A track then cut the corner off through some woods and across fields to rejoin the road near Glenruther Lodge.

After a short section of road the trail strikes uphill to Ochiltree Hill, at 184m it’s not that high but it has uninterrupted views in every direction, hence the Ordnance Survey trig point on the summit.

A bit lower down just before rejoining the road near Garchew there was another herd of cattle and the ground was really churned up and boggy.

Finally the trail soon left the tarmac for more fields and rough pastures to come out on the road just south of Bargrennan. From here it was just 10 minutes to the car park of the House O’ Hill Hotel, reaching it at 4.50pm, where I was hoping to have a drink. Unfortunately, it has very limited opening hours on just a few days a week and was shut.

Day 4 Tuesday 18th April 2023

Bargrennan to Craigenbay 16 miles 6.4h

Parking at Craigenbay is limited and remote so Jan dropped me off here at 9.30am and I walked to Bargrennan where there’s lots of parking near the pub. The first several miles are along forest road with large timber lorries regularly passing me so I had to get off the road each time as the road is single track. After 3.5 miles and about 1 hour the track split and the SUW follows the left branch down to a bridge over the river with really good views of the mountains in the background.

The track then climbed and followed round to Loch Dee, surrounded by some big hills.

The path climbed uphill for a short section and came to a very large carved stone – The Giant Axe Head Sculpture. At Glenhead there were lots of forestry signs saying the path ahead was closed find another route – no alternative was offered so I ignored the sign and continued and met lots of walkers and cyclists coming the other way. We had all ignored path closure signs – there was no sign of any work going on, no sound of machinery or chain saws – they obviously put signs out and leave them even when no work is going on. I reported this to the DG Trails ranger and they passed it on to the forestry company. No idea if it makes any difference but at least I tried.

Soon after Glenhead I came to the east end of Loch Trool and stopped for lunch on the bench seat provided.

There are good trails to the old Caldons campsite, no longer in use but between there and Water of Trool bridge the path was indistinct in places. There were several paths to choose from and I had a false start at one stage but it was only 50 yards before I realised my mistake so no problem. I was being picked up from the same place as yesterday, House O’ Hill at Bargrennan, so I crossed the footbridge over the Water of Trool and followed the good path to Stroan Bridge. This is near the Glen Trool Visitor Centre and large car park. From the bridge there were forest trails beside the road all the way to Bargrennan.

The forest trails from Water of Trool to Stroan Bridge and then to Bargrennan were excellent and easy to follow. I reached Bargrennan House O’ Hill (closed) at 3.15pm, 16 miles and 5 hours 50 minutes from Craigenbay.

Note: because I took the alternative route via Stroan Bridge to Bargrennan I missed Kist 3 which is somewhere along the other trail.

Day 5 Wednesday 19th April 2023

Craigenbay to St John’s Town of Dalry 8.5 miles 3.7h

Jan dropped me off at Craigenbay at 9.35am, it was sunny with a few clouds and 12°C so a bit on the cool side. After a short walk along the tarmac road the route went off to the right across some fields towards the forest beyond.

After about 2 miles I came to the first Ultreia post in a clearing in the forest, the 2nd one was a few hundred yards further on and had a yellow cap on the post. In between was a ditch to be jumped over on the left and an indistinct path leading into a walled clearing/enclosure with an enormous rock in it. The Kist was in the top of a cairn in front of it. I forgot to photograph it, oops!

The 2nd post was on the open hillside with a large sheep pen opposite. The path led over some featureless moorland and some rolling hillocks and down to a minor road at Drumbuie.

The road went into some woodland alongside Garroch Burn and then turned away from the road, over a marshy area, where duckboards had thankfully been installed above the bog, to go up Waterside Hill – a small hill overlooking St Johns Town of Dalry. I stopped at 12.45pm after 7.5 miles, for lunch on a bench seat just below the top, it was bitterly cold in the wind.

Views from Waterside Hill to St Johns Town of Dalry

After the power station the path followed the river and crossed a field to a substantial pedestrian bridge over the Water of Ken.

Then it was a short walk up past the small church into the village of St Johns Town of Dalry.

It was 1.20pm and Dalry is 8.5 miles from Craigenbay (with about 1000 feet/300m of ascent) so quite an easy day considering many of the other days on the trek.

The Clachan Inn was open and very busy so it seemed churlish to not go in and have a pint.

Day 6 Thursday 20th April 2023

St John’s Town of Dalry to Stroanpatrick 7.8 miles 3.6h

It was going to be another short day today so I had a late start of 10.45am. Jan walked with me for the first few miles before turning back to get the car to pick me up at the end.

It was a sunny cool day with clear blue skies all day.

It was a little boggy in places and the path disappeared in places but otherwise it was a good day for walking with a blue sky all day.

I saw lots of birds in this area including Goosanders on the river, a couple of Ravens, Sand Martins and a Red Kite.

I finished the day at the finger post which is the start of tomorrow’s walk, where there’s just room for a car to pull in for a pick-up/drop-off but not to park. It was 2.20pm and 7.8 miles from Dalry. 

If you need somewhere to park and leave your car there’s space opposite the farm a few hundred yards further on.

Day 7 Friday 21st April 2023 

Stroanpatrick to Sanquar Euchan Bridge 17.9 miles 8.2h

It was sunny, clear and with a cold wind all day, a good day for walking.

It took just over an hour to reach the first hill, Manquhill, which had good views in places but lots of tightly packed conifers obscured many of the views. It was the first view of one of the arches by landscape sculptor Andy Goldsworthy. It was still a long way away though!

From Manquhill the route follows a forest ride downhill before the last pull uphill to Ben Brack and one of the Striding Arch sculptures. I reached Ben Brack at 11.50am 4.6 miles from Stroanpatrick. This was way above the tree line so had good views in every direction, including to two of the other Striding Arches on neighbouring hills.

More forest trails followed then the route is along good forest roads to local tarmac roads shortly after Polskeoch Bothy.

Kist 5

Kist 5 is set into the ground on Cloud Hill and is a wood-lined metal chest with a ceramic tile over the lid of the chest with rough grazing grass all around. It would be impossible to spot it with snow on the ground! 

I had my first view of Sanquar town at 4.40pm but it was just over an hour down rough moorland and fields until I reached Euchan Bridge on the edge of town where I was picked up.

Overall, it was 8 hours 10 minutes, 17.9 miles and 3700 feet (1130m) of ascent from Stroanpatrick to Euchan Bridge on the outskirts of Sanquar and was a really good day on the hills.

Day 8 Saturday 22nd April 2023 

Sanquar Euchan Bridge to Overfingland 14.8 miles 7.9h

Jan dropped me off at the Euchan Bridge on the outskirts of Sanquar and I started at 10.15am. I would have liked an earlier start for this longish day but we’re staying in Newton Stewart and are restricted by breakfast times and the slow roads. Sanquar was very quiet as we walked along the main street before turning off onto good tracks that took us into the hills.

I picked up a chest infection at the hotel a couple of days ago and was feeling tired and coughing a lot today. Chest infections are the worst thing for my asthma! There’s also quite a risk that coughing can put my back muscles into spasm which can be very serious on the hills so I also have Diazepam which I can take as a muscle relaxant should the need arise. I took it today because I was coughing so much.

Jan walked with me for the first few miles before turning back at 11.40am to get the car and drive around to my finish point.

It was cold here so I swapped over from a duvet gilet to a duvet jacket with a hood and put warm mitts on.

Kist 6

I passed the first Ultreia post so was looking out for the Kist but walked right past this. Fortunately I turned around before opening a gate and spotted this in the bank just on my left. It seemed more obvious looking back than it did walking past it.

Kist in bank beside the trail 12.45pm 5 miles from Sanquar

Wanlockhead

At 2.35pm and just under 9 miles I stopped in Wanlockhead to have some food. I was walking at about 2.5mph so far and the weather seemed to be closing in.

As I left Wanlockhead I was soon in the clouds and couldn’t see more than 30 yards or so. The GPS told me exactly where I was but I didn’t see anything. I didn’t even see the Lowther Hill radar golf balls even though I passed close by and they are enormous.

The rain started at 4.10pm on Lowther Hill and continued as I made my way over Cold Moss and Comb Head. I had slowed down a bit as the coughing was taking its toll. This was followed by a steep drop and an equally steep climb up the other side to Laght Hill where I was surprised to be met by my wife Jan. She was concerned because of my coughing so had come to meet me – she also had a GPS programmed with my route so she just followed it until she found me part way up the slope a couple of miles from the car. Jan took my rucksack which made the last bit much easier for me.

Almost immediately Jan pointed out the Kist, she had spotted it a few minutes earlier as she came over the stile. It looked a bit like a wooden toy or an old piece of mining equipment but a bit out of place on the open hillside.

Kist 7

Dreadful weather but difficult to miss this Kist as it’s right by a stile on the route and less than 2 miles from Overfingland.

The day ended in a lay-by at Overfingland on the A702 main road at 6.10pm 14.8 miles from Sanquar Euchan Bridge and 3500 feet (1070m) of ascent. All that ascent made it feel like a big day.

Day 9 Sunday 23rd April 2023

Overfingland to Beattock 16.9 miles 8h

In contrast to yesterday it was a sunny morning, 10°C and breezy, so very pleasant walking weather. I felt much better today and was coughing a lot less.

I started at 10.15am from the Overfingland lay-by on the A702. There were even good views of the Lowther Hill radar dome which I hadn’t managed to see yesterday.

I stopped for lunch overlooking Daer Reservoir. The weather seemed to be closing in – the sun was long gone.

It started to rain on Hod’s Hill so I briefly stopped to put waterproofs on. Soon after this I was into the forest which was a bit more protected from the weather.

I stopped above the bothy for another bite to eat at 2.50pm and just under 9 miles. The trees had taken quite a battering, lots of them had been blown down by storms.

At East Earshaig I reached a minor road at 4.35pm, 12 miles from Overfingland.

Jan had parked the car near a bridge over Moffat Water, just past Craigbeck. I reached her at 6.15pm and 16.9 miles 2400 feet (730m) of ascent while averaging 2.7mph.

Day 10 Monday 24th April 2023 

Beattock to Ettrick Village 13.5 miles 6.8h

Jan drove us back to yesterday’s finish point and parked the car as she was walking with me for the first few miles today. It was bright and sunny but cool.

We started walking at 10am along the wide gravel track next to the bridge and Water of Moffat which quickly narrowed to single track. Forestry lorries were frequently using it as we walked along.

I was intending to use the low route today as I was a bit tired but there was a diversion over the High Route because of forestry operations. So, in view of the signs and lots of lorries we diverted up the hill at 10.30am.

Jan turned back at Gateshaw Rig at 11.50am 3.3 miles, the weather had changed and hail showers started in between sunny spells. I put full waterproofs on before continuing along the ridge. Fortunately, most of the showers passed in about 20 minutes. 

I carried on along the ridge on a decent track to Croft Head 637m which I reached at 12.25pm and just over 4 miles from the car. There were pretty impressive views all around to the neighbouring hills.

At 1pm 4.7 miles I stopped for lunch at a conveniently placed bench seat at the foot of Cat Shoulder. Even though I was looking up at quite big peaks there were still good views.

Kist 8

At 1.30pm 5.1 miles I passed an Ultreia post and dropped down to a footbridge over a stream. It didn’t take long to spot a very strange looking cairn which I headed for. The Kist was next to it set into the ground.

At 2.35pm 7.5 miles I reached the Over Phawhope Bothy and a signpost showing the same distance to both back to Beattock and on to St Mary’s Loch – 10.5 miles.

I reached the planned days end of Scabcleuch at 4.45pm 13.5 miles. There was no sign of Jan and the car as I was quite a bit earlier than I’d estimated. After sitting on the bridge wall for a few minutes I decided I may as well do something so walked along the road into Ettrick village and waited in the phone box outside the village hall as there were more hail and rain showers. Jan arrived at 5.30pm.

I walked 14.7 miles in just over 7 hours with 4100 feet (1250 metres) ascent over Croft Head.

Day 11 Tuesday 25th April 2023 

Scabcleugh to Traquair 17.2 miles 8.1h

It was a sunny morning but only 3°C at Scabcleuch, near Ettrick village, as we parked the car in a long lay-by just before the road went over the bridge. Jan was walking with me for the first few miles as we set off uphill at 9.50am.

Jan turned back at 11.20pm 2.6 miles from Scabcleuch as we started to descend from Pikestone Rig towards Riskinghope Hope.

This gate is just above the stream at the foot of the descent from Pikestone Rig to Riskinhope Hope. It slopes towards those coming from the uphill side so it’s heavy and awkward to push open. Not great for someone with a bad back!

I reached Tibbie Shiels at 12.35pm 5.2 miles, there was an information board and a good view of Loch of the Lowes as well as St Mary’s Loch.

I stopped at 12.45pm just past the clubhouse of the yacht club for a bite to eat, it was sunny and cold so I didn’t stop for long. There wasn’t much activity as most of the boats were out of the water and all stored together in an enclosure, still in their winter wrappings.

I passed Dryhope Tower at 2.35pm but didn’t divert for a look around as it was a long day and I was barely half-way.

Kist 9

Kist 9 looks like a milestone and has the word Ultreia and some patterns carved into it. As far as I could tell there were no Ultreia wooden posts as there are for other kists. I missed Kist 9 the first time as it had been ripped from its concrete and reinforced steel fixing and was laying on its side. It looked like it had been vandalised as it is heavy and was a few feet from the original base. Either that or there’s horrendous weather on Deuchar Law!

I have a bad back so can’t do any heavy lifting but my wife flexed her muscles and managed to stand it upright again but it was too heavy to move back onto it’s base. At least it was visible from the track when we left it.

Kist 9 was just over 3 miles from Traquair Kirk so maybe it should have been called the Traquair Kist instead of Yarrow Kist?

Well that was a good day but a long one. The tracks were all very good and it was easy to follow the route even without a GPS! It stayed clear and cold all day. I had mild backache for the last section from St Mary’s Loch but it soon recovered after a lie down on a hot pad in our hotel room.

In total it was 17.2 miles in 8 hours with 4000 feet (1220 metres) ascent.

My average moving speed was 2.8mph but I had a few breaks too which brings the overall speed down a bit.

Day 12 Wednesday 26th April 2023 

Traquair to Galashiels 14.2 miles 6.8h

We were staying at the Traquair Arms in Innerleithen so it was just a 5 minute drive to the start of the walk at Traquair War Memorial. Jan dropped me off and I started walking at 9.15am. There were sunny spells through the day but it was chilly.

Kist 10

Kist 10 is on the track over Minch Moor after the Cheese Well. It’s built into the remains of a dry stone wall beside the track. The Waymerks were protected in a metal tin inside a ceramic container with a small slab of rock closure.

I have a bad back and it wasn’t that good today after several days of coughing and the long day yesterday. It was aching by the time I reached Brown Knowe at 11.45am 5 miles, just after taking this photo. I stopped to take Diazepam as I was afraid my back muscles would go into spasm. I’d already taken Naproxen after breakfast so it was belt and braces time!

I stopped for a quick lunch break just after Broomy Law, before I reached 3 Brethren.

It was a total of 14.2 miles with 3100 feet ascent and took 6h 48m from Traquair War Memorial to the Wetherspoons in Galashiels. Jan was waiting for me just outside as I’d kept in touch through the day with my progress. 

My back held up to the end of the day, thankfully, but waking up coughing during the night put some of my back muscles into spasm, as I’d feared on the hill. It was telling me it was time to stop so we went home with 3 days left. Disappointing but necessary for recovery; coughing, asthma and bad backs don’t go well together. I was lucky to be able to walk 7 days with a chest infection.

Day 13 Monday 25th September 2023 

Galashiels to Lauder 13.5 miles 5.4h

5 months after having to stop walking the Southern Upland Way because of my bad back my wife and I came back so that I could walk the last 3 days from Galashiels to Cockburnspath.

We parked on Scott Street in Galashiels which I walk along in April.

I started walking at 9.45am and it was sunny.

I stopped for a bite to eat at 12.10pm – a Homemade Eccles Cake as usual!

Kist 11

Kist 11 is right beside the track but is easy to miss as it blends in with the surroundings. It’s a life-size ceramic pair of Roman feet. The top ceramic plate is broken so is held down with rocks. It’s just 3 miles from Lauder so it’s quite a bit closer to Lauder than to Melrose.

At Fordswell there’s a motor racing track. The trail avoids this in part by going through Woodheads Hill wood which I reached at 2.10pm.

In total it was 13.5 miles with 1575 feet (480 metres) ascent and I took 5h 25m. A reasonably easy day along good tracks and minor roads – and good weather all day.

Day 14 Tuesday 26th September 2023 

Lauder to Longformacus 16.1 miles 6.4h

We parked the car just off the Market Square in Lauder and, at 9.25am, Jan and I started walking through through the grounds of Thirlestane Castle on well laid, marked and fenced paths. It was dull, dry and windy.

I stopped for a bite to eat at the bridge – it made for a very convenient seat- just an Eccles Cake and a small chocolate bar.

Kist 12

Kist 12 is another one that is right beside the track and is very difficult to miss.

Just after taking these shots the rain started so it was on with my waterproofs for the rest of the day. It was quite heavy on the tops but light showers lower down.

Today was 16.1 miles in 6h 25m with 1650 feet (500m) ascent. Another good day on the hills, I enjoyed walking in the Lammermuirs.

Day 15 Wednesday 27th September 2023 

Longformacus to Cockburnpath 18.7 miles 7.2h

Jan parked the car at the top of the hill in Longformacus, where I finished yesterday. It was dry, dull and 11°C. I started walking at 9.45am.

I stopped for a bite to eat at 12pm on a conveniently positioned bench seat beside the path under a huge tree – homemade Eccles Cake and a chocolate bar.

Kist 13

Kist 13 is another one that is right beside the track. It’s a rusty metal treasure chest set into the bank beside the track, about 8.5 miles from where I started in Longformacus.

I actually missed it on first pass as I hadn’t seen an Ultreia post until the one at the stile. I thought that was the first one so I continued up the hill a short way before coming back to check the path before the Ultreia post and found it straightaway.

I stopped for a 2nd lunch break (2nd Eccles Cake) on a seat near the Ultreia post after Kist 13.

It started raining at 2pm so I stopped to put full waterproofs on and took few photos of the last section running along close to the A1 road to the finish because my digital camera and phone aren’t waterproof.

An information board on the outskirts of Cockburnspath appeared to be the official end of the route. What a disappointing place to finish! It’s right next to the old A1 with the new A1 flyover noise and fumes not far away. 

I ignored the sign and continued in to Cockburnspath village. 

I treated the War Memorial in the centre of Cockburnspath as the end point as I believe this is where it officially ended before the information board existed. I finished at 4.55pm. 

In total it was 18.7 miles with 2875 feet (875m) ascent in 7h 10m from Longformacus to Cockburnspath.

Unfortunately, there isn’t anywhere to celebrate having just walked the 218 miles from Portpatrick, no pub, hotel or cafe or anywhere else. 

Why does such a great walk finish in a place like this? Why didn’t it finish in St Abbs, a pretty fishing village like Portpatrick, just south of Cockburnspath – easily diverted to from Abbey St Bathans. It would have avoided walking with the noise and fumes of the heavy traffic on the A1 for a few miles near the end and with places to celebrate at the end.

Overall, I really enjoyed the variety in countryside that the walk takes you through. My favourite sections were between Bargrennan through Glen Trool over the hills to Galashiels. I’m pleased I did the High Level Alternative route between Beattock and Ettrick (even though I was feeling ill that day) – the views of the hills seemed to go on forever. I also like starting in pretty Portpatrick. I was really disappointed to finish in a place like Cockburnspath.

Southern Upland Way Waymerks

Top Row in both Images, left to right:

1. Hoard Kittiwake – Broad Moor / Knockquhassen

2. Hoard Fox – Glen Whan Woods

3. Missing – near Bargrennan – not on official alternative route that I did

4. Hoard Honey Bee – near Craigenbay

5. Hoard Striding Arches – Cloud Hill

Middle Row in both images, left to right:

6. Hoard Douglas Fir – Cogshead

7. Hoard 1st Bicycle – near Comb Head, Lowther Hills

8. Hoard Deer – Ettrick Head

9. Hoard Otter – near Traquair

10. Hoard The Tweed – Minch Moor

Bottom Row in both images, left to right:

 11. Hoard King Duncan 1 – near Lauder

 12. Hoard Train – near Twin Law, Lammermuirs (shown in 13th place)

 13. Hoard Scottish Thistle – near Abbey St Bathans (shown in 12th place)

There are 13 Kist artworks with 13 different Waymerks. I found 12 as Kist 3 wasn’t on the official alternative route that I took near Bargrennan. It added an extra dimension to the trek and extra interest, especially on dull days when the views weren’t so extensive. I did waste a bit of time looking for them in places but most were right beside the trail, as in within a metre or so.

All the Waymerks are metal and some were very corroded such that the text was illegible. Some of the Kists were empty too. A quick email to DG Trails (Dumfries and Galloway Ranger Service) fixed that – they provide replacements and missing Waymerks on request. The Lammermuir Kist 12 has 2 compartments and also provided the cloth badge shown and a metal badge (now on my rucksack strap). At the end of the trek they also provided a certificate of completion. All free of charge. What an excellent service!

Totals

Total Distance: 218 miles

Total Walking Time: 97 hours

Average Distance per day: 14.5 miles

Average Walking Speed: 2.3 mph

Camera 

Mamiya 7 with 65mm lens – only used on the first day in Portpatrick and along the coast

Ilford Delta 400 @ 320 ISO for black and white photos on the 1st day

Panasonic Lumix TZ100 for colour photos along the route

Equipment 

Satmap Active 20 GPS with OS 25k maps programmed with my route

Harvey 40k map of Southern Upland Way

Kestrel 2000 pocket anemometer – for wind speeds and temperature/wind chill

The post Southern Upland Way Trek appeared first on Dave Butcher.

Covid restricted the options for the interview by Damien so we did it through Zoom, in fact it was more of a chat than an interview and lasted for the best part of 2 hours. I think we might have reminisced rather too much!

I don’t have a copy of the magazine but Damien sent me a link to the digital issue so that I could extract the article to share it here as 3 double page spreads. I’m amazed how much of our chat Damien has managed to include in the 6 pages.

The article was published in the 29th March 2022 issue of Amateur Photographer.

I hope you enjoy reading it here. If the text is too small to read on your desktop computer try viewing on your tablet or mobile and you can expand the page there. Unfortunately, WordPress website software prevents that on Desktops. This is the largest I could maker it display within the constraints of the software.

I hope you enjoy reading it here. If the text is too small to read on your desktop computer try viewing on your tablet or mobile and you can expand the page there. Unfortunately, WordPress website software prevents that on Desktops. This is the largest I could maker it display within the constraints of the software. Alternatively, view the same blog post on my Blogger site where the page can be enlarged, just click on each page and it will be enlarged:

https://dave-butcher.blogspot.com/2022/04/was-pleasant-surprise-to-get-email-from.html

The post Darkroom Dave in Amateur Photographer Magazine appeared first on Dave Butcher.

I changed my display on Christmas Eve and these pictures show roughly what it looks like now – until everything is sold or 31st January when whatever is left will be removed.

There are lots of Dave Butcher original darkroom prints and framed photos at much reduced prices, most with 60% to 80% off the normal price. Lots of bargains, but only while stocks last, once they’re gone they’re gone!

Here are a few pictures of the building and the surrounding gardens and promenade.

The post Leaving High Peak Artists appeared first on Dave Butcher.

It was my first trip since February 2020 (pre-Covid) and I was very nervous about going because of the danger from Covid-19, especially as I have chronic asthma so a chest infection on top of that can be very serious for me. In truth, if the accommodation and luggage transfer hadn’t been booked, and a promise made to my very good friend Al, I wouldn’t have gone. Fortunately, both Al and I were both double-jabbed with the AstraZeneca vaccine and the Lockdown 3 restrictions in England stayed in place until after we returned home in July 2021. This meant that mask wearing indoors and social distancing inside and outside pubs and hotels were both in force.

In 2019 Al and I walked the Dales Way (diverting over the 3 Peaks between Kettlewell and Dent) and were talking about future treks that we could do and agreed that we preferred the Lake District to most of the other places that we had walked together, excluding the places where we live, Peak District for me and Cotswolds for Al. I knew that we had walked lots of Wainwright’s on our treks but hadn’t been keeping count of how many we’d each done. After a quick count up of just the walks we’d done together it was obvious that we had already done almost half of the 214 total. Adding in the ones we had done on our own pushed the total up even higher so the decision was made to finish the Wainwright’s over the following few years. A bonus for me was that the Lake District is a very photogenic place as well so it would give me the chance to add to my black and white picture library for the area.

The main aim of the trip was to include as many Wainwright’s as possible in our 7 days and include a 6 day trek around the Lake District with our luggage being moved between accommodation for us so that we just carried light day sacks. Then Al would leave on the Saturday after our trek and Jan would come and join me for a couple of days walking together before we returned home on Monday 12th July. Here’s the story of the trip.

Friday 2nd July 2021 Travel to Lake District

Jan drove me over from our home near Whaley Bridge to the Costa Coffee car park in Holmes Chapel where we met Al at 11.15am, he had driven up from his home near Gloucester. We moved my kit across to Al’s car, said our goodbyes and then Al and I were off to the Lake District for our annual trek.

We went the quickest way, straight up the M6 to Penrith then along the A66 past Keswick to the road to Lorton and Loweswater. It was 2.30pm when we arrived and the Kirkstile Inn in Loweswater was still busy with lunches but they looked after us a few minutes later. We were in room 5, a small L-shaped room with 2 single beds and an ensuite. Nothing fancy but good enough.

While unpacking the car I discovered that my camera gear was missing, I was shocked and couldn’t believe it – it’s the first time this has ever happened, I must have missed moving it across to Al’s car. I texted and emailed Jan to see what the options were. Jan had checked and confirmed that my camera had been left in the boot of our car in Holmes Chapel when I swapped over to Al’s car. Jan immediately suggested driving up with it early the next day. I was mightily relieved and left Jan to decide when to come. Disaster averted!

We had a table booked for 6.30pm for dinner. I had chicken stuffed with sausage meat and wrapped with bacon with vegetables and chips. It was very nice. They had 3 beers on, none of them my preferred dark ale so I had the Loweswater Gold, a citrusy golden ale. There were quite a few high plastic screens spread throughout the bar and dining areas as protection from Covid-19 and the staff all wore masks which made me feel a bit easier.

Saturday 3rd July 2021 Whinlatter Wainwright’s 10.5 miles 5h 3500 feet/1100m ascent, 6 Wainwright’s including Lord’s Seat twice

We went down to breakfast at 8.15am, when it opened. They were limiting numbers to 4 people every 15 minutes because of Covid-19 and everything was waitress service. The full English breakfast with no egg was great! Bacon, sausage, black pudding, hash brown, beans, mushrooms and tomato followed by toast and marmalade. That kept me going all day!

Jan arrived with my camera as we were finishing breakfast. She left home at 5.45am for the 3h trip. We briefly chatted and then she left to drive home!

The forecast was bad for the day, lots of rain and a bit breezy, so I left my Mamiya 7 camera at the hotel and just took the little Panasonic TZ-100 digital camera. We parked near Spout Force and headed off at 10am walking along the road to the Whinlatter Pass. From there we followed tracks through the forest and along to Whinlatter and the higher summit beyond. Our first Wainwright of the trip at 11.15am.

From there we returned to Whinlatter summit and veered off northeast over the moor to a pedestrian gate in the corner. A forest section followed and we were soon on the top of Lords Seat, in thick mist so no view. From there we went down into a dip and up to Barf at 12.45pm and had an uninterrupted view of Bassenthwaite Lake below, as well as a quick bite to eat sitting with our legs dangling over the drop down to the lake. Then it was back to Lord’s Seat again before continuing along the ridge to Broom Fell and Kirk Fell at 2.10pm and across a few hundred yards to the Wainwright Graystones. That was the 5th Wainwright of the day.

It was a very steep descent, like walking down a black ski run. It was very warm work so I took my waterproofs off part-way down as it looked like the rain had cleared. At the river below the path was closed for forestry work so we followed the road and were back to the car by 3pm, the rain returned for the last few minutes so we were in rain most of the day!

Then it was back to the pub for a couple of Loweswater Gold beers before going to our room for a rest and shower before dinner.

Dinner was an excellent Steak pie, vegetables and chips washed down with a couple of pints of Loweswater Gold. After dinner we returned to our room to watch part of the 2nd half of the England v Ukraine Euro 2020 quarter final. England won 4-0.

Sunday 4th July Kirkstile to Ennerdale Bridge 11 miles 5.5h 2800 feet/850m ascent, 4 Wainwright’s

After a full English breakfast we left the Kirkstile Inn at 9.25am and walked past Loweswater lake before heading up through the woods onto the open fellside. We had good views back over Loweswater to Low Fell and Fellbarrow which would be the last 2 Wainwright’s of the trek. We reached our first Wainwright of the day, Blake Fell, at 10.44am but unfortunately, the heavens opened for 20 minutes at Blake Fell and Gavel Fell but we had full waterproofs on from the start so I just put my hat and gloves on as well at Blake Fell. This is summer in the Lake District after all!

After Gavel Fell it was dry so I took my jacket off for the warm climb up Hen Comb but left my waterproof overtrousers on just in case. There were good views at the top in every direction, especially to Fleetwith Pike at the far end of Buttermere lake. I took quite a few photos on my Mamiya 7 camera, especially across to the Grasmoor range. 

Several people arrived at the top shortly after us and spread out over the broad summit but I spent most of my time taking photos but once that was done I had one of Jan’s homemade Eccles cakes.

Then it was time to head down to Floutern Pass and down to Ennerdale. There were excellent views to both ends of Ennerdale Water before we dropped down to the road and walked along to the small village of Ennerdale Bridge.

We made a beeline to the Ennerdale Bridge Fox and Hounds pub, reaching it a 3.05pm for a couple of pints of stout to end the day. We hadn’t been able to find accommodation here so we had arranged to be picked up at 4.30pm and taken to Nether Wasdale Strands Inn. 

We checked in with Lesley, who owns 2 inns on opposite sides of the road and the brewery with husband Mark, and were shown to our twin room. It was a very comfortable modern room, the shower was excellent too.

The Strands was only open for accommodation and residents breakfasts and all other food and drinks was being served across the road at the Screes Inn. There was also a very large marquee standing outside the Screes with lots of bench tables inside, it was open at both ends and the odd panel facing the Screes. It turned out that they were only serving food inside the Screes to residents of the 2 inns, everyone else was catered for in the marquee. There were also high plastic screens protecting each table from the next, similar to those used at the Kirkstile as Covid-19 protection. We headed across to the Screes and went inside to the bar and were shown to a table, there was lots of space, and I just had one Terminator dark beer, it was excellent.

We had dinner across the road from the Strands Inn, where we were staying, in the Screes Inn. I had fish and chips with a couple of Terminator beers before turning in for the night.

Monday 5th July Ennerdale Bridge to Nether Wasdale 14.4 miles 8h 4000 feet/1200m ascent, 6 Wainwright’s

We went down to breakfast at 8.10am (weekdays breakfast is 7am to 9am), and my full English breakfast consisted of sausage, bacon, beans, tomato and mushrooms finishing with toast and marmalade.

We had arranged to be picked up at 9.30am and taken back to Ennerdale Bridge, there was no luggage transfer needed today.

At 10.05am we started out and were soon climbing up on a good track to our first Wainwright of the day, Grike, which we reached at 11am. There was a good view to the coast from here and we met a couple from near Newcastle who were also doing the Wainwright’s, they’d already done them several times but were doing them again. I think once will be enough for me!

Crag Fell was next and it was just a few minutes away. We still had a view to the coast but an even better one of the whole Ennerdale valley, including the end of the ridge that runs past Buttermere to Great Borne.

The weather closed in as we made our way to our next peak, Lank Rigg, so I tried to cut the corner off but barbed wire prevented this so we ended up using the stile a few hundred yards away. From there we made our way over the hillside and eventually joined a good track to the top, reaching Lank Fell at 12.35pm. There was no view and it was a bit damp but still warmish.

We had a choice of routes from here, follow the track back to the col and then take the good path along the ridge, or we could take a more direct route and bushwhack over the trackless ground to join the ridge much closer to Caw Fell. I chose the latter and sold it to Al as being shorter and more interesting. I may have forgotten to mention the extra down and up that we’d have to do. Oops!

It took us just over an hour and a half to reach Caw Fell, passing the couple from Newcastle coming down as we went up the final slope. They went directly from Crag Fell to Caw Fell. On the top it was quite a confusing summit being fairly flat with several cairns so we visited them all to make sure we included the highest. There were still no views with low clouds all around but they seemed to be lifting and thinning.

After this it quickly cleared so that by the time we reached Haycock at 2.55pm there was some brightness around. The rest of the day we had sunshine. I ran around taking photos now that it was clear so we didn’t leave until 3.15pm.

Our last peak of the day was Middle Fell. We’d already decided that including Seatallan as well would be a peak too far. There wasn’t much of a track so we just made our own way down through a line of cliffs and across a grassy boulder slope towards Seatallan before picking up a track up Middle Fell. We made it to the top at 4.15pm. It’s a really good viewpoint so I took a few minutes to take some photos across to Yewbarrow, the Scafell range and Great Gable.

It was a good track, steep in places, down to the road which we reached at 5pm. Then we picked up a series of footpaths mainly across fields to Nether Wasdale, finishing by walking through the campsite and on to the Screes Inn at 6pm where we sat in the marquee and had a well earned beer.

We booked a table for 7pm, the kitchen closed at 8pm, and returned to our room for showers, clean clothes and a brief rest for my aching back.

We had dinner in the Screes Inn and I fancied something spicy so chose the Chicken Madras but unfortunately it was very mild, but tasty. I’ve never had a mild Madras before!

Tuesday 6th July Nether Wasdale to Wasdale Head 13.1 miles 8h 4600 feet/1400m ascent, 2 Wainwright’s

We went down to breakfast at 8.20am and I had another full English, similar to yesterdays. After breakfast Al took both of our bags down to the bar area where they would be collected from later in the day and moved to our next stop, as usual. 

We were off from the Strands at the crack of 9.45am and briefly followed the road before heading off along footpaths to join the road behind the YHA and turned left along the road to Wast Water. I originally planned to take the path at the foot of the Wasdale Screes on the other side of the lake but Jan reminded me before we left that all the twisting and turning on the loose rocks and boulders hurt my bad back the last time I did that so we walked along the roadside instead.

At 11.30am we left the road, walked along the edge of the campsite and started up the ridge to the top of Lingmell, reaching it at 1.45pm after a 10 minute stop for snacks (homemade Eccles Cakes) on the way.

From Lingmell we dropped down to the Corridor Route which we briefly followed before heading up alongside the upper part of Piers Gill to Broad Crag. The top section was very steep with broken rock and scree underfoot and everything seemed to be loose, it was a dreadful track! I opted for the left side but that was probably worse than the right side, although both looked bad. We reached the track at the top just after 2.30pm, probably not the best shortcut I’ve ever taken! 

From here we followed the main ridge behind Broad Crag for about 40 minutes before heading off to Great End summit (3.15pm). It was still dull but with bright patches every now and then up as we descended. First we went down to Esk Hause, past Sprinkling Tarn to Sty Head then it was a very rough tourist track from here to pick up Moses Trod path in the valley below and on to the Wasdale Head Hotel at 5.45pm. 

We were originally booked to stay in the Wasdale Head Hotel, but they deleted our booking in error just a few weeks earlier. It was lucky that Jan rang all of our accommodations a couple of weeks before we left to check that they had our bookings otherwise we wouldn’t have had anywhere to stay! They were fully booked so they moved us to the Lingmell bed and breakfast a few hundred yards away (near the main Wasdale Head car park)! They seem to use it as an overspill for the hotel.

We had a quick pint and then found our luggage and wheeled it along the road to the bed and breakfast. 

Our room was a big twin but with no ensuite, instead there were two separate bathrooms at the other end of the house, each with a toilet, bath and shower as well as an extra separate toilet. There didn’t seem to be many other residents so it wasn’t a problem.

We walked to the Wasdale Head Hotel for dinner where they treated us as a resident since that’s what we should have been! I had gammon, chips, salad and vegetables and a couple of leisurely pints before we walked back down the road.

Wednesday 7th July Wasdale Head to Buttermere 11 miles 8.5h 4700 feet/1450m ascent, 5 Wainwright’s

Breakfast was at 8am (the earliest available) and there was just one other couple down for an early breakfast in the large room. For a change I decided to have a full English which consisted of sausage, 2 rashers of bacon, beans, tomato and lots of mushrooms followed by toast and marmalade.

We paid up and left at 9.25am to take our luggage back to the hotel and reminded hotel reception of the arrangement, so that they didn’t call the bomb squad to our unattended bags before they were picked up, and then headed off to Buttermere via a few of the tops. 

I had never been up Kirk Fell before but Al had, so I chose a route that he hadn’t done and I thought should be interesting because of the views – the Nose route, which is effectively going straight up the shortest side that faces down the valley. In fact it wasn’t too steep and we reached the summit shelter at 11am. It was cloudy on the tops but cleared later to be a sunny day and I took a few photos on the way up and through the day.

From the top of Kirk Fell we headed over to Beck Head and round the back of Great Gable to Windy Gap and up to Green Gable just before 1pm. Neither of us had been up Base Brown so this was next and there was rather more down than up to get there at 1.30pm, it was time for an Eccles Cake. I walked down further to the cliffs overlooking Seathwaite for photos before returning the way we came and veering off to Brandreth for some photos at 2.45pm.

It was starting to brighten up a lot now but was still a bit cool on the tops. Al hadn’t been up Grey Knotts so that was next at 3pm and then we went down to the left of Fleetwith Pike, keeping on the left side of Warnscale Beck to come out at Gatesgarth on the road to Buttermere at 4.30pm. From here we followed the track on the north side of Buttermere lake all the way to the village. Al went ahead to the Bridge Hotel in Buttermere as I was taking lots of photos and making quite slow progress as a result. I eventually reached the Bridge Hotel at 5.55pm and met up with All again in the bar. Table spacing was similar to our pre-covid visits so I didn’t feel as safe here as in any other pub/hotel on this trip.

Our room was very comfortable, as it should have been for the price they charged us! It was by far the most expensive accommodation on the trip but it was in the right place, right on our route, but I doubt that we will stay here again.

The Jennings Bitter was very ordinary. They had changed it since my last visit in February 2020 and it was nowhere near as good now, maybe it wasn’t kept very well? In the evening I had Chicken, chips and corn on the cob in the basket. Fortunately, it was a warm evening so there were a lot of people sitting outside. If they had all been inside, where we were, I wouldn’t have felt safe as we would all have been very close together. It didn’t help that the waiter kept taking his face mask off to speak to us as he said it muffled his voice! We could hear him quite clearly so not sure what was going on there.

Thursday 8th July Buttermere to Braithwaite 8.6 miles 6.2h 4500 feet/1400m ascent, 7 Wainwright’s

We went down to Breakfast at 8am (earliest available). The breakfast room tables were too close together to allow Covid distancing but fortunately we were served and away before anyone sat near us, I still felt uneasy about it though. I decided not to change my winning formula and had a full English of sausage, 2 rashers of bacon, hash brown, tomato and mushrooms followed by toast and marmalade with lashings of tea. 

Al left our bags in reception ready to be picked up later. People were now queueing up to get into the breakfast room, going early was clearly a good decision. It was dry but dull as we left at 9.30am.

After no more than 100 yards it started to rain quite heavily so we stopped to put on full waterproofs. We continued along the road past Wood House then on a path uphill but parallel to Crummock Water and the summit of Rannerdale Knotts along Low Bank to join the track up Whiteless Pike at 11am. The steady rain continued until 2.30pm so there were no views from Whiteless Pike, Wandope, Crag Hill or Sail.

Thankfully, the rain stopped before we reached Outerside, it was still dull though. It was a little bit brighter as we came down off the last peak, Barrow, and made our way to the Royal Oak in Braithwaite. It was quite busy so we chose a table outside as far from other people as possible and had a beer each. It was the same Jennings Bitter again which was a lot better than last night in Buttermere so it must have been the way it was kept and looked after that was the difference.

Tables indoors in the bar area were packed and not well separated but the residents’ breakfast room was good so we had our evening meal in there as well as breakfast. Some of the outdoor space was close packed too.

Our room was in the new extension and was large and well fitted out, quite a difference from the last time we stayed here a few years ago.

That evening there was a lot of choice on the menu. I opted for sizzling duck Teriyaki and rice as something a bit different. It was very tasty.

Friday 9th July Braithwaite to Kirkstile 13.6 miles 7.9h 6300 feet/1900m ascent, 4 Wainwright’s

The earliest available breakfast was at 8.30am so we went down for that. I had the full English breakfast of bacon, sausage, black pudding, baked beans, mushrooms and tomato with toast and marmalade chaser. That should get me over the hills to the Kirkstile!

It was dull but dry all day. We left at 9.30am following the road uphill before taking the footpath over Sleet How to reach Grisedale Pike at 11am. Then it was down to Hobcarton Crag and on up to Hopegill Head which we reached at 11.45am. There were good views down to Ladyside Pike, the ridge was a bit slippery as we descended, I wouldn’t have enjoyed it in the wet! 

We made it to ladyside Pike at 12pm and then followed the ridge down and made our way to the road just above High Swinside Farm. From here there was a good green lane to Scales and along the road to High Lorton where Al spotted an ice cream shop – he was in like a flash and even bought me one. That doesn’t happen very often so I made a very careful note of it!

Next came Low Lorton and a steady climb on a tarmac road to a green lane across the hillside towards Hatteringill where we headed off up and across to Fellbarrow trig point at 3.30pm. There was a good track along the ridge to Low Fell, which we reached at 4.15pm, with good views across to the Grasmoor range as well as along the Buttermere valley.

The track down from here was covered in thick bracken and weaved across the hillside but at the end went straight down. It was at this point that I felt a slight muscle strain just above my right knee from the very steep and long descent. It had been a hard day. 

We finally reached the Kirkstile Inn at 5.20pm and had a beer outside in the beer garden to celebrate the end of our annual trek. 

We checked in, took our bags up to the same room as we were in previously and showered and changed for the evening. We had both been looking forward to having a steak to finish the trek so I had an excellent Fillet steak with chips, peppercorn sauce and vegetables for £25. I might have had the odd pint or two of Loweswater Gold as well to wash it down!

Saturday 10th July Embleton to Bassenthwaite Pheasant 4.6 miles 2.3h 1800 feet/550m ascent, 1 Wainwright

Al was driving back to his home near Gloucester today and with the bad weather he decided to leave straight after breakfast, rather than do a short walk with me in the rain before leaving.

We had the usual breakfast at 8.15am. I decided to try the full English for a change which included bacon, sausage, black pudding, baked beans, mushrooms and tomato followed by toast and marmalade. 

I left with Al at 9.40am and he dropped me off a few miles away at the turning on the A66 to Embleton village, at 10am. He then drove back to Gloucester via the gingerbread shop in Grasmere. Not the most obvious route to take!

I crossed the A66 and walked to Wythop Mill and up to the foot of Ling Fell. It took me about an hour to reach the top of Ling Fell as my right thigh muscle strain from yesterday was a bit painful when my leg bent at the knee. I came down slowly and returned to Wythop Mill. 

After consulting the map I decided to walk along the road to the Pheasant Inn at Bassenthwaite, the meeting place I had arranged with Jan. I skipped doing the second peak of Sale Fell as my knee was now painful but limping along the road was relatively pain free.

I arrived at the Pheasant at 12.20pm and met Jan. We had a bite to eat and a chat in the car before Jan drove us back to the Kirkstile Inn Loweswater for a lunchtime drink. I spent the afternoon resting my knee by laying down on the bed in our room. It wasn’t looking good for walking with Jan the following day.

We went down to dinner at 6.45pm and I had the steak and ale pie and chips, it was very good.

Sunday 11th July Travel Home

As expected my knee wasn’t good enough for walking with Jan so we decided to leave a day early and return home to the Peak District so that I could rest it properly. We had an early breakfast, checked out and were home by midday. Fortunately, my leg wasn’t too badly strained and resting it for 3 days was enough for me to be walking the Derbyshire hills again on the Wednesday.

Totals

Overall in 8 days Al and I walked 35 Wainwright’s, 24 of which were new to me and 27 new ones for Al. That moves me on to 158 and Al to 128 Wainwright’s completed out of the 214 total. This included walking 82 miles with over 32,000 feet/9,700m of ascent.

I carried my Mamiya 7 camera every day of the trek and took 6 rolls of Ilford 400 Delta 120 roll film exposed at 320 ISO giving me a total of 57 negatives after processing in Ilford DDX developer 1+4 for 6 minutes processed as 2 batches of 3 rolls in a Paterson 1.5 litre tank (Paterson tanks need 0.5 litres of chemicals per 120 film reel).

Photographic Gear and GPS

Mamiya 7 camera with 65mm lens

B+W Filters Orange, Yellow, Red and UV

Ilford 400 Delta 120 film x 15 (10 6x7cm shots to a roll)

Sekonic spot meter L758D

LowePro Toploader 70 AW II and shoulder harness (carried above waist on front)

Osprey medium rucksack cover for Mamiya in LowePro case

Panasonic Lumix TZ100 24Mp camera for blog post colour photos

Osprey 1.5 litre dry sack for Panasonic

Spare batteries for both cameras and light meter

Zeiss monocular and case (mainly for bird watching)

Sea to Summit 1 litre Ultra-Sil Dry Sack for Zeiss monocular

Satmap Active 20 GPS with OS 1:25k and 1:50k maps built in. I pre-programmed it with our routes. I also carried OS and Harvey’s maps each day and a compass, just in case

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When we were doing shows we built up quite large stocks of finished prints in lots of different sizes, many of which are no longer routinely offered such as 20x20cm, 25x20cm, 30x30cm and 50x40cm. The Etsy shop is just for prints that are already in stock, the website davebutcher.co.uk remains the place for print sales from the library of nearly 2000 images currently available. Prices on the Etsy shop range from £8 to £80 and sizes are 20x20cm to 70x70cm.

At the moment sales are limited to UK customers only. For customers outside the UK discounted prints are also available from my website Clearance Prints page on davebutcher.co.uk from 30x30cm upwards. The small prints of 20x20cm and 25x20cm are only available on Etsy because of prohibitive shipping costs outside the UK whereas my gallery website ships all around the world.

London St Paul’s Cathedral from Millennium Bridge. 40x40cm Original handmade (fibre based) print, image size 28x28cm supplied mounted with window mount to fit 40x40cm frame. Reduced from £100 to £40 (60% off).

Grindelwald Eiger and Monch from Mannlichen, Bernese Oberland, Switzerland. 60x50cm Original handmade (fibre based) print, image size 46x36cm supplied mounted with window mount to fit 60x50cm frame. Reduced from £150 to £60 (60% off).

Glasgow Royal Exchange Square at Night, Scotland. 50x40cm Original handmade fibre based print, image size 37x27cm supplied mounted with window mount to fit 50x40cm frame. Reduced from £120 to £48 (60% off).

Chicago Skyline at Night, USA. 40x40cm Original handmade (fibre based) print, image size 27x27cm supplied mounted with window mount to fit 40x40cm frame. Reduced from £100 to £40 (60% off).

New York Manhattan Skyline from Staten Island Ferry, USA. 60x25cm Original handmade (fibre based) print, image size 46x15cm supplied mounted with window mount to fit 60x25cm frame. Reduced from £150 to £60 (60% off).

New York Brooklyn Bridge and Flag. 70x50cm Offset Litho print, image size 70x50cm supplied mounted on conservation card, in a protective sleeve, to fit a 70x50cm frame. Reduced from £48 to £16 (67% off).

Millennium Bridge and the Sage at Night, Newcastle. 50x50cm Original handmade fibre based print, image size 39x39cm supplied mounted with window mount to fit 50x50cm frame. Reduced from £150 to £60 (60% off).

Ullswater Trees and St Sunday Crag, Lake District. 70x50cm Original handmade (fibre based) print, image size 56x36cm supplied mounted with window mount to fit 70x50cm frame. Reduced from £200 to £80 (60% off).

Hong Kong Skyline at Night, China. 40x40cm Original handmade fibre based print, image size 28x28cm supplied mounted with window mount to fit 40x40cm frame. Reduced from £100 to £40 (60% off).

Paris Ancient and Modern, France. 50x40cm Original handmade sepia toned print, image size 36x28cm supplied mounted with window mount to fit 50x40cm frame. Reduced from £120 to £48 (60% off).

Mont Blanc in Winter, Chamonix, France. 30x30cm Original handmade (fibre based) print, image size 20x20cm supplied mounted with window mount to fit 30x30cm frame. Reduced from £70 to £16 (over 75% off).

Chicago River Promenade in Winter. 70x70cm Offset Litho print on heavy weight paper, image size 70x70cm supplied unmounted in a protective postal tube. Reduced from £48 to £16 (67% off).

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