Wednesday 31 August 2011

and JUMP!

i've been intrigued to give ghyll scrambling a go for a long time. for those not in the know, you walk up a mountain alongside the ghyll (mountain stream / river) and then so far up you get in it and come down..sliding on your backside, jumping into the plunge pools below the waterfalls, diving in, 'superman' slides, headfirst backward slides and many more. its cold, its great, it gets the blood pumping. it even features at number 14 in the the uk's top 100 things to do before you die and its the ghyll we scrambled, stoneycroft ghyll, that's the one to do...like the picture below (that ive copied..its not mine)

it might not look that exhilirating but get in the thick of it and you know about it. i volunteered to be the first of the group to jump off into the infamous 'washing machine'. i bottled it. hollie then went over, no trouble. i came forward a little later. i bottled it again. once all the others had madly taken the challenge on, i found myself sat all alone, the last to go, on what now felt like the 'ledge of shame'...16 or so pairs of eyes staring up at me..'will he? wont he?' or maybe 'get on with it you big girls blouse'. i stepped forward, took a deep breath and off i went..SPLASH! not so bad after all..mind over matter. anyway if you're up that way and fancy something a little different, that's your fella!

by contrast the rest of the holiday was somewhat less hair raising but by no means less breath-taking for different reasons.

staying for the first time in grasmere, i was able to explore fells otherwise as yet untrood by me. and as we were directly under stone arthur, alcock tarn and the fairfield horseshoe that's where most of our walking / running took place..


mrs uc and his nibs ponder the meaning of life at alcock 'infinty' tarn


helm crag


helm herdies


stone(d) arthur


leaving the fairfield clag behind


coming off towards ambleside


colliewobbles for ultra collie


the best thing was that it was around a relentless 3000ft climb in 3 miles up to fairfield from our cottage. a lungbuster indeed. great views all the way until near the top when the clag came down and challenged my mapless/compassless navving..it was all in my head (luckily)

all in all great times

next up, the hardmoors 60 down the cleveland way from saltburn to filey :)

14 comments:

Emma said...

Nice one UC - love the photo's

Glad you managed the jump in the end - gorge/ghyll walking is soooo much fun, but what's with that funny hat?? ;-)

kate said...

you can't keep away from the lakes can you! sounds like a lovely holiday, not entirely convinced about the gyhll scrambling though. also, if you stayed in grasmere where's the photo of gingerbread *disappointed*

4 Winds said...

Wotcha! Looks a cracking wheeze and a good excuse to dress up in black rubber :-)

Have a good un at the Hardmoors - Looking to do the Northumberland 100k next year with a view to giving the Lakes 100 a crack the year after, provided nothing falls off.

All the best,
Paul

Ali Bryan-Jones said...

Looks great! Ghyll scrambling is definitely on my list now. Good luck at Hardmoors - is Charlie running?

sbrt said...

A bad case of the collie wobbles.

ultra collie said...

emma..to protect my enormous iq ;)

kate..shucks i knew i missed something

4minds..i dont recall talking about fetishes at the L50..but then..

ali..do it. watch this space re his nibs

sbrt..exactly

Runningbear said...

Gorgeous pics though think Collie Wobbles might be better before the ghyll scrambling. V jealous, sounds like a fab time. Strokes to Charlie.
RB.

Karen said...

fab inspiring holiday :)

JessiePants said...

Wowzas, I thought there was a kayak under your bum until I read...you are BRAVE! Sounds like a blast though.
Beautiful photos and glad it was a lovely time.

Johann said...

That water must be really cold. Beautiful photos. When is the Hardmoors 60?

ultra collie said...

rb..i certainly had the collie wobbles

karen.. :)

jp..i was chicken really

johann..two weeks time 23/24..fancy it?

rdm..hi and thanks for popping by!

Nick said...

Well done Dave. I must say I'd never launch myself headlong into that death-fluid willy-nilly. Taking a shower is traumatic enough. I'm an air breather. Call me a girl's blouse if you like but I'd quite like to live another day thankyou please! ;-)

ultra collie said...

nick..it'd be the perfect cool down after the utld100 trust me ;)

Julie said...

Hi David! I have missed reading your blog! I enjoyed reding this post and love the pictures of Charlie:) I hope you are doing well! Take care!