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| The camp on Grey Knotts |
I’ve just returned from a few days away with Terry Abraham doing
more work on our
next video,
Backpacking
in the Lake District. As on our first trip (see
here) the weather was kind
with light breezes, mild temperatures and occasional sunshine. There were
clouds, especially on the last day, but these were mostly above the summits.
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| Terry at work filming me taking photographs of Terry at work filming me ....... |
After surprising a few early morning tourists with some
filming in Keswick (when you walk up and down the same stretch of pavement
several times people do notice, especially when someone is pointing a large
video camera at you) we risked our heads being lashed by tree branches by
sitting upstairs in an open-topped bus that took us down Borrowdale. Having survived the bus journey we wandered up
Grains Gill, past Sprinkling and Styhead Tarns, and onto the Climbers Traverse
across the south face of Great Gable. I’d not been on this narrow dramatic and
often sketchy route for many, many years and I’d forgotten how impressive it is
as it winds across steep rocky slopes below the huge shattered cliffs of the mountain
with stupendous views across Lingmell Beck to the Scafell range and down to neat
green fields of Wasdale.
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| Terry on the Climbers Traverse |
Easier terrain led below the north face of Great Gable to
the long undulating grassier hills that stretch out towards Honister Pass. Here
we met Phillip, who’d come out for one night on the last filming trip, and
camped with him close to the summit of Grey Knotts. The evening light was
beautiful and there was a fine sunset, making this a lovely camp. The next
morning was rather duller with high clouds but still okay for filming the camp
and for me to do some talking about backpacking, wild camping, wild places and
more.
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| Sunset on Grey Knotts |
A shorter day’s walk followed with many stops for filming
(progress is never quick when filming anyway), the main effort being the steep
descent and ascent in and out of Honister Pass to the long ridge that runs over
several summits on the west side of Borrowdale.
We camped close to another summit, High Spy, and again filmed the camp
and did recorded me chatting. A final day saw a descent down to Borrowdale and
back to Keswick.
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| Terry filming me in the tent |
Terry did much filming and much recording. I walked, stood
and spoke as directed, often repeating stretches of path so Terry could film
from different angles. Terry’s huge pack with all his video gear was much
heavier than mine but at the end of one day he remarked that we’d probably
expended the same amount of energy because of the extra distance I’d walked.
