A welcome return to the Lake District

Barry reports from Rydal Hall:

After a long wait, the weekend finally arrived, this was the first chance to get away with the club following COVID-19!! After a pretty drive from Yorkshire, I arrived at the Rydal Hall bunkhouse near Ambleside just in time for one of Shira’s special Green Thai curries. There was an evening of the usual “what walks should we do the following day?” discussion with no real outcome, hey ho let’s see what we decide the next day. The weather the following morning can best be described as mizzle, a combination of fine drenching drizzle or extremely fine rain and thick, heavy saturating mist or fog. By 10 am it had pretty much stopped and we had finally decided what route to take.

Red Pike it was!! Via the valley following Scandale Beck up onto Scandale Pass and then on to Red Pike. The return route was back down the ridge via Raven Crag and Snarker Pike. Once we got going the mizzle had completely stopped and although the sun didn’t shine the temperature and visibility was good. We did manage to cross one of the great little Lake District stone bridges that seem to defy the laws of gravity. We also encountered some of the local farm animals including a long-haired cow and some of the local sheep with their fleeces ready for the autumn.
After blowing away all the cobwebs accumulated during lockdown we finally got back to the bunkhouse. A quick shower and then we all walked to Ambleside for a curry and beer. Great to finally get into a restaurant and enjoy the company of the NKHC massive. Rydal bunkhouse was a great venue with comfortable beds, a great communal room and showers that are significantly better than some we encounter on some weekend meets. Luckily they also have lots of side-plates so when a few are accidentally broken there were still plenty to go around!!

More excellent photos from Barry here

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