28 november 1999 -
Frits Vrijlandt
(T)raining weekend: Lake district
"In vreselijk weer hebben we een Brits/Nederlands
team weekend gehad in het Lake District. Dit
buitengewoon populair buitensport gebied heeft
ook de grootste regenval van het Verenigd
Koninkrijk (hetgeen je doet afvragen of die Britten
wel goed wijs zijn).
Het weer hield zich aan het
verwachtingspatroon en we hadden gedurende
het hele weekend stromende regen en harde
wind. Maar daar moet je tegen kunnen als je de
Noordgraat wil beklimmen. Onze Britse vrienden
verzekerden ons dat het niet erger was dan
anders. Gelukkig vonden ze het zelf ook wel
heftig:
"Normal methods for gaining the summit on an easy 3000 foot mountain such as standing upright and
putting one foot in front of the other proved impossible. Various techniques were used, stooping,
grappling loose rocksat ground level, crawling, tacking and running to gain momentum, theory being
the gusts had less impact!! but in the end just remaining in contact with the ground was the main
objective. Skiddaw was unleashing a very ferocious wind on us (good practice for the North col), not
only that but driving heavy persistent rain and lack of visibility just added to the effect. But I am
pleased to announce that everyone summitted.
However on our return we found that our choice parking
spot was flooded (We avoided the car park on high
ground several miles closer to the mountain). We were all
wet anyway so the thought of standing in front of Daves
van for the posterity photo in was not a problem. But as
the water seeped in our boots (but I only had trainers on)
we realised we were not as cold and wet as we thought.
Although the water was 18" deep in the road at our valiant
leader Dave was determined to show us that he could
drive through without getting stuck, which fortunately he
did.
I hope our 'lowland' members caught the flight back to
Holland from Manchester without getting stuck in any
other floods, but living below sea level they must be used
to that! I am sure the drive back to Scotland was terrible
as the weather is usually even worse up there? Has
anyone seen Dave since or is he still in his floating van ?"
(Mike Pearson)
Luckily, a pub was right next to the campground so we could discuss some serious business as well.
It was good to catch up with one another, meet new members, go through the serious (how many
bottles of oxygen, fixed rope, walky talky's etc.) and the less serious details (who brings the bingo set
?)"