A sociable and enjoyable hut meet.
Some had arrived in time for a walk on the Friday and by mid evening eleven of us had assembled in the hut.
Saturday had its share of rain and was especially wet on the ground. We all set out (at different times) to Keswick by bus  having avoided the mass demonstration against the proposed Zip Wire. A select few walked from Keswick via Ashness bridge and Watendlath to come back to the hut over High Tove (only as boggy as expected) by soon after 3pm. The other walk left Keswick after retail possibilities and pies were exhausted. We walked back to the hut via Friars Crag, Castlerigg Stone Circle and some of the finest mud experienced for some time. This was exhaustingly slow and provided the time window for the people on the other walk to slave away and peel and chop many kilograms of carrots, swede and potatoes. A valiant effort.
The Burns Super went to plan. The Selkirk Grace; Cock a Leakie Soup; Piping in the Haggis to be addressed by Pete; Plates as full of tatties, neaps and haggis as could be consumed; a monumental Marmalade and Whiskey bread and butter pudding by Barbara; toasts to the haggis, chef, pipers, The Immortal Memory of Burns, the Lassies and as many other toasts as could be fitted between the poetry.
Sunday was not an encouraging day but the option of more plates of haggis and then pudding persuaded most to go for a lakeside walk out with a hillside return.
Those members not able to attend should try hard to attend next year. The Whiskey and marmalade pudding made the bogs, mud and poetry all worthwhile. It is better not to let ones thoughts dwell on the fact that Dick liked wearing a rug pretending to be a kilt. Not a pretty sight.

Please add any suitable photos you may have. That probably rules out the rug/kilt in case children look at the website.

Eleven of us (plus 3 dogs) set off from Sedbergh and as we made our way along the valley towards Cautley under grey misty skies those of a pessimistic nature may have thought it was not a day to be on the hills

however there was no such thoughts from CMC and shortly after the ascent up the hillside by Cautley Spout the skies started to clear and blue skies appeared.

Various lines of approach were made to get to the top but most seem to involve deep snow at some point.

Once reformed and with lunch on board we headed up to The Calf trig point.

Upon leaving The Calf the mist had rolled in and we headed along the ridge in atmospheric conditions with the sun threatening to break through

which it kindly did after the top of Calders.

We followed the ridge passing Arant Haw by which time the sun was begging to set

After a brief stop we left the main ridge and headed down to Sedbergh getting back before the necessity of a headtorch was required. Many thanks to John for organising the walk. T’was a grand day out.

A few more photos are on my facebook page (you don’t need a facebook account to view them)

Click here to view

After a somewhat changeable day weatherwise the sun came out for us for this evening ride. So with blue skies around John, Shirley and myself set off from Boss Moor and our ride took us over a serious of Bridleways before the first lung buster that took us to Weets Top.

John and Shirley approaching Weets Top

From Weets Top our efforts were rewarded with a lovely downhill section to Winterburn Reservoir. Alas what goes down soon goes back up and so it was a final push that saw us back at Boss Moor. A short (8 miles) but most enjoyable ride out with all the downhills in the right place. Thanks to John for organising it.

Click here for a satellite view of our route

The vital statistics!!