All attending had an excellent trip despite a less than encouraging weather forecast. Saturday was a damp, windy day but all the party had a proper day out to the summit of Place Fell and back via the lake shore. Despite the speculation before hand and some snow on the top, no spikes of any type were required.
Saturday evening was the Burns Supper and all the standard things were consumed. Haggis, special marmalade and whiskey bread and butter pudding and a few drops of Laphroaig. Poetry was kept short, and jokes were plentiful.
We split up on Sunday with one group exploring first Grisedale and then Glenridding/Greenside. The other three went up through the hole in the wall to Red Tarn, then up through the mist with all sorts of spikes, up the snow slope on the right side of the snow bowl to emerge close to the summit of Helvelyn. After traversing the summit we descended Striding Edge where conditions were so variable that it was never clear if spikes were a help or not.
Both groups arrived back at the hut in time for a cuppa before the quick clean up and away home.
A special thanks to Cleveland M.C. for the use of their lovely warm hut and to Michael for booking things up. Sadly Michael had to drop out at the last minute. Happily I had his haggis on Sunday evening.
