Hill Walking Coniston

Over the weekend following Thanksgiving I went with the CUHWS to the Lake District.

We stayed in Coniston up a valley near some old copper and slate mines. The 'hut' was pretty modern and nice except that there wasn't any heating in the bunk rooms. At least I have a warm sleeping bag!

We got there late Friday night. I had volunteered to set up Saturday's dinner and decided to do a Thanksgiving theme, since most Brits were unfamiliar with the finer points of the holiday. Friday night I made the pumpkin pie and it was difficult not to dig into it then!

The next morning, we woke up to a dusting of snow!

It was pretty, but it meant it was COLD and that also meant ice which made for many amusing slips throughout the day. My group climbed Old Man of Coniston and some of the surrounding ridge. We were out until almost sunset and let me tell you after being chilled to the bone by wind all day in below freezing temperatures, I was not the most cheerful person. I didn't even take that many pictures because I was too grouchy and immobile to take my hands out of my gloves.

All of this cold-related crankiness thawed once I had back in the hut and after I cooked up a passable Thanksgiving dinner with help from a friend. It was delicious, but I still missed having a proper one back home. Afterwards the banjo and some other instruments came out and we had fun singing!

The next day I still had lingering ill-will towards the windy mountain tops so I went on a bit of an easy hike down to the lakeside town of Coniston and into the surrounding forest. It was a nice break and there were trees! I've been missing the hardwood forests of New England, and even the Rockies' lodegepole woods so it was a nice change from overgrazed sheep meadows. Not to say there weren't any sheep. But I did see a few Roe Deer and some fox tracks.

Even better, we ended the walk with a pub lunch!

The Lake District seems like a beautiful place and I definitely would love to go back during the summer when I can hike without freezing. (Note: I did have appropriate clothing, but due to different hiking speeds I had to wait for 20min+ periods for some folks to catch up... test of patience and frostbite-avoiding capabilities...)

Snowdonia part II

Here's some highlights from the second day at Snowdonia. I went out with 4 fellow hill walkers to summit Glyder Fach (3,261 ft) and Glyder Fawr (3,277 ft). We passed Llyn Bochlwyd (a pond... nothing spectacular but it's fun to use the Welsh words) over to the ridges leading to the summit. This hike involved less scrambling, but more scree. Still steep though! We topped "Big Mound" and "Small Mound" in a considerably dryer state than Tryfan's previous summit. Only clouds this time. To get back down we carefully descended into Devil's Kitchen which was an impressive waterfall/sheep/jagged rock/cliff covered formation.

Saddle area with sheep retaining wall.

The Cantilever Rock. I'm at the end looking over the edge.

The rocks in the area reminded me of jagged ice the comes out of wet soil

Devil's Kitchen

Quote from MLK... distraction

"'Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic.' -- Martin Luther King, Jr."

What do you think?

Snowdonia

This past weekend I took another trip with the CU Hill Walking Society, this time to Snowdonia National Park in Northern Wales. We left Cambridge (all 40 of us) Friday evening and arrived at Caseg Ffraith around 11:00  or so. Caseg Ffraith is a 'hut' that has everything a spoiled hiker could want: stoves, ovens, showers, flushing toilets, mats for sleeping, a snug, a coal fire, and heat! Plus you can walk out the door and hike, no driving necessarily needed.

That's exactly what I did the next morning. After picking one of many hikes to go on, I went with about 10 others to Tryfan. Tryfan is 3,010 feet tall (it'd be 2,000 feet underneath Fort Collins... but still) and the name means three peaks in Welsh. It was actually one of the more thrilling hikes I've been on. Thrilling in the terms of..."Shit, if I slip I'm probably going to get really hurt... or die."

Tryfan as seen from the hut

Not really the top

 The climb involved a lot of scrambling, basically hiking on all fours. It was raining for most of the hike and I learned that my boots aren't completely waterproof. Neither is my backpack. Oh well. The hail hurt a little too. But it was great exercise, even if I was cursing the Welsh weather the whole day.

The Cannon rock formation

A rainbow in the valley

Sunshine? Going back home.

The three peaks of Tryfan

After hiking, we got back to the hut soaking wet. After everyone had hung out their stinky damp clothes, the windows actually began fogging up because it was so humid! We cooked dinner in small groups and enjoyed a little Halloween revelry and sing alongs with a guitar and mouth piano. 

I'll get to Sunday's hike in the next post!

Edale Hike in the Peak District

I love Cambridge, don't get me wrong, but it is quite lacking in Nature and hills. The steepest climb would be a bridge. Luckily I was able to get out of our lovely old city and into the sticks. I joined the CU Hillwalkers Society and hopped along for a day trip to Edale in England's Peak District.

This map shows the section of the country I was in. Cambridge is toward the southeast. The drive was somewhere between 3 and 4 hours. We took a bus.

Once arrived, my classmate and I joined the group going on one of the harder hikes. We had a 10 mile hike ahead of us on Kinder Scout, which kind of seems like a mesa. The group was mostly grad students ranging from Bulgaria to Argentina. Everybody was fantastic! Here's the down-to-earth folks I've been looking for.

The hills are gently rolling and covered with low-lying brush and grasses and sheep. We were lucky to have a sunny day!

After scaling the appx. 2000 foot Kinder Scout, we traversed the top of the plateau. This area was covered in moorlands, which are wet area with heather brush covering a thick layer of peat. Gullies form and the area is generally tricky to traverse, wet, spongy, and muddy! The wet peat is good at eating shoes and generally causing slips and a mess. But lots of fun!

Moor peat!

Scaling the peat canyon!

After traversing the muddy moors, we headed along the
plateau edge and down toward our pick up point at a pub (of course) at 6pm. The "gritstone" along the edge is interestingly eroded, making for interesting scenery. This landscape was a pleasant surprise. I had no idea what to expect, but I can't wait to go hiking again!  

Sheep with a view.

Matriculation

 I walked around the Cambridge University Botanical Gardens the other day. I haven't seen much color change in the deciduous trees around. The chestnuts have lost most of their leaves but they just shrivel and turn brown. The picture to the right shows a relatively secluded pond and a pretty tree that doesn't compare to what I'm missing back in New England.

A crazy flower in the greenhouse. Supposedly from China.

Here's a shot of all the new graduate students at Pembroke lining (or que-ing?) up for the matriculation ceremony. People have different "gowns" depending on their level of education. They basically differ by length and by sleeves. We all went into the old library and sat and waited to pledge our obedience (weird!) to Pembroke or something. I honestly couldn't really understand the praelector very well. I signed a big book with a fountain pen. The room had some really old books in there that I think might be matriculation registers from the past (?)

They are very ceremony minded over here.

...

 I'm living at Pembroke right now, but here are some photos from Wyton. To the left is one of the stained glass windows in Cathy's house. The colors are so vibrant in real life. The picture doesn't do them justice.

One of the last days I was in Wyton I took a long walk to St. Ives. The walk more or less follows the river past grazing pastures, orchards, and the "Thicket" which is an older forest.

Duckweed?

 

 

Mushrooms in a wildlife area

Beautiful willow over a little tributary.

I moved into Cambridge on Friday and got settled into my new room at Pembroke college on Saturday. I live in the New Court area which was built in the late 1800's. Not super old, but still great.

New Court

Me! Handwritten staircase directory.