Carlisle & District Rambling & Fellwalking Club

A Walk Sunday 18th May 2014   

Annual Coach Ramble

A Walk Sunday 18^th May 2014

Ben Ledi

8/9 Miles, Grade 1s

Leader: Neil Thompson

Report by Peter Flynn

Photos by Lauren Sarasini, Peter Flynn, Ron Kirkley, Roger Tringham

When the annual coach outing is planned for the only area of the whole of the Northern Hemisphere that is without sunshine and is actually raining on and off,  then it makes the enrolment of a club clairvoyant all the more urgent.  We left Carlisle in lovely weather:  it was sunny when we stopped at Hamilton services,  but after Stirling it became darker and gloomier although stunningly beautiful.  The A party was eventually dropped off about 12.10pm and as we a) had to take a long diversion in order to reach the ridge and  b) progress to a summit no one knew in c) thick mist,  and d) were due back at the bus for 4.30pm, it was no great surprise that we did not stop for lunch till almost 3pm.  The top of Ben Ledi in the mist looked much the same as any other mountain top in the mist but the weather almost cleared on the way down and we caught the odd glimpse on the steeper, Eastern side of the ridge of an amazing rock strewn landscape with numerous rivers and waterfalls and with one remaining patch of snow.  The way down was on the western side, without any hint of a path – just a steep grassy hillside,  by no means difficult although very remote,  with beautiful scenery and eventually a track alongside the Glen Finglas reservoir to the intriguingly named Brig o’Turk.  We made it about 50 minutes late and  needed all our survival skills to get changed for dinner while the bus was swinging round sharp corners.  When Neil later received his 50^th birthday invitation to a Naturist Colony camping weekend he must have realised that with the solitude and remoteness of the area he missed a great opportunity to have had a “practice run”.  As he was leading the walk and we all had to keep him in sight,  gracias a dios that he didn’t!  Thanks Neil for leading an excellent and rather different outing which we all thoroughly enjoyed. 

Peter