Amersham Ramblers around .

Autumn in The does not conjure up the best of weather; however 36 of us found it to be wet and dry.

Yes 36 souls braved the ‘fells’ of the area around Derwentwater for 3 days of walking.

Having arrived at the HF house in Keswick, right by Derwentwater, we were soon enjoying some scones with cream and jam, or should that be jam and cream!

As is to be expected from HF we were introduced to the 3 leaders, Tess, Estelle and Ian who soon briefed us to the delights of the walks to come!

Tuesday the 10th October was the 1st of our 3 days of walks, or so we expected! I chose the medium walk which saw us follow the harder walk group (who continued over Cat Bells to and ) toward Cat Bells, an invigorating and somewhat scrambling climb, of 8 miles and of 1200ft of ascent. Very enjoyable especially as we began our descent and came out of the wind.

Wednesday 11th October was to be our day for walking to High , however our worst fears were to be realised as the day dawned both very wet and very windy. It was decided to only attempt one walk along the shores of Derwentwater due to the inclement weather. The group who ventured out were back by lunchtime in a very bedraggled state even though all had waterproofs.

Our last day of walking was Thursday 12th October and it dawned as a bright and sunny day. We set off on the medium walk of just 8 miles with 2250ft of ascent. If I thought the walk on Tuesday was invigorating, I had a shock. Due to the heavy rain on the previous day, the ‘becks’ were much fuller than usual for this time of year and some did indeed prove challenging to cross over. We were though in the hands of Tess, our outstanding leader. Good paths lead us up and up till we arrived at the summit of and our lunch! After that we began our descent which was to be down followed by up and down until we finally did descend along some steep grassy tracks, a bit hard on the knees but a good day out with Sun but no rain.

I walked with both Tess and Estelle whom I found to be exemplary with their leadership and social skills. The 3 walk leaders ensured we all returned each evening to enjoy the food provided by the staff at Derwent Bank. Perhaps slightly disappointing was the evening entertainment, though this was purely a personal thought as we all seemed to enjoy the beverages on offer in the Bar!!!

We have already reserved our place for 2018 at the HF house in Selworthy, Exmoor, and look forward to some fresh sea breezes of the North Devon/Somerset coasts.

The accompanying photo shows some of the group about to ascend Cat Bells.

Bill Collins, Amersham Ramblers, 18th October 2017.