Saturday 29th November, A Snowy Playground today

We had more snow on Friday in the Lakes and it has turned into a snowy playground today, with clear blue skies and almost no wind. I took the opportunity to go up onto Kentmere Horseshoe today and do a partial round due to other commitments today.

My winter walking boots had their first outing of the season today although it proved not to be nessessary as the snow had not consolidated overnight and was still powdery.

I left the car at Kentmere Church and headed up the Garburn Pass to my first top Castle Crag before an easy walk to the second top Yoke. After a short descent and a nice walk along the ridge line this took me to my final top for today Ill Bell. The views were stunning and the south Lakes seemed to have more snow than the other areas. For such a nice day the fells were surprisingly quiet. By mid morning the temperature had risen considerably and snow and ice was starting to melt underfoot and as I descended back into Kentmere the lower slopes were almost free of snow.

Another nice day on the hills.

Tuesday 25th November, Pike O Blisco and Crinkle Crags

We awoke to a beautiful clear cold winters morning in the lakes, today I am doing some private guiding with Deborah and Alan from Durham on the Crinkles. Before I joined them I stopped off at Blea Tarn to get a few pictures of the early morning sun on the Langdales. Unfortunately the strong winds made the Tarn very rough and not so photogenic today.

The planned route took us from Three Shire Stone up to Red Tarn before crossing over Pike O Blisco. The wind on the tops was very cold and we did not stop for long on the summit. After returning to Red Tarn we started to make our way up the track to the Crinkles. There was a fine sprinkling of snow on the tops and by now the wind had dropped. We were able to enjoy some fantastic views over the Scafell range in the warmth of the sun. Our route from here took us up over the bad step to the summit cairn where after a short stop we head back down towards Cold Pike, our next objective, before making our way back to the vehicles.

I returned to Blea Tarn to get the last of the afternoon sun on the tarn on what was now very still water with fantastic reflections

Sunday 23rd November, Snowing in Kendal

Overnight the snow arrived in the Lakes and we awoke to find about one inch of snow in the garden. I was not scheduled to be working at the film festival till the afternoon so I headed off for a short walk at Kirkstone Pass and Red Screes. There was just a thin layer of snow, not deep enough to use our winter walking skills but sufficient to make the paths difficult underfoot

Having been inspired yesterday by a lecture from landscape photographer, Colin Prior, I took along my camera hoping to get some nice pictures of the snowy hills. The following are a few of the pictures I took.





























Then it was back to the film festival for some more films and beer.

Saturday 22nd November, Fund Raising for Mountain Rescue

As part of the weekend of films, Kendal mountain rescue team took part in a fund raising activity organised by the Mayor of Kendal. This involved members of the public walking and running up BeastBanks, a local hill in the centre of town, to achieve a total height gain equivalent to climbing Mt Everest.

Our role in this event was to carry the Lady Mayor back down the hill on our stretcher, fortunately for us she is quite a small lady.

After the stretcher carry was over it was back to the film festival for some more adrenalin and a few beers at the festival party.

Friday 21th November, Kendal Mountain Film Festival

The mountain film festival is with us again and I am spending the next 4 days working on the theatre doors and loading up on adrenalin for the winter. Information on this years festival can be found at http://www.mountainfest.co.uk

Wednesday 19th November, Loughrigg Fell

Today I was on Loughrigg Fell above Rydall doing some private guiding with a group on an easy walk, the weather was very variable and due to low cloud the visibility on the tops was very poor. We took shelter in the old mine workings while a shower passed before carrying on up the hill to the summit. It was quite cold on top and the group quickly head back down hill to find some shelter from the wind.

Sunday 16th November, Grizedale, Tarn How and Conniston

It was a lovely day in the Lakes and to make the most of the Autumn colours decided to stay in the valleys today. We set off from Grizedale and made our way over to Tarn Hows before dropping down the hill into Conniston just as the sun was begining to set over the water.

Saturday 15th Nov, Scafell Pike

Today Linda and I are working for Summittreks with a school group from Yorkshire. Our plan for today is to start walking from Seathwaite following Ruddy Gill to Esk Hause Before walking over Great End, Ill Crag and Broad End for the final short steep ascent to Scafell Pike.

We set off from the vehicles at 0930hrs and conditions in the valley were good. We had been sheltered from the wind till we reached Esk Hause. As we moved up towards Great End the winds picked up and the cloud base lowered.

We made our way carefully over the wet rock and soon started the scramble up the ridge to the summit of Scafell Pike. All of the group made it to the summit in time for a well earned lunch. The summit was surprisingly busy today with a large number of walkers sheltering from the wind in most of the old stone shelters. Visibility was poor and wind speed had increased to make it very cold. After a quick lunch and team photo we descended down the path towards Wasdale to find the Corridor Route and our way back to Seathwaite via Styhead Tarn.

We arrived back in Seathwaite at 1615 hours which gave the group the opportunity to drive to Keswick to stock up with refreshements for Sunday.

Saturday 6th Nov, Kula Lumpar

We had opted to make a short stop over in KL and caught the high speed train from the airport to the new train station KL Sentral. The day was spent exploring the various parts of the city and enjoy the contrast of old and new. We also had time for a spot of shopping in the malls before going back to the airport and our flight back to London.

Friday 5th Nov Hanoi to Kuala Lumpur

It was dry outside and I got up early this morning to take a walk down to the lake where the local's practice their Ti-Chi before the city gets busy. There were a number of groups out and this made for some good picture opportunities. I then headed for the markets to try for some pictures there before they also got busy.

After breakfast we still had a few hours available in the morning for visiting other sights before catching the afternoon flight to KL. As we drove out to the airport it started raining again. Myra and I left the flight in KL for a short stop over and the remainder of the group continued on the overnight flight back to London .

Sunday 31st October, Hanoi

Today half of the group return to the airport to begin their journey back to the UK. We have another day in Hanoi before heading down to Halong Bay to extend our visit to Vietnam.

We spent the day in the National War Museum to avoid the heavy rains again. This was most interesting and we gained a different view on events in Indochina with the French and American Wars. The outdoor exhibit had a large monument made from wreakage of US plans shot down in action.

Saturday 30th October, Hanoi and Celebration Meal

After our epic journey back to Hanoi and the problems with flooding it was still raining when we awoke. However this did not stop us visiting the old quarter, dodging motor bikes and sight seeing. In the afternoon we had organised a bus tour for the group and went to see the main sites of interest in town including Uncle Ho's Masoleum. Unfortunately he had gone to Moscow for his annual holiday (refurbishment) and was not able to meet us in person.

In the evening we went to see the world famous water puppets before the celebration dinner in a nice restuarant in Hanoi after we had a few beers. Unfortunately I can only publish a few of the pictures taken after the meal on this website but it was a fun evening.

Friday 29th October, Ban Hin to Ban Tom, Water everywhere

Due to the change of route the early part of our walk today involved retracing our steps to Pho Doan before a long walk down the valley to our bus at the road end. Due to the total distance involved today we used the jeeps to transport the group to Pho Doan before we started walking. There was a sense of urgency in this operation from the local guide. As we started trekking we came across parts of the route that were partially blocked by mudslides which could have stopped our vehicles getting out if we had arrived much later.

After a few hours walking we reached a large swollen river which the road crossed. A large group of locals were standing looking at this and not daring to cross. We decided to join them and wait to see if the water levels would drop before attempting our crossing. Approx one hour later the river had dropped and we made an attempt to cross. The river crossing skills the group had practised earlier in the week were put to good use and everyone made it safely across.

From here it was only a few km to our bus and the end of the trek, unfortunately another river crossing lay between us and the finish. This crossing was much more difficult than the previous one and again I opted to wait and see if the water would drop before attempting to cross.

We took shelter in a local house and enjoyed some drinks and food while we waited. The river had started to drop when more rain came and we made the decision to cross before it had time to rise again. Our vehicle’s managed to get a rope across and with assistance from some of the local villagers we were able to get all of the team safely across this river.

These rivers provided the team with a real challenge to finish their trek with and will be a lasting memory of this trip. Most of the team slept on the bus ride back to Hanoi in preparation for our celebration dinner that evening. This turned out to be an epic 6 hour journey due to severe flooding in Hanoi and other parts of the route. When we finally arrived at our hotel in Hanoi it was too late for our celebration meal so we rescheduled that for Saturday night and had a few well earned beers instead.

Thursday 28th October, Kho Moung to Ban Hin, Return of the Leeches

It had rained again all night and just after breakfast the rains finally stopped. We had arranged to visit the local primary school today before we started trekking. The group and the local children thoroughly enjoyed our visit and we gained a good insight into village life.

This village has no vehicle access and all our luggage had been carried, from the track end to the homestays and back, by the locals. My bag was almost larger and probably heavier than the girl who carried it back uphil to the jeeps.

After our short visit to the school we started our trek to Ban Hin our next overnight stop. Within minutes of leaving the village the heavy rains returned and the path were again flowing with water and very slippy. Chris took a heavy fall on a short descent, badly hurting her arm, fortunately it was only badly bruised and not broken. A number of others performed spectacular bum slides on the thick red mud, on a particularly difficult section of track.

The leeches also decided to return for another bite of the group and three more clients had them removed during the morning and running repairs made to the wounds.

Just before lunch the track improved considerably and we reached a river. We used the opportunity of flowing water to remove the thick mud from our boots and shorts. Jenny and Mike had fun washing each others shorts.

After lunch our route took us through Pho Duan, the largest village in this area. Shortly after this we followed a smaller track to our final overnight stop at Ban Hin. The trail was now much improved and we made good speed through the paddy fields to the homestay. As we arrived the heavy rains returned again and we were fortunate to have reached shelter. Unknown to us these rains were to continue all through the night and make for a very interesting final day to our trek.

Wednesday 27th October, Ban Hang to Khu Muong

Today’s route involved crossing two minor rivers shortly after the start of the trek before a long uphill section to rejoin the Ho Chi Minh trial. Despite the heavy rains the river crossings did not pose any problems but we did use the opportunity to practice our skills in case we needed these later in the trek.

The long uphill through rice fields and a small village was very interesting. The locals had created some very clever means of moving water about the hill using bamboo poles as pipes and the water it to power some small machines. Eventually we reached the top of the hill and rejoined the HCM trial. We came across a group of local children on their way back from school and we spent some time trying to communicate with them through our local guide.

After lunch the heavy rains returned to make our descent path down into the valley flow like a river and become extremely slippy. After a cautious descent a very wet group finally arrived at the homestay. Our original plan had been to leave our kit in the homestay and make a short visit to a large cave on the hill above the village however this was not possible due to the adverse conditions.

Just before dinner the rain finally stopped and a few of us went to explore the village. We quickly found the local school and made arrangements for the group to visit it again in the morning.

Tuesday 27th October, Ban Ton, Heavy thunderstorms force change of plan

Overnight the heavy rains had continued non stop and we were advised against continuing on our planned route due to some sections of the path being very narrow and having some large vertical drops. Plan B was quickly put in place and we decided to do the original route for the trek in reverse order to avoid this section.

We followed a jeep path back to our start point at Ban Xom and were able to make a short visit to the local market before catching a bus to Ban Sai on the Ma Rver. At this point we joined a section of the Ho Chi Minh trial for a pleasant walk though the jungle to our overnight stop in Ban Hang.

This was a much larger village than previous with much more activity in and around the village including panning for gold.

The villagers were again very friendly and made us welcome in their homes.