It's been another busy few weeks. Mostly with preparations for the full re-opening on 17th May. There is now a certain buzz about Ambleside and Windermere again, it is a very nice thing to be witnessing. Only this morning I cycled the short way to Bowness on Windermere, whilst taking a short rest at the lake shore, I saw so many happy faces. Wonderful wonderful to see.

As well as preparing to welcome lots of visitors, we have already been pretty busy with guided days. Rock climbing, abseils, gorge scrambling, canyoning, guided walks, and even fell running. Pretty varied then.

Long Scar and Black crag are two climbing venues we used to visit a lot, but more recently have been favouring the valley crags due to their ease of access. When a couple got in touch wanting to combine a day of rock climbing and fell running, I just knew this was going to be those wonderful Pike O'Blisco crags. Jim took charge of the running, taking Briony on her furthest (and most likely highest) fell run to date. Including the summits of Pike O'Blisco; Cold Pike; Little Stand; and Crinkle Crags. Top effort. All the while I was with Ben enjoying the glorious rock of Long Scar. Ben was keen to consolidate his anchor placements, set up some top-ropes, and enjoy a few climbs. Fair to say those boxes were well and truly ticked. The sun stayed out too, meaning it was even really pleasant for Briony to join us in the afternoon and read a book in the sunshine.
What a day!

We have also been out in beautiful Eskdale with a family from Southport. With two youngsters to introduce to the mountains, the aim was to keep this as interactive and fun as possible. We rock climbed, abseiled, and explored the mountains, seeing amazing views and wildlife along the way. The end of the day brought with it two enthused and pleasantly tired youngsters. A parents dream right. Don, our Border Collie joined for this day. Now he's getting old (14) Don doesn't join on so many mountain days anymore. But Kate had gone out running and he was looking very sorry for himself being left at home. I just couldn't do that to him. He had an absolute blast, with loads of attention from the kids, a few sheep to check out, and all that walking. He was knackered by the time we arrived home and slept through until the following morning.

Aside from all this, we've been finding time to enjoy a few local walks around Stockghyll and Skelghyll woods. These areas are currently awash with wild flowers, filling the air with wonderful scents and painting gorgeous colours on the ground.

On Monday our B&B re-opens to the public: 2cambridgevillas.co.uk and both Mountain Journeys and Climb Scafell are looking forward to welcoming many to the Lake District.

Thanks for reading. We hope to see you soon.

​Mark & Kate

Really nice to welcome back Joe, Seth, Luke, Matt, and Hannan. And to meet Sarah, Betty, and Phil. A full day of rock on Saturday for everyone, with some managing 9 routes up to E2!!

We began at Long Scar, a fast drying mountain crag with loads of fine routes of rough Lakeland rock, Brecciated Andesite in case you're interested. It's a delight to climb here, with all routes being well worthwhile. For most of the time we had the place to ourselves, so set up plenty of routes for everyone to enjoy. Joe set up a top-rope but found the top of the crag to be massively colder (windy) than the warm base, sorry Joe!

After lunch we walked the short distance to Black crag, again we had the place to ourselves for virtually all the time. Ticking off another 6 routes here ensured everyone's muscles were tested to the max and that lovely tired feeling flowed over us all. A fantastic day in the mountains, thanks all.

Most of the team were going Mountain Biking today, but Phil & Betty were up for more rock climbing, so we headed into Langdale valley to Raven crag. It was much quieter than i'd expected and we had the pick of the routes. Original Route for starters then. With yesterday being their first ever time on 'real rock', jumping on a multi-pitch was always going to be a big step, seconding the route with all that implies. Both managed this brilliantly.
After lunch we stepped up the grade and moved over to 'Revelation' a 3 star Hard Severe, which if longer would deserve classic status. Doing this in a single pitch allowed both to enjoy a super long (almost 45m) pitch of rock climbing, really getting into it, enjoying the challenge, the exposure, the mental aspect, the physical.
Both now making their way back to London, but happier having being 'earthed' to the rock and experiencing new challenges all weekend.

Thanks all, we hope to see you again for more soon.

Mark 

Last week was half term and with the sun shining every day, we had a very busy and enjoyable week.  One popular activity we do is our Family Adventure Day.  There are various options depending on the ages of the children, the weather and what our clients want out of the day.   

Families who prefer less walking to the day can enjoy the valley option.  We spend the morning in Langdale where you are spoilt with views of this popular and beautiful valley; the dramatic skyline of the Langdale Pikes always drawing your eyes to it.  We do some fun rock-climbing, starting with easy climbs and testing yourselves on harder ones if you wish.  We then head over to Cathedral quarry for a picnic lunch at a place which never ceases to amaze people – you walk through a dark tunnel and appear in a huge cavern, lit up with rays of sun pouring through the ‘window’.  This man-made quarry gets its name ‘Cathedral’ from the huge pillar inside the cavern.  As well as the caverns there are long, dark tunnels to explore, always good fun - one is 120m long so we take a torch!  There is an abseil here too, just long enough for children but long enough to give a challenge.

Last week the weather was perfect for an adventurous day out in the mountains. So with two families – 3 adults and 5 children from 8 to 17 years old we drove up to the top of the Wrynose Pass and headed up Pike O’Blisco.  We stayed off path for most of the day, scrambling over small rocky outcrops – for anyone not familiar with scrambling, in this case it is very easy rock-climbing on low level rocks, for which you don’t need a rope.  Children of all ages love this and the joy of it is that you can choose your route, so it can be easy or a little harder, or you can simply walk around it.

We scrambled our way up the mountain until we reached the crag of Long Scar, seeing lots of interest on route - sheep and lambs (Herdwicks and Swaledales), plants including Sundew, one of only two insectivorous plants in the UK, and some fascinating rock formations. 

Long Scar is a lovely climbing crag about 12m tall and here everyone enjoyed some rock-climbing on the end of a rope on either the ‘easy’ climb or the ‘hard’ climb for those who wanted to challenge themselves, or both!   Here we enjoyed a well-earned picnic lunch whilst being treated to stunning of the Lake District fells including Wetherlam, Swirl How, Cold Pike and Crinkle Crags.

Everyone then fancied the idea of abseiling; some were worried because of previous experiences, however the slabs we use on Black Crag are not at all intimidating and perfect for ‘first timers’ and especially good for youngsters too. Everyone did it at least once and the children all came back for another turn.  You also get to do some more easy climbing as it is quicker and far more enjoyable to climb back up to the top than to walk around.

Time enjoyed always passes quickly and before we knew it was time to return to the cars.  Here I left them as the adults were keen to finish their day by testing their driving skills over the famous Hardknott Pass, a single track, twisty road with a gradient of 1 in 3, the steepest road in England (along with Rosedale Chimney in North Yorkshire). 

Thanks for a great day out Eric, Johnny, Sarah, Matt, Georgie, Tristan, Theo and Thomas!

A brilliant end to the school summer holidays, with some welcome sunshine and warmer conditions here in the Lake District.
We welcomed back the Hewitts and friends for a spot of Canyoning in Church Beck. Water levels were high making this a really fun descent through the gorge. After drying off, we spent the evening rock climbing at Tilberthwaite quarry.

And the following day, we had planned a climbing day but the rain slowed that down and instead we spent some time rigging abseils and of course doing some abseiling too.
The afternoon brought drier conditions so we headed into Langdale and Scout crags (almost always dry rock here). A top effort by both Edd & Lauren, between them leading the brutal 'Cubs crack' (Hard Severe). A few more routes were climbed on top ropes before tired muscles brought the day to a close.

Sam was also out today, running a rock climbing course for us over in Eskdale. They had some very damp conditions to deal with, but still lots of useful learning and of course plenty of time on rock.

Sunday the 22nd brought another full day of rock climbing. This time with Tricia and her 2 lads. I forget how many climbs we did that day, but it was a lot. We met up later with some of their friends who had been multi-pitch climbing at Upper Scout crags. They then made a rare ascent of the split crack in the large boulder below Scout crags.

Tuesday 25th I was out with the Lack family. We have enjoyed many days out together, mostly rock scrambling, but sometimes gorge scrambling and climbing too. Today our objective was the classic Langdale scramble of Jack's Rake on Pavey Ark. This is graded as a relatively straightforward scramble, but should not be under-estimated, for there is much exposure and some challenging moves. Without doubt this is one of the very best days out to be had in the Lake District, and one I always look forward to.
We thankfully enjoyed splendid weather for the whole day, so enjoyed far reaching views as well as dry rock!

On Thursday 27th Kate was out leading a guided walk for a party from Bahrain. Elterwater and Colwith Force provided just the perfect scenery all were looking for and a grand day enjoyed by all.

The following day (Friday) we had a team day out on Dow crag. A friend had managed to leave some climbing gear behind on one of the long multi-pitch routes so we decided to go see if we could retrieve it for him. Unfortunately for us a heavy downpour soaked the crag just as we arrived so the initial climbing definitely felt tenuous. Dow crag is well known for its 'slippery-when-wet' rock and this stuff felt like ice! The wind did a grand job of drying the upper pitches, so it wasn't long before we were able to enjoy dry and grippy rock, and all in an amazing setting looking over to Coniston Old Man.
The gear we had come in search of had already been removed, however, we still had a blast, always enjoy a visit to Dow.

I was back in Stickle ghyll the following morning with a family group of 11. Plenty of water and warm conditions all helped us have a fab time in here yet again.

Sunday 30th saw us out with Andzelika & Eugene who we've been out with quite a few times now. They like the Lakes so much they moved up here recently. This time their friend Nicky came along too. As the weather forecast was very good I took a chance on the Pike O' Blisco crags.
Starting on Long Scar, we climbed 4 routes from about 'Diff' to 'Hard Severe' we then moved up to Black Crag and climbed 4 more routes, this time up to E2! 

Below are a few photos from the days.

Thanks everyone, so nice to see you all and we hope it's not long until you're back in the Lakes again.

Mark

The last few days have been filled with Rock Climbing around the Lake District.

I was joined by Helen on Sunday & Monday and we enjoyed a wide variety of routes. These started on Wallowbarrow crag in the Duddon valley where we climbed 4 multi-pitch routes (13 pitches) during the day. The weather was being very kind and we enjoyed sunshine almost all day.

On Monday we climbed at Long Scar on Pike O' Blisco, high above the Langdale valley. This is a single pitch venue offering immaculate rock and a wide variety of climbing styles. The morning was spent enjoying some of these climbs and we also had time to consolidate abseiling skills.
To top off a fab couple of days we walked to the summit of Pike O' Blisco where dramatic views were had (see above) of the Langdale Pikes and valley far below.


Tuesday saw us back at Long Scar. This time with Jon & Andy from Essex. Sam was helping me out today and this meant these lads were put through their paces as we rattled through the climbs at quite a speed.

After 9 rock climbs it was clear tiredness was setting in and we opted for some downtime before a leisurely stroll back to the Wryness pass.

Big thanks to Helen, Jon, Andy, and Sam - it's been a really enjoyable few days.

Mark

Photos from top to bottom:
Langdale Pikes from Pike O' Blisco
Helen climbing Thomas at Wallowbarrow crag
Jon climbing at Long Scar, Langdale