We have some very sad news. Joan Ogden passed away this morning after being diagnosed very recently with Motor Neurone Disease. Our thoughts are with David and the whole family at this time.

Message from Steve: Hi all. Had a lot of correspondence about this weekend in the light of storm ‘Amy’ and whether we will be going ahead with the maintenance weekend. In the interests of safety (and not expecting you all to do jobs that would be wholly unpleasant), I’ve adapted the jobs list to exclude most of the outdoor jobs. We value members help but don’t expect anyone to travel should they not feel comfortable with the journey and roles that would be unsafe so we’ve scaled back this weekend and will defer some jobs to a later date. Probationary members have expressed an interest as have seasoned members so we won’t cancel on this occasion but will make it an enjoyable weekend with nice food, good company and a reasonable expectation of jobs. If you have concerns regarding travel then please do no feel obliged to make the journey. We will look at another meet before the AGM to complete jobs that we will struggle with this weekend so there’s always opportunity to contribute at a latter date.. Kind regardsSteveHut Warden.

Ruth Price has asked us say thank you to all those members who came to Margaret Price’s funeral and passed on their condolences in letters, cards and phone calls to Ruth and David and Joan. It has brought them great comfort.

Hi all
As the weather warms up a tad, I’m please to say that the water situation has resolved itself as the feed pipe from the settling tank has thawed and the tanks are replenished and water is available in the upstairs bathroom in ladies side and family quarters has been purged of air and is up and running again.

Members please note, that all booking for the family quarters still need to be confirmed with the Chairman (Chris Lloyd chris.lloyd731@gmail.com) and confirmed and visible on the diary on the bishops scale page of the website.

The code for the family quarters is now updated to match the new code of the main hut. Please refer to your recent email re code changes for details.

Thanks to Lizzy for helping out with the water issues and getting things back up and running.

Best wishes

Steve
Hut Warden

BISHOPS SCALE ANNOUNCEMENT
Just an update on weather conditions in Langdale.
Roads are all passable and well maintained in the general area with no issues.
There is an issue with the accommodation though at the hut as there’s no water supply. The current sub zero temperatures have resulted in low enough ground temperatures to have frozen the pipe from the settling tank to the hut.
This means there’s no replenishment of the stored tanks in the main hut (currently half full so this must have been an issue for a few days) and no water to the family quarters as this is fed directly from the filtration system and not the tanks.
There’s not a whole lot that can be done to remedy the situation if you were planning to visit other than bring water from home for drinking. There’s a small amount at the hut but not a lot to flush toilets plus the showers will deplete the remaining tanked supply quite quickly.

Apologies for any inconvenience if you were planning a trip to the hut. I’ll update if/ when things change.

Steve
Hut Warden

Announcement

Here are some details for this year’s Long Walk, on Saturday 29th June, based at Little Ground House. Diane and Rob Green have done a fantastic job organising this event which follows the first section of the 26 Lake, Meres and Waters route devised by Leo Pollard. 

Booking is essential. Thank you to all those who have already let us know they are going to attend. There are still a few beds left in the hut and the field will be open for anyone who wishes to camp or stay in their vans.

Here are all the docs below in one PDF

Here is a brief description of the route and outlines the plan for the weekend. 

Here are maps 1 to 5 showing the Long Walk Main Route marked in red:

Map 1 – Start-Maggies-Bridge-Car-Park-Loweswater-Crummock-Water

Map 2 – Crummock-Water-Breakfast-Stop-hotel-car-park-Buttermere-Buttermere-Bleaberry-Tarn-Red-Pike

Map 3 – Red-Pike-Lunch-Stop-Ennerdale-Youth-Hostel-Car-Park-Ennerdale-Water-Tewit-How

Map 4 – Ennerdale-Tewit-How-Nether-Beck

Map 5 – Nether-Beck-Wast-Water-Little-Ground-House

Here are maps 6 to 8 showing an extra extended part of the route from the Breakfast Stop to the Lunch stop, for runners who want to add a bit more mileage.

Map 6 – Breakfast-Stop-Buttermere-Peggys-Bridge-Warnscale-Bottom

Map 7 – Peggys-Bridge-Warnscale-Bottom-High-Style

Map 8 – High-Style-Ennerdale-Youth-Hostel-Lunch-Stop

Elevation guide for the Long Walk Main Route

Elevation guide for the Long Walk Extended Route

The route outlined is a guide and may not be the best path/line to take on the day. Walkers should use their own judgement. 

Here are the photographs to this years race. Click on the image below to access them or scroll through them with the arrow.

Many thanks.

Mark.

Guy Richardson, a Lake District author,  has donated a copy of his book “The Scafells, A Grand Tour” to the club and it’ll be going to Little Ground House for members to read. When he sent it I said I would write a little review of it, so here goes.

Before it arrived I was expecting to see a big heavy hardback ‘coffee table’ book with photographs and a bit of accompanying text. However it is much better than that. It does contain some beautiful photos but it’s also a very interesting and entertaining read. It takes you on a walk from Wastwater to Cockley Beck so it covers ground that many of our members will know well. On the way it talks about a wide range of subjects prompted by that part of the walk.

Among other things it covers the history of the Wasdale area, the development of tourism and rock climbing, the geology and evolution of the landscape, surveying and map making, poetry  (including the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s description of his descent of Broad Stand), the naming of Scafell Pike, fellrunning and walking challenges, the changing ownership of different parts of the Lake District, conflicts about land use, the design of boots and the making of stone-age axes. The last chapter distills the challenges faced by the landscape of not just the Scafells but the Lake District in general, and the management of the experience for the growing number of visitors.

The book is  well structured and although it contains a lot of information it is easy to read and the chapters are short so it’s good for dipping into. It’s also paperback so that it could, at a pinch, be carried along to read on the way (if you had good weather and plenty of time!).

It’s definitely worth a read and I’ll be buying a copy for myself so that I can revisit it when I’ve forgotten what I’ve read! At just under £12, it’s also an affordable gift for anyone interested in the Lake District.

The water system at Bishop’s Scale is now sorted – 5th July 2023

This morning (Sunday 11 June) we’ve been told that there is no water coming into the Langdale hut. If you are planning to visit the hut please take plenty of bottled water with you for drinking. We believe there is currently water in the beck that can be used to fill buckets to flush the toilets but if it doesn’t rain soon we might need to close the hut until it does.