20120113
14 January 2012
An excellent day. My friend suggested that we go over to the nearby valley of Kentmere and ascend up onto the main ridge using a little used spur. It was a beautiful and cold morning, with the puddles frozen on the tracks, and a clear sky with a promise of good visibility. We walked up the valley until we got to the reservoir, found the start point, and began to go up. I love walking where there are no paths, and despite this route being in the Wainright books as a subsidiary way up, it was obviously little used. It was amazing how quickly we were ascending, and the view back down the spur as we came up was fantastic. It wasn’t really very difficult, and suddenly we were level with the main ridge, and then climbing up to the high point called Ill Bell. I’ve been on the main ridge lots of times, but never by this route, It was fantastic, with the view holding up, a blue sky and a full panorama of visibility. It was still cold, with water frozen in becks and tarns along the summit ridge as we walked back down. What a start to the year.
When I got back to the house and tried to get onto the internet I discovered that there was a problem. I thought that the BT Homehub had gone wrong, and envisaged telephone calls with my favourite organisation to resolve this. I realised after a while that the wifi function was working, as the iPad and phones were connected and getting data and emails. So perhaps there was a different problem? So, I left it, got myself tidied up and went out for my next meeting, which I found unaccountably tedious for all sort of reasons. In the evening I got home to collapse in front of the TV for a couple of hours. I was forced to watch the Graham Norton interview with Madonna, and have to say that as an exercise in sycophancy it will take a lot of beating. The behaviour of the audience in cheering every word spoken, that is after they had sat down from the inexplicable standing ovation they granted the guest at the start of the interview, really has taken the concept of celebrity worship to a new level.
