© Joe Douglas. 2017
Skiddaw Rambles
Being brought up in Cockermouth, Skiddaw was the nearest mountain and the backdrop to many walks with my family. Part of day trips to Keswick was checking if you could see the halfway house or was the cloud down below it.
The Halfway House was really a corrugated Iron clad shed specialising in selling water to the intrepid ‘climbers’. Unfortunately it burnt down and was never rebuilt so all that’s left is the flat area beside the path where it stood.
A few years ago when I started researching my family tree I found out that my great, great, great grandfather Joseph Charters farmed Great Barkhouse in Setmurthy and the land was overlooked by Skiddaw. The next three generations stayed in the Setmurthy -
Night Visits
In the early 1950’s with one, or sometimes two,friends we used to take then a late bus to Keswick and go up Skiddaw intending to see the sunrise from the top.
We never managed to see the sunrise but the trips were all memorable, some more than others..
Summit Sleeps
If the plan was to view the sunrise we always took sleeping bags. The bags we had were about as far from today’s sleeping bags as you could imagine. The were ex armed forces arctic bags made from heavy canvas and were completely water proof. There was no chance of folding them. They only rolled up from the foot end finishing in a roll at least a foot (30 cm) diameter and about three feet (90 cm )long and quite heavy.
Once inside the sleeping bag it you closed it with a couple of zippers which created a small tent over the head area. That probably contributed to the missed sunrises as we slept through them.
One morning I remember waking up and unzipped the bag and it looked very overcast and there was a really strong smell in the air, unusual considering we were 3000 feet above sea level.
All was revealed when I put my glasses on and reached out of the bag.
In the night a flock of sheep had congregated closely round the trig point and covered us completely. That accounted for the lack of light, and the smell!.
We quickly got out of the bags and moved them on.
Rain Stopped Play
One night we left Keswick after dark and hit the cloud base about halfway up Latrigg and it started pouring down.
We got as far as the lane end at the back of Latrigg, where motorists start the climb up Skiddaw, and the conditions got worse. There was a small plantation of conifers, now long gone, and we abandoned the Skiddaw climb and settled down for the night among the trees in our sleeping bags. On waking up I realised the ground under my legs felt strange. I sat up and looked round and realised I was sitting on the edge of a large pool that had filled in the night. I looked over at my friend who was bobbing gently in the water with only his shoulders on terra firma.
The middle of the plantation was a hollow that had filled up overnight and made a small pond.
Of course the clouds had gone and it was a beautiful morning as we walked back down into Keswick.
20 Degrees Below
The most memorable night visit to the summit was on 7th January 1961. It was a crisp freezing night with snow on the tops. My friends dad took three of us to Keswick by car.
The huge thermometer on the end of the post office showed the temperature was thirteen degrees below freezing.
We hit the snow line going up the steep section behind Latrigg. By the time we got up to where we usually passed through gates the snow was so deep we couldn’t find or see any walls or fences and we were walking over them. We were the first to cross the virgin snow round the back of Skiddaw and the views were amazing, crystal clear under millions of stars. The summit round the trig point was swept almost clear of snow by the wind.
Taking photographs was very difficult because of the temperature. At 3000 feet the temperature is about seven degrees colder than at zero feet so that night the temperature would be around -
Back then most flash units were separate from the camera and used one shot flash bulbs. It was so cold the capacitors in the flash units didn’t either charge or discharge. To overcome this we put the flash units under our arms in our clothing to warm them up. Then were quickly fitted on the camera and used before they cooled down. We managed to get the pictures below.
Silver Jubilee Visit(s)
In 1977, a beacon was lit on the top of Skiddaw to celebrate the Queen’s Silver Jubilee. We were visiting my mother in Cockermouth and leaving the children with Grandma we decided to go and watch the lighting ceremony.
It was a miserable evening starting out from Keswick. The summit was in the clouds and it was raining and a bit windy when we, and many others, left Keswick. On the summit the wind was much stronger and the rain was horizontal. The spectators were standing round a huge pile of old pallets and other inflammables waiting for the ‘man with the matches’.
A Range Rover appeared out of the clouds with the official lighting party. One of the local MP’s and his wife were the main players. His wife had on a very up-
The words were said,the fire was lit and aided by the wind was quickly a roaring blaze.
Once lit everyone started back down to Keswick. The conditions were so bad that the huge fire was completely invisible before we had walked 50 metres from it.
When we got down into Keswick and finally got out of the clouds we passed a car that was parked pointing towards Skiddaw. All its windows were steamed up and as we drew level with the driver’s door the window wound down and a voice asked “Have they lit it yet?”
Next morning it was dry and clear and we were telling the children about our walk when our nephew said he wanted to see where the big bonfire had been so we took him to Keswick and then repeated out walk. When we reached the summit the only trace of the night before were the nails that had been in the pallets. Everything had burnt and blown away. Our nephew collected a pocket full of nails and we set off back down again.
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