Southport Fell Walking Club

  The Club enjoyed a wonderful day out in Shap exploring the scenic trails and miles of bracken and ferns. The weather was pretty kind considering the forecast with T-shirts and shorts the order of the day. It was only in the late afternoon when the rain came in that the walkers had to quicken the pace and tried in vain to beat the showers. There were seven walks in total that set off. Darren’s walk started off with an unplanned tour of the housing areas of Shap before continuing past Shap Avenue & onwards to Shap Abbey. Continuing onwards they followed a path to the side of the River Lowther before stopping for lunch next to a waterfall after around 2 hours walking. The next section of the walk took an eerie turn as bones and skulls adorned the forest trail which served as the starting point of their main ascent up to Hugh's Laithes Pike. Once they got to the top they found 5ft high bracken in places with wet bogs and heather concealing 2ft holes. Some very aggress...

The weather forecast for the day was certainly mixed, and on the way up the motorway it looked even more grim at times. As the last of the groups got off the coach light rain fell and the waterproofs went on for the first and not the last time. After leaving the coach at Troutbeck, the Oldham’s group made their way across a series of fields to Mungrisdale. This was meant to be the ideal warm-up before the climb up Souther Fell. However the overgrown fields and the continuous stream of broken stiles created an obstacle course which no one expected. Thankfully the paths on the fells were much more favourable and the climb up Souther Fell went without a hitch.   The views from the top were stunning, reminding everyone of why they love fell walking so much! At the base of Sharp Edge, three of the party decided they were going to tackle the ridge whilst the other five opted for the easier path up the valley. Unfortunately as height was gained, the cloud set in and the rain came ...