Why a night walk? First of all at this time of year in the North of England you may only be walking in the dark for a few hours, there is an added dimension that you don’t get in the daylight plus the challenge of navigating safely, and there’s a smug feeling when you experience the emergence of a sunny dawn while the rest of the world is still in bed. That’s probably the theory when these events are planned in the depth of winter.
The reality of Peter Haslam’s East Lancs group walk was a little different. The rain had briefly relented when 13 individuals of doubtful sanity set off from Troutbeck for a 20 mile exploration of Kentmere and High Street, but the showers returned at regular intervals throughout the night. Early on in the walk half an hour was lost when one walker was temporarily misplaced. Shortly after we came across one of Chris Dawes' light sticks - but no, this was a real glow-worm. No sun to enjoy as dawn reluctantly appeared, just a never ending succession of rocky tops appearing out of the mist on the 2000 foot climb up the Rough Crag ridge. On to Thornthwaite Beacon where the showers were replaced by an hour of heavy rain. The sun eventually emerged to light up a fabulous view across the Troutbeck valley as we splashed down the Garburn road, by now a passable imitation of a river.
Many thanks to Peter for a great walk, and to Christine for the life saving bacon butties at the end. Would we do it again? Of course, and that includes a member on his 2nd LDWA walk and first walk in the Lake District. That really is jumping in at the deep end.