May 2005
The Fall
No, nothing of mystical importance here, just a silly accident that occurred whilst I was walking on my own over Coledale Hause. I arrived at the mine (see Force Crag - October) in good spirits. The day was warm - no jacket and I, my new i-pod and 2-Step (walking stick) were looking forward to a good climb. I was making for Wandhope, a small fell sitting amongst the giants of Grasmoor and Sail and Causey and therefore not much frequented. I am not deliberately endeavouring to climb every single fell in the Lake District but having realised I only have one left to complete, ' the North western Fells,' thought I may as well give it a go.
Wandhope turned out to be lovely the views were amazing all around. (Did not bring camera - sorry) so you will have to take my word for it. And I felt really pleased that I managed to get up the hause (am still carrying extra weight from medication I had been taking for the last couple of years).
On the way down I noticed it was starting to get cold. I needed gloves and didn't have any. Half way down the hause it began to spit with rain and then a few minutes later, it hailed! It must have been the ice laying on dry rock but as soon as I put my foot on one of the stepping stones over the beck by the mine, the world turned upside- down and I found myself lying flat on my back in the water. I had a terrible pain in my lower back where a rock had struck it and for a few moments I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to move. How long can you lie in cold water without getting hypothermia, I wondered?
As it turened out, I could walk and by the time I got back to Braithwaite the weather was gorgeous again. In fact it had not rained in the village at all, so what the people in the car park thought of me, wet, bedraggled and limping heavily to my car, I cannot imagine.
No, nothing of mystical importance here, just a silly accident that occurred whilst I was walking on my own over Coledale Hause. I arrived at the mine (see Force Crag - October) in good spirits. The day was warm - no jacket and I, my new i-pod and 2-Step (walking stick) were looking forward to a good climb. I was making for Wandhope, a small fell sitting amongst the giants of Grasmoor and Sail and Causey and therefore not much frequented. I am not deliberately endeavouring to climb every single fell in the Lake District but having realised I only have one left to complete, ' the North western Fells,' thought I may as well give it a go.
Wandhope turned out to be lovely the views were amazing all around. (Did not bring camera - sorry) so you will have to take my word for it. And I felt really pleased that I managed to get up the hause (am still carrying extra weight from medication I had been taking for the last couple of years).
On the way down I noticed it was starting to get cold. I needed gloves and didn't have any. Half way down the hause it began to spit with rain and then a few minutes later, it hailed! It must have been the ice laying on dry rock but as soon as I put my foot on one of the stepping stones over the beck by the mine, the world turned upside- down and I found myself lying flat on my back in the water. I had a terrible pain in my lower back where a rock had struck it and for a few moments I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to move. How long can you lie in cold water without getting hypothermia, I wondered?
As it turened out, I could walk and by the time I got back to Braithwaite the weather was gorgeous again. In fact it had not rained in the village at all, so what the people in the car park thought of me, wet, bedraggled and limping heavily to my car, I cannot imagine.
posted by Brina Katz at 4:07 PM
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