Explorer Leaders weekend up in the Lake District was this weekend. Stopped over at Rydal Hall in the bunkhouse. Well, we were going to be in the bunkhouse until the electric went out:
Large quantities of candles came to the rescue until we got upgraded to the main hall which looks like this and has a library, drawing room and even a “Bishops Room”. The Bishop wasn’t in so we sat in there for a few drinks.
Saturday was supposed to be a day on the hill but with the weather forecast looking ropey we spent the morning in sessions before heading for a little walk to Ambleside.
Sunday involved a walk round Rydal up to Grasmere. Lunch at Greens Cafe involved a 30 minute wait for coffee but a very nice cumberland sausage baguette. Blagged a lift back to Rydal from Ash (fresh from his stomp around Fairfield) to give me enough time to pop in at Booths to buy some beers for the Ormskirk Baron.
One thing to come out of the weekend was the suggestion of running a course for Explorers to help them get organised. Thinking of calling it something like Getting Organised… now where have I heard that before 
See the full set of photos on Flickr.
Really nice and pretty relaxed weekend up in the Lakes for DESC. Went up Friday night with Hugh (thanks for driving!) and the realisation that I had to camp in March came to me all of a sudden. Tent looked its usual saggy self once put up on a GT slope but managed to find a line for my thermarest between the mounds. Wasn’t too cold at night once I’d wrapped my towel around myself for a bit of extra insulation.
Saturday Martin and I got permission of go off and do our own thing so we met up with Tim for a little walk. Parked up in Patterdale and walked St Sunday Crag, Fairfield, Dollywaggon Pike, Nethermost Pike and Helvellyn. About 20km in all taking 8 hours. Tim’s done the business on spareweekend.com so check out the details there.
Sunday the Explorers tried out the new low ropes course at Great Tower. It’s pretty cool and a great asset to the site. Unfortunately one of the trees has fallen down taking out a couple of obstacles so it’s not a complete circuit at the moment.
Numbers were down for DESC but in terms of atmosphere and activities it was as good if not better than previous years and I think the Explorers catering in smaller groups is a model for future events. But please someone stop me from making scrambled egg next time 