Find out what OMers got up to on their bank holiday weekend, with some fantastic snaps of the Dales and the Cairngorms. Hands up for more bank holidays:-)
The last Bank Holiday of the year has been and gone, but rather than moan and groan about it, we thought we'd spend our time enjoying the photos. We asked you to send in your pics from the weekend, with a few words to let us know what you got up to. Here are some of the snaps that struck us as the most scenic, jaw-dropping, stunning, awe-inspiring, fantastic, wonderful ... and just kinda nice really:-)
The Cairngorms ...
First up, Danny headed to the Cairngorms to do the rounds of Devil's Point, Cairn Toul and Angel Peak. He confesses to having started his weekend a little early, slipping away on Thursday ... alright for some ... but it looks like it was well worth it.
The Lakes ...
Dean Morgan headed slightly less far north to take on the Coledale Horseshoe, Keswick, with his wife. He says "we got half way round (up Grisedale Pike) and down Sand Hill before a big weather front hit us hard. We bailed out and took the escape path from Coledale Hause down back to Keswick." Bailing out's always a bit disappointing, but it's better than ending up in a sticky situation, and it looks like the views were pretty good before it all started going bear-shaped. Better luck next time though.
The Dales ...
John Fitzpatrick looks like he also saw a few clouds on his bank holiday weekend, although not enough to stop him using his camera. There are plenty more of his cloud-and-primrose sunsets in the OM gallery at the moment, to go with the rest of the landscapes. John told us:
"I decided to do the Dales this bank holiday weekend to avoid the crowds. Saturday saw me doing a round trip of 17 miles heading over to Raydale from Wharfedale, then on up to Addlebrough and back to Wharfedale. I spent Sunday in Wensleydale and walked over to Swaledale by way of Great Shunner Fell. It was an 18 mile round trip - classic walking country indeed."
The Dales often get overlooked next to the Lake District and the climber-magnet of the Peaks' gritstone edges. These pics show they're well worth a walk or three though:-)
Climbing ...
Finally, Simon Chaplin sent us the following story:
"Having recently taken up climbing (in June this year), I decided to spend Saturday climbing with a friend at Morlais Quarry in Merthy Tydfil.
Having completed a number of routes ranging from M to S, we decided to tackle a VS 4b (this being my first). As you can see from the picture, the line is straight up the centre crack on the face which is fairly vertical. This is called Castle Wall.
It was ok going up to the middle ledge but from there on I had difficulty. Thanks to some excellent belaying of my friend Andy he held me on a number of occasions as I fell. I finally managed to climb over the crux and carried on up. In all it was a satisfying climb where I was determined to get to the top."
Sounds scarry. We prefer not to fall on lead climbs, using trad gear, but at least it all ended happily ever after ...
Thanks to everyone who sent us their stories and pictures, and we hope you'll carry on sending your photos to the OM gallery. Remember, everyone has 2 MB of free space, and you could even win yourself some cosy Bridgedale Trekker socks if your photo gets the most votes in a calendar month. Also check out our routes section if you're looking for inspiration for next weekend's walks. Let's hope it's a sunny one.
