Ford Every Stream

Still Room 3

We drove from Ravensglass to Eskdale to revisit the campsite where we spent many a happy night with the kids, wondering if that indeedy was a mad man standing outside our tent in the middle of the night, sharpening his knife. 

The campsite looks the exact same,  a more updated shower room and facilities - but essentially the same.  Tree surrounding one side, mountains on the other.   It is truly an escape. 

We laughed as we thought about the jumping from a bridge into a rive - the bridge was about 20 ft over the river.; the first time our boy did it, he was probably 9, maybe younger, I'd need to look at the original photos.  Tooli and I jumped from the side, screaming with the pain of our lungs absorbing the cold and then doing it all over again.   The water was as clear as clear and as cold as cold could be. 

Once, we decided to venture further than our little valley - and we headed to Wastwater.   We had decided on an adventure and the two of us, and two children 9 and 6 (if we were lucky, they may have been 8 and 5) - headed round.  

We met people approaching us who said "you'll never make it". and we met others who said "the path is fine today". 

And so we went merrily on our way - along the edge of the water, in a little forest trail. 

And then we met the scree.  It started gently enough.  Like walking on a rubbly path. But then it got steeper, and the rocks got larger, and walking became stumbling, and then clambering; eventually, we were walking - hands grasping the stones at our back; watching for loose stones, passing the children. 

As we clambered and struggled - Boy said, "What happens if one of us fall? "  I looked at the 15 foot drop below us (we were getting higher and higher too) and said "the three who are left, will have to wait for someone to come and rescue us".  There was nothing else I could say; I could not guarantee to my child that we would be okay - and none of us would fall. 

It wasn't as if we could just stop.  We had to keep going. 

Eventually we made it past the scree - the full distance round the lake is 10km; the scree only takes up 2.3 km but it was the longest 2.3 km of my life. 

We decided to revisit it too  - to see if time had made my memory more scary than it really was.  

And no.  It was bloody scary.  As I stood there and looked across the water at the scree - I thought, "what the hell were we thinking, dragging two wee kids across that?   Were we mad?"

There's some would say that encouraging them to do that made them into the explorers they are today.   

Hasn't exactly made me want to do it again. 

And those roads.... One lane and passing places.  I had to reverse for a bloody Tesco delivery van. 


If you want a guage of size - the big rock you can see at the far side - is probably the size of a transit van.