Evening Cragging...

Looking down the Watendlath Valley from Reecastle last August.

So I started back at Go Ape on Thursday and the clocks sprung forward on Sunday, meaning we've gained an extra hour of day light, which incidentally means there is more time, after work, for playing on the easily accessible crags of Borrowdale whilst the sun heads for the horizon.

Tonight I kicked off my year's evening cragging in good form up at Reecastle Crag, which is found in the hanging valley of Watendlath. This is one of the most beautiful valleys in the whole of Lakeland, in my opinion, and it was a nice place to spend the evening climbing The Rack: Finger Flake Finish (E2, 5c) and The Gibbet (E1, 5c) before darkness fell.

Unfortunately I left my camera in the car, hence the picture from August, however my partner for the evening's escapades had their camera to hand. I'll make an effort to get some copies of the pictures taken whilst I dithered through the crux of The Gibbet.

Watendlath's quiet nook.
A farm is there, and a slated barn,
And a waterfall, and a pebbly tarn;
And all the way to High Lodore
The banks of the beck are painted o'er
With red herb-willow and red loose-strife.

- Edmund Casson, The Wise Kings of Borrowdale.

Good lines, stay safe and see you on the wet stuff...
Iain