Sunshine and a
good rhodybash make the perfect weekend
Starring: Sue , Neil,
Hazel, Ally, Tim, Gordon, Matt, Karin, Jamie the Ranger & guest appearance
of Charlie
Eight of us travelled to High Wray Basecamp for the Bank
Holiday Weekend to work with National Trust Ranger, Jamie, who is also the high Wray Basecamp warden.
On Saturday morning Sue, Neil, Ally and Hazel arrived at
the Basecamp where we were met by Jamie.
On the way up the M6 the weather had not looked good but by
the time Jamie met us it was turning into a lovely day. We emptied our cars of our
gubbins and made ourselves at home,. At about 1pm Charlie popped in for a visit in time for us to eat our packed lunches.
Charlie hadn't brought any so Neil insisted she have half of his ham sandwich and half his scone.
At 2pm Tim and Gordon arrived and again made themselves at
home. The plan was to go for a walk in the afternoon but it was just so nice at the Basecamp that most of us just relaxed, chatted and watched the birds on the feeders that Jamie had
filled up earlier in the day while Hazel and Gordon went for a walk. Charlie left
at 4pm.
As Dinner was being prepared, Matt and Karin arrived having
been for a long walk in the Langdales.
That evening we dined on Shepherds Pie and Apple Crumble &
Custard and spent the evening doing the Bank Holiday Quiz in the Daily
Telegraph that Karin had bought; Matt was particularly good on the sports
section. There was a beautiful Sunset that night.
Sunday Morning dawned dry and bright, breakfast was eaten
and Jamie arrived at 9am and helped himself to a cup of tea.
The task for the day was rhody clearance at Harrow Slack a densely
wooded the area surrounding Pate Crag which is on the West Side of Lake
Windermere near Far Sawrey. We travelled there in 3 vehicles and parked up at the
shore of the lake. We took the tools that Jamie had provided up the hill to the
crag. Some of us wished we hadn’t bought all those layers we always take
with us on workdays!
We started sawing and lopping rhody and decided it was
probably sensible to burn some of what we were cutting, the plan had been just
to cut it and another group was going to come in and burn it after we had finished.
The 9 of us cleared a fair amount of rhody and enjoyed chats with other members
of the party. There were many trees on the hillside and we set up camp
underneath a Yew tree where we ate lunch and kept our bags.
some of the rhody that we cut and burnt!
We headed back down the hill at 3.15pm having cleared more rhody than expected. It had again turned out to be a fabulous day and had seemed a shame for us to have been in the wood all day - but that’s sometimes the nature of volunteering. On reaching the bottom of the hill and henceforth the lake, some of us decided to take a paddle in the lake, it was very refreshing after having had heavy boots on for most of the day. It was at this point we said goodbye to Karin who was heading back home to get ready to travel to Belfast to run a nearly cancelled NT working holiday at Strangford Lough.
The rest got back in our cars and the “Lads” – Tim, Gordon and Matt – took things at “Lads” speed in Tims car. Hazel, Ally, Sue and Neil travelled with Jamie in his National Trust vehicle at a more leisurely speed and also stopped in a National Trust car park so Jamie could check the car windows to see if all the cars had paid to park there, which they had. On arrival back at Base the “Lads” proclaimed they were off down to High Wray Bay to go swimming in Lake Windermere. So the Ladies and Neil chatted to Jamie and had a cup of tea.
After a nice hot shower, we dined on Farfelle with Pancetta and spring peas with Charlie’s Chocolate Bread and Butter pudding for afters.
Monday morning again heralded another beauty of a day. After breakfast we cleaned up the basecamp and Matt headed for the hills while Gordon and Tim headed for home!
Sue, Neil, Ally and Hazel went to visit Wray Castle – it was brilliant – the castle itself is unfurnished and has had several different uses, including being a Conference Centre, which is why, round just about every door that Sue insisted on opening , there was an en-suite bathroom.
As the rooms aren’t furnished, they have been filled with activities mainly to keep the visiting children entertained, there’s a dressing up room, Beatrix Potter Room, build your own castle, decorate your own paper crown, Lake District Room managed by the Rangers of the Lakes, the old library where you can draw your own book on the wall that looks like a bookshelf. Having had a tour round the castle and explored it more we headed into the hot sun to eat our packed lunches. After lunch we explored part of the grounds and discovered many paths that we could have explored if we had more time. As we didn’t have the time, we headed along the path to the lake, where there were many people enjoying the lake and stony beach.
The four of us had an ice-cream before heading home (Ally took the photo which is why she isn't on it!)
Thanks to Jamie for fitting us in and finding some work for
us to do – see you in December!
and thanks to Ally for the text and photo's
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