Christopher Theunissen

Address: The Old Coach House, Croft Courtyard, Clappersgate, Near Ambleside, Cumbria, LA22 9ND
Map: http://www.multimap.com/map/aproute.cgi?qs=q&starttime=&client=public&itineraryxylist=336704%2C503813%3B337733%2C504121&desc1=Clappersgate%2C+Cumbria&desc2=&lang=&rn=GB&rt=route.htm
Web Site: http://www.primecottages.co.uk/coach.htm
Directions:
- In Ambleside, take the A593 signposted Conisten.
- After half a mile, you will enter the hamlet of Clappersgate.
- The driveway is on the right just after a large building on the right with a cobbled courtyard and a garage. You know you have gone too far if you see the Hawkshead turnoff or a telephone box, which is 75 yards past the driveway.
- Park the car in the parking bay on the left opposite a garage or in the garage.
- Walk up the slope and you will see the front door with coach lamps either side of it.
- You will need a torch, as it isn't very well lit.
Owners:
- Mr and Mrs V.R. Vyner-Brooks
- Middle Barrows Green, Near Kendal, Cumbria, LA8 0JG
- +44 (0)15395 60242

Journal

Thursday, 30 September 2004 - Travel to Clappersgate

19:45 Met Mike and Ian at Mikes in Kidderminster.
20:15 Packed everything into Ian's car and drove to Ambleside.
23:45 Arrived at Clappersgate (vandalised to Slappersgate) and spent 20 minutes looking for, "The Old Coach House" before finally admitting defeat and phoning the owners. It still took another five minutes on the mobile phone before I finally found it. The main problem is that the house name is only on the wall to the front door and the winding path to it is signposted, "Hayloft".
00:10 Unpacked and had a well deserved few beers and played Contract Whist.
02:45 Went to sleep.

Friday, 1 October 2004 - Walk Kirkstone Pass, Red Screes, Scandale Pass / Fell

10:00 Breakfasted, showered and headed into Ambleside, which seemed much closer than Multimap's 1.1 miles. Ian bought a toothbrush, as he had left his at home and Mike bought an all-important waterproof map bag.
11:30 Consulted the map and decided to head of in the direction of Kirkstone Pass by following the road behind Barclays bank. Passed the entrance to the Stockghyll Force waterfalls and notice a lot of construction work over and within the river. They seems to be making steps in the river to make it more of a waterfall, which seems like cheating to me.
We passed the stile for the Wandsfell Pass/Pike public footpath and entered the National Park which at first just seemed to offer an increase in the number of sheep in the fields. We weren't sure where to go when we arrived at Roundhill Farm, as there weren't any right of way signs on the gates and a short exploration of the field below it didn't show anything either, so we just went through the gates. We still weren't sure when we reached the exit gate, but the farmer turned up and told us it was through there. Much confusion and unnecessary erosion could be avoided if land owners just left the signs in place.
The sound of a working quarry could be heard in the opposite hills (thankfully) and we came across an old caravan and what looked like a sheep graveyard with pelts or wool lining the muddy path, which was a bit smelly.
Shortly after, we stopped to take photographs of Kirkstone Pass with Windermere in the distance and started to debate stopping for lunch. We decided to wait until it was more sheltered at the top of a winding road which eventually joined another with a lone pub at the junction. I have since learned that it is hailed as the highest pub in England. The "winding road" turned out to be called, "The Struggle"!
There wasn't enough shelter to stop for lunch, so we headed for a cluster of rocks that proved to be just the job at the foot of Red Screes.
Feeling refreshed and ready to face the 500 foot climb after our lunch, we followed what looked like a likely footpath up the "hill". Our suspicion of having lost the path was confirmed when we were faced with climbing a waterfall. I am not a confident rock climber so took a while to climb the two ledges, but it was better than the prospect of walking back down the way we had come. Luckily, we joined the real path that was running parallel to the waterfall we had scaled. The path was confirmed by the appearance of walking pole indentations in the mud.
We reached the cairn at the summit of Red Screes in heavy cloud, so just as with Snowdon, we couldn't see anything from the top. I took photographs of Ian and Mike at the cairn and we headed off looking for the path down the other side.
We found a tarn (lake) in the mist, which was very surreal, as the water seemed to suddenly appear in the grass out of the mist with no discernable bank.
We eventually found the path down, but not before I slipped on mossy rocks and fell on my backside twice in fifteen seconds. Trainers with a bad grip are not much fun at all. I am tempted to buy synthetic boots for support, but hesitate due to the problem I had with my Achilles Heel half way through a 15 mile walk in the Peak District in 1999 due to the pressure of the back of the boot. It could also have been caused by my flat feet, so the arch supports I subsequently bought, which have made a big difference, might mean boots will be fine.
Anyway, moving swiftly on.... We joined Scandale Pass and walked down Scandale Fell with scenes reminiscent of our Brecon Beacons holiday in 2002 with the grassy path with brown Bracken either side.
The path became very stony after leaving the National Park gate and I twisted my ankle by looking at the map while still walking. Luckily, I had some Oruvail ointment with me, which worked wonders.
We passed a bridge, which Multimap tells me was High Sweden Bridge, which explained Sweden prefixed street names we encountered on entry to Ambleside.
We stopped at the first pub we encountered for an Ale (Cumbrian Way - nice!), then headed into town to find one that was serving food. It started to rain heavily, so even though the next pub we entered wasn't serving food, we stopped there for a drink to wait for the rain to stop. It still hadn't stopped raining by the time we finished, so we ran to the next pub and decided to stay there, even though they only started serving in 45 minutes. I had Guinnes this time and we pre-ordered the food. Hmmm, I thought walking weekends were healthy, but there seems to be an awful lot of drinking involved, which I don't normally do. Nobody was twisting my arm though. #-)
The walk home was miserable with the rain now very heavy, which meant my trousers were soaked fifteen minutes before we arrived back. It does feel good to have a shower and change into clean dry clothes after a day of walking though.
Ian won at Pictionary, which was very high scores of Ian (218), Me (176) and Ian (129). Whisky (sigh) and Contract Whist followed.
Janet arrived at 23:35 during the game of Contract Whist and I think joined in for the second round.
I think we went to sleep at a more respectable 01:45.

Saturday, 2 October 2004 - Walk Wansfell Pike, Troutbeck, Jenkin Crag, Ambleside

We were up at 10:00 this time and out of the door by 11:00, so managed to get an early start up the steep road leading to the Stockghyll Force waterfalls.
Map of Wansfell Pike walk.
We stopped half way for lunch:
It wasn't long before we reached the top, which was extremely windy:
One of the hikers was wearing very bright orange baggy clothing, which was inflated so much with the wind that he looked like the Michelin Man. Unfortunately only half of him appears in the right-hand border of one of my photographs.
Troutbeck was the next village we headed for, which turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. I think we entered on the outskirts and followed the footpath straight out again.
Janet decided to take some photographs with her digital camera to send to Gina:
The path wound back to lake Windermere and we arrived at Jenkin's Crag, where I tried to capture Janet, Ian and Mike in music video pose:
The public footpath became a bit dodgy with what looked like exposed electrical cable ducting on a steep decline leading to the main road. Our bearing were a bit shot, so it took a while to find the town center and the inevitable visit to a pub.
It was my turn to cook, so I made Spicy Quorn Fajitas which went down very well. The recipe is as follows:
- Mix "Old el Paso Spice Mix for Fajitas" and "Old el Paso Spice Mix for Tacos" together in a pan filled with the amount of water specified one of the packets.
- Add the Chicken Style Quorn Pieces.
- Turn up the heat, stir occasionally and, when the Quorn is cooked most of the sauce has been soaked up, which should be after about ten minutes, remove it from the heat and leave it to soak up the rest until the other ingredients are ready.
- Dice the following and place in individual small bowls:
  - Lettuce
  - Cucumber
  - Tomatoes
  - Red Onions
  - Peppers
- Mix some Mint Sauce with Greek Yoghurt to taste in a small bowl.
- Place the Quorn pieces in a small bowl.
- Run cold water over each side of the Fajitas, shake off excess water and place three at a time in the microwave for about thirty seconds.
- Let everyone make their own by spreading some yoghurt and mint sauce mix on the Fajita and placing some of the ingredients from the small bowls on top, then fold it into a parcel and enjoy!
We returned to the pub we visited earlier as Ian noted that a folk band were playing there, but it was so full we had to listen from a corner out of line of site.
The walk home was only slightly less wet than the night before.

Sunday, 3 October 2004 - Walk Loughrigg Fell

Janet's feet were still recovering form yesterday's walk, so Ian, Mike and I went for a walk up from the telephone box in Clappersgate opposite the turnoff for Hawkeshead (map including telephone box shown).
It was a steep walk, but it didn't take long before we were presented by stunning views - one of them of a church with a red creeper covering the steeple so that from a distance, it looked like it had been painted red.
The highest point of the walk was Todd Crag, with its magnificent views of Windermere, River Brothay and all the hills we had walked on Friday and Saturday. It is really easy to find a good walk in all directions from Ambleside.
Some of the tarns (lakes) we encountered had cairns sticking up in the middle of them and it was only after a couple explained that they were taking a photograph to prove that they visit the lakes in all seasons that it became clear that the cairn had been built when the tarn was empty in Summer. It also highlighted the fact that it is worth visiting the Lake district multiple times in the year as the scenery does change.
We followed a circular route and returned to the cottage to find that Janet had made us sandwiches and even a packed lunch for Ian's return trip. He decided to eat most of it while resting after the walk before heading off at 14:00 in time to catch a plane to Cork for work.
Suckers for punishment, Mike and I redid the first part of the morning's walk and tried to extend it to encompass Grasmere, but took a wrong turn, as did the weather, so we walked around Loughrigg Tarn and headed back to Clappersgate. Once again, the walk home was accompanied by pouring rain, but this time took over an hour, which isn't fun in totally drenched and freezing trousers. Mike was wearing shorts, which was probably warmer. We had to wait about ten minutes in the rain once we arrived at the Old Couch House for Janet to return, as she had walked into Ambleside, but by this time I had become used to being wet. A warm shower soon restored me to good spirits.
Janet made a most excellent lentil curry, which was preceded by Poppadums done in the microwave (no oil) and the last of the Greek yoghurt mixed with mint sauce and accompanied by old faithful, Rio Rojo.

Monday, 4 October 2004 - Walk Grasmere

Mike went for a run over the path covered by the first of yesterday's walks, while Janet and I started packing up.
Mike helped Janet to reverse out of the narrow garage and we proceded to fill the Corsa with luggage that had struggled to fit into a sedan. The back seat next to me was pile high.
I took some photographs of the cottage - especially to show how the bathroom looked like it was a cupboard from the lounge.

The drive into Grasmere was frightening, as the road was very steep, full of leaves and had many blind corners threatening landrovers - not good when compounded by increased stopping distance caused by the heavily laden car. We stopped at the first car park in Grasmere.
A Monday seems to be very popular for fishing, as many of the shops were closed with a sign saying the owner was fishing and would return on Tuesday. It was 12:30 by now so we tried to find a place to eat and settled on Baldry's Cafe (Red Lion Sq., Grasmere, England, Phone: 015394/35301). At first I thought the waitress behind the counter was Dutch, but then recognised the South African accent and realised she was Afrikaans. I ordered my meal, handed over the money and said, "Baie dankie." Her eyes went wide with surprise and said, "Haai, nou dis snaaks. Ek het did nie verwag nie." ("Wow, now that's strange. I didn't expect that.") I tried to hold the rest of the conversation in Afrikaans, but I was tired and out of practice and besides, dis onbeskof om Afrikaans te praat as daar iemand anders is wat jou nie can verstaan nie. It turns out she and her boyfriend are from Port Elizabeth, where I lived from 1981 to 1986. They had been in England for four and plan to return next March. Their initial experience was bad, as the agency they went through while living in Preston were paying them peanuts and charging £90 a week rent. They are enjoying it in Grasmere as the people are friendlier, they aren't getting ripped off and the scenery is better.
Janet went looking around the shops while Mike and I went for a walk around the northern part of Grasmere (map), which turned out to include a flooded path with whirlpool due to the amount of torrential rain we had over the past three days.
We met up with Janet at the carpark and headed home.

Other Information

Please each bring your own bottom sheet, two pillow cases and a towel. The person who sleeps in the double bed will need a double bottom sheet. I will also probably bring a sleeping bag.
Bring a few £1 coins for the electricity meter.
There isn't a video machine, so I will bring one, but if you want to copy that tape for Gina, please bring another one.
I will also bring a hi-fi and mp3 CDs, so Mike could you please bring your laptop?
The house notes are under the table in the lounge.
Somebody needs to bring washing powder for the washing machine, which is in the garage, if we need to wash any clothes.
The key for the garage is the gold key behind the kitchen door.
The night storage heaters and immersion heater needs to be switched on when we arrive.
There is a booster immersion heater if we need it.
As it turns out, I don't have any maps of the area - I only have, "North Wales", "Peak District", "Ben Nevis & Glen Coe" and "Dartmoor". I have two walks in my, "Country Walking" book:
- The Long Valley
  - Walk around Great Langdale starting in Elterwater, which is 3.4 miles from where we are staying (http://www.multimap.com/map/aproute.cgi?qs=q&starttime=17%3A37&client=public&itineraryxylist=336704%2C503813%3B332679%2C504627&desc1=Clappersgate%2C+Cumbria&desc2=&lang=&rn=GB&rt=route.htm).
  - 10 miles
  - 5 hours
- Poet's Favourite
  - Duddon Valley, starting in Seathwaite, 25.4 miles, so probably a bit far (http://www.multimap.com/map/aproute.cgi?qs=q&starttime=17%3A42&client=public&itineraryxylist=336704%2C503813%3B323612%2C512193&desc1=Clappersgate%2C+Cumbria&desc2=&lang=&rn=GB&rt=route.htm).
  - 8 miles
  - 4-5 hours

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