consult the OS map to establish the route we would take from our starting point at Scales to (hopefully) our arrival at the summit of Blencathra. Davey advised, being competant in these matters, and it was agreed that we would take the route he suggested, which would indeed involve a scramble over Sharp Edge. Fully eqipped, we were soon in the car as Brian drove us to Scales where we parked up and quickly got to grips with the business end of our Lake District visit. The sun was shining brightly and there was plenty of blue sky and broken clouds - maybe I should have brought my Canon kit instead of the Sony swivel body affair. Never mind, I intended to get photographs no matter what, even with my mobile phone. The sceond shot (shown here) was taken by Davey and shows Brian, myself and Lee making final preps before we headed up Blencathra. After passing through the five bar gate at the mountain foot I paused for a short while and looked behind me, taking in the view across towards Great Mell Fell. A picture appeared at that moment and I snapped the view on my mobile phone, shown here (picture 3). I turned around and faced Blencathra once again. time had finally arrived to climb my first mountain, and what a way to start - 728 metres of ascent, covering a distance of 5 miles during an estimated time of 4 hours. Here we go - time to climb!
Ash
