Amanda Greig booked a half day ghyll scrambling session for herself & her husband Tom whilst they were on holiday visiting family, here, in the Lake District.
Iain from Kendal Mountaineering Services had arranged to meet the pair at Coniston with the intention of using Church Beck as the venue for their ghyll scrambling & canyoning session.
However, the previous night, we had had heavy rainfall here in the Lake District; and Church beck was in flood - making it an unsuitable & dangerous venue - even for adults!
Iain has contingencies for situations like this and after a short drive - arrived in Langdale where he took the pair into the lower reaches of Redacre Gill.
This is one of those places where it would be no good in low water, but is quite sporting and yet safe, when the typically used local ghyll scrambling/gorge walking venues of Church Beck, Stickle Ghyll and Rydal Beck would be too unsafe to use.
In the first photo, Amanda & Tom are about to enter Redacre Gill at the get in. The flow here is quite strong & challenging for the first 500M, but it is easy to get out of the main current at any time.
In the second photo, we have entered a smaller tributary which is exciting in itself. There are some deep pools and a lot of small waterfalls to be climbed. Eventually as the ghyll gets steeper & the falls get higher, harnesses need to be donned and out comes the rope!
At one point, there is even a little bit of caving to be done!
Finally, the waterfalls become so big that climbing is out of the question - although they are good for taking a shower - as Amanda & Tom demonstrated!
We avoided this fall by climbing up a smaller & shorter waterfall to the left of this picture to rejoin the main stream just above and then climb two more waterfalls (roped) whilst in a thicket of Holly!
After another 75M we reached the very top fall where we exited the ghyll and made our way back down to the footpath leading back to the road and our vehicles.
Amanda & Tom thoroughly enjoyed their alternative ghyll scrambling session with Kendal Mountaineering Services. To book your session contact us here and to view the rest of the pictures from this session click here.
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