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Family commitments left me precious little time to get out over the Easter weekend, which was especially frustrating given the superb weather. But I managed to steal a couple of hours on the Sunday afternoon for a quick saunter down (up) the river Eden from the village of Armathwaite. Not exactly a hill walk, this, but it's a lovely stretch of river with beautiful woodland and some interesting rapids and sandstone cliffs. It's very popular with local trippers as well as climbers, so I was expecting a lot of people. As it turned out there were a few walkers and picnickers, but, to my surprise, no climbers.
I took my rock shoes and chalk bag along with a view to soloing the classic 'Flasherman' (no doubt you'll see why it's so-named if you watch the vid
). A recent guidebook describes Flasherman as 'one of the best sandstone climbs anywhere' - a wildly exaggerated claim if 'anywhere' is taken literally, but it's certainly one of the finest sandstone climbs in Cumbria!
I thought I'd record the climb on my GoPro, which I haven't used much, so a bit of an experiment really. No musical soundtrack, I'm afraid - that's something I'll have to think about for future videos.
After the climb I headed back to the Fox and Pheasant pub, which was rammed, so I ended up in the garden of the Duke's Head just across the river. A nice end to a pleasant afternoon
Climb: Flasherman, 30m VS 4b
First ascent: A. Yarrow, S. Wilson, May 17 1973.