Lake District Adventure.

Most years I try to get away to do some walking in the English Lake District. I usually camp and do a series of walks over a week long period. This year I based myself at "Hillcroft" camp site near Pooley Bridge and used this as my base to do the following walks.

On Sunday 6th September I walked the length of Lake Ullswater from Pooley Bridge to Patterdale and around the south of the lake to Glenridding; I took in Hallin Fell (388m) en route. Ullswater is England's 2nd largest lake at 14.5km.

On Monday 7th I climbed "High Street" (828m) via Pasture Bottom and returned by way of Angle Tarn.

Wednesday 9th I went up "Fairfield" (873m) via St Sunday Crag and returned via Dovedale.

Thursday 10th I climbed up "Helvellyn" (950m/3,117ft) via 'Striding Edge' from Glenridding and returned by way of Nethermost Pike and Dollywaggon Pike and Grisedale.

The Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi.

During our time in Kenya we are aiming to do three major cardiac operations each day. I was speaking to the manager here this morning who told me that they only have the resources to do two or three a week normally; so in our time here our team could clear 2 or 3 months backlog! Which is quite an amazing thought!

I am also given to understand that we did Kenya's first ever "Switch" for 'Transposition of the Great Arteries".

Nairobi sunset.

This is me on top of Helvellyn in the Lake District!

ULLSWATER! THE DODDS!
And THE RAVEN!

For many years I have travelled up to The English Lake District by train and camped out near Lake Ullswater to explore the surrounding fells. These mountains are described in Wainwright's "Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells" books 1 and 2, 'The Eastern Fells' and 'The Far Eastern Fells' respectively. I generally camp out for about five to seven nights usually in the Autumn at a campsite at Pooley Bridge. A few years ago I set myself the goal of tackling all the major elevations around Ullswater.

The most famous fell in this region is Helvellyn at 950m but it has some sizeable companions such as the equally challenging Fairfield (873m) or - to the east of the lake - High Street (828m). I had covered the highest fells in my target group with the exception of Stybarrow Dodd, Watson's Dodd and Great Dodd which were my main objectives for this trip. I also revisited my old friend Helvellyn - I've lost count how many times I've ventured up there but I never tire of it. I've also learnt to appreciate the lesser fells - as a young man I always wanted to do the highest and the toughest mountains - but I long since realised that these are not automatically the most interesting climbs, sometimes the most beautiful and challenging things in life modestly draw little attention to themselves.

Someone might ask 'why base yourself at Pooley when that is the furthest end of the lake away from the mountains?' It's because I love the journey along Ullswater and while it may not be the most practical location for a base it is aesthetically pleasing. For example the day I did the 'Dodds' I caught the early morning bus towards Patterdale and all along the lake one could see this thick layer of mist brooding over the still water - it was magical. Also at the end of the day, when I've completed a walk, I adore the "steamer" ride back along the lake. It is wonderful to sit on board "Raven" and watch the mountains go by on my way back to my camp.

Recommended eateries: "Fellbites" in Glenridding and "The Sun Inn" at Pooley.

I love Ullswater because it is so unspoilt - I find the usual tourist rat-run along the A591 and Windermere hideously busy and best avoided. If you want my advice keep well to the East or West of that axis. In any event I generally start my walks at first light - that way I have the mountains to myself and rarely meet anyone else until I'm well on my way down.

One lovely aspect of camping out so far away from the 'light pollution' of big cities is the night sky. One evening I lay out in my sleeping bag and gazed at the canopy above. I could see the Milky Way and myriads of brilliant stars. Occasionally one could see satellites in orbit serenely sailing from one horizon to the other. Meteors would flash into view and just as quickly vanish in a burst of light. One morning when I threw back the cover of my tent there was the planet Venus, the "Morning Star", like a dazzling jewel in a velvet sky. Absolutely brilliant.

My dream home would be a residential boat-house in a secluded corner of Ullswater!

MALHAM.

According to Bill Bryson, American travel
writer, wit and honourary Yorkshireman
"Malhamdale is the finest place there is
until I have died and seen heaven
(assuming they let me at least have a
glance), but until that day comes, it will
certainly do."

Malham is one of those haunts you find
yourself returning to time after time and
yet never tire of. I first came here nearly
thirty years ago and have visited it regularly
ever since- especially during the time I lived
in Leeds. The A65 was always the "Road to
Adventure"! And some wonderful friends
shared that route with me back then.

After an incredibly busy week away in Nairobi
I needed some time out, so Helen & I stayed
in a B&B in Malham, North Yorkshire, for a
couple of nights.

Yesterday we climbed up Gordale Scar, walked
up to Malham Tarn and returned via 'Dry
Valley' to Malham Cove. The waterfall at
Gordale was in full flood after the recent
rain and I got thoroughly drenched by the
spray as we climbed the central buttress.
Fortunately the weather was kind and I
dried out on the walk above. Each component
of this walk is so different revealing one
aspect after another to this amazing
landscape; waterfalls, canyons, open
water, limestone paving and fantastic
views. In his pictorial guide 'Walks in
Limestone Country' A. Wainwright
says, "Dry Valley leads to the
dangerous brink of the precipice
above Malham Cove. The quickest way
down (a great time saver) is to fall
over the edge but, instead of doing this,
cross the limestone pavement on the
right to a stile, whence a path winds
down to the Cove."

The scenery around Malham is hard
to describe; its Yorkshire's equivalent to
the Grand Canyon! The white limestone
seemingly stretching for miles seems
unearthly. I have often felt that I could
be on another planet in such an eerie
landscape. (Having recently re-subscribed
to 'Astronomy Now' magazine: isn't it weird
how "artists impressions" of the surface of
Mars always include a Pen-Y-Ghent
lookalike?!) Maybe that's why I love this
countryside - my grandfather loved to come
here too.

It will be a sad day when I can no longer
climb up Gordale Scar.

OUT OF AFRICA!

I arrived back in the UK from Nairobi
this morning after having had an
amazing week working on an
improvised Paediatric Intensive Care
Unit at the Kenyatta National Hospital
caring for children (and some adults)
after 'open heart surgery'!

Some of my colleagues at the 'Saline
Nerve Child Hospital' in London have
gone on previous medical missions
with a charity called 'MEAK' = Medical
& Educational Aid to Kenya to work
for a week at the KNH, but this was
my first such trip. Besides which I have
never even been to Africa before.

The advantage of taking a dinosaur
like me along is that I remember how
patients were "specialed" twenty plus
years ago and how we had to improvise.
These days everything is so hi-tech in
the West we have machines to do stuff
for us, but in Africa some procedures
require some imagination.

In all MEAK financed 22 operations for
about £20,000 - which is the cost of
one heart operation in the UK! All of
the patients were doing well when we
left with the exception of one babe
who has a chest infection... we were
worried about him and it was a wrench
to have to leave.

Top marks to David Anderson our
brilliant surgeon and Claire Barker our
intensivist.
The nurses who all gave up a weeks
annual leave to go deserve praise.
The theatre (OR) team are amazing
especially considering that some are
self-employed and had to pay other
people to stand in for them in their
abscence!

I will write more anon but right now
I'm whacked and need to rest - but
it's been a brilliant week and I
absolutely loved Africa! Whatever
failings the continent has the people
there are fun-loving and incredibly
long-suffering.

God Bless Africa!

Post Script. 12th May 07.
On the day we left Nairobi we had to
re-intubate one of the infants we had
operated on. He had developed a
bad chest infection and wasn't able to
breathe byhimself.
We had to put him back on a ventilator
(what the newspapers call "a life
support machine"!) After such a
positive week that put a dampener on
our final day.
But I am glad to report that we have
since heard that he has made a good
recovery and is doing fine.
Well done to all the team back there
at The Kenyatta National Hospital!

MISSION TO KENYA!

Tonight I will be flying to Nairobi with some
of my work colleagues as part of a team
organised by a charity called 'MEAK'
(Medical & Educational Aid to Kenya).
www.meak.org

The plan is for us to take over an operating
theatre at the Kenyatta National Hospital
for a week and do the kind of 'open heart'
surgery patients there wouldn't normally
have access to. I'm part of the children's
intensive care team. I have never been to
Africa before so it will be a terrific experience
for me.

Twenty years ago I spent some time with
'YWAM' (Youth with a Mission) doing some
short term evangelistic mission; I only went to
Denmark and felt not a little admiration for
those who went further afield. In my own small
way I hope that I can make a difference this
coming week even if it is not a Christian
enterprise as such.

God Willing I'll file a report upon my return!

Villa Isinda; a Solar Eclipse
and a New Year.

This Christmas it was my turn to cover the shifts on the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at 'The Saline Nerve Child Hospital' [which is a new children's hospital based on the Sonata Smith's site]. I spent it looking after a three and a half year old with Leukaemia. Helen was 'on call' and got
called in to work too - she works as a nurse at 'The Humanity Lives Wiser Hospital'. So Christmas was a bit of a wash-out from our point of view. My back pain flared up again in mid
December but I would have been mortified not to have covered my allocated shifts over the bank holidays, so I'm grateful to God to help me in this. In fact I've generally come to realise just what a blessing good health is - something I've hitherto taken for granted.

"Christmas" proper started on the 29th December with our flight to the south coast of Turkey to join some good friends there at their holiday home in Kas (pronounced 'cash'). Villa Isinda is a modern build with a swimming pool overlooking the town of Kas on The Lycian Coast...check out the website at www.villaisinda.co.uk Kas is a two hour transfer from Dalaman Airport, but on the plus side that means that the town is well off the tourist trail. [Marmaris by contrast is a hideous tourist trap popular with loutish Brits - and I've never felt so embarrassed to be British!] Turkey is a fascinating country steeped in history; this was our sixth visit. The country is predominantly Muslim but has a secular constitution.

The weather at this time of year can be unpredictable; we had a couple of days of rain but several days of sunshine - and it was warm enough to have breakfast on the veranda! It did turn chilly once the Sun set though. Some of our party went for a drive in the mountains and got caught in a blizzard - the next morning the distant mountains were covered in brilliant white snow while we enjoyed the Sun on the coast.

We were all here for the Total Eclipse of the Sun in March 2006. That was a unique experience! As the Moon crossed the disc of the Sun and we neared totality the light became very peculiar as if it had had its power washed out. The Sun was reduced to a bright ]star and then winked out. The dark side of the Moon was a black disc surrounded by a glowing white light. A distant cheer went up from the town. The horizon - all 360 degrees - was lit up like a strange sunset with red and grey cloud and the planet Venus stood out like a jewel in the sky. We all gasped in amazement at such an eerie scene. It was utterly amazing, standing there in this strange
twilight world. Then a tiny chink of sunlight appeared and rapidly grew brighter until the gloom lifted. Then large banks of cloud drifted in and we could see the crescent shaped Sun through them.

We saw in the New Year warming ourselves by a brazier outside a bar in the harbour square and then back at Isinda. I may not know what this year has in store but that was starting it in some style!

This is a photo of me in 2002 on top of Helvellyn in the Lake district.
I first went to the
Lakes on a school excursion in the early 1970's. Apart from the occasional trip to the seaside I had never been outside of a town. One day on this excursion we went to Borrowdale and
climbed Great Gable. I was totally awestruck by the sight of these amazing mountains -
I had never seen the like in my entire life! I fell in love with the place and I have returned here whenever I could.

In the immediate aftermath of this school trip I used to regularly get myself invited to visit my cousins who had just moved to Skipton in North Yorkshire - the bus journey was magical to me as streets and factories gave way to open fields and hills. It was like journeying from one planet to another.
I had no idea that the Yorkshire Dales were on my doorstep! I had learned to love the grandeur of such open spaces.
As I write this I am planning on a camping trip back to the Lakes to continue my exploration of the Ullswater area.l