They have been less evident in the garden although we have had two reports since April of sightings. So it was great to get an email today from Lee, who is staying at The Larches this week, attaching the photo here of a red squirrel on the breakfast terrace.

He writes: “Your letter arrived about 10 minutes before the red squirrel! This was our first sighting, hazel nuts have been opened each day and I was hoping it was red and not grey! I have attached a picture, it’s not great as it was a little rushed! It was taken from the upstairs bedroom window at 09.27.”

POSTSCRIPT
Shortly after posting this blog, we got another email from Lee, attaching this second great photo of the acrobatic squirrel at the feeding box and commenting:

The squirrel came back at around 12 o’clock …. It appeared to be hiding quite a lot of the nuts in the garden and eating one or two. It was a real treat to watch. I’m glad it was raining, if it wasn’t, we would have gone out and missed it!

These are the first photos we’ve had of the red squirrel for over a year, so thanks to Lee for sending them.

I was outside the auction room, looking at items in the galleries when I was attracted by the sound of rapid repetitive bidding. It reminded me of Wednesday night’s Wimbledon match when John Isner from the US after 11 hours defeated the Frenchman Nicolas Mahut in the final set by 70-68 games – a record length in the history of tennis, which has hit the headlines.

It wasn’t that long for Lot No 31, but it had everyone talking. The bidder sitting at the back was a svelte dark haired woman with a tall companion. She was definitely not a Cumbrian farmer’s wife. Did that metropolitan look suggest a French aristocratic provenance? After all our own Queen Elizabeth is said to have the world’s finest Sevres collection. “She’s a Parisian” someone whispered. On the grapevine I heard they’d come over from France the day before to look at Lot 31.

Her opponent bidding remotely via the telephone remained unknown – ‘Incognito’ we’ll call him – and wouldn’t give up on this bone. Both of the bidders thought they had smelled a good dish and proved willing to fight it out. The bidding started with lower increments, but after a while moved to £100s.

At the front the auctioneer’s face moved sideways and then forward like a pecking bird, inviting another £100 bid to the increasing amazement of the audience of farmers, locals, dealers and holiday makers. Up to £1,000.. £2,000.. £3,000.. £4,000.. £5,000 they soared. Surely this must stop.

‘Another bid?’ came the question to the man in green at the end of the telephone. Pause. A nodded head indicated ‘Yes’ and so it went on – £5,000, £6,000 reaching £7,000. How long could this continue? Put us and the bidders out of our agony please! Now it’s £7,200. The Parisian ups the stakes – “£7,400″. Incognito hesitates but goes to £7,600. Is the end near? The Parisian is back quick as a flash, “£7,800″.

The auctioneer turns once more, but that head by the phone is motionless then shakes a definite “No”. Incognito has seen the writing on the wall. This time the French are not going to fail at the last hurdle. “Going at £7,800″ and the hammer drops.

The price is almost exactly 100 times more than the highest expected. The prize a missing piece from a dining set of King Louis XVI, made just a few years before the Revolution, when the French monarchy was to disappear for ever.

“Surely someone at Mitchells should be a bit embarrassed”, I murmur as I pay at the desk for my 19th century Chinese plate of a watery scene with cherry blossom. “On no – that’s what happens”, I’m told. “If it’s more valuable than anticipated, it just gets picked up at auction by people in the know”. “Oh yes”, I’m thinking, I wouldn’t be so sure. The moral of all this? If you see there’s a good sale on at Mitchells, get along there. It’s good to support businesses in Cockermouth and you could be in for some fun!

To join the select group of successful BGR completers, you have to cover on foot a journey of 66 miles involving 26,000 feet of ascent and of descent whilst climbing 42 Lakeland peaks in under 24 hours. It’s a tough test of endurance.

Yesterday I was out on the Langdale fells with our friend Raj and Ahmed, one of his support runners, fine tuning the route for Raj’s attempt on the BGR this coming weekend. Raj is raising money for the National Ankylosing Spondylitis Society, a charity supporting sufferers from this rare and debilitating disease. If you wish to support the charity you can donate by clicking here on the Just Giving site.

Apart from being super fit for the BGR, runners need to have the terrain and bearings hard wired into their brains. Smart route finding – cutting four or five minutes off each peak covered – can bring you three hours saved on your overall time.

We had a great scramble up via Gimmer Crag to Pike of Stickle (see photo above of Raj with the Pike on the right) and discovered a new line to Rossett Pike, saving 15 minutes on Raj’s last visit. This augurs well for the weekend and the 18 hours’ target time for the Round.

The pictures below catch the flavour of the day. On the left two possible routes are proposed and on the right the intrepid couple head off through the cloud with Ruby to climb Bow Fell.

POSTSCRIPT
Raj had an excellent day, but had to finish at Wasdale, about two-thirds of the full Bob Graham Round. By then he had covered 41 miles and climbed just under 18,000 feet. He’s learnt a lot from the experience and plans to make a second attempt on 4th June 2011.

Last November the floods delivered a hammer blow to this old market town as the converging rivers Derwent and Cocker broke their banks and brought water levels up to 8 feet deep in some of the streets.

Families were made homeless and businesses closed. Without insurance and with foundations made unstable, some shops still remain boarded up. Some have a very uncertain future.

But Cockermouth is a ‘can-do’ town. Shops like the marvellous ironmongers, J B Banks in Market Place were open again within a fortnight, as Vanessa Graham described to me, as she stood beside the 4½ feet water level marker in the shop (See above).

Last weekend a festival parade turned the streets into a riot of colour and fun and showed the world that the town is still very much alive and making a brave new start. Make sure you go there – there’s plenty to do and see!

Under 24 hour observation by RSPB volunteers, the nesting site in Dodd Wood, only a mile distant from us, is just visible from the Belvedere with a good pair of binoculars. There’s a good webcam too and much more on the award winning Osprey Watch site.

The ospreys are good news for local shops, hotels and small businesses as they attract visitors to the area, still recovering from last November’s floods. But they are not the only show in the valley.

There are other birds of prey which are fascinating to watch. Peregrines and sparrow hawks are frequently about and yesterday, walking with friends on Coledale Common below Barrow, I looked up to see 20 metre ahead of me, a kestrel hover in the wind, stoop down on a small vole and carry it off still squeaking to a nearby rock.

An hour later a buzzard was wheeling in huge circles high above Braithwaite Lodge and the nearby plantation, as we descended to the village. If you want some good bird watching, the Derwent valley and the northern lakes take a lot of beating.

It all seems a long way from the flooded rivers five months ago (see my 23rd November blog posting,), which brought misery and heartache as families became homeless, bridges and footpaths were smashed and hundreds of small businesses were brought to their knees.

The good news is that substantial repair work has been done. At Little Braithwaite, the smashed side of the beck has been rebuilt with huge rocks and a massive bank of earth behind (see photo), while at High Hill in Keswick the Greta river has now a raised concrete containing wall with 6 inches thick facing stones.

The bad news here – according to one of the stone masons I spoke to – is that this is not high enough and it will have to be increased in height at least a further 10 inches when there is more money available. Oh yes and at Little Braithwaite there’s a problem too. The road bridge – which crossed behind the hedge in the middle photo – was swept away and will not be replaced before next year. You’ve probably guessed the reason by now!

Could this really be a sheepfold – almost invariably circular – as the OS map indicates? Intrigued by its location (Grid Ref: NY 279209) I found an old 1865 OS map, which showed a similar building and description, running on a NW-SE axis.

A visit to the site this last week without snow convinced me I was right – slate tiles with punched holes, part of a broken sink, a glazed roof ridge section and remains of a well rendered NW wall showed this was certainly a bolt hole for humans not sheep!

“Oh yes it was a shepherd’s cottage alright,” said Frank Richardson owner of the Junk and Bric-a-Bac shop on Keswick’s Central Park Road (Open after Easter 10.30 am – 2.00 pm), when I saw him at the weekend. “I used to go laiking about up there when I was a lad 60 years ago. There was more of it standing then.”

And what a position it has! The photo below looking north-east is a spectacular view of Clough Head and the Helvellyn range still covered with snow. Other magnificent views from here of Skiddaw, Eel Crags and Robinson can be found in our Rooftops of the World Photo Gallery.

Built over 150 years ago, Brockle Beck cottage provides fascinating insights into farming life in the 19th century and helps show what living conditions were like for earlier generations in mountain areas.

It would be a great project to determine its layout through excavation and at least partially restore the building as an attraction for visitors. It could also open the way to creating an interesting high level green route for walkers from Keswick to Watendlath, avoiding the Borrowdale traffic.

Once you’re hooked on the excitement of these wintry fells, it’s hard to resist the urge to get up there. Several times recently I’ve been on the tops and met people just up for the day from Tyneside, Manchester and Edinburgh – making the best of the ten hours of daylight to get magnificent rooftop views across the fells (see two photos below).

But you have to be well equipped as the weather can change quickly, turning a pleasant summer walk into a difficult and dangerous undertaking. The local papers have been reporting this year both heavy demands on the mountain rescue teams and several serious accidents and deaths.

Keswick, billed as the ‘mountain capital of England’ is a good place to find the right equipment; and if you want advice the two best shops are Needle Sports and George Fisher. I find a system of layers works best for keeping warm – and cooling down after heavy exertion.

I wear two light weight woollen ‘base layers’ (Icebreaker or Patagonia), a zipped fleece, a heavy duty hooded and breathable cagoule (Patagonia), neck warmer, winter trousers, walking boots with vibram soles, wool socks, Velcro-fastened gaiters (Black Diamond), wool hat and inner and outer gloves.

You’ll need a good rucksack and remember also to take a map, compass (or GPS device), whistle, torch and some basic First Aid equipment. If the conditions are severe with freezing temperatures, I’ll also take an ice axe, crampons and a down or synthetic puffa jacket – which packs down very small. For extra protection I sometimes take a Goretex bivvy bag – ideal for keeping a casualty warm even in freezing conditions with icy winds. A mobile phone may be useful in emergencies, but do not rely on this as there may be no coverage.

It wasn’t up to the snow conditions in Italy’s Sauze d’Oulx where we were recently with the Ski Club of Manchester, but with a pair of skis there would have been a good run down. This is one of the great things about winter walking – finding the unexpected in the unknown known.

Having the right kit is the key thing for taking to the hills in winter in safety – though I wouldn’t take skis every time I saw snow! I’ll get a list of my favourite equipment for safe winter walking in my next post. In the meantime the photos below give an impression of some of the visual delights that came from a late lunch to dusk walk with the snow and ice last week.

It’s not been great for driving and hundreds have been treated after falls on icy pavements and roads. But for children the snow has been a treat as this picture opposite shows as a young girl and her mother race down Coledale Common on a Christmas Day toboggan.

The second picture shows Skiddaw on Christmas day with a fine cover of snow. We remember it last like this sixteen years ago (see below), with snow covering the road outside The Larches and a snowy background behind. Though the front hedge at The Larches looks a little different, not much else has changed in Seldom Seen. It’s still a quiet retreat away from it all with marvellous views of the distant fells.