Jude on Corvous in the rain in 2011It has been suggested that MIC stands for 'meet in cafe' or 'must ingest coffee!'. Both correct today as we retreated from Borrowdale in the face of driving rain. A few hours later we were back and braved the elements to head up Comb Gill, everyone's favorite location for climbing in the ming. However we weren't heading for the classic Corvous, which we'd climbed in similar conditions last year, but for Dove Nest Crag on the opposite side of the valley. This promised an interesting Diff and a couple of scrambles on a unique cliff. A large landslide has created a playground of chimneys and tunnels among a series of stacked blocks. It is still potentially unstable and the caving aspect should be avoided but the face and chimney routes provide plenty of entertainment. We started up Outside Route, a 75m Diff. The first pitch proved harder than anything on Corvous so we diverted on to the Attic Cave scramble which wriggled and twisted through some very impressive scenery to the obvious cave. We descended by the same route and squelched our way back to the car.
As for the pigs in the title. Well a very surreal moment where we were ambushed by two large Gloucester Old Spots as we crossed the first field on the normal Corvous path. An unusual sight in the Lakeland fells but they were friendly enough, just wanting a quick scratch between the ears!
