With the end of dealing with the lamb worrying foxes, in mid May hounds were sent off to summer with the various people who during that time 'walk them', i.e look after them till they are returned to kennels for the start of the next season.

We were always at a loss for something to do during the summer months. The climbing wasn't going well; to be honest I was out of my depth, and as we worked our way up the then grading system, my shouts of, "tight rope, Bill" became increasingly frequent. My partner, unencumbered by me, subsequently went on to become one of the leading 'lakeland' climbers of his generation, a mantle now held by his nephew.

I still wandered the fells, crawling into a good postion overlooking a borran or breeding earth and watching the cubs at play, but fell running was becoming a passion. I began to train a 'larl bit' and then compete, finally running almost all the major Lakeland fell races. I wasn't that good, the winner had usually gone home by the time I completed the course. but fitness-wise it set me up for the new hunting season.

About that time Pete Bell (who had an Engineering Workshop in the Slack in Ambleside) made a stretcher, and the Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team was born (subsequently to amalgamate with Langdale). Wainright's guide books were fairly new and a few people were encouraged onto the hill who, to be honest, should not have been there. The method of restraint on the stretcher was a car seat belt, and several Sunday mornings were spent 'carrying' a mock casualty down from some mountain.

I once was the 'patient' probably because I was so light, the descent was memorable and I never volunteered again!

Trips up Helvellyn (to see the sunrise) were a summer ritual. I went up in total 7 times (usually alone), spent the night on the summit waiting for the dawn and never saw it once, due to low cloud, mist etc. Although on one memorable occasion a fox jumped over me in my sleeping bag. The biggest problem up there were the sheep who were so used to tourists leaving sandwiches they were quite fearless and would mug you without warning.