Author: bp-admin

Walk date – 15th January 2024

Distance – 4.6 miles

Weather – dry, sunny, with a very cold and brisk north wind

 

A short walk up to High Pike today which might possibly have included Carrock Fell but didn’t in the end. We spent the morning in bright sunlight and blue skies accompanied by a brisk and very chilly wind, so chilly that the muscles on the right side of my face became somewhat anaesthetised while those on the left side were kept warm by the blazing sun, it was rather like trying to talk as the anaesthetic was wearing off after a visit to the dentist.

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Route

 Carrock Beck ford – Quaker Hill – West Fell – High Pike – Sunny Bank – Carrock Beck – Carrock Beck ford

We parked just a little way up the hill from the ford across Carrock Beck and then walked a few paces up to the start of the path across Carrock Common.

A quick look over to our left as we start out reveals the north facing slopes of Carrock Fell covered by a smattering of snow, none of which had fallen on the south facing ones as we approached them from the road from Bowscale and Mosedale.

The path across the common flattens out to reveal the route ahead. The path winding its way crosses Quaker Hill to begin with, behind that are the snow sprinkled slopes of West Fell and over to the left is a much more snowy High Pike. A bitingly cold wind is blowing across from the right which, despite hats, hoods and, in my case, two pairs of gloves, gradually leads to frozen face muscles and chilled fingers.

We left the main path over Quaker Hill to begin the climb over West Fell where I took a look back at our route so far. The North Pennines and Cross Fell, with its distinctive bump, can be seen on the left skyline.

We reach the snow line on West Fell where I took another look back before trying to get some warmth into my right hand by blowing into my glove, which was comforting for the few seconds it lasted.

On we go and further up I took a shot of our route ahead. The view gives the impression that we are almost at the top but we aren’t and there’s a whole lot more steep climbing to be done before we finally reach the top. The snow was only a sprinkling but it added some definition to what would otherwise be an unremarkable view.

After a couple more ‘get your breath back’ stops we reach the level path across the top of West Fell from where High Pike looks a lot less snowy than it did when we first saw it. The deep gullies on High Pike contain an abundance of former mine workings

Approaching some of the old mine workings from West Fell. A time line history of mining on High Pike is available on this site –

https://www.catmhs.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Carrock-Fell-Mine-Chronology-boss.pdf

Deep shadows in a deep hole and similarly in the shallow trench beyond. Hard to tell whether these were prospecting holes/trenches or whether they are due to underground workings collapsing.

The deep hole from another angle plus the view across West Fell’s plateau. Note the deep shade on the north facing slopes of Carrock Fell.

Looking across the summit of West Fell.

Deep shade on Carrock Fell’s north facing slopes.

We turn our attention away from the mining remains and take to the path heading up to the summit of High Pike. The group in the far distance have walked the same route as we have and they and us have remained more or less the same distance apart. We kept seeing them as they passed over the various humps and bumps between us. The three ladies ahead of J were talking non-stop as they passed by us when we were taking photos at the mining area, they came over from the Calebreck direction.

Another fenced off collapsed area beyond which is the path going around Sunny Bank and which eventually would be our return route, although we did not know it at the time.

The summit of High Pike, suitably snow covered but not deeply so. There was just enough to provide an appropriate winter walk photo. At the height of 2159’/658m this is one of the Lake Distict’s most northerly fells and with no fells close enough to provide much of a wind break we were fully exposed to the brisk and very cold wind. The stones of the wind shelter were covered with iced up snow and the bench was covered likewise so it wasn’t a place to linger very long. The three ladies hadn’t stayed long either and as we were approaching the summit they were making their descent over the path back to Calebreck.

Another view of the wind shelter and trig point.

Carrock Fell, its plateau catching the morning sun although the sun isn’t high enough to land on its north facing slopes, nor will it be for a good few weeks yet.

I would have had a shot of the Skiddaw group just a few seconds beforehand.  By the time I’d switched the camera on and lined up the shot the bank of cloud appeared from nowhere and blanked out the view.

I managed to keep the sun out of this shot to get this very shadowy view of Blencathra and Mungrisedale Common, taking any further shots in this direction was futile.

Looking across Roughton Gill towards Great Sca Fell and Little Sca Fell on the skyline above Yard Steel, the great bump across the centre of the shot.

Little Sca Fell on the left skyline sweeping down to Brae Fell over on the right.

Brae Fell with Cumbria’s coastal plain beyond.

Across the misty Solway Firth is Criffel, over in Scotland.

Back to the summit area for another look at the ‘furniture’ adorning the top and then …..

….. we dropped down just a few yards to the north of the summit to take a short coffee break in the second wind shelter. This too was deeply iced over but its taller walls did provide cover from the wind, unfortunately they were also tall enough to prevent the sun getting into it which meant the hot coffee was more than welcome.

While we took our coffee break we discussed whether it was worth going over to Carrock Fell. We would normally include it on a walk up to High Pike but today the views from it would be too backlit by the low sun for good photography, furthermore our descent from Carrock Fell would mean walking the path down the deeply shaded northern slopes and straight into the wind. We decided to stay on this northern path, drop back down to the mining area we had stopped at previously and from there follow the path around Sunny Bank back to the car above the Carrock Beck ford.

Following a quad bike trail back to the mining area below West Fell. The path we used to cross West Fell is clearly visible as is the path winding its way around Sunny Bank over on the right.

Sunny Bank living up to its name today as we make our way over to the path going around it.

A look back at some of the gullies created during mining operations.

A few more gullies further down. Not formed naturally by becks, there were none in any of them, but formed by human hands/machinery digging into the hillsides searching for the minerals they contained. Plenty of spoil still lying around as the photo shows. One solo walker, accompanied by his dog, is walking up the path who we had a brief chat with as we passed each other. I began to wonder if dogs can imitate human speech because this dog looked me straight in the eyes and then seemed to greet me in two quite distinctive tones, something that sounded like a quiet ‘hello’. It wasn’t a bark or a growl but it was the most unusual sound I’ve ever heard coming from a dog. I mentioned this to its owner and he replied that the dog did make that sound from time to time but whether it was some form of friendly greeting or not he didn’t know. I’m still pondering about the incident.

More gullies from long ago searches for minerals as we part company with him and his dog and continue our descent.

Much lower down the valley now and still enjoying the blazing sunshine. Note the deep shade on Carrock Fell’s slopes to the right, that would have been our descent route had we gone over to it. Furthermore the bulk of Sunny Bank and West Fell are protecting us from the brisk and chilly wind and we still had some snow to crunch through so the walk back down was very pleasant.

Rounding a bend so a look back at High Pike before the view is lost.

Crossing Quaker Hill again we noticed this small group of fell ponies grazing on its slopes. There was a larger group of eight further up the hill but they were too far away from us to take a photo of them. Nice to see them roaming the fells again.

A look back at West Fell as we descend Quaker Hill …..

….. and a look ahead to where we are about to re-join the main track leading back to the car.

A look back as we reached the main track from the path on the right. The view of High Pike has disappeared and only the tip of West Fell can be seen.

Once on the main track we only have a short distance to walk until we are back at the car so this is where today’s walk comes to an end. Its been a gloriously sunny walk and, although the brisk and chilly wind definitely outmatched any warmth offered by the bright sunshine, we have enjoyed the chance to get out into some proper winter weather again. We woke up to find snow on the ground today (Tuesday) and it has been snowing on and off, and settling, all day so far. Will it continue to snow and settle, will we get the chance for another snowy walk in bright sunshine? Who knows, we’ll just have to wait and see.

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Walk date – 6th January 2024

Distance – 7.25 miles

Weather – a high pressure day with bright sun and no wind, mild but very chilly in shade

 

We had intended doing this walk yesterday but the weather didn’t live up to its billing so we put it off until today in the hope that the high pressure forecast bringing with it clear skies, sunshine and little or no wind would actually materialise today. To begin with, here in the Eden Valley, things were a little disappointing as we looked out of the window this morning. There was fog everywhere and it was showing no signs of lifting by the time we were ready to start out for Patterdale. By the time we were on the A6 visibility had improved a little but we decided that the A66 might be a better and quicker route rather than taking the potentially foggy lakeshore road along Ullswater. We turned off the A66 heading down the A5091 Matterdale road and emerged, into bright sunshine and no fog, onto the lakeshore road just below the Aira Force car park. From there it was straight on to Patterdale and the cricket ground parking area where we parked up in an almost empty car park and duly put our £1 coins into the honesty box. As we were gathering our gear together and getting the gps fired up the clock of St Patrick’s Church chimed letting us know that it was now nine of the clock and a few minutes later were kitted up and ready to make our way over to Side Farm and begin today’s walk.

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Route

Patterdale cricket ground – Side Farm – Rooking – Boredale Hause – Angletarn Pikes north and south tops – Brock Crags – Cat Crag – Boredale Hause – Rooking – Side Farm – Patterdale cricket ground

Approaching Side Farm where the access road was full of the usual puddles and crossed over the frost covered bridge above a very full Goldrill Beck. Things are a bit chilly at the moment as the sun hasn’t risen high enough above the fells to the south to provide the valley with a burst of sunshine.

Beyond Side Farm now and following the access road over to Rooking. Looking back across Patterdale we can see a hint of sun on Thornhow End and more than a hint of sun over Birkhouse Moor and the Helvellyn group. The morning chill is still in the air down here in Patterdale and my jacket hood is on to stop the chill attacking my ears. I do have woolly hats but I always end up taking the things off and stuffing them into my pack. J seems to get on with them much better than I do.

Some of the houses in the hamlet of Rooking can be seen below us as we start the climb up to Boredale Hause. Glenridding Dodd, and Sheffield Pike just behind it, are the sunlit fells in the centre of the shot. We’ll get some sunlight eventually but right now the climbing is keeping us warm and its a bonus not to have the sunlight in our eyes, at least we can see where we’re going.

The frosty fields of Patterdale appear below us as we climb higher, the tops of Arnison Crag and Birks are catching the sunlight though.

A look back towards Glenridding where, little by little, the frosty fields turn from white to green and the surrounding fells become bathed in snshine.

Much higher up the path now from where we can see that Arnison Crag, Birks and the top of Saint Sunday Crag are now in full sun in sharp contrast to the fields of Patterdale below them which remain as frosty as ever.

A close up of the three afore-mentioned fells as we reach Boredale Hause. Its lovely to be able to see sunlit fells again.

Another shot from the Hause, this time looking across at Birkhouse Moor (R) merging into Striding Edge and a snow sprinkled Helvellyn summit (L) with Catstycam’s pointed peak appearing between the two. Two pairs of walkers came by us as we stopped for photos and a breather on the way up, and they stopped for a chat with us. We met up with both pairs at the Hause as they were having a short break and contemplating Place Fell, their next objective.

They eventually started out on their upward climb via the popular route over the southern shoulder while we took the Beda Fell path from the Hause. This path eventually brings us to a junction where we branched off to make our way over to the north top of Angletarn Pikes. This is what we call the ‘back route’ up to the Pikes and is always much less busy than the usual route up from Boredale Hause. On the minus side though it can be very boggy in places so ‘you pays yer money and takes yer pick’. One of the pluses today was that the sun still hadn’t risen high enough for it to be shining straight into our eyes and preventing us seeing the boggy bits.

Eventually the craggy peak of the north top of Angletarn Pikes comes into view and there’s just a straightforward climb over the frosty grass left for us to do before we reach the top. Saint Sunday Crag has also sneaked into the shot over on the right.

Looking east from the north top towards Beda Fell and the long ridge over to High Raise. Over on the left we can see that the inversion persists along the Eden Valley. While we were up here we were joined by a couple of chaps from Sedbergh who had parked their car at St Peter’s Church, at the hause above the Howtown zig-zags, before dropping down into Martindale and climbing Beda Fell and then making their way over to Angletarn Pikes. From here they were going over to Place Fell, returning via Boredale and Winter Crag and then walking back up to the hause and church where they had parked. That’s a route with a substantial number of ups and downs so perhaps the sight of their car at the end of it would be very welcome. They eventually began the next part of their route and I took a few more shots from the north top …..

….. the sun’s position made taking shots to the south a little awkward but here’s a view of Brothers Water and the fells surrounding it …..

….. the view into Deepdale with Hartsop above How to the left and Saint Sunday Crag over on the right with Fairfield, Hart Crag and Dove Crag, from right to left, on the skyline …..

….. the view along the north top noticing that the inversion over the Eden Valley has not dissipated which is very unusual as it is now mid morning and on such a sunny day most inversions are usually breaking up by now. More of that later though.

Still on the north top with a look to the west where the fells are too numerous to name …..

….. a look towards Glenridding and part of Ullswater …..

….. and finally looking across the lower slopes of Angletarn Pikes towards Place Fell. Blencathra is the darker smudge on the centre skyline.

Crossing over from the north top to the south one and passing a frozen tarn on the way.

Now on the south top and one of my favourite views, Angle Tarn, whose surface today was as smooth as glass. The sun’s position creating strong shadows and lack of detail once again. Notice the cloud creeping over High Raise, Kidsty Pike and High Street indicating that an inversion over Haweswater was possibly beginning to break up, the views from over there would have been fabulous if an inversion had taken place.

Again looking east where the North Pennines form the distant skyline and the Eden Valley between us and them is still covered by the inversion. The white blob rising just behind one of the small humps in the landscape is the steam rising from a rendering factory near Penrith and gives rise to a local phenomenon known as the ‘Penrith Pong’. The phenomenon has made it into the press so you can look it up if its of interest.

Descending from the south top now and making our way to …..

….. the path around Angle Tarn where we decided to take a break, have something to eat and do nothing but enjoy the views and the good weather. We didn’t take a walk up here in 2023 so its nice to have such a lovely day to enjoy it once again.

After our break we carried on over towards Brock Crags and on the way across we climbed a short distance from the path up to Buck Crag for a peep down into Bannerdale, a sunny Beda Fell on the left and a partly shaded The Nab on the right.

Rest Dodd standing our clearly in the bright sunshine as we reached the old gateposts at the start of Satura Crag. That’s not our planned route today though so we turn right at this point and begin to make our way over to Brock Crags and …..

….. here’s the view ahead of us as we begin to cross over. The group of three walkers we could hear talking and laughing from here, the two walkers behind weren’t part of the group. When the group of three reached this point we looked back and saw that they passed through the Satura Crag gateposts so we thought they must have been heading for High Street or one of the fells along the way. At our next look back we were surprised to see them once again now retracing their steps back from the gateposts and were now going towards Angle Tarn on the path we had left a few minutes earlier. Wonder if they took a wrong turn or just didn’t like the look of what was ahead of them, must have been one or t’other I suppose.

Meanwhile we were still tramping around the boggy bits of Brock Crags whose various pools and small tarns had about an inch, or 2.5 cm if you prefer, of ice covering their surfaces.

The summit cairn on Brock Crags …..

….. and the view down to Brothers Water from it and also …..

….. a view of Angle Tarn and its surroundings.

It looks like a bit of a jumble but with a zoom in you can identify, in descending order of height, Place Fell, the north and south tops of Angletarn Pikes and immediately below the various humps of Cat Crag, which is where we’re off to next.

A view of Angle Tarn and its surroundings from Cat Crag. Not as many people out walking as we expected on such a sunny Saturday but there were a few dotted around here and there.

From Cat Crag we made our way across the boggy bits and took the path passing below the two tops back to Boredale Hause. This is a shot looking up at the south top …..

….. and a view of the north top as we passed below them. The north top was fairly busy at the time we passed below it. One or two were brave enough to be down to their t-shirts but we didn’t see anyone wearing shorts, its not that warm just yet!

On the path leading back to Boredale Hause now with …..

….. magnificent scenery all around us.

We’re about to enter the chiller cabinet for the next few minutes as we make our way down alongside the beck.

Further down now and still in the chiller cabinet but with a super view of Place Fell.

A zoom in on sunny Boredale Hause …..

…… which can’t come soon enough as its been a bit nippy through this section of the path.

Back in the sunshine now and making our way back down to Rooking. Its only early afternoon but the Patterdale fields and Glenridding are already back in the shade of the higher fells to the south. J looks as though he’s about to step off the edge of the path in this shot.

Back down in Rooking now and making our way along to Side Farm and its access path over to Glenridding and the cricket ground parking area. A local chap was emptying the day’s takings from the honesty box when we got back to the car park and there seemed to be a good amount of rattling as he scooped it out so its good to know that some of the occupants of the full car park had popped some £1 coins in, it all adds to the cricket club’s coffers and helps them pay the bills. On the drive back we decided to take the lakeshore road home and experienced something most unusual as we did so. The Glenridding end of Ullswater was in bright sunshine and you could see clearly across the water but, as we reached Aira Force, the fog re-appeared. Thin patches to begin with but becoming increasingly denser the further along we went. We could not see across to the Howtown landing stage area which is normally very obvious and by the time we reached Pooley Bridge it was even denser. When we were on the A6 heading for the turn off down into the Eden Valley it was obvious that the inversion which we had seen from Angletarn Pikes had persisted all day despite the sunny weather. It is now Sunday afternoon and we are still beneath this extensive blanket of fog. I began thinking about the Ullswater ferry boats so I did a quick check on their website, here’s what it said –

Sunday 7th January, 2024

There is thick fog at the north end of Ullswater this morning. If this doesn’t lift we may have to cancel sailings, therefore please check with us before setting out to travel with us.
Sorry for any inconvenience, and please do not hesitate to contact us on 017684 82229 should you require any additional information.

As I’ve already mentioned an inversion staying put for two days is a most unusual occurrence so we can only hope that it won’t last much longer. If it does then we only have to drive up out of the valley to get back into some sunshine, always assuming that there is any sunshine to be had of course.

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Walk date – 26th December 2023

Distance – 2.1 miles

Weather – mostly dull with occasional light rain showers, brief glimpses of sun,

 

We turned tourist for the day and went over to Tarn Hows for a short stroll around the tarn. A Boxing Day ‘lull’ in the weather had been forecast which in one respect turned out to be accurate in that there wasn’t a hint of even a light breeze in contrast to the gales we’ve been experiencing of late. Apart from that the skies were mostly overcast and which dotted us with rain showers every now and then, although we did get a couple of very brief sunny spells. As expected Tarn Hows was busy with families, groups and couples, ourselves included, all taking advantage of a gentle stroll no doubt to work off some of the excesses of the previous day. Despite the general dreariness and dampness of the day it was good to be outdoors again not to mention being able to walk upright after days and days of battling strong winds every time we went outdoors.

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Route

A circular stroll around the tarn

A quick look down at the busy lower path as we walked across from the car park was all we needed to decide that we would take the quieter anti-clockwise route around the tarn, walking along in a queue of folk is not my cup of tea at all. The bridge down there crossing the tarn outflow is at the exit point of the path from the Glen Mary bridge on the A593 up alongside Tom Gill and its waterfalls.

The light rain was pitter-pattering on my jacket hood as we set off around the tarn …..

….. and kept on doing so in fits and starts all the way around.

Part of Black Crag appears above the far end of the tarn …..

….. but the view back towards Wetherlam isn’t quite as clear and Coniston Old Man never lost its cloud cover at all. Here’s a few shots taken as we walked along …..

We’re almost at the northern end of the tarn now and a look over to the left of the shot shows the path we’ve been following so far.

The pitter-pattering on my jacket hood subsided at this point and we had one of the brief sunny spells, although it only landed on the higher ground not on us.

Part of Black Crag illuminated by another sunny spell and …..

….. finally we also get to share it although the hazy shadow cast by the tree beside the path tells you that it was nothing more than a faint glimmer.

The sunny glimmer on Black Crag eventually faded away but it was nice while it lasted.

A look back after crossing the footbridge at the northern end of the tarn. Just a short distance behind me is a stile beyond which is a footpath leading over to the Cumbria Way from where walkers can divert through Iron Keld plantation and on to Black Crag summit.

We noticed plenty of storm damaged trees alongside the lower path we used on the return leg …..

….. some of which appeared to have been lying around for a few years …..

….. others such as this one have been blown over very recently, I think I’ve already mentioned that we’ve had quite a few gales lately.

 An atmospheric view along the water or, alternatively depending on your mood at the time, a gloomy view of Tarn Hows.

More uprooted trees just a little further along from the last lot. The estate of Tarn Hows used to belong to Beatrix Potter and she and her husband, Tom Heelis, successfully managed the area whilst they had ownership of it. In 1930 the National Trust had managed to raise enough money to buy it from them although they asked Beatrix and Tom to manage it for them. At some point the management of the estate became the responsibility of the Trust. Providing a car park, toilets and information board, all designed to ‘harmonise’ with the landscape isn’t exactly what you might call managing the estate. More of this rant to come.

More fallen trees and evidence of recent cutting a little further on. Given the tangled appearance of the place I began to wonder, since the Trust has adopted a ‘woke’ attitude to its properties in recent years (much to the detriment of its membership subscriptions I might add) whether they are deliberately leaving any fallen trees which don’t obstruct the pathways as part of some sort of ‘back to nature’ policy. Back in the day the original owners were the Marshall family, you may have seen the letter M on various boundary stones, who carried out a series of landscape improvements resulting in the area that we have today. Nowadays the Trust, and every other institution it seems, disapproves of the attitudes and activities of members of those past generations and seems determined to write them out of history, replacing most of our heritage with their own deluded, contorted and apologetic version of the past. I’m sure that the Tarn Hows of today wouldn’t have appeared in Beatrix Potter’s time or the Marshall’s.

Things became even darker on our way back …..

….. as the clouds joined forces and blotted out most of the light.

A possible candidate for the next gale perhaps?

A final look across Tarn Hows as we made our way back up the hill to the car park.

As we dropped down the (one way only) lane back to Coniston a cloud free Wetherlam came into view but Coniston Old Man was still heavily covered over so I didn’t bother taking a shot.

The lane eventually drops us back down to Coniston so before we lost the view here’s a shot of the Langdale Pikes on the right just behind some of the Yewdale Fells. The drive back home was as uneventful as our walk but at least we were able to get out today, if only for a very short walk, to get some fresh air and a modicum of exercise. As I write this report it has been raining heavily all day and the branches of the neighbouring trees are being blown horizontal, its all becoming very tedious!

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24th December 2023

Ferocious gales and constant rain continue to beat down on us so we’re still ‘confined to barracks’. Never mind, at least we’ve had time to get everything ready for Christmas Day. Best wishes to all our visitors and we hope that you all have a very …..

from John and Brenda

Walk date – 29th November 2023

Distance – 6.5 miles

Weather – dry, sunny, cold and frosty, very light breeze

 

Following our walk last Friday the weather remained much the same on Saturday but the following three days had us back in the gloom again. However the weather conditions for today were forecast to be much the same as last Friday so we off we went to take a walk over Loughrigg Fell. Our last visit here was in 2017 and the last six years have slipped by without us ever thinking about taking a walk over it. Its more or less a ‘stand alone’ fell, if you discount the tenuous link to Silver How via the Red Bank road, and being one of the central fells the surrounding views are extensive, although on a very sunny day like today views to the south were a little restricted. Loughrigg might be the lowest of the central fells but don’t let that lull anyone into complacency because its spread is extensive, there are many humps and bumps and consequently a confusing preponderance of paths and routes across it. The route we followed today was for us a mix of old and new pathways which made for a more interesting walk than simply going up to the summit via the usual ‘tourist’ route.

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Route

Pelter Bridge (Rydal) – Fox How – Miller Brow – Lily Tarn – Ivy Crag – Loughrigg summit – Loughrigg Terrace – Rydal Water – Pelter Bridge

A walk across the frosty grass for this view of the river Rothay and Pelter Bridge beside the A591 as we start out on today’s walk. Its a lovely morning but very cold so its full winter gear time now. While I walked over to take the above shot J stayed on the approach road to try and sort out some problem connected to getting the gps to function properly.

A look back towards Pelter Bridge along the back lane leading towards Fox How while J checks that the gps is now working properly.

Stepping stones across the river Rothay. The layer of frost atop each stone looked very dodgy for anyone needing to make use of them today.

The front entrance gates to Fox How where just a little further on …..

….. we leave the lane, walk up through the leaf litter, pass through a handgate and …..

….. proceed to climb up this very steep grassy slope. A zoom in will reveal the handgate in the wall below. There is a splendid view of the Fairfield Horseshoe from this point. The smoke from a garden bonfire slowly rises and spreads out across the fields below.

From the top of the field we follow the path around to this step stile and cross over it. Just a few paces further on through the woodland we pass through a small handgate and eventually emerge on the main track on Miller Brow leading over to Ivy Crag. We walked down this track to …..

….. this set of steps which leads us through another patch of woodland where …..

….. we were joined by this plump robin who was probably hoping we would oblige with a tasty titbit but it was to be disappointed. There were lots of robins around all of whom in turn perched on branches, walls or mossy stones, watching us intently. They were all disappointed too.

Emerging from the wooded area. and leaving the robins behind, now we are heading over to Lily Tarn. The Fairfield Horseshoe now has bands of cloud above it and the garden bonfire smoke has drifted everywhere in the still air. The smell of the smoke wasn’t as pleasing as such smoke usually is so perhaps the stuff being burned was wet. Smoke from burning damp/wet leaves and wood often gives off an acrid aroma.

Still on the way up to the tarn and above the rooftops of Ambleside we can see Wansfell Pike and Baystones. Over on the left skyline are the two tops of Froswick and Ill Bell.

Out of the chilly shade at last as we arrive at Lily Tarn. The benches dotted around the tarn were frosted over so we scraped it off one of them and sat for a few minutes to enjoy the warmth of the sun and the lovely view. A thin film of ice covered the tarn’s surface. We eventually walked around the tarn so here’s another view of it from a different viewpoint …..

….. and it looked absolutely stunning in the bright sunlight.

Just a few paces past the tarn and there’s a good view of Windermere although as the sun was in that direction we got a rather less sparkly view of it than would normally be the case.

Back to Lily Tarn and one last shot before we go on our way again. The lone tree which used to grow on the little island fell over sometime during the last six years but a couple of others have taken its place so in a few years time Lily Tarn’s little island will have some little trees back again. A couple of walkers had arrived at the tarn as we were leaving and we were to see them again a little later on.

From Lily Tarn we dropped down slightly to take a more western path to get some good views of the fells in that direction. The tops of some of them, e.g. Bowfell and the Langdale Pikes, are already beginning to appear.

Further on more of them appear, too many to name individually but the centre of the skyline shows Crinkle Crags so the names of the others should be easy to work out.

As I stood on some higher ground beside the path the two walkers who were at Lily Tarn at the same time as us came by so I waited until they disappeared from view before taking the shot. They are out of sight just below the green patch in the bottom left hand corner. We saw them again later on.

Looking across Little Langdale now with the Coniston fells directly across from us, Wetherlam is the most prominent, its the one jutting out and catching the sunlight.

J giving some idea of scale to all the humps and bumps around us as we walk along. Just around the next bend and where the path began rising we could see the two walkers had stopped at what turned out to be a crossroads of paths. They seemed unsure as to which way to go, heads were down looking at what seemed to be a small map, eventually made their decision, turned to the right and followed the path in that direction. We hoped that they actually wanted to go that way because if they followed it all the way they would be heading back to the back lane beside the river Rothay that we started out on, which may not have been where they wanted to be. We didn’t see them again after that. Anyway when we reached the same path intersection we turned left and then more or less immediately right to follow the path eventually leading to …..

….. the little rock scramble on Ivy Crag. Its not a difficult scramble, it is just  awkward in that all the rocks have pointed tops, good for hand holds but nothing much to put your feet on. We’ve descended via this route in the past so it was fun to tackle it in reverse this time and …..

….. this is the view looking back from the top of the scramble which is well worth it for the small, if somewhat awkward, amount of effort you have to put in to achieve it.

Further on we made a slight diversion from the path to this viewpoint where immediately below us is Loughrigg Tarn and a view across Little Langdale. On the skyline to the left of the V shape of Wrynose Pass are the Coniston fells and over on the right are Cold Pike and Pike O’Blisco which in turn lead over to Crinkle Crags.

Still making our way across to Loughrigg summit and passing one of the many nameless tarns to be found on Loughrigg. With the blue sky reflected in them and the bright sunlight on them they all looked lovely today. The Froswick, Ill Bell and Yoke ridge is on the centre skyline.

Thinking that it might be busy and a tad breezy up on the summit we had a brief stop a short distance back, got out the coffee flask and the sandwiches and had an early lunch in a sunny and sheltered spot. After that we just had a short distance to go to the summit, busy as usual and with a chilly breeze getting up from time to time. My jacket hood was pulled up before going looking for summit views, here’s a selection of them …..

….. the summit trig point looking north along Dunmail Raise …..

….. now looking west to the Langdale Pike et al …..

….. the shadowy side of Lingmoor Fell in Great Langdale across the middle foreground  encircled by the Langdale Pikes, Bowfell, Crinkle Crags, Pike O’ Blisco and Cold Pike …..

….. Lonscale Fell in the far distance between Steel Fell and Helm Crag on the left and Seat Sandal on the right …..

….. a 180 degrees about turn for a view of Windermere plus some of the humps and bumps we’ve encountered along the way here …..

….. the Froswick to Yoke ridge on the right skyline, in front of that is Red Screes, and in front of that on the extreme left is Low Pike, one of the bumpy bits of the Fairfield Horseshoe …..

….. Froswick, Ill Bell, Yoke, Baystones and Wansfell Pike …..

….. left skyline shows Dove Crag, High Pike and Low Pike, right skyline shows Red Screes …..

….. Seat Sandal with a bit of cloud behind it, Stone Arthur, Great Rigg, a bit of Fairfield and Heron Pike …..

….. and a sunny close up of the Langdale Pikes to round it all off.

Our descent route was the well known ‘tourist’ path up Loughrigg which has been subjected to some path ‘reconstruction’ and probably more to come given the numerous huge bags of large stones still lying around. Fortunately the path wasn’t iced over but it was a very trying descent nevertheless and everyone coming down it was being very careful. As path refurbishment is mostly carried out by volunteers it seems unkind to comment further other than to mention that it didn’t feel to be an improvement on the previous path. However, the view down to Grasmere water and village were a bonus whenever one felt the need to stop for a moment.

The brakes are off now as we walk along the level terrace path overlooking the shingle beach and Grasmere water. Plenty of folk out walking along the beach but not even their dogs were braving the icy waters today.

Heading down to the lakeside path along Rydal Water and …..

….. the view along it when we reached it. Its chilly walking in Loughrigg’s shadow …..

….. still, there’s always the sunny view of Nab Scar to look at across the water.

Not far to go now before we reach the parking area just above Pelter Bridge as we walk the last few yards down the lane from the lakeshore path. The trees are bare and their leaves litter the verges and hedgerows, the bracken has turned brown and gone over and the moss covered walls add their own contribution to the autumnal scene. Its 30th of November as I write this walk report and we noticed snow on the North Pennines, almost down to valley level, when we drove along the A6 this morning. We didn’t have any snowfall in our part of the Eden Valley although we did have an overnight frost. Better that than endless gloomy days of rain and gales though. We’ve had a lovely walk over a grand little fell and enjoyed its fabulous views so now its time to go home and get the kettle on. Two walks within five days eh? That hasn’t happened for a long time, back soon we hope.

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Walk date – 24th November 2023

Distance – 6 miles

Weather – Sunny, dry, cold and gusty northerly  wind

 

November is often a dreary month, the clocks have gone back, the hours of daylight are short, and the shorter days tend to go hand in hand with damp and foggy weather. This year November, so far, has excelled itself by providing day after day of very low and heavy cloud together with a variety of gale force winds and heavy rainstorms. On the very few halfway decent weather days there have been they have occurred on days when we have not been able to take advantage of them other than taking very short and unrecorded local walks. No point in taking a camera when poor light prevails and there’s nothing much to see other than fog and very low cloud. However, today, and over the coming weekend, the weather was set to change and as it would be coming in from a northerly direction we could look forward to a spell of dry, bright and frosty weather and an end to all those dull and dreary days. Strongish winds were forecast for today so we decided to stay fairly low to avoid getting battered but with enough gentle climbing to get our leg muscles used to something more than going upstairs to bed every night. Easedale Tarn via Far Easedale seemed to fit the bill so that’s where we went today.

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Route

Lancrigg – Far Easedale – Stythwaite Steps – Easedale Tarn circuit – Sourmilk Gill – Easedale – Lancrigg

A shaded Tarn Crag ahead of us as we walk across the fields heading for Far Easedale with a couple of other walkers just ahead of us. A few clouds are still hanging around which will eventually disappear as the sun gets higher and there’s a chilly breeze in our faces as we walk along but with blue sky and sunshine overhead we’re looking forward to an enjoyable walk in decent weather at last.

This split boulder must have been here for ages so why we haven’t noticed it before now is a mystery. We must have been too busy talking or in a hurry to get under way on previous walks along here.

Here’s where the tarmac road ends and the path into Far Easedale begins. The sign on the handgate said Jackdaw Cottage so maybe that referred to the smaller building on the right rather than the much bigger house on the left. Also attached to the right hand dwelling was a sign saying ‘NOT FOR CARS’ although just a glance at the rough surface ahead ought to be enough for anyone to realise that. Perhaps some people just need to be told rather than use a bit of gumption.

On the way up the rough path we caught sight of this bird carving in an old tree stump. This also looks to have been here for a while but we’ve never noticed it until now.

Just a little further on from the carving is a path junction and the steep route up to Helm Crag off to the right is indicated by the sign post. Perhaps the two walkers who were just in front of us as we started out have gone up to Helm Crag as we never saw them again. We carried on into Far Easedale by taking the left hand path …..

….. and kicking our way through the mounds of fallen leaves along the lane. Other than the evergreen variety very few trees have any leaves left on them now, especially after the gale force winds we had yesterday.

A glimpse of the waterfalls in Sourmilk Gill across the valley …..

….. and a better glimpse of the same as we reached some higher ground a little further along.

Brinhowe Crag and Ecton Crag on either side of the falls. No-one on this path so far but we can see walkers going up to the tarn via the path on the other side of the valley.

A look back at the barns in Far Easedale as we begin to climb up the next slope.

Lots of water splashing down Far Easedale gill today.

Pike of Carrs on the skyline as we reach Stythwaite Steps and the bridge. Most of the early cloud has disappeared and the sun shines out of a clear blue sky, what a lovely crisp morning it has turned into.

We stopped for about five minutes just to enjoy the sunlight and the views during which we were joined by a party of three men who paused, not to have a chat but to intently study their maps for what seemed quite a long time before they eventually crossed over and headed off up the hill. We waited until they were out of sight before we crossed the gill and began making our way up.

Helm Crag in the sunshine from the path to the tarn.

The green topped boulder on which the way to Grasmere is indicated could do with a lick of paint, the lettering was only just readable.

Just across from the big boulder is this smaller split boulder with a small tree growing through the split.

The two boulders in situ backed by Helm Crag. Both boulders are situated on permanently very wet ground so, for anyone wishing to avoid wet feet and that sinking feeling, they would probably be best viewed from the path. We’ve already got muddy boots from the walk up Far Easedale so a bit of wet didn’t matter all that much.

The Blea Rigg ridge is on the skyline. Sourmilk Gill rushing from the tarn is becoming visible but first we have to cross the very marshy flat ground between here and there before we get anywhere near that.

The craggy area above us as we begin crossing the marshy stuff via the stepping stones …..

….. a look back along the stepping stones through the marshy areas we neared the end of them. Here and there some stones had sunk below the water level which provided a couple of tricky moments for those of us who have not been blessed with long legs.

A roaring noise coming from Sourmilk Gill had us diverting from the path to have a peer down into it. Plenty of white water pouring down the gill today.

Returning to the path up to the tarn with Cockly Crag high above us and a clear blue sky and sunshine overhead. We’re finally enjoying the sunny side of the street after weeks of living on the dark side of the moon.

Still making our way up to the tarn with a look back to see what’s on offer and from left to right on the skyline we have the Gibson Knott ridge, Seat Sandal, Fairfield and Helm Crag.

Another peer down into the gill as we continue on up the path.

Easedale Tarn and its outflow finally comes into view so …..

….. instead of crossing the outflow we carried on and did a circuit of the tarn because its a lovely morning and we aren’t in a hurry. The next few shots were taken from various aspects around the tarn so be prepared for lots of water views.

The Blea Rigg ridge on the skyline as we round the northern corner of the tarn. It became a whole lot draughtier whenever we were close to the tarn as is usually the case with an open stretch of water. The ruffled surface of the tarn indicating the strength of the wind.

We get a little respite from the wind as we thread our way through the humps and bumps below Tarn Crag …..

….. but it comes back with a vengeance when we return closer to the water, I think its known as ‘bracing’ as in ‘good for you’ health wise. Bracing also has another meaning and that’s what some of us have to do when faced with unexpected gusts which have the power to knock us over. Goodness knows what it must be like over on some of the high fells if its this strong down here.

Looking back along the tarn from the western end …..

….. where, a little further along, we came across this old sheepfold. AW has it marked on Tarn Crag 5 in his book, The Central Fells, Book 3.

Rounding the western end of the tarn now and heading for the path on the other side which leads back to the tarn outflow. Between here and there is an abundance of very marshy ground to cross which it would take a very long and very hot summer to dry out. As we haven’t had one of those I’ll leave you to imagine the conditions underfoot during our crossing over.

Back on the established path now which of course is in the chilly shade cast by the shadows of the higher fells behind us. We’ll be back in the sunshine further along the path and in the meantime we have a sunny view of the tarn and its foothills, and they in turn are backed by the skyline view of Seat Sandal, Fairfield, Great Rigg and Stone Arthur.

Back in the sunshine close to the site of the old Victorian refreshment hut for a view of Tarn Crag. Plenty of walkers up here and back and forth along the path too, everyone well wrapped up but no doubt enjoying the brighter weather. We still have the gusty wind but the edge is taken off it by the bright sunshine and a cup of hot coffee.

After a short break for coffee and snacks we began making our way back down. As we started out this sunshine and shadow view caught my eye. At the bottom of the shot just above the shady area is the path we followed up to the tarn, across the middle foreground is the Helm Crag/Gibson Knott ridge and forming the skyline view are Seat Sandal, Fairfield, Great Rigg and Stone Arthur.

Further down the path and now we have a skyline view of Helm Crag, Heron Pike and Nab Scar. In the shaded area towards the bottom of the shot is the white water of Sourmilk Gill making its way over to drop, via the waterfalls, into Easedale beck and on into Grasmere water.

A look back at Tarn Crag and its various craggy foothills before the view is hidden as we round the bend.

A group of four were taking photos of each other just here by the falls so there was a bit of a wait until they moved off and carried on up the hill to the tarn. The falls look a little gloomy being in the shade but part of Ecton Crag gets a bit of sunlight to brighten up the scene a little.

From our descent a view of Easedale, mostly in the shade all the way down as the sun hasn’t quite managed to rise above the higher ground on the right of the path.

Further down the path there was an opportunity to get a better shot of the waterfalls. Couldn’t let the opportunity go to waste even if it did mean standing on and sinking into some very waterlogged ground.

J strolling down the path as we make our way back down. Several walkers still making their way up for an early afternoon walk.

The sun might be shining over on the other side of Easedale but it was definitely nippy in the shade along here.

Down in the bottom of the valley now with a view of sunny Stone Arthur, Heron Pike and Nab Scar as we approach …..

….. New Bridge which we will cross over to rejoin the outward path we started out on earlier.

Lancrigg Hotel backed by Great Rigg and Stone Arthur and …..

….. a final look over to Helm Crag as we make our way back to the car. We stowed our packs in the car and then went over to the hotel to avail ourselves of the free cup of coffee which the Lancrigg offers by way of compensation for the charge they make for parking in their grounds. After the somewhat chilly descent into Easedale it was nice to sit on the sunny hotel terrace whilst warming ourselves up with some hot coffee. We’ve had a very enjoyable walk in long awaited good weather, long may it last because we’ve had quite enough of fog, low cloud, torrential rain, storms and gales thank you very much. We’ll be back soon, hopefully.

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Walk date – 23rd October 2023

Distance – 4.4 miles

Weather – no wind, dry, hazy sunshine at start, dull and cloudy thereafter

 

The forecasts have been all over the place lately so we hadn’t really planned for a walk today and the weather first thing this morning seemed to be in two minds as to what sort of a day it would develop into. Anyway sometime mid morning we noticed a hazy sunshine had developed so we threw some odds and ends into a pack and drove over towards Glenridding. We had overlooked the fact that it was half term week so all the usual parking spots from Pooley Bridge onwards were packed. Glenridding was just the same and as the mid morning was heading towards late morning by this time we drove on through to Patterdale where we hoped we might just be able to squeeze into the cricket ground parking area. That too was almost full but, with much relief, we noticed an empty space at the end of the line and quickly nipped into it. By now it was half past eleven so a short walk over to Silver Point would do nicely. By the time we reached Silver Point the hazy sunshine was beginning to give way to a build up of heavy grey cloud so some of the shots from that point on suffered as a result.

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Route

Patterdale cricket ground – George Starkey hut – Side Farm – Silver Point – former quarry track beside Silver Crag – Side Farm – George Starkey hut – Patterdale cricket ground

Place Fell from the cricket ground parking area. A line of parked cars behind me and a somewhat misty sky overhead. The hazy sunshine is enough to highlight Place Fell’s features though.

We made our way from the cricket ground over to the path beside the George Starkey hut, as it is known, although its a substantial building and thus can’t really be classed as a hut. If you want to know more about it here’s a link – https://george-starkey-hut.com/about

The path from the hut leads over to Side Farm which has its own camp site and shop/cafe. The bridge crosses Goldrill Beck which in turn flows into Ullswater.

Zooming in on Side Farm and the former quarry area just above it. Our return path will be the one which can be seen going through the quarry area and which continues on up to Boredale Hause.

Having reached Side Farm we walked up through the farmyard to reach this lower, and full of puddles, path. The higher path through the former quarrying areas is just out of shot, up the banking on the right. Walkers wishing to use the upper path will need to first pass through a metal gate across the path and then, immediately after passing through the gate, locate the narrow track leading up to it.

A very pleasant and undulating walk eventually takes you over to Silver Point and from there you can go even further, over to Sandwick and on to Howtown and Pooley Bridge. By the time most walkers reached Howtown or Pooley they would probably be more than happy to buy a ‘steamer’ ticket to rest their weary legs and feet and enjoy the relaxing boat ride back to Glenridding.

Birks Fell across the fields of Patterdale, all the fell tops seemed to be clear today.

Raise on the distant skyline, sandwiched between Birkhouse Moor (L) and Glenridding Dodd (R)

No need to use the stepping stones over on the left today, the beck on the right wasn’t in full flow and was shallow enough to simply splash through,

A pause to take in the view from the top of this particular undulation before dropping down the path and making our way over to the next one.

We eventually left the main path and made our way over to Silver Point where …..

….. we found a suitable perch and passed fifteen minutes or so just observing the comings and goings of various boats below us on Ullswater. The one in the shot is the small launch which ferries passengers between Glenridding and Aira Force.

There goes the Aira Force launch on its way back to Glenridding with Glenridding Dodd and Sheffield Pike looking on.

Birks Fell and Saint Sunday Crag now looking a little gloomier under the build up of cloud.

A look back at the craggy Silver Point after we followed one of the paths through the dead bracken to briefly rejoin the main path once again. Shortly after taking this shot the little sailboat began moving off quite quickly. Its speed suggesting that it was being powered by an engine and, as there wasn’t the slightest hint of a breeze, not by the wind filling the sail.

We left the main path once again to begin the climb over the rough stony path up to the little col between Silver Crag and the bulk of Place Fell.

The view back across Ullswater from the crest of the path. Lots of ripples created by the numerous small boats making their way over the water. In the distance we have a view of Great Mell Fell which seems to be enjoying a sunny spell, and on the left and right respectively are Watermillock Common and Gowbarrow Fell which definitely aren’t.

Passing below part of Silver Crag as we carried on along what is now the old quarry path but we didn’t bother making the short climb through the juniper bushes today.

The view ahead as we reach the end of Silver Crag. The knobbly top of Arnison Crag is nearest the camera, then comes Birks and just a little bit of Saint Sunday Crag. Behind Arnison Crag is Hartsop above How, behind that is Red Screes opposite which is Caudale Moor.

Arnison Crag, Birks and Saint Sunday Crag taking centre stage as we walk back along the old quarry path.

A greyed out Helvellyn range behind the great bulk of Birkhouse Moor. Despite the cloud build up the tops are remaining clear.

Looking towards the Glenridding landing stages with the diminuitive Glenridding Dodd in the centre almost dwarfed by its higher neighbours.

Zooming in on Glenridding Dodd and Sheffield Pike and …..

….. on Birkhouse Moor and Glenridding village.

Looking back at Silver Crag from the descending path. It was quite busy along here at times, plenty of people were out taking advantage of the calm weather both on this path and our outward one.

Raise, on the centre skyline, above a very busy Ullswater, ripples and waves could be seen everywhere today.

Towards the bottom of the shot is the path we used on our outward leg. The views are obviously better from this path but the build up of cloud put paid to our hopes of seeing everything in sparkling technicolour so we had to make do with subdued colour. A bit of sunlight would have made the autumnal colours really shine.

Nevertheless, there were a couple of trees below us that were doing their best to shine.

Looking ahead along the path towards the fells around the Kirkstone Pass. The ones in the centre of the shot being Hartsop Dodd behind which is Caudale Moor.

The Helvellyn range looking very gloomy underneath all that heavy cloud. The valley below them is Grisedale which we might have been walking along today in rather gloomy conditions, at least over here we have had some sunshine for part of our walk.

A view of the road to Side Farm below signals that we will soon leave the quarry path and make our way back down to the lower path and the farm.

Before we do here’s a zoom in on Hartsop Dodd and Caudale Moor (L) and Red Screes and Hartsop above How (R) with the currently closed Kirkstone Pass road between them. The road should be open again by the end of October I believe unless, of course, work has been delayed by the gales and high winds we’ve been subjected to recently.

One of the caves created during the quarrying work. We would have gone further inside but there was already someone down there taking a look so we didn’t bother. There was hardly enough room for one never mind two more. The most I have been able to discover about these quarries is that they were mined for the slate used in the construction of local buildings. Who owned them, when they were worked and ultimately closed down therefore remains a mystery to us.

We reach the point at which we have to leave the quarry path and make our way back down to the lower path and Side Farm. The path is steep and, in places, a little loose but its not a long one. If you are climbing up there is a decent sized patch of green grass where you can pause and view the surrounding views while you get your breath back.

Before we started descending here’s a look over towards another of the quarry areas and the path going through it and leading onwards up to Boredale Hause. From there you can take your pick from the paths leading to Place Fell, Beda Fell or the one in the shot, Angletarn Pikes.

From the same viewpoint is this shot of Side Farm and, in the bottom right hand corner, the metal gate mentioned at the beginning of this report. Its obvious that the path up is not a long one but it is quite steep and that makes it feel much longer than it really is,

A few minutes later we are back on the stony track and passing through the gate to Side Farm. From there we walk back across the farm access road which brings us back to the George Starkey hut again.

On the way back to the cricket ground I popped into the churchyard for this shot of St Patrick’s Church and from there we walked the short distance back to the car. As can be seen the hazy sunshine has been replaced with heavy cloud but we didn’t get rained on and the afternoon remained wind free and relatively warm. So another short walk to take advantage of a longish, though not long enough, sunny spell. No matter, for a couple of hours we had an enjoyable walk with a few chats to other walkers along the way and the heavy cloud only reached us in the Eden Valley about an hour after we arrived back home. Its contents were poured down on us last night.

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Walk date – 8th October 2023

Distance – 4.5 miles

Weather – Dry, light breeze and a good spell of unexpected sunshine (at last)

 

I won’t go on about the weather conditions we’ve had for the past few weeks other than to say that its been grim. Having looked at a few weather charts during Friday and Saturday we thought there might be just a chance of a couple of hours of less gloomy weather today between noon and tea-time. The charts were showing a thinner layer of cloud during that period with less windy conditions and no rain, so it looked as though there was the possibility of getting out for a short local walk during the afternoon. The wind, although less forceful than of late, was still expected to be strong enough at height to make walking uncomfortable and so, given the very short weather window that potentially would be available, we stayed low and opted for a circular walk around Dufton Pike. In the end it turned out to be much better weather than we had anticipated.

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Route

Dufton – Coatsike Farm – Cosca Hill – Dufton Pike bridleway – Pusgill House – Dufton

Sunday, 1.00 pm, Dufton, which meant that the parking spaces in the village were as full as we expected because the Stag Inn does a very nice Sunday dinner. We found a vacant space, just behind the spot where the above photo was taken, and parked off road at the entrance to the village instead. The road we’ve just come in on is the Long Marton/Penrith one as indicated by the signpost. We haven’t brought packs as we’re only going to be out for a couple of hours so, armed with camera and gps, off we go straight down the hill making our way down to …..

….. the footpath leading to Coatsike Farm. The path is also known as Hurning Lane and forms part of the Pennine Way. As the photo shows we still are under a blanket of cloud although it is much higher than it has been lately and the fell tops, although still rather murky, are clear to see.

Further along the lane I took this shot of Dufton Pike, while I waited for J to walk back to the car to collect his reading glasses which he had forgotten to pick up. On his return we continued along the lane to …..

….. Coatsike farm, still as untidy as ever it was with regard to the outside area although the farmhouse itself was well kept and uncluttered. The sky is still on the gloomy side but there are hints that it will be thinning out a little before much longer.

We’re beyond the farm now and walking along the ‘green’ lane towards the old farm buildings at Halsteads. The path looks fine in this shot but it became something of a nightmare walk a little further on as it gradually turned muddier and muddier. We came to a stop in several places where the mud was ankle deep, and probably deeper, as we looked for suitable places for the next footstep.

Much relief all round when we came to the end of it and passed through the gate onto the firmer ground of the path beyond.

Passing a holly bush laden with berries on the way. By now this part of the path had also become very muddy but at least we had the beginnings of some weak sunshine, and …..

….. by the time we had negotiated all the mud and arrived at the derelict farm buildings at Halstead the cloud had gone and we were treated to sunshine and a beautiful blue sky. It was far too muddy to venture into the yard so I had to be content with taking the shot from the gate.

Cattle clustered around the feed trough just the other side of the old farmhouse. A glance at their legs, sunk deep into the surrounding mud, indicates how bad things were just here. To make matters even trickier the tan coloured beast decided to go and stand right across our route effectively forcing us into the deeper mud just out of shot on the right. After some slithering and sliding we eventually made it across to the rising ground of Cosca Hill just ahead.

Looking across to Dufton Pike from the path up Cosca Hill. The path was still muddy but wasn’t deep enough to sink into.

Up on Cosca Hill at this point with a view of the Pennine Way track making its way over to Great Dun Fell. With a zoom in its possible to see the white civil aviation authority radome illuminated in the sunlight on the top of that fell.

A view of Knock Pike from Cosca Hill.

Below us is the path we would have been on had we not diverted up to Cosca Hill. As can be seen the path eventually splits a little further along, the left hand path continuing on as the Pennine Way, and the right hand one turning southeasterly above Great Rundale Beck. We decided to stay on Cosca Hill and descend to the Great Rundale Beck path from there which effectively cuts the corner off.

Brownber Hill on the other side of Great Rundale Beck from our route across Cosca Hill.

Cow and calf arrive at the pool for a drink and possibly a paddle. On the distant skyline its just about possible to identify Kidsty Pike and High Street but its all still very murky over there.

A slightly different view of Dufton Pike from the path over Cosca Hill. Even at this lowly height the wind has picked up quite a bit and is now blowing our hair every which way.

Brownber Hill across the valley as we begin our descent down to the path on the eastern side of Dufton Pike.

On the way down we came across this solitary mushroom. I have tried to identify exactly what it is but without success. The images I looked at which seemed to match the pattern that this one has all had different gill and stem features which this one didn’t have at all so I have no idea what it was, other than it was obviously a very lonely mushroom as there were no others of any kind on show anywhere else along the rest of our walk.

Long shadows on the eastern side of Dufton Pike as we follow the field path above Great Rundale Beck.

The path is fairly high above the beck and the tree foliage obscures any view of it at the moment. However, there are a couple of fords used by farmers which offer a somewhat restricted view of the beck and this is one of them. I used maximum zoom for this shot so you can judge how far down from the path the beck really is.

A look back at Knock Pike as it begins to reveal another aspect of its personality. Its not quite the dull grassy mound that it appears to be from the earlier shots of it.

Another look back from the gated stile. Strong springs on the gate and narrow steps did not make for a graceful crossing of it.

The bracken has turned brown and is dying back although it still remains more or less upright. It will have offered stiff resistance to walkers during the months when it was green, strong and tall. The path through it would probably have been more or less covered over.

Through the bracken and onto the grassy green terrace section where we are now in Dufton Pike’s shadow and will be until we round the hill at the far end. Over on the left the cliffs above the mining area in Great Rundale have come into view. We had a walk up Great Rundale on 26th March 2018 so anyone interested in seeing what it looks like can take a look at that walk. There was a lot of snow about at the time but it will give some idea of the geography of the place.

Back in the sunshine and a view along Great Rundale. The path up to the mining area and Great Rundale tarn is on the other side of the wall visible in the upper right corner of the shot.

We’re now on the track going up to Great Rundale having just passed through the gate which marked the end of the path we were on. We haven’t time to walk up Great Rundale today so we turn around and head back down the track towards Dufton.

A herd of cows and their calves were either grazing or snoozing as we made our way down. Its what homo sapiens also seems to do on Sunday afternoons. Backstone Edge is on the skyline.

Autumn colours are gradually starting to appear as the daylight hours grow imperceptibly shorter. In three weeks time they will become even shorter by one whole hour when British Summer Time comes to an end and we all have to put our clocks back. It doesn’t seem all that long ago we were getting the garden back into shape after the ravages of winter in readiness for spring planting. This year we’ve had to put it back into shape a couple of times after the ravages of summer storms and gales.

A look back towards Brownber Hill and Great Rundale before the view disappears as we round the bend.

The calf was some distance down the hill from its mother as we approached so she gave it a call and it came scampering back to safety. Both of them kept a close eye on us as we passed.

A shot looking over towards Little Rundale Beck and Backstone Edge

The view of the Far Eastern fells is now non-existent as we round the bend and make our way back to Dufton. On the path ahead is a young boy, shirt tied around his waist, scampering up the path. A few yards behind him were a couple of teenage girls with two younger girls and …..

….. a long way further down, just a few yards back from the access gate to the Dufton Pike path, were their parents. They seemed glad of the opportunity to stop and ask us if we had seen some of their children further ahead of them. Their descriptions matched the youngsters we had seen so we were able to assure them that they were OK. Its always the same, younger family members are usually quite a distance ahead of their adult relatives, its all that youthful energy. Wouldn’t it be great if that remained the case all through life? Back to the photo above where it looks like some ditch clearance has been taking place thus creating a wider and deeper ditch and creating a bit of a problem for anyone wanting to access the path up Dufton Pike beyond the gate. Access is now possible thanks to the solution shown in the shot. We wondered if it will become a permanent feature.

A look back to Dufton Pike before we start to drop down even further and the view disappears. We’re doing well with the blue sky and sunshine so far.

If there hadn’t been two very large dumpster bags full of building rubbish hanging from the garden gate I would have  been able to take a much better shot of Pusgill House and the renovations it has undergone. As it was I had to resort to perching on a couple of low stones in the garden wall.

From the same perch I took this shot of the statue of a deer which has been sited in the field adjoining the paved terrace of the house.

J negotiates the last big puddle as we walk up the lane leading back into the village …..

….. and here’s a look back at where the lane enters Dufton village. From here its just a short walk …..

….. back into the centre of the village where the water trough and the Stag Inn are situated. It seems that by now the Stag’s Sunday dinner customers have had their fill and left as there are more car parking spaces available now.

The Stag Inn where customers can eat their meals front or back of house. There are tables in the bar area situated at the front and in the dining room at the back. In fair weather the rear dining room opens out onto the very pleasant garden area which also has tables plus a magnificent view of Dufton Pike at no extra cost!

Strolling down the hill at the end of the village to where the car is parked just a little way further down the hill. By the time we reached it the sunshine had disappeared and the cloud had rolled back in so we felt very fortunate to have had at least a couple of hours of blue sky and sunshine and a very pleasant walk, despite all the mud. When we reached the back door at home and put the key in the lock we felt the first few drops of rain falling on us, here we go again!

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Walk date – 8th September 2023

Distance – 7.7 miles

Weather – hot and hazy

We were going to do this walk yesterday (Thursday) but the cloud cover was very low yet again so we waited until today when the forecast seemed somewhat more optimistic. We haven’t walked around Crummock Water since January 2016 and given how very warm it has been this week the thought of slogging up a steep fellside in close and muggy weather held very little appeal, especially for me and my tendency to wilt rapidly in such conditions. Me and very warm/hot weather just don’t get on well together so on the basis that there would at least be a cooling breeze around the water off we went to Buttermere for a refreshing saunter around Crummock Water because there’s always a breeze near a body of water, right? Er, no there wasn’t and as the day grew hotter and hotter our wilting rate increased accordingly. By the time we were back in Buttermere we were a pair of damp rags with every item of clothing sticking to us like glue.

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Route

A circular walk around Crummock Water starting from Buttermere

Having parked up in the parking area alongside the former Fish Inn, now operating under the name of The Buttermere Court Hotel, and paying our excessive (in my view but then it is Buttermere) parking dues we set off on the field path route making for Scale Bridge. Above is the view we had of Mellbreak from the path to the bridge. Its not low cloud that is obscuring the views today but there is a great deal of haze around so most of today’s photos suffered as a result.

On the other side of the water is the Grasmoor group of fells, namely, from left to right, Rannerdale Knotts, Grasmoor, Whiteless Pike and Whiteless Breast, again taken from the field path to Scale Bridge.

Across Scale Bridge now where I took a look back at the view, what there is of it. Grasmoor can just about be seen with Whiteless Pike just a little more discernible. The old bridge crosses Buttermere Dubs, the stream of water flowing from Buttermere Water into Crummock Water, and was obviously originally built to accommodate horse and cart traffic.

Crummock Water comes into view and, at the far end of it, so do the Loweswater group of fells. We have a solo female walker ahead of us and we have just passed a couple who seemed just to be out for a morning stroll judging by the lack of packs and, in the female’s case, the kind of clothing more suitable for a beach holiday (especially the sandals) so they were unlikely to be going very far. He said something unintelligible to both of us as we passed so all we could do was respond with a Good Morning and a cheerful smile in the hope that that would be sufficient.

The Woodhouse Islands come into view (on the extreme right) below Rannerdale Knotts and Grasmoor as we walked the rough, uneven path through the area where several streams flow down into Crummock from the surrounding fells.

Same stream but now showing Whiteless Pike and Whiteless Breast on the left and part of the High Stile ridge on the right.

A little more of Grasmoor begins to gradually appear.

Scale Island and Mellbreak in shot as the path becomes firm and dry once again.

The solo female walker has turned up the Scale Beck path, out of shot to the left, we carry straight on and the couple we passed earlier are nowhere to be seen so perhaps the path may have been too rough for the sandals to deal with and they’ve turned back. A wise decision given how very soggy and muddy things became just a little further on. The ground conditions along much of the path along this side of Crummock are really not the best place for footwear more appropriate for a flat and level seaside promenade as they vary from rough and stony to soggy and muddy at frequent intervals.

Crossing one of the bridges over Scale Beck where Mellbreak is hiding behind the trees. On the right of the shot though is High Ling Crag.

Almost the whole of Grasmoor is now in view. The smaller hump below it, just behind Rannerdale Knotts, is Lad Hows with its very steep ridge route up to Grasmoor just about visible. We came down that path in 2016 on a similarly very warm October day and met two lads, both of them red in the face and sweating heavily, sitting on a rock, taking a break from their climb and staring gloomily upwards at how far they still had to go. The descent was tough enough for us.

On we go towards Low Ling Crag from where I had hoped to take a few shots but with some people having set up camp on it and their belongings spread out all over it I decided not to bother. Another time perhaps. The bracken is dying off nicely I’m pleased to report.

The view back to Low Ling Crag and Rannerdale Knotts. To the left is Whiteless Pike and the ridge route to Wandope.

The still waters of Crummock and Whiteside now in view over to the right.

Grasmoor reflections. There’s never a breeze when you need once is there? Hoping for a cooling walk around Crummock never materialised and the temperature was steadily rising.

Looking back through the haze towards Fleetwith Pike and Haystacks across a flat calm water. Very atmospheric.

Another look back with both High and Low Ling Crag across the middle of the shot, behind them the Red Pike/High Stile/High Crag group is nothing more than a series of grey-blue shapes.

The views become more open when the steep sides of Mellbreak begin to flatten out a little. We can see the shingle beach at the far end of the water and that’s where we’re planning to take a break. Its a little after 11.00 am now and the heat is overpowering so a break will be more than welcome by the time we get to the shingle beach.

At this point access to the water didn’t involve clambering down any banking so over we went and dunked our pack towels in the water and draped them around our necks. A few moments of cooling bliss followed.

The two giants, Whiteside and Grasmoor, from the shingle beach at the foot of Crummock Water. We found some flat topped stones on which to sit and take a break, have something to eat and observe the surrounding activity that always takes place when folks gather on a beach. When we’ve finished our break we will head towards the tree covered promontory at the end of the green field, follow the path around it and head for the next shingle beach beyond.

The subdued view back towards Rannerdale Knotts from our refreshment stop. Looks like a slight breeze is rippling the surface of the water back there. No such luck where we are, the water is still flat calm and the sun is blazing down on us. We dunk the towels again before setting off again after our break.

We followed the path over the wooded promontory and dropped down to this smaller beach area and had a few minutes chat with a local lad out walking his dog. The dog, named George, can be seen swimming over on the right of the shot. Apparently this is one of George’s favourite swimming spots and its quite difficult to get him to come out of the water. His owner knows by now that when the dog swims towards the shore he’s not really coming out. As soon as his paws hit the bottom of the water he simply turns around and swims back out again. The dog, true to his owner’s word, did just that several times while we were talking, the lad said it was a devil of a job just to get George to come out.

As we were chatting I took another shot of Whiteside and Grasmoor behind Lanthwaite Wood. The off road parking area at Lanthwaite Green is just behind the woods.

More towel dunking as we approached the outflow of Crummock Water which in turn becomes the river Cocker and wends its way along Lorton Vale towards Cockermouth and ultimately the sea.

How we longed to be in there!

From the outflow and across another shingle beach full of sunbathers, paddlers and swimmers and into the blissful cooling shade of Lanthwaite Wood which perks us up just a little, the heat is still overwhelming but the shade is more than welcome.

We reach a clearing in the woods and have a view across, L to R, to Hen Comb, Blake Fell, Carling Knott and Burnbank Fell.

More blissful shade as we carry on through the wood …..

….. but it wasn’t to last too much longer and here comes the end of it. We have just met two chaps coming into the wood both of whom said what a relief it was to have some shade at last. We, alas, have come to the end of our ration of shade and are about to hit the open path once more.

There were still the odd patches of shade here and there along the way and in the shelter of one of them I took this shot looking over towards Grasmoor towering above us.

Further on and another patch of shade allowed a shot across the shingle cove towards Red Pike and the rest of the High Stile ridge.

Our footpath walking is about to come to an end, once across the footbridge we will be turfed out onto the road as the land ahead is private and does not have a footpath across it. We have just been asked by a young woman if there was any beach further along where it was a bit quieter so we told her that there was just a little further along the path. All the available beaches just below the bracken on the right of the shot were full of folk so there was no space available for her to set up her paddleboard judging by the huge backpack she was carrying. I expect she and everyone else had parked just a little further on in the parking area at Cinderdale Common and walked the short distance to the footpath and the various beaches from there.

Mellbreak across the private fields as we walked the tarmac.

A close up view of Whiteless Pike and the ridge line to Wandope from the road.

The mighty Grasmoor in full sun as we pass the foot of Rannerdale Knotts and …..

….. make our way around Hause Point. This shot was taken from a grassy perch which presented itself so we flopped down for a few minutes to take a break. The peace was shattered by the almighty roar of a single F16 flying just over our heads, damned Yanks!

The noise dies away, all is quiet once more leaving us to contemplate this lovely view of Mellbreak across the water, and …..

….. this one looking over towards Fleetwith Pike and Haystacks, plus …..

….. this one of the High Stile ridge. We reluctantly get back on our feet again to walk the road just a short distance further before leaving it and dropping down to the lakeshore path to walk around the headland, over on the left, and back to the car.

Leaving the road and following the woodland path down to the shoreline.

A view back along Crummock Water from the shoreline. Lots of people along here just enjoying the hot weather while indulging in a variety of water activities. We indulged in a water activity too, splashing our faces with scoops of water counts as a water activity, doesn’t it?

We make our way around the headland and the camp site beside Mill Beck comes into view. The car parking area beside the hotel is opposite the camp site on the other side of the beck so we haven’t much further to go at this point and the end is in sight. We are like a pair of drooping flowers right now and much in need of a very cold drink so we dunk the towels for the last time today, drape them around our necks and plod wearily back to the car. Only the thought of a can of something very cold from the cafe in Buttermere keeps us going and the sooner we get there the sooner we can have one. By ‘eck, its been a hot walk today.

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Walk date – 4th September 2023

Distance – 6.3 miles

Weather – sunny and very warm, light breeze

 

The recent spell of miserable weather came to an end over the weekend bringing warm and sunny conditions which seem set to remain with us for a few days and, as often happens, is perfectly timed to coincide with the first week of the new school term. Visitors with school age children who spent their holidays in a wet, gloomy and very grey Lake District during the summer break must be somewhat disgruntled at this turn of events. In view of this unexpected turn of the weather we decided to have another go at today’s walk which we abandoned on the Friday just gone thanks to the very low cloud and overall greyness of the weather on that day. Its a moderate length walk over fells of moderate height so we thought it would be just the thing for today’s forecasted weather. As it turned out the day turned out to be very warm indeed and, as we sweated our way round, we were pleased we hadn’t chosen to walk any of the higher fells today.

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Route

Parking area at Darling How – Forest track to Graystones – Graystones – Widow Hause – Broom Fell – Lord’s Seat – Forest track to Darling How parking area

Ladyside Pike and Swinside from the parking area near Darling How. Its a very warm morning with a clear blue sky and nothing much by way of a breeze so its t-shirt weather from the start. Plus, in my case, a baseball cap to keep the sun out of my eyes. Lots of notices were in evidence concerning logging which was taking place in specific areas which we noted included places on today’s intended route. We decided we’d deal with those as we came to them.

A short distance from the parking area is this track going down to the left so we leave the main track to follow it.

Dropping down the forest track into the Aiken Beck valley where we can already hear the buzz of machinery up ahead of us. Logging was taking place on our last visit here in 2021 although at that time the logging was taking place further back up the track.

At this bend in the track we paused to take a look over at the amount of logging which has taken place on the slopes of Graystones over the years. The cleared area below the plantation higher up has not been replanted so it seems as though this is likely to be left as a more open area. I can’t tell from the photo whether this would allow more open access for visitors to Spout Force, we remember fighting our way through dense forest years ago just to visit the waterfall so maybe that’s what it is all about.

From the same bend in the track I turn around for this view across the cleared area over to Lord’s Seat. I’ve already mopped my face several times and we’ve only been going a few minutes so I’ll probably be like a damp rag by the time we get over there. A little further on up the track we met an elderly local chap out walking his two dogs who told us that one of the logging machines was blocking the track and pointed out the forest path which he had used to get around it. We had used that path some years ago but had forgotten about it so we thanked him for the tip. We got the impression that he was none too pleased with all the logging that was taking place particularly as many of the forest tracks he once used to walk with his dogs had disappeared. We could definitely relate to that, but that’s progress in some folks opinion.

Having followed the old path through the forest we emerged back into the sunlight again on this established forest track where we walk over to the other end of it for the short climb through the felled scrubland at Widow Hause.

A fine view of Graystones from the open area of hard standing about halfway along the track. When we reached it we took the clear path climbing up through the scrub on the right.

With the sun on our backs we emerged, hot and sweating, onto the faint path through the scrub and made our way over to the fence crossing. Here’s a look along the Aiken Beck valley as we paused for a face mop and a drink.

Having reached the fence we paused briefly while I took a look over towards Ling Fell and …..

….. Sale Fell with the hump of Binsey right behind it.

We branched off the main path from the fence and followed the traverse path across the slopes of Graystones just to avoid walking the same route when we descend. J took advantage of the photo stop to sit down and take in the view across Widow Hause to Broom Fell and Lord’s Seat. Immediately below us is the track below Widow Hause we walked along when we emerged from the forest path, also visible is the short path we used to climb up to the fence line together with the area of hard standing from where I took a previous shot.

Here we are on the summit of Graystones with a view over the Solway Firth toward Criffel in Dumfries and Galloway. Long distance views were very hazy today. The white area over the Solway on the extreme right of the shot was an inversion which gradually dissipated as we made our way back across Widow Hause.

The view from Graystones of our route across to Broom Fell and Lord’s Seat. Behind them is the Skiddaw group.

We had a Mars Bar break on the summit and then made our way back down to the fence line across Widow Hause.

A look back towards Graystones as we cross Widow Hause where we had a very welcome light breeze from time to time.

Looking ahead at the path over to Broom Fell where there is an abundance of steep climbing, with accompanying face mopping stops, waiting for us.

Another look back across Widow Hause to Graystones as we begin to climb using the dug in footsteps created by thousands of walkers over the years. Nevertheless the climb is still energy sapping especially on such a warm day.

Eventually Broom Fell and Lord’s Seat come back into view but there still a heck of a lot of up to climb before we set foot on either of them.

Broom Fell’s summit ‘furniture’ with the Skiddaw group just peeping up behind it. It was disappointing to find that the small memorial stone hidden in the cairn that we found on our last visit had disappeared. We stopped for a short break on Broom Fell and had something to eat. It was an early lunch as stomachs were indicating that a few hours had elapsed since breakfast.

Planet earth hadn’t rotated quite enough for the sun to light up the fells to the south of Broom Fell so all our views of them were of the merged blob variety. Grisedale Pike and Hopegill Head managed to stand out clearly though.

The view back along our route from Graystones from Broom Fell summit.

The Skiddaw group has sunshine on it and stands out more clearly. The small hill peeping out behind the fence pole to the right is Dodd. Behind that is the Carl Side to Ullock Pike ridge, with Skiddaw itself right behind them.

A look over the fence towards our next fell where some fair weather cloud has bubbled up and puts Lord’s Seat temporarily in the shade.

Another look southwards over the fence this time with Causey Pike in the shot over towards the left.

Over the stile we go and make our way over to Lord’s Seat meeting more people out walking and enjoying the sunny weather than we have met so far. One walker came towards us as we crossed Widow Hause and two people came up behind us a few minutes after we reached the top of Broom Fell and that was it until we began this part of our walk.

The last bit of climbing has been done and we are now on Lord’s Seat with this view of the Aiken Beck valley. The extent of the logging on the lower slopes of Graystones and Broom Fell can be seen very clearly now.

Looking back along our route from Graystones and Broom Fell from Lord’s Seat summit. There were other walkers on the summit so taking shots from it was somewhat limited.

We dropped lower down for a few long distance skyline views starting with Clough Head, The Dodds and the Helvellyn group …..

….. Bleaberry Fell, High Seat and Ullscarf come into the picture behind Ullister Hill across the middle foreground …..

….. the ‘knuckles’ of Causey Pike with Maiden Moor and High Spy to its left with Dale Head popping up behind over on the right …..

….. Scar Crags just behind the long sweep of Grisedale Pike …..

….. Hopegill Head with Grasmoor just visible behind it with Whiteside over on the right.

We spent a few minutes just sitting, relaxing and taking in the views on the lower slopes of Lord’s Seat before hoisting packs again and descending in the Ullister Hill direction.

A little further on from the previous photo we take a right turn onto the path, very boggy to begin with but stick with it as it doesn’t last long, leading us back down through the forest and onto the main track through the valley.

Here we are back down and walking down the main forest track with a view of Whinlatter Fell straight ahead of us. The valley was a proper little sun trap today and so the walk back was very warm indeed.

Broom Fell from a section of the track which offered some shade and gave us some very welcome relief.

Looking across to the cleared and open section where the logging equipment has moved down the track although a zoom in will help to see it more clearly.

A closer look at the bare slopes of Greystones …..

….. and the cleared slopes on part of Broom Fell.

Just as we approached the parking area this log transporter arrived at the locked gate in a cloud of dust. The driver got out of the cab, unlocked the padlock, swung the gate back and fastened it open with a catch mechanism attached to a post, drove through, got out of the cab again, closed and locked the gate and proceeded along the track, raising another cloud of dust, to collect a waiting stack of logs from somewhere along the valley. Quite surprising that, in this day and age, the old padlock and key method is still in operation, but then electronic gadgets have been known to fail, haven’t they? Padlock and key not quite as susceptible to failure although it does rely on the driver remembering to pick up the key in the first place. I might add that J was none too pleased when we reached the car and finding it covered in dust, especially as he only washed it yesterday! Oh well, a cup of tea or coffee will soon put things to rights.

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