The Old Coach Road
Walk date – 11th August 2024
Distance – 5 miles
Weather – very warm and sunny, occasional light breeze
We spent a couple of hours strolling along the old coach road today. We don’t normally go out walking at the weekend but as the day became progressively sunnier and warmer when the sheets of thin white ‘artificial’ cloud eventually drifted away we decided to take an afternoon walk and make the most of the sunny weather. (Question – why is all the artificial spraying to block the sun taking place at the same time as solar radiation panels, which depend on sunlight to produce electricity, are being installed?) Anyway, we finally opted for the old coach road, it being close to home but somewhat distant from the ‘hot’ spots. Having joined a long queue of slow moving traffic on the approach to Eamont Bridge when we reached the mini roundabout in the village we turned left and headed for Yanwath and eventually the Ullswater lakeshore road as far as the turn off just beyond Aira Force. We had intended using the A66 route but waiting in a long queue of very slow moving traffic just to get onto it seemed counter-productive hence our route change. Every conceivable parking space along the lakeshore road was full and, as we drove up the A5091 heading for Dockray and High Row, we could see that the same situation also applied to all the Aira Force and Gowbarrow parking areas. It didn’t bode well and, sure enough, when we reached High Row the parking areas there were all full too. We eventually managed to park safely off road on one of the nearby grass verges and so take our afternoon walk in the sunshine.
Route
An out and back walk from High Row to Mariel Bridge along the old coach road
The entrance gate to Matterdale Common and the beginning of the old coach road from the High Row parking area. The afternoon is very warm and sunny, blue skies are above us and t-shirts and shorts are the order of the day.
The track is always full of large puddles which never seem to fully dry out, it would probably take a whole summer’s worth of drought before they did and we haven’t had one of those this year. However they do freeze up during the winter which makes walking along here even more entertaining. Wet feet or a sprained ankle or worse, take your pick.
The ford at Grove Beck which had just a bit too much water in it today …..
….. so we used the bridge instead.
A view of Grove Beck looking upstream from the bridge.
Watermillock Common filling the skyline as we rejoin the coach road. A cyclist has just pushed his bike across the bridge and stopped to talk to J while he waited for me. I heard him telling J about all the routes he had cycled over but he eventually got back on his bike and pedalled off along the track.
A view of Great Mell Fell as we continued along the track.
Blencathra’s eastern slopes covered in purple heather across Threlkeld Common with the Hall’s Fell ridge route standing out clearly in the sunlight. The Doddick Fell route, to the right of it, is also clear to see.
Looking ahead to Clough Head with its subsidiary peak, White Pike, to the right of the summit area.
On the centre horizon is Little Man and Skiddaw, below them is Lonscale Fell and below that, over on the right of the shot is Blease Fell. I think the fell towards the left of the slopes of Little Man is probably Dodd.
Wolf Crags on our left which we ought to get around to walking over one of these days having only ever viewed it from down here or Randerside on the way up to Great Dodd.
Wolf Crags and Clough Head.
Another view of Blencathra and some of its neighbours across the gullies of Mother Sike from Mothersike Brow.
You might have to zoom in a little to see it but Mariel Bridge has appeared. It can be located in the valley immediately below the peak of White Pike. From the previous photo we dropped down one side of Mothersike Brow, walked up the other side beyond which the track begins dropping down to the bridge.
We reach Mariel Bridge which is two and a half miles from the entrance gate an hour after starting out. We decided that this would be our turn around point so we decided to get the drinks and snacks out and sit and enjoy the sunshine for a while. As we were approaching the bridge we could see an ‘off-roader’ coming across it and heading for the very deep and watery holes just beyond it. As we had just passed them J was interested to see how the vehicle dealt with them, it just about managed to get through. J informs me that it was either a Mitsubishi Shogun or a Toyota Landcruiser, he can’t remember which. I have to ask him because all these types of cars look the same to me.
Mariel Bridge crosses Mosedale Beck and this view, taken from the bridge, is looking upstream towards Calfhow Pike between Great Dodd to its left and Clough Head to its right …..
….. and this is the view downstream looking towards Blencathra.
Looking upstream again from below the bridge where a little weir across the beck forms a small waterfall. We took our break on the grassy area over on the left and exchanged greetings with a husband and wife pair, followed by a group of six younger walkers, five of whom were girls, these in turn were followed by two solo male walkers the latter of which turned off the track, came past us and followed a trail through the long grass alongside the beck heading in the Highgate/Wallthwaite direction. All that in the space of half an hour.
J packs away our gear into his pack …..
….. while I look around for photo shots. Just beyond the double gate are the deep and water filled holes in the track which the ‘off-roader’ had had to deal with as we approached the bridge. There is also a single gate for pedestrians to use.
A look back from the bridge as we begin the return leg of our walk. Just after we had passed through the pedestrian gate we could see another ‘off-roader’, a Landrover Discovery this time, coming towards us which J waved down to let its occupants know that there were some deep holes just in front of them …..
….. a look back to see how the Landrover Discovery was getting on. It managed the ones in the foreground of the shot fairly well, but had a bit of difficulty at the next set just in front of the double gate. It came to a stop at the bottom of the holes but with a good deal of slithering and sliding manage to extricate itself and was able to go on its way over to St John’s in the Vale, hopefully with no further problems. The guys in the vehicle were red in the face and sweating profusely but smiling happily nevertheless. I would have been feeling ill and more than happy to walk the rest of the way.
Cyclists were also out in abundance today, we’ve already had several come by us both on the outward and return legs of our walk and the two up ahead, now cycling up Mothersike Brow, startled us with their unexpected shout out to let us know they were coming along. I suppose having a bell on the handlebars is considered old-fashioned and ‘uncool’ now but at least they didn’t make you almost jump out of your skin like a full throated shout does, especially when its unexpected.
A zoom in might be required here in order to see Mousethwaite Comb more clearly. To the right of the col is Souther Fell and to the left is Scales Fell. Above the col are Bannerdale Crags and Bowscale Fell.
Great Mell Fell again, this time from the old sheepfold known as Barbaryrigg Fold.
A look back at the last of three motor cyclists raising dust as they speed along, at least we could hear them in the distance before we could even see them. I wondered how they would deal with the deep, water filled holes as they approached the gate.
The two Mell Fells now in view as we reach the last remaining section of wall, the rest of the wall, going down across the field, has long since collapsed.
A better view of the two Mell Fells appears once we have passed the forest section.
The track curves around and brings us back to the bridge over Grove Beck. John waits at the bridge while I take the shot from the ford just above it.
Almost back to the entrance gate at High Row now where there are parking spaces aplenty now that their owners have returned from their walks. We do just the same and as I waited for J to reverse the car out of its parking spot I noticed this ….
….. growing out of a hollow in a fence post. Seems like bracken will make itself at home just about anywhere!