This morning’s walk was an ascent of The Old Man of Coniston using a less popular route via Boo Tarn up the south face which I can highly recommend; similarly the descent from Brim Fell was using a less popular route from Brim Fell down to Low Water. It was quite warm this morning and the sun shone on occasions – it was nice to get onto the tops early enough to be on my own.
There was no chance of any decent views from anywhere today as it was so grey with lots of low-lying cloud and plenty of rain about. I ended up having a low level walk from Duddon Bridge and visited the excellently renovated Duddon Iron Furnace and walked through ancient woodland to find the Ash House Standing Stones, one of the many megaliths in the area; the Wordsworth mentioned Swinside Stone Circle is less than a mile away, as is the Lacra megalith complex.
The schools are on holiday again this week, so I was joined on this lovely, sunny walk up to Beacon Fell by Connie, my 4 year old daughter. With promises of ‘treasure’ at the top (thanks to Liz Lemal for telling me about it) it made for an interesting walk with great views on such a nice day.
This morning’s walk was a fairly round of Lower Eskdale which brought a mixed bag of weather with the greyness clearing towards the end with a fair amount of warmth. Even though these fells were small in stature for Eskdale, there were superb views to the head of the valley, especially from the lowly Goat Crag. The valley was very quiet today, a scene which will change for sure next week during the school holidays.
The morning started off sunny and bright, right until I reached Ambleside when the clouds came in and it wasn’t long before the heavens opened. That’s the way it stayed right through this walk, the highlight being Stockghyll Force; the rest of the walk saw no views. I think Angus was wishing for his hair back on top of Wansfell Pike as it was decidedly chilly. There was me thinking it would soon be summer when I had his hair cut..
Today we had a family outing to the virtually unfrequented Blawith Knott which lies between Broughton-in-Furness and Torver. This is another fell that is small in stature and is easy going, yet offers magnificent views to the Coniston fells.
This walk follows the one described in Wainwright’s Blawith Knott chapter in his book ‘The Outlying Fells of Lakeland’, page 108.
The sun continued to shine for this morning’s ascent to the north-west cornerstone of the Coniston fells, Grey Friar. There was a strong, icy breeze blasting down from the fells across Seathwaite Tarn and it felt a lot colder than yesterday.
Grey Friar, standing apart from the main Coniston fells, gives magnificent, uninterrupted views of the Sca Fells and a great view of Harter Fell and westwards out to the coast and the Irish Sea.
The sun was shining again today, with temperatures up to a pleasant 17C at valley level, although at times it was quite chilly in the cold breeze on the tops. I had a walk up to the Coniston fells from Torver, using the gradual ascent up to Walna Scar via the ‘ignored by Wainwright’ south western fells. The view becomes increasingly better using this route with unrivalled views of the southern Coniston fells and great views along the Duddon Valley to Harter Fell and the Sca Fells beyond.
I had a much shorter walk today than my previous excursion to Ennerdale, with a visit to a pleasantly sunny Stickle Pike which lies between the Lickle and Duddon valley’s. Angus, fresh from the barbers, certainly enjoyed his new non-hairy freedom!
Stickle Pike is described in Wainwright’s Stickle Pike chapter in his book ‘The Outlying Fells of Lakeland’, page 126.
Today’s walk is a long, high level circuit of the beautiful Ennerdale Valley with virtually the whole route being completed at an elevation in excess of 500m. I have had this one on my list of ‘to do’ walks for a while so it was satisfying to complete the walk on a mainly clear day. The photo’s here actually belie the conditions somewhat as the clouds came in when I was crossing from Haystacks to Pillar and there was an icy blizzard. The snow showers continued to come and go throughout the rest of the walk and conditions remained very cold.
This morning’s short walk was from the Duddon Valley up to Harter Fell, a sometimes boggy and pathless climb. The south eastern face of Harter Fell has been transformed over the last year or two with the deforestation of this part of the Dunnerdale Forest – Wainwright said there was no access to Harter Fell from the Duddon Valley, but of course that has all changed now.
The cloud was lying heavily on the higher tops today, so I knew there wouldn’t be any views from my round of Grasmoor. The wind was howling and quite cold, there was a great moment descending to Whiteless Pike when the mist cleared all of a sudden and I was rewarded with great views; five minutes later the mist and drizzle closed back in. I descended Rannerdale Knotts into Rannerdale to see the famous Bluebells, now in bloom and well worth a visit.
I was in Kendal at lunchtime, the sun was shining so I took the opportunity to try and dry out after yesterdays damp affair and headed up to the Wainwright Outlying fell, Hugill Fell from Staveley. A nice and easy one this with some great views, especially when the sun shines.
Today’s short walk follows Wainwright’s Hugill Fell chapters in his book ‘The Outlying Fells of Lakeland’, page 22.
The heavens had opened when I set off this morning for the climb up to Caudale Moor on the eastern side of Kirkstone Pass. There were no views and it was quite miserable until I descended to Troutbeck where the sun came out – and of course shone on the places I had just been! This was a boggy affair due to the amount of rain and coupled with one or two tricky river crossings, it made for a very damp day.
Tilberthwaite – High Fell – Blake Rigg – Wetherlam Edge – Wetherlam – Steel Edge – Tilberthwaite Gill – Tilberthwaite [4.6 miles, 918m ascent]
The blue skies of yesterday had gone again by this morning to be replaced by the more usual leaden, grey variety. I think I picked the brightest place in the whole Lake District for a walk today from Loweswater up to Mellbreak and back along the other side of Mosedale along the Hen Comb ridge.
I called in on Roger and Ann Hiley at Oak Cottage, Loweswater who joined me for the initial stage of the walk up to Mellbreak with their two dogs Harry and Bethan.
Today’s walk is another great one along that undulating, rocky ridge of Glaramara. The walk started and finished steeply with a harsh climb up to Seathwaite Fell and a straight down descent from Glaramara.
The sun shone brightly today with temperature reaching a heady 20oC with only a slightly cool breeze reminding me that it is still early on. However, this was the first airing of the year for my Lily-white, winter conditioned legs in shorts – a nice feeling – and the whole walk was completed in shorts and tee shirt only.
Three Shire Stone – Rough Crags – Cold Pike – Red Tarn – Pike O’ Blisco – Black Crag – Three Shire Stone
Today’s walk is a round of Upper Eskdale, one of the wildest and best valleys in the Lake District. At the head of Eskdale lie the ‘heads of state’ of English mountains, namely Scafell Pike, Sca Fell, Esk Pike and Bow Fell and this area offers some of the finest views anywhere.
Once again, it seems winter has returned with snow showers present throughout the walk and fresh snow on top of the high fells.
