Hurrah, the weather
forecast, after being up and down all week, had finally settled on a
Saturday that was at best, variable. That'll do us so after a 6am
alarm and house exit at 6.45 we were off up the M6 towards that well
known junction 40 for Penrith. The hills today would take us past
Buttermere and start us off just behind Melbreak with 3 on the agenda
we hoped for a good days walking as well as some good pics.(fingers crossed)
The national trust
car park was easy to find and unlike most national trust facilities
there was no pay machine. So all those £1 coins I'd been collecting
all morning were of no use after all. Brilliant! The first part of
the walk was ahead of us with the initial part taking us through a
forested area which is always a treat when the sun is out and you get
it filtering through the trees casting shadows all around. The
little wild flowers are just starting to come out and the baby ferns
are all still curled up ready to spring into action later in the
year.
Once up and out of
the trees the we could see the path clearly heading up left towards
the top of the hill, well I say top, I mean the top part that I could
see. There was still a long way to go before the top of Burnbank was
reached however the walk was pleasant and good underfoot. Not much
bogginess and views back to the Solway Firth and over to Buttermere
and the surrounding hills were coming into view.
Lots of little birds
around and their chirping accompanied us for most of today’s walk
but unlike the meadow pipets of 2 wks ago we couldn’t see these
little birds quite so well, they were well hidden in the heather and
gorse.
The top of Burnbank
Fell was up and over a fence. No stile here so it was a hover over
the wire whilst balancing on 2 rocks sort of manoeuvre but we managed
it and then after the obligatory picture taking on the pile of rocks
it was back over again to follow the path up to Blake Fell.
Quite a distinctive
path and easy to follow and walk, not too steep but enough to keep
your muscles working. The most noticeable change was the wind, the
higher we got the more blustery it became and soon was very windy
indeed. Luckily at the top of Blake Fell there is a little shelter
and once hunkered down in that there was not even a breeze. Poke
your head out and it was near blown off !!!!
We ate lunch here
and I took my #summitselfie
and then we were off again to our last
hill of the day Gavel Fell. Down off Blake and then up the well
marked path to Gavel we were passed by a man laying a scent for the
trail hounds that would be on this route later in the day. It was
spooky as I'd only listened to a programme about the trail hounds of
the Lake District on Radio 4 earlier in the week and here was the
man, laying the scent of paraffin and aniseed for the dogs to follow
later, just like was mentioned in the radio programme. Pity we
wouldn't still be there when the dogs came over as I'm sure that
would be an incredible sight to see.
Gavel Fell touched
and ticked and it was time to head downwards. We followed the path
south and then took a sharp left which skirted us round the fell with
Hen Coomb on our right we were reminded of the day we were there,
back in 2012 when Chris reached his 100th Wainwright
milestone. It was a gentle path down and the path gently lead us
round and down until we were almost back at the car park, no before
we happened upon a field of sheep with one only too happy to have his
picture taken.
Great walk, great weather and 3 more boxes ticked.
I wonder what we'll do with the rest of the day???
