Here we are again in our beloved playground with a trip up Walla Crag and Bleaberry Fell planned for today. Different forecasts saying different things meant we were equipped for all weather and with waterproofs packed along with the cheese and piccalilli sandwiches we set off up the path with the plan to venture up and over Walla Crag and then over to Bleaberry Fell, back over to Walla Crag and then down to the waters edge through the woods and if we were lucky the sun would come out and give us some light to take some nice pics (famous last words !)
The path up to Walla Crag is fairly straightforward and gave us some lovely views of the emerging town of Keswick and backwards over to Blencathra. The sun was trying to make an appearance and give it its due it had a good go.
With Keswick and Bassenthwaite Lake and Blencathra opening up to behind us to the left we had Causy Pike and a whole host of other wonderful Fells to feast our eyes on. The clouds were opening every few moments and letting streams of light fall to the ground. The light changed minute by minute and constantly changed the picture before us.
After a quick stop at the top of Walla Crag we headed down the path that would take us over to Bleaberry Fell and out came the wine gums. We'd have our sandwiches on top of the next hill but I needed a bit of a sugar hit so dove into the bag of wine gums.
Bleaberry Fell is a lovely little hill with the added benefit of having a nice shelter at the top. On the way up we were hit by a rain shower that we watched come all the way down the valley finally hovering over us before moving away Eastwards. This was the first of many showers in the afternoon that would lead to more persistent rain later in the day.
After coming down from Blueberry we headed back towards Walla Crag where we'd take a left turn before reaching the summit again which would take us back down through the woods towards the edge of Derwent Water. With the weather constantly changing it was touch and go whether we'd make it down before the next rain shower but we were lucky, the showers stayed either side of us moving over adjoining fells keeping us dry for a bit longer.
On reaching the shores of Derwent Water we could see the rain on the other side of the lake. We were headed towards Keswick and hoped we'd make it before the showers hit us on the other side. We were almost lucky and just had time to duck into the Dog and Gun when the heavens opened once again.
Great walk out today. No more ticks with Chris only having a few more to go before hitting that magic 214 we need to get our act together and get those boxed off sooner rather than later.
