Saturday mornings are always fun when they involve an early morning start (6.30am) and a stop at Tebay services for a coffee. Heading for the lakes the weather forecast was iffy but had the potential to be not a bad day. Winds might hamper us but there was hope for some sunshine in between the showers.
Car parked next to a lovely little bridge with some watery falls and we headed up the well paved path towards the first summit. It wasnt a high hill today but high enough to get the lungs working overtime on the steepish path upwards. We followed the path of the water for a while so we had plenty chances to stop, get a breather and take a snap or 2 of the water flowing down the side of the hill.
There was a lot of steep zig zagging which brought us out on a flattish plateau area. We could see High Seat in the distance and it was a fairly flat walk over towards the final path upwards to the trig point.
The views were good today. Some cloud was hanging low and obscuring the tops of the surrounding peaks but the light changed every few seconds and brought out some nice images. Would they translate into my camera, well time will tell !
After coming off the summit of High Seat we headed downwards to the plateau area before rising back up again to High Tove. This was the worst part of the walk. Bogginess and wet mud underfoot, terrific! It was relentless and reminded us of a time on Kinder that we spent hrs trying to find a way through the mud. This was like a mini Kinder and a lot of back and forward was going on to find a way through the mire.
We thought perhaps Tove was an ancient name for Bog as it was all around and not the most pleasant of walking. Even after visiting the summit and heading on the path downwards we came upon a gate which was surrounded by watery stuff. We named it Watergate ! Boom Boom !
The path downwards was a dream. A mixture of nice stepping stones and old stones which seemed to form the path of an old coaching road perhaps! Soon enough we were down at the Tarn where we would turn right and head back along the river to the car park.
Loads of mountain bikers out but luckily they didnt come our way. Just a man and a tripod taking a picture of a bridge that wasnt really that picturesque. Strange ! A bit further on we passed a house which had an array of garden birds flying about, this little cheeky chappie perched long enough for me to snap but was really too far away for me to capture him properly.
Nice walk back and after 4 hrs our walk was done. A shortish one today, still 10km but not as high today but a great leg stretcher and the weather was kind. Not much wind to speak off, sunshine off and on, no rain and a little bit chilly............so alls good !
