A weekend in Waswater Part 1

Racing to arrive before the light fades on a Friday night so we can try out our new tent for the weekend and Nether Wasdale was our destination. Church Stile Farm Campsite for the weekend with 5 wainwrights thrown in for good measure.

We arrived with plenty of light left in order to get the tent up, not perfectly, but not bad straight out the box and we headed for the pub for a little refreshment.

 

Saturday morning we were up bright and early and not really sure what the weather had in store for us. It was a bit grim, clouds everywhere and quite windy, although we were protected in the camp-site but could see the far trees swaying.

The hills ahead of us were our target for the day. Illgill Head and Whin Rigg then down to Waswater for a walk back along the screes.

The route up Illgill Head was a slog. Steepness and high found quite quickly. Looking back we could see the strength of the wind in the waves lapping the Cumbrian shoreline.

We met a nice lady from Liverpool whom I thought I recognised from somewhere. She was clearly the leader in her party as they straggled behind and all were heading for a Beer Festival in Boot and not claiming any tops today.

The path to the top of Illgill Head was clear enough but the wind was buffeting us all over the place. Chris did his impression of “flying man” at the summit and we didn’t stick around long. 

Over towards Whin Rigg there was a choice of paths and even though it was windy I chose the path that ran along the top of the screes and rock-face. It was thrilling. Straight down towards Waswater with the most beautiful rock on either side.

A flat plateau then onwards towards the next summit where there was a little shelter which enabled us to have a quick bite with the stunning Yewbarrow ahead of us.

We knew that as soon as we started downwards we would have lost the effect of the wind as it had been behind us all along the tops.

A nice wall guided us down and soon we were on the banks of Waswater and again we could see the effect of the wind on the top of the lake. Little water birds were darting all around as we started along the path to the screes.

The path was fairly level but the wind was now in front of us and the buffeting never ceased. We met a few people along the path but mainly we were on our own. Upwards was scree and rock and downwards was scree and rock dipping into the lake. Chris said that the screes went down into the lake as much as it was high behind us. Very deep water.

We were caught out suddenly by a very sharp rainstorm which made the skipping over rocks of the scree a little more treacherous as things became just a little slippy. Thankfully almost as soon as the rain had come it had gone and we were left, for the first time that day, bathed in sunlight. This was good news as the longest bit of scree was still to come and we hoped by the time we got there the sun would have dried most of the rock.

We weren’t disappointed. The big scree part was dry and absolutely delightful to cross with big section of very big boulders mixed with smaller sections of smaller rocks. I loved it.

The evening was now turning quite pleasant weather wise and the remainder of our walk back to the campsite was absolutely lovely with lots of little birdies flying about in the evening sun.

12 miles, variable weather, great walk and now for a nice meal coupled with a nice glass of red in The Strand. Grand day out!