Derwentwater Round

Sunday morning and there is nothing better than a good walk to blow the cobwebs away from the night before which involved a few Gin's whilst watching Scotland win the Calcutta Cup. Yay !

The walk this morning we'd decided on was round Derwentwater and it was magnificent with reflections on the water and fells all around.  Some topped with snow and some just basking in the morning light.

As we made our way round there were lots of birds about.  Woodpeckers, thrush's, finches of all descriptions (apart from Bull, didn't spot a Bullfinch) and lots of gulls, a few oyster catchers and half way round the lake a Smew which allegedly is quite rare in these parts. 

The walk itself was great but after our epic walk yesterday after 7 or 8 miles I was pooped and ready for a cup of tea and a nice slice of cake which we had at the Walled Garden of Beatrix Potter and then made our way back into Keswick to collect Bob and head home.

Took a few pictures but not as many as normal but still had a great day and clocked up a fair few miles in my quest to walk 1000 miles in 2018.  I think I'm on 170 now, so still a way to go. 

Walla Walla Ding Dong on Bleaberry Fell

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.

Clough Head

After a fantastic breakfast in a brilliant little B & B we headed off towards the start of the path that would take us up Clough Head.  Again the weather was exceptionally bright and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.  That's mainly because again for the second day running all the cloud was down in the valley.

 The path upwards wasnt steep but it was filled with snow and ice and was fun in places to wade through.  The higher we got the more the views opened up and we spotted some hand gliders setting up on a flattish bit of ground below looking and testing for the perfect wind.

 The last path to the first of the false summits (there were a few!!!) was so packed with snow we had to get our ice axes out to give us another point of contact.  It was hard slippy snow and one slip could have been an ankle turner!

Finally after 2 or 3 false summits the trig point came into view.  We met a runner on the top who was doing a recce of the fells for some race later in the year.  He'd just popped up Clough Head and was on his way to Helvellyn.  He wasnt even out of breath. Grrrrrr!

 The views from the summit were amazing. Right over to the Northern Pennines and we spotted Mell Fell and Little Mell Fell which we'd been up a few weeks before.

Time to go down and the path was exceptionally good.  No shale, scree, just a well defined path, steep in places and packed with snow and ice in places but good all the same.  It wasn't long before we were back at the path that would take us back to the car and the start point of our walk.

On the way back round to the car we spotted this wee cloud, abandoned by its bigger inversion big brother and just left there all on its own at the side of Blencathra.

The end of the walk and the sky still bluer than blue !

Blencathra via Sharp Edge

Another early morning start for the trip up to the lakes to visit one of my all time “to-do” hills –Blencathra.  Since seeing a picture of this beauty a while ago it’s been on my tick list and I always knew it would be a special hill.   I was excited about the prospect of Sharp Edge and just how sharp that edge would be so off we went in the hunt for thrills and hopefully not spills.

Car parked just on the main road below the hostel and pub we set off “eventually” on the path upwards.  Why is it that sometimes the most difficult part of the day is actually finding the start of the walk.  Too’ings and fro’ings along the road and then the decision was made to just head up, through the ferns on a semblance of a path that eventually lead us to the right path that guided us round the hillside to the right gently ascending and ascending until we reached a plateau area where we could see the beginnings of that delicious ascent.

More winding round the hillside gaining more height finally brought us to a small tarn where we took stock for a moment and stopped to take a few pics of the ridge that rose practically right in front of us.  Sharp edge looked very tasty indeed.  

 Being early in the morning (as with all our walks) there was no one else around.  A couple of wild campers on the other side of the Tarn but other than that, it was just us, exactly how we like it.

Tarn and reflection pictures taken we set off up the path that would take us ultimately to the summit but before then we had the delight of traversing up and over the rocks that made up the path to the top.  It’s my ultimate fav part of any walk.   Narrow ledges, slight exposure, hands and feet on rocks, the logistical task of working out how and where to go.  I love it all.  

If anything the rocky part of the ascent was over too quickly and before long we were up on a large wide plateau for the last part of the path up to the summit.  Visibility was good and there were now a few other people around who had come from other ways and some people in a shelter who seemed to be manning an event station.  

 Up onto the summit the views were beautiful.  We didn’t stick around long as we had to get back down and over to Mungrisdale Common as it was a wee Wainwright box to be ticked.  So down off Blencathra and over to the left towards the very insignificant summit.  On the way there, across the boggy bit we heard a bleating and in a small pool of water there was a sheep, stuck.  It couldn’t get out onto the bank and seemed quite weak.  It was stuck in the muddy dark pool and left any longer probably wouldn’t have survived.  Chris swung into “action”, leaned over and grabbed its horns and heaved it out of the mud.   It was quite a moment as the rescued sheep trotted away and we were left with a bit of smiley moment as we knew something quite good had happened.  Yay Chris, you saved a sheep!

 Back over the common and towards Blencathra again to descend down the Southern end of the hill we started coming across people who were obviously partaking in the event of the day.  Some sort of 12 peak fell running thing and there were all sorts, young, old, groups, couples, individuals…..all running over the hillside.

Back up on the summit we headed over for the descent which on the face of it looked rockier and trickier than the sharp edge we’d just come up.  Sure it wasn’t as exposed but it was most definitely a hands on descent.  

 About half way down we passed a family who had a very young baby on board in a pappoose sort of thing on dads back.  Keen family but with the weather looking a little bit dodgy they were brave.

It was a tough descent and hard on the knees but as with all walks, if you keep moving forward you’ll reach your destination.  We emerged out on the road a fair bit back from the car so the last trek along the road certainly whetted the appetite for a nice, long cold drink at the pub.

Blencathra was all it claimed to be and for me one of my favourite hills in the Lake District and one I would certainly do again, for sure.