Harter Fell

As the small car park by Jubilee Bridge was full, we parked in one of the lay-bys on the narrow road leading to Hardknott Pass.

We walked the short distance up the road towards the Pass, then at the car park, we crossed Hardknott Gill on a small stone footbridge and then followed the bridleway as it gradually rose along the flanks of Birker Fell.

The heights were in cloud as we continued now climbing a bit more steeply on a fairly well-defined footpath. We soon reached the summit and found a spot sheltered from the breeze to have our lunch but because of the conditions, the midges were out and we were soon starting to be THEIR lunch!

We moved around to North-West side and luckily the cloud was now patchy so we could see quite expansive views down to Hardknott Pass below and the old Roman fort at its foot. We could also see across to Eskdale Fell and Stony Tarn.

But, soon, the midges were back, so we returned back down following the same route as before. Luckily, the cloud had now largely gone with brilliant views up Esdale towards the Scafell Massif, Crinkle Crags and Bow Fell.

Stanley Force

While we were sorting out breakfast, it began to rain so we sat in the tent porch reading for a couple of hours until it had stopped. We decided on a short walk locally to see a very beautiful waterfall.
We drove the short distance to the small car park by Dalegarth Bridge and walked along a path through woods following a stream and after crossing a footbridge to the opposite bank, we were in the ravine where the very picturesque waterfall called Stanley Force could be found.
There was a Pied Wagtail flying back and forth with a beak-full of insects obviously feeding young birds in a nest.
We retraced our route until nearly back at the River Esk and then followed a bridleway along the South bank of the river, on the way passing Low Birker Farm until we arrived at Doctor Bridge.
We crossed the bridge to the other side of the river, until we arrived at a small church. Passing the churchyard, we soon arrived at a minor road which led us back to Dalegarth Bridge, a popular site for jumping off the parapet into a deep pool below.

Crinkle Crags

A very enjoyable walk traversing Crinkle Crags, starting at Cockley Beck Bridge. We started by following the bridleway on the west side of Moasdale Beck for a few hundred metres before cutting across to the foot of Ulpha Fell.
The way now steepened on hummocky grass as we rose up Ulpha Fell and then Little Stand where we had a short break.
There had been low cloud but luckily this now began to lift revealing the Crinkle Crag summits and Bow Fell a short distance beyond.
We joined the track leading up from the Langdales side via the route to Red Tarn and were soon enjoying views down both into Oxendale on one side and across tot he Scafell Massif.
We continued along the broad ridge wending its way visiting the various summits, pausing to wait for a few minutes at the “Bad Step” where we waited while a couple of men and a sheep dog tried to work out how to get down the short scramble with the dog.
In the end one man managed to clamber down while the second took the dog around the alternative route down.
Karen was soon up the easy, short climb an I followed.
We continued onwards passing Shelter Crags until we arrived at Three Tarns just before Bow Fell where we started to drop down valley to the West where we followed a path paralleling Lingcove Beck.
We then turned off into Moasdale and then followed this broad valley until we were back at our starting point.

Looking towards Hardknott Pass

Above the "Bad Step"

Bowfell

Ambleside

Today we had an easy day and spent most of the day in Ambleside mainly visiting gear shops, as you would expect! We bumped into Elaine Hillyard and her other half Mike in The Climbers Shop. They were in the area in connection with a Duke of Edinburgh group.

Scafell Pike

An even warmer day than yesterday and we drove around to the next valley at Wasdale to park at the National Trust car park next to Brackenclose.
Our intended route was to follow the obviously very popular route along Lingmell Gill and Brown Tongue up to the highest summit in England, Scafell Pike.
The lower section of the route was very scenic as it followed the small ravine of Lingnell Gill which then broke out into a more open area. We saw several characters making their way up the path including one man with a small speaker playing music from the 80's hanging from his rucksack and “Super Dad”, who kept steaming off into the distance leaving behind his family until he was forced to stop and wait for them to eventually catch up.
We had a brief pause at some boulders to cool down and then a longer snack break at the col between Lingmell Crag and Scafell Pike and admired the view across to Great Gable, where we managed to spot the well known feature of Napes Needle.
We continued up the continuing path until we arrived on the bouldery summit of Scafell Pike to join the throng of walkers who had already arrived. It was a lovely clear day and of course there were amazing views in every direction.
After a brief pause we continued back down the way we came passing “Super Dad's” family who were this time waiting for him as he had decided to descend via the Mickledore route.
We retraced our earlier route until we arrived back at the car park.

Whin Rigg and Ill Gill Head

We drove around to park at a small car park by the bridge in Mitredale where the narrow road ends. From here we crossed the bridge over the River Mite and followed a track into the woods of Mitredale Forest and then left the track to follow a footpath leading gradually upwards until we broke out of the woods and onto Irton Fell. It was a lovely warm and sunny day and we had excellent views across Wasdale, Mitrdale and across to the coast.
The path led over hummocky grass to reach a high point at Whin Rigg with amazing views down into Wasdale and Wastwater and the peaks such as Yewbarrow, Kirk Fell, Great Gable and the Scafell massif.
We continued onwards towards the next high point at Illgill Head and then steeply down to the valley of Eskdale Moor near Burnmoor Tarn. This brought us past a smaller wood and then back to where we had started.

"Head right for Eskdale", if you say it in the local accent...

A Week in The Lake District

Karen and I were having a holiday for a week in the Lake District. We left Winster in the morning and drove to Eskdale to camp at the Fisherground Camp Site near Eskdale Green and the Outward Bound centre where Karen used to work.

This is a very large camp site with quite a bit of “do's” and “don'ts” and a large number of families with kids taking advantage of the good weather at the start of the school holidays. One advantage of this was that the night was usually very quiet.
We got the tent (Vango Equinox 350) pitched up at the spot we had been allocated among various large “Nylon Palaces” and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing.