Southwest Lakeland part 2

Beacon Fell

6-mile circular walk from Brown Howe

A repeat of a fell I did back in the summer of 2010, I wanted to visit this fell because I remembered how rich it was in flora now better equated with the flora of Lake District I wanted to look into the bogs and tarns of this area. 

This walk I did on my own, so starting from the carpark at Brown Howe I crossed the road to a minor road, this took me through a beautiful area of boggy woodland while slowly rising to more open ground.

When I reached this open area of heathland I took a path away from the miner road, it was along this path that I got into more boggy areas, so I stopped went to explore one of these boggy areas.

The first plant I noted was the sulphur yellow of Bog asphodel Narthecium ossifragum covering the boggy areas, I took a closer look there were Oblong-leaved sundew, Dorsera intermedia , Bog myrtle Myrica  gale, and Cranberry Vaccinium oxycoccos.  
         

            

After photographing and some identification, I got back to the footpath and carried on coming across more boggy areas and open water areas, with lots of Bog myrtle around the water edges. 

I made it to Beacon Tarn and stopped for my dinner. Sitting there in the sun relaxing it was a joy.After my break it was down to the shoreline following a path around Beacon Tarn, I noticed a plant growing out the water, species identification could not be more difficult, when you can not get near the plant, because of the depth of water it was growing in, so it was down to my camera to get the best results, and then it was not till I got home from my holiday that I could id it, it was Water Lobelia Lobelia dortmanna, an aquatic plant of nutrient-poor lake and tarns.

I carried on around the tarn and just as I was to start my ascent of Beacon Fell I came across a profusion of Heath-Spotted orchids, and then carried on to the top of Beacon Fell, at the summit I rested and took in the view and then started my descent back to the road. And on to the end of my walk, but back on the minor road I spotted an injured butterfly on the tarmac, it was one species I did not know. It turned out to be a Dark green fritillary.

Wallowbarrow walk 3.5 miles

Back in the Duddon Valley on the same campsite as before Turner Hall Farm, after setting up camp and having something to eat we set out on an evening walk from the campsite down to Seathwaite church and then taking a footpath into some woodland of birch and oak, the ground flora was cow-wheat another new flower for me.

Cow-wheat

We joined the River Duddon and we crossed the bridge and headed for High Wallabarrow Farm.

From the farm it was a steady climb up through woodland passing by many wood ants nest these big heaps of dried leaves and wood, these ants play important roles in woodland ecosystems.
The path starts to level out we come out of the woods with views across the valley, we followed the farm track to the walls of Grassguards, these amazing walls of great height and thickness are beautifully constructed but why did they build them like this? Was it some big field clearance, many of the tops of the walls were covered in moss.

We come to another farm and head back into woodland now heading downhill following Grassguards Gill to the River Duddon and the stepping stone, but we were not crossing the stepping stones but following the river into Wallowbarrow Gorge on a very narrow path of ups and downs till you come to the screes of Wallowbarrow Crag, we made our way over the impressive screes and the footpath took us to a bridge over the River Duddon and a  path back to Seathwaite church and the finish of the walk.  

Dow Crag walk

This fell started the Lakeland mission off in the winter of 2009, and I never got a view from the summit on that mission, but I wanted to do this again but this time from the Duddon Valley.
So from the campsite on a morning of sunny spells we set out for Seathwaite Tarn a steady climb up, the tarn itself now a modified to a reservoir, from the tarn we followed a faint path above the tarn, sometimes losing the path only to find it again till we came to Far Gill and then started the climb up to Goats Hause using Far Gill as a rough guide to Goats Hause.  

At Goats Hause we stopped and had our dinner, this busy path between Dow Crag and the Old Man of Coniston is where we passed our first fell walkers of the day, as we did not see anybody on the way up.

Dow Crag

We started the final climb to the summit of Dow Crag and was rewarded with good views from the summit, now was the descent path down to the Walna Scar path with views of the Duddon Estuary. From the Walna Scar path, we followed it down till we reached tarmac and the path back to the campsite and the end of another good walk. 

Summit view to the Duddon Estuary 

And that was it another great Lakeland mission, but not the end of my holiday yet, as I wanted to spend the late afternoon at Arnside & Silverdale and visit a special nature reserve.

Gait–Barrows National Nature Reserve

 We found a parking space near the entrance to Gait-barrows at Challen Hall, and walked into the woodland till we came to the meadow we crossed this and then we picked up a footpath what took us back to the road we followed this till we came to another entrance into the reserve and followed a track to an open area of limestone pavement, and in this area the plant hunter slows down to a crawl looking close in between the clints and grikes of the limestone pavement. It was in this area after identifying several species of plants I came across Lady slippers orchid most of the orchids had died off, but I still found a specimen to photograph this one plant that I came especially to see.

Lady Slipper Orchid 

We carried on looking to see what else was to see, I made a list of the plants and photographed them, I also came across a new butterfly species called a Grayling.

Last words

And that’s it for another holiday and also the end to the exploration of the south-west, what started off as Wainwright fell bagging as now turned into a full-scale mission of exploration. Many people come to the Lake District National Park just to walk and admire the views nothing wrong with that, but for me to look at any piece of the countryside for the beauty is just one thing of many things I ask myself how did it become like that and so on. My interests in botany, geology and  prehistory are my limits, there is much more to this area to discover that I have not mentioned. I have had so many good memories from this part of Cumbria.

The concretions of prehistory sites in this part of Lakeland are many and varied in type from burial cairns and stone circles to settlements. Eskdale moor is just one of many amazing sites that will stick in my memory and also the stone circle of Swinside.

I have now done the highest fells in the Lake District, Scafell Pike four times now from different valleys and every one was joy to do, but the one fell that stood out for me was Bowfell, on one summer evening I sat there on the summit alone for miles about seeing all the other fells about me was such a joy.That mission included a wild camp and that experience of sleeping in such area as the Three Tarns was such a joy to do. 
I am glad that I took on Wainwright's Outer Fells because I got to see some great sites like Caw, Beacon Fell and Black Combe and its was on these fells that I learnt to identify the names of the big fells seeing them from distance.  

The varied habitats of this area as been fantastic from sand dunes, mountain tops, heathland, and woodland just to name a few, the variation in plant and animal in these habitats. I have fond memories of looking for and listing plants,. Seeing natterjack toads at Sandscale Nature Reserve was a memorable occasion for me. I have only just discovered the mountain flora what will continue to expand. The one plant that stands out for me is the Starry saxifrage, but I also should mention the  juniper shrub as being some of oldest species living Cumbria .

The geology is varied in Cumbria and has I am slowly getting to understand it. from Borrowdale volcanic,rocks to some great limestone areas like Birkrigg Common and Arnside  and it's this last area I will be revisiting many more times in the coming years, as I start on the central area. I now have a better understanding of this amazing landscape and how it was shaped by the last ice age.
you can read all about my previous adventures on my blog but it is goodbye for now, as I start on a new area  the central area as defined by Wainwright. Another voyage of discovery.  

Southwest Lakeland part 1

Summer mission of the South-west  part 1

Over the past five years of exploration, using Alfred Wainwright’s book The Southern Fells and other books as my guides of exploration, I have explored south-west Cumbria, now has the Southern Fells come to a close I planned to revisit some of the areas again and to combine it with an exploration of alpine and bog plants and also to clear up some of the fells I did not get good views from.

June 27th, 2014

Scafell Backpack 9 miles.

So I and a friend took the car up to Wasdale Head and parked up and then we had just over an hour of eating and packing up for a planned wild camp near Lingmell Col. We set off in the late afternoon for Lingmell Beck and the climb to Styhead Pass on this sunny afternoon.

Cotton grass

From Styhead Pass we took the Corridor path and just before Lingmell Col was, we found a nice camping spot. We set up camp and watched the sun go down. I had a bit of an uncomfortable night and was awake at the crack of dawn, So I got up to watch the sun come up, feeling the chill of the morning I sat there with a coffee watching the clouds move over the mountains as my friend joined me.

Sunset

We decided after breakfast that it was time to pack up and get on the move for today's mission. so we set off for Lingmell Col with Scafell as the destination,  but before that, we were greeted with the top of Piers Gill, and an abundance of plant life. Alpine pine club moss, Fir clubmoss, Yellow saxifrage, Roseroot, Alpine lady’s mantle, and mountain sorrel just some I discovered.

        

The Lake District is a stronghold for Arctic-alpines - plants thriving in the cold and harsh conditions of high latitudes.  When the last ice age came to an end these plants dominated the Lake District vegetation, but now they are restricted to the highest ground, especially north- and east-facing coves and gullies. 

These species often flourish where the soils are rich in basic minerals which in the high fells generally equates to the gullies or flushes.
                    

We made it over Lingmell Co but low cloud covered the highest fell summits, but not deterred because they were on the move clearing again, maybe I can have the window of opportunity when I reach the summit of Scafell.

The next section of the walk was down to Hollow Stones and the rough path up the screes to Mickledore, once on Mickledore we had views into Eskdale and across to Crinkle Crags. It was at this point my friend opt out the next move, the path to the summit of Scafell. My friend would wait on Mickledore for my return. 

So I set out on the rough path to Scafell, this route is a classic accent of Scafell known as the Lord’s Rake, I have put it off twice before, but this time I was determined to succeed the climb.  I came to Deep Gill with the massive crags of Scafell surrounding me, I went into the steep wide scree gully rising into the mountain, it was tough going with the boots slipping on the sliding stones, I worked my way up the gully, and I had to stop at one point, another side gully came into view  and the gully was a profusion of one flower, this was Starry saxifrage, I managed to photograph some while sliding on the scree not easy to do. I pushed on to the top of the gully; it should be easier on the return route. Ahead was another decent and then a climb. I made it to the stony summit of Scafell and the view was poor but better than last time, that time we could not find the summit, but had walked past it in the thick fog.

Deep Gully and Starry saxifrage

Now the return route was a repeat of Lords Rake back to Mickledore and meet up with my friend. The decent from Mickledore back to Wasdale was a long and hard going are leg muscles were feeling it with the extra  weight of camping equipment, and now the heat of the day, we passed Hollow Stone and carried on  into Lingmell Beck on this hot sunny afternoon to the finish at the car park I and my friend were so tried and the backs of our legs aching after it.

We left Wasdale behind and went to Eskdale and had a nice evening and camped at Hardknott fort. Next morning we woke up to low cloud and drizzle, we had planned no high-level walks today, we were still aching after yesterday mission, so we decided on an easy low-level walk today.  

Stanley Ghyll, 29th 2014

A revisit on this damp morning to Stanley Ghyll, at least it has stopped raining; Stanley Ghyll is a deep stream-gorge cut into the granite. The gorge carries the Birker Beck through a series of waterfalls to meet the River Esk.

This wooded ghyll has a rich assemblage of mosses, lichens, liverworts and ferns.   

We followed the stream into the ghyll, the atmosphere getting damper, everywhere we looked there were ferns everywhere, even the sessile oaks had polypody ferns growing on them. We climb the path to the waterfalls and enjoyed the view of the falls, and then retraced the path back.

Stanley Ghyll

We left Eskdale and took the car to Coniston and picked up some food supplies and went to find a campsite. We had a relaxing afternoon at the campsite and then decided on a small evening walk.  

Bleaberry Haws

The weather now had improved to a nice dry evening so we set out from the village of Torver to do a small walk to discover the ancient sites of the Bronze Age. I tried to visit this site last summer, but the weather conditions got the better of me.

We reached the open ground with wide open views, with Coniston Old Man ‘Mother’ mountain in view, this mountain was the focal point of all the communities that lived between the mountains and the sea. And these burial cairns is where they laid there dead. 

We followed a track and the faint footpath to the old slate workings.It's at this point me and my friend split up to start looking for are first cairns, searching through the pathless grassland till we found Bleaberry Haws.  

Bleaberry Haws

The cairns were not easy to find because they were grassed over and we did not find the small stone circle what was mentioned in the book.

It was a nice place of solitude and got me thinking about what ceremonies that were held here with the mother mountain in view the Old Man Coniston.

We retraced our route back to the quarry and followed the path back to Torver.

Geology walk, 30th 2014

This next walk was a revisit to the Coniston Copper Mining area, we parked up in Coniston and set off following the deep gorge of Church Beck over the Miners Bridge and along the track up to the Youth Hostel passing through an industrial area of spoil heaps. After the Youth Hostel, we started to climb still on a track road, till we found a path that took us over a wooden footbridge and we followed this path at the side of the beck climbing steeply crossing the spoil heaps of Simon’s Nick and up to Levers Water.

Time for a rest and it was a nice sunny day, the last time I was here, was when I left my dad's ashes up here, now was the time to have a few moments thoughts about him.

We left Levers Water looking for a path that would take us into the Boulder Valley and it was while we were looking for this path we came across entrances to Simon Nick mine and started to look at the spoil heaps closely, the area had been picked-over by geologists, I was looking for green patches in the chunks of rock, it was just a matter of ‘getting my eye in’ it was here that I came across copper appears as malachite a form of the metal composed of copper carbonate.

We carried on down into the Boulder  Valley looking now at the rocks, these where the Borrowdale Volcanic rock, a rock that was formed from ash that had welded together in a treacle-like mass. The large rocks near the path had rippled surfaces; a clue that this ‘treacle’ must have flowed some distance before setting. 
The path led to a wooden footbridge across Low Water Beck, and once over we came to the Pudding Stone – the largest named-boulder in the Lake District after the Bowder Stone.
The path took us over Crowberry Haws and then descending on the path back to Miners Bridge and Church Beck we then retraced are the route back into Coniston.

Pudding Stone

Borrowdale Head

Borrowdale Head

Introduction, spring 2014

This mission involved my old travel companion of previous Lakeland mission Paul Dial. The two-hour drive up the motorway gave me time to reflect on our missions to the Lake District and the first stop off point, before reaching the Lake District National Park was Morecambe Town. We parked on the seafront,  It's only from here you get to see the size of Morecambe Bay.

Venus & Cupid

The statue artist is Shane Johnstone and was erected at Morecambe Bay for the 24 cocklers who died in 2004 in the bay.This point on the bay was also a good point to enjoy the view across the bay to the Lake District.

Morecambe Bay was formed through the last Ice Age when retreating glaciers from the Lake District dumped soft sediments which formed expanses of sand. As the sea levels rose the bay became flooded, the whole bay is shallow with a tidal range of up to 10.5m at spring tides and an ebbing tide can retreat as far as 12 km. 

After our break we moved onto Warton Crag for another revisit to stay overnight in the car park, in the evening we went for a stroll to the summit of Warton Crag and watched the sun go down across Morecambe Bay. 

Next day was the drive to Keswick to pick up supplies and then into Borrowdale, Borrowdale is the place where Wainwright's book four ends and the start of book three in the Wainwright's books, this year, but this spring mission to Lakeland was to finish book four off. The last time I was here was in the summer of 2009 when I and another friend climbed Scafell Pike and I wanted to repeat that walk again. I took the car to end of the valley, It was here at the end of the valley at a place called Seathwaite we found the campsite what I last used in 2009, and set about setting up the tent and having something to eat.

Combe Gill

I planned an afternoon walk what was taken from the book  Lake District Natural History Walks, Christopher Mitchell, walk 6 Combe Gill 4 miles, a botanical and geological field trip.

The walk started from Seatoller village, and the weather was good nice sunny as we left the village along the road and picked up the footpath that took us across some fields, it was in this section of the walk we noted the first pollard ash trees, what was special about these trees is that they provide some of the richest habitats for tree-living ferns, lichens, liverworts and mosses.

Plants living on other plants are known as an epiphyte, an epiphyte is a plant that normally grows on another plant for support. It is not parasitic but uses the host plant for support only.  Here is one of the wettest valleys of the lake district,  Borrowdale receives over 240mm of rain per year. It's this rainfall that makes it perfect for these plants.

On the tree grew the fern known as a polypod fern, other species Camptothecium sericeum a moss and the lichen Peltigera horizontalis. While looking at the trees we also came across this insect a Longhorn beetle, Rrhagium mordax.

 Longhorn beetle, rhagium mordax.

It was time to move on, so we carried on up the valley following a sheep track to the valley head an area of boggy grassland in places with rushers, but what stood out for me was strange looking shapes, covered in mosses these turned out to be ant hills.

We turned around now to head back down the valley, but this time on the opposite side of the valley and we headed back to the start.

Scafell Pike 10 miles circular.

My third mission to this mountain and the last now I have explored it from Wasdale and Great Langdale, the route chosen for this mission is a repeat of the one I did on my first visit to the lakes back in the summer of 2009 when the lakes were just an idea.

It was a nice sunny morning as we set out on the valley floor heading for Styhead Gill. We climbed Styhead Gill and the path levels out till you come to Styhead Tarn. from here we could see are objective Scafell Pike.From Styhead Tarn you could make out our route all the way to the summit, the route we were going to use was the Corridor Route, this interesting path goes below Great End and Broad Crag to Lingmell Col.

Styhead Tarn

We had a couple of stops on the Corridor Route as we passed through some of the ravines, but the most interesting ravine for me was the great gash of Piers Gill on the side of Lingmell. Piers Gill lies along a fault line in the rock of the Borrowdale group and it also has some interesting flora what I shall be investing again this coming summer.

Lingmell and Piers Gill

One of the stops along the Corridor Route was the finding of a new species for me, Fir Clubmoss Huperzia selago, the Clubmoss family is an ancient group of plants superficially resembling mosses, but actually more closely allied to the ferns, having a vascular system.

Fir Clubmoss

We passed over the top end  of Piers Gill and made our way to the top of Lingmell col, there were many people about today as we made our way on the final section to the top of Scafell Pike crossing the very rocky section to the summit and passing crowds of people on the summit on a lovely day, we also had a nice long break enjoying the views.

From the summit, we headed for Broad crag, first descent and then a climb. Once back on the level passing Broad Crag and Ill Crag.
Since passing this way last summer, I had missed out one of the main satellites of the Scafell range, that being Great End, and that is where I was heading now to Great End.

Great End is not best appreciated from this approach but is best seen from Borrowdale, it is only then you appreciate the size of Great End 

I made it to Great End and then headed to Central Gully, it's only then standing atop of the great buttress you are on the highest plateau in the country.

This is the true Lakeland of the fellwalker, the sort of terrain that calls him back time after time, the sort of memory that haunts his long winter exile,

Alfred Wainwright quote from Southern Fells from the chapter on Great End.

Central Gully

I retraced my path back to Calf Cove and then onto Esk Hause to find the descent path back into Borrowdale, but first, another stop off at Ruddy Gill. Down in Ruddy Gill, I spotted some plant life I wanted to look at, but to get to see what the plant life was, I had to scramble down a steep bank till I got to the bottom of the gill, it was here that I found a new plant roseroot. Roseroot Rhodiola rose, is in the family of stonecrops, it is a plant of cliff and ghylls, of inaccessible places; it is a sub arctic-alpine plant.

Roseroot

It's these arctic-alpine plants I was just looking up this year to have a summer mission looking for these plants, and now I have found two so far the clubmoss and now roseroot.

Back to the footpath and the long descent to Seathwaite and the campsite down Grains Gill and the end to another major fell, will I ever climb Scafell Pike again in my lifetime, I like to think so, so that’s it the end of the walk.

Great End

Seathwaite Fell, Allen Crags, and Glaramara.

The starting point for this walk was Seatoller, we had also moved campsite to Seatoller.

The first part of this walk after a short road section, and then the footpath that passes the Borrowdale Yews. This group of yews were made famous by Wordsworth's 1803, this is the short version.

Are those fraternal Four of Borrowdale,
Joined in one solemn and capacious grove;
Huge trunks! - and each particular trunk a growth
Of intertwisted fibres serpentine
Up-coiling and inveterately convolved, -
Nor uninformed with Phantasy, and looks
That threaten the profane; -a pillared shade,
Upon whose grassless floor of red-brown hue,
By sheddings from the pining, umbrage tinged
Perennially - beneath whose sable roof
Of boughs, as if for festal purpose, decked
With un rejoicing berries, ghostly Shapes
May meet at noontide - Fear and trembling Hope,
Silence and Foresight - Death and the Skeleton
And Time the Shadow, - there to celebrate,
As in a natural temple scattered o’er
With altars undisturbed of mossy stone,
United worship; or in mute repose
To lie, and listen to the mountain flood
Murmuring from Glaramara’s innermost caves.

The "fraternal four of Borrowdale" (one fell during a storm a few years back) could actually be from the same rootstock. Regardless, it is their age that is so astounding: a top branch was dated at 1,500 years, leading scientists to believe their trunks could be as much as 2,000 years old.

I and my friend spent a good hour with these trees, they are just amazing, yews are the oldest living things in the country.

Now back on the walk, I left my friend with the yews, and I carried on a solo mission, I climbed out of the valley by the way of Styhead Gill, passing Taylorgill Force.

The weather today was not great, with low cloud on most fells, so I knew at some point in the walk I will be walking in it, less it lifted, I met up with the Styhead path again to the tarn, a few walkers were out today as I reached Styhead Pass and lost all views now, so compass out, just in case,  as I have now been here  many times, but I never take it for granted, and today was one of those days as I headed for Seathwaite Fell.

On Seathwaite Fell I made it to the summit, but you would not have known it because of the  low cloud, no views, I made it back to the main path to head for Esk Hause and came out of the cloud as I approached Esk Hause with my next destination in view Allen Crags, the weather was starting to improve instead of the low cloud just sitting on top of the surround fells it was now on the move giving me glimpse of the summits for short periods before the next cloud came rolling in.
I started the climb of Allen Crags, my aim now was to climb Allen Crags and to carry on a ridge walk to my next summit Glaramara and then back down into Borrowdale to finish off.

The cloud had got the better of me as I reached the summit of Allen Crags so pushed on down into the depression between the two fells and then started the climb of Glaramara and this time I got the summit clear of cloud, but distance views of surrounding fells were poor.

Glaramara summit

 Now the long descent back into Borrowdale and to finish off my walk, not a bad walk, would have been a lot better if I had the views.

Borrowdale view

And that’s it for my camping and fell walking week of the Borrowdale mission, there was only a short mission my friend wanted to do and that was to visit the stone circle of Castlerigg, I will go into that in more detail in a future mission.

 “Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather. ” John Ruskin

                                                                              

Great Langdale Part 2

Great Langdale Part 2

Elterwater waterfalls walk 5.6 miles.

28/8/13

My first day of wet weather, as plans go I was doing ok, I had one last big walk to do  when the weather improves , but when planning missions like this its always good to have a wet weather walk planned for just for a day like this.

Also today I was moving campsite to another site down the valley to be nearer to the other walks I had planned so after a lazy morning I decided to load the car up and move.

I arrived in Chapel Stile village found a nice campsite and pitched up at least the rain now had stopped. So leaving my tent to air out I set off to Elterwater Village just down the road and found a car park to start my afternoon circular walk.

I walked back into the village and found Great Langdale Beck and the river path I took this, a popular route with many people out on this grey day This was a lovely riverside walk of lush vegetation and a tree lined river I came to Elterwater the smallest of the big lakes of the national park and it was once much bigger now made up of three areas of bodies of water now only joined by narrow connections of water and the surround areas are of marsh wetlands and Carr woodland. Elterwater sits at the end of two valleys that feed Elterwater the Great Langdale Beck and the River Brathay from Little Langdale.

Floodplain

This where the walk slows down on the shores of Elterwater, to be down amongst the wetland plants inspecting the plant life for a good hour.
The valley floor is thickly plastered with glacial till and alluvium and a good depth of organic sediments on the floor with irregular wetlands on its margins. The alluvial infill is still very active from both valleys giving some classic fen and Carr vegetation, particularly around the upper and middle basins. Emergent vegetation extends into the shallow water for some great distances.


These three flowers out of a few what I looked at stood out the most in the boggy wet grassland, now it was time to move on back along the footpath and the river its been a fine river walk since I started this walk first along fields with the river always on my right and then Elterwater and now into woodland towards Skelwith Bridge and Skelwith Force I could hear the waterfall before seeing it.
The waters of the River Brathay were narrowed  to about a meter and then sent tumbling over a two-meter rock ledge after last night's rains the waterfall was looking good I had a good ten minutes sat there watching the waterfall.

Skelwith Force

This short walk was taking time to do, but so what I had all afternoon to do it and now the weather was improving with sunny spells it just got better.

I skirted Skelwith Bridge for a footpath to Low Colwith with open fields and a bit of sunshine made it nice after coming out of the woods but was not long before going back into the woods, I came across a National Trust information board telling me about these sessile oak woodlands, these oaks are covered in mosses and lichens.

Lovely woods to walk through I soon came to my next waterfall Colwith Force a series waterfalls with a double spout into the river a beautiful place just to site ponder here in the woodlands, only with the occasional walkers passing by and the sounds of water and birdsong made it perfect.

Colwith Force

It was time again to push on with the walk and leave the woods behind and cross the River Brathay and skirt pass the village of Little Langdale, it was here has I was skirting Little Langdale I met a young couple lost trying to get back to Elterwater, I soon put them right and walked with them for a good twenty minutes, but it does make me mad  how some people come out into the countryside ill-prepared with no map and only a book guide, but I kept my opinions to myself and said my goodbyes.

Little Langdale

The last section of the walk took me through a slate quarry, as I extended the walk for an extra mile to take in Chapel Stile and then return along the river path of Great Langdale Beck. It has been an interesting walk and it looks like the rain clouds have returned as I finish my walk off, and back to the car and return to the campsite it was 7.30pm and I had been out all afternoon.

Black Fell  

29/8/13

I got up to another wet grey damp day, so as I come near to the end of my holiday and with one big mission to do if the weather improves, but for today will be the last of the smaller walks, I just hope tomorrow is going to be a better day for the weather.So I left Great Langdale and headed for Tarn Hows, a short drive.

Tarn Hows is a beautiful man-made site and very popular with the tourist, I made my way around the shores of the tarn and through woodland to the main track to find a footpath through woodland again, the path was there but the trees had been cleared now.

Having made my way up the hill to Black Fell, the area had been cleared trees of spruce and pine, I moved now to more open ground, the view was one of low cloud, with a misty grey view.

I made my way to the summit and the large National Trust triangulation column and time for a break and a spot of food.

After my break, it was a saunter back down retracing my steps to the main track then going the opposite way I came along the track.

This way took me to another footpath back to Tarn Hows and I walked on the opposite shore this time back to the car and the end of this walk.

Now what to do it had only just become the afternoon and the day was still grey with low cloud. I headed for Coniston Village to have a look around the shops and to do a bit of shopping.

Two hours later I was in a car park at Fellgate just outside Coniston with the idea of doing an another short walk.

Walna Scar

The only walk I had planned was from Wainwright's Outer fells book called Walna Scar a six-mile circular walk. So I set out on the walk along the Walna Scar track on this rather dull afternoon to Cove Bridge and up to the Walna Scar summit this where I met a lost family who had missed there turn off, I put them right, and again none of them had a proper  map.

Shelter on  the Walna Scar track

For me it was map and compass work to the summit of White Maden, then out of the cloud going back down on pathless direction, but I do not know where I went wrong but I was deep in a boggy area what took some getting out and around to find myself back on the Walna Scar track retracing my steps back to the car, an appalling walk because of the weather and its one walk I will do again, but for now it was back to the campsite.

Scafell Pike, Esk Pike, Rossett Pike.

30/8/13

On the campsite the decision was made this morning, the weather was on my side I was going to do a big fell walk to finish off this area. So all packed up I took the car back up the valley found a parking spot and it was only a short walk to the start of the walk at Dungeon Ghyll old hotel a good 13-mile walk was planned.

I set out along the valley of the Mickleden Beck an easy level walk there was also many fell walkers out today. And then the first climb started up to Rossett Pass on the zig-zag path with the views opening up.

At Rossett Pass the view was good back down the Langdale Valley and I get my first view of Esk Pike has I descend to Angle Tarn where I had my first break with fellow fell walkers who were on the direct route to Scafell Pike, not like myself I was to turn away from the main path and to take another path to Ore Gap and onto Esk Pike.

It was a steady climb up to Ore Gap and then onto Esk Pike and this is one rough boulder summit. I found a spot for my lunch break in the shelter of some rocks with good views over to Borrowdale.  

Esk Pike is a great summit for its appearance of being very rugged and a great viewpoint, pity about the cloud cover over the Scafells, stunning views down Eskdale. Esk Pike sits centrally in the semi-circle of great peaks around the head of Eskdale. A view I have seen many times in my exploration of Eskdale, Esk Pike seems to be sitting back in the view from Eskdale, it’s only because it’s the furthest away.    

Eskdale view

After looking at the Scafells, and the cloud coming and going from the summits I made my mind up to head for the summit of Scafell Pike but on the way to take in the satellite of the Ill Crag.

So I left Esk Pike for Esk Hause, Esk Hause is a meeting of many paths and is one of highest in Lakeland of foot-passes, it was not hard to see why with many fell walkers passing through the area stopping at Esk Hause checking direction then moving to their desired path.

My path took me through Esk Hause for the path to Calf Cove and bypassing Great End to  Ill Crag and from the main Scafell path it was boulder hopping on this bizarre landscape of boulders made it to the rocky summit and had a break.

Ill Crag with Scafell Pike.

From Ill Crag it was onto the summit of Scafell Pike so I joined the rest of the walkers on the path to the summit, it was busy, this was my third visit to the summit and I have had better views before from here, so I was not disappointed that I had a misty view, I sat away from the summit and the crowds and had a break. 

So far I have done well on this walk and so now the return journey, coming off Scafell Pike I got my first shower, I went off the main path and scrambled my way up to the top of Broad Crag another  of Scafell Pike satellites, you get good views over to Great Gable from Board Crag.

Lingmell and Great Gable

I left Broad Crag to join the main path to Calf Cove, feeling tired I missed out Great End the last of the Scafell Pikes satellites and onto to Esk Hause, the weather had improved greatly by the time I got to Angle Tarn with the sun coming back out I climbed up to Rossett Pass and up to my final fell summit of Rossett Pike, the  final push to the summit and a nice long break and I was feeling tired, has it had been such a long walk, but for now lets enjoy the view of Langdale valley.

Great Langdale valley from Rossett Pike

The rest of the walk was a repeat of the walk back down to Mickleden Beck and back to the car in the evening sun and the end of a classic day of fell walking and the last mission in the Lakes and with one day left of my holiday, I was going to head to  Arnside tomorrow.

Arnside and Silverdale 13 mile circular.

31/8/13

I parked up on the promenade at Arnside and started my walk by following the promenade to the end and then using a footpath along the shoreline of the River Kent with woodland on one side and glimmering sand flats on the other it was such a joy to walk, and with only the occasional walker it seemed I had the place to myself.

I passed Blackstone Point and the view of Morecambe Bay opened up. I had woodland and outcrops of limestone on the shoreline, then the path took me inland and across fields passing a group of swallows resting on a telephone wire as they head back to Africa.  a short  road section next and then a short trip to the beach where I found a cave, so went to have a look in it only went in about three meters, so I had my first break here.

Grubbins Wood

 After my break in the cave I moved back inland and into the village of Silverdale with another short road section and I was onto Jack Scout Nature Reserve and another turning point in my walk at Jenny Brown’s Point where I said goodbye to the sea front and moved inland passing creeks and my first view of Warton Crag before going into woodlands full of yews and outcrops of limestone.

Warton Crag

And then it was more road walking I passed RSPB Leighton Moss National Nature Reserve  and took an unmarked path I found, this took me into an interesting area within a small gorge I followed this to the Trowbarrow Quarry Nature Reserve where I stopped for lunch.

The name Trowbarrow gets its name from the gorge I have just walked along, this formed by the erosion of a bed of soft substance. The Trough as it is known is about 10 meters wide and is bounded by 3 to 4-meter cliffs. 

Trowbarrow

While having  my lunch I watched rock climbers at work on the quarry face and then I went to explore the quarry, must research this site more when I get back home. It was time to move on again now I was about half way through the walk.

And now I was heading for Gait Barrows NNR, using the back roads I entered the woods and along Haweswater, I knew I was entering a special place, just by its appearance and seeing how it's been managed told me this was going to be one of them places I will visit again and again to discover its riches, but for now I was only passing the site, I came around to the other side of Haweswater and came out onto a road.  

My next place I was heading for is Eves Wood, so after the road and then another footpath I entered Eaves Wood and while trying to decide which path to take I met a lovely couple who told me about this special wood and told me to take the path to the Pepper Pot, so with a steady climb I made my way up through the woodland to the high point which was the Pepper Pot and what a great view I was rewarded with, there my whole walk so far laid out in front of me.

Pepper Pot

On my way down from the Pepper Pot I passed lots of yew trees at this time of the year there fruit of red berries are to be seen and picked,  I picked a handful and then on with the walk.

Yew berries are very sweet to eat but do not eat the seed they are poisons, so as I walked I spat out the seeds and enjoyed the fruit.

I was in the last section of the  walk feeling tired after such a long walk but also full of joy because of the places I visited on my way, I will be looking into these sites in more detail when I am back home doing my research.I passed the ruined site of Arnside Tower and crossed the road and into Arnside Knott Wood to head for the summit.  

Arnside Knott is another interesting site to explore further I found the trig point and the headed down through the site to finish of the walk in Arnside, and what a great walk it’s been.

The End

The end to my holiday just a few words about my holiday so far I have nearly done the Wainwright Southern Fells and this last mission was one of best so far, to visit some of the highest mountains in the national park and a wild camp on these fells was a joy, I want to repeat again, to have a night on the fells to see the stars without light pollution that was a surprise to me.

Bowfell is now in my top ten of fells so far and to have it on a summers evening all to myself.I also like a more leisurely time around the Scafells to look at the mountain flora. 

One my best views in this holiday were off Bowfell and another was when coming off Lingmoor Fell.I like to spend some time to look at the oak woodlands, I got to see a small example of them in my Elterwater walk, I hear it there are good examples of these woods in Borrowdale and that valley is where I  should be on my next visit. 

And finally, there will be more visits to Arnside and Silverdale area through next spring and summer.