Braithwaite to Buttermere

Date:

23.10.2010

This was a day of walking which is only memorable for the unpleasant weather we had, and the first of a 2-day circuit from Braithwaite. I was meeting with my friend Sue from Dumfries again, and the route was basically taking us up from the high car park in Braithwaite, to Grisedale Pike, Hopegill Head and finally across Wandope and Whiteless Pike before we headed down into Buttermere. It was a case of trying to ignore the incessant wind/rain/sleet and getting to our destination where we could dry off a little. Fortunately, even though our gear might have gotten damp from the rain, our morale wasn't dampened since we had already prepared ourselves for a day of bad weather but the next day was forecasted to be really good. We had something to look forward to, and a great route planned out!

Wastwater to Honister

Date:

03.07.2010

This was the second day of a 2-day backpacking route, the first of which took my sister and I from Langdale to Wasdale over some fine peaks. From the Wastwater youth hostel, where we stayed the night, we took the somewhat laborious trudge back up the road to get to the foot of Yewbarrow, the first fell of the day. Unluckily for me, I discovered my platypus had a leak in it and I had more drink absorbed into the padding on the back of my rucksack than I had left in the water reservoir itself. So it wasn't a particularly good start to the day, but I had the chance to try and fix things up before we got onto the ascent properly. So Yewbarrow was a new fell for me, and I was quite impressed with it. It's a lovely spur which takes you quite rapidly up the fell in a northesterly direction, and although >>>

Scafell Pike from Langdale

Date:

02.07.2010

This was the first of a 2-day backpacking trip with my one-year-younger sister. After driving up to the Lakes on an unusually busy Thursday afternoon, we stayed at the youth hostel in Grasmere and then drove down to the National Trust car park at Dungeon Ghyll the next morning. From here it was a nice stroll down the valley to the Band, and a straightforward ascent with the views of Harrison Stickle and Pike of Stickle took us up to Three Tarns. I'd done this route many times before, so there's very little to say other than from Bowfell we carried on to Esk Pike while enjoying the views of Scafell's west-facing slopes. Esk Pike is one of my favourite viewpoints, because not only do you get the airy drop down over Great Moss and Eskdale itself, but also across to the Scafell-Great End massif >>>

Seathwaite circuit

Date:

06.03.2010

With winter still in full swing in the Lakes, I was back up with a friend of mine from Loughborough. We had been staying at the Derwentwater youth hostel the previous night, so we had good access to the Borrowdale fells and beyond. In the end we decided on a route from Seatoller, which took in the ascent of Glaramara. It was a nice stony path to start off with, but by the time we neared the summit, shortly behind a party of lads, there was a good covering of snow. More traipsing through snow ensued to descend and walk along to Allen Crags, with great views over to Honister and the western fells. From Allen Crags we headed down in the direction of Esk Hause before bearing in a (north?)westerly direction towards Sprinkling tarn and Styhead tarn. From there we made one last ascent of the day to >>>

High Spy

Date:

05.01.2010

I met a nice lady called Jackie in the Keswick youth hostel, and as we were both staying alone we ended up deciding to do a walk together. Some new snow had fallen overnight, which meant our route over Cat Bells and High Spy, was much harder work than expected! The northwestern side of the Catbells ridge was especially covered in deep snow and quite a lot of effort to wade through. But the weather was pretty OK, some dramatic clouds here and there but nothing threatening. I had to drive back home later that evening so I decided only to go to the top of High Spy before descending back down to Rosthwaite and walking back to Keswick.

Great Gable

Date:

04.01.2010

After a night spent in the Keswick youth hostel, we (myself and my friend Sue) headed down south a little to hike up Great Gable. We parked up in Seatoller and followed the road towards Seathwaite over the somewhat icy tracks. The lower level paths were also icy in the valley, and it was a bit tricky to start off with, but higher up it was more snow-covered terrain and quite OK to walk without the crampons. We didn't see many other people on the walk. And we didn't get much in the way of summit views because it had clouded over shortly before we got to the summit. Nevertheless, it was good to be out again after the previous day's hike at least in some nice hard snow too.

Derwentwater to Langdale

Date:

13.12.2009

After what had been a weekend of crisp and gorgeous weather, today was by comparison a bit disappointing and overcast. Nevertheless it meant that it was also a bit milder too and it wasn't raining at least! So from Derwentwater youth hostel I took the track up to Watendlath via Ashness Bridge, passing a couple of farms and bored-looking cows and sheep along the way, and when I got to Watendlath it was quite deserted. I guess that's winter in the Lakes. No tourists to demand tea shops should be open! Anyway, from there it was up onto High Tove, to gain the ridge above Watendlath, and a somewhat but not very boggy trudge across Long Moss and by the edge of Blea Tarn to access Standing Crag and Ullscarf. This is probably my least favourite fell; its a very tedious trudge up a very tedious and >>>

Coledale round

Date:

12.12.2009

A great day out with some friends I went to the Himalaya with from the previous November in 2008, Ian and Lorraine Brookes. Sue Jeffrey, whom I'd met at the Adventure Peaks meet 2 weeks previously also joined from Dumfries for the day. I walked into Keswick to meet Sue, from the youth hostel at Derwentwater (Barrow House Bay) which is now no longer a YHA hostel sadly. Anyway, me and Sue met up at Booth's supermarket and then headed out to Braithwaite at the high car park just outside of the village. Ian and Lorraine joined us there, and we were soon out and up on Grisedale Pike, enjoying the crisp and clear conditions with a touch of frost underfoot. Great views down over Keswick and out east toward Blencathra and Skiddaw, and the Helvellyn Ridge......It was sunny for pretty much the whole >>>

Langdale to Derwentwater

Date:

11.12.2009

Langdale

Date:

09.11.2009

To start the day I had an absolutely beautiful drive from Grasmere to Langdale via the High Close road in crisp and cold conditions. Frost was accessorizing the strands of grass and a cool temperature inversion kept some low level mist nearly down to ground level. The walk itself was not exciting, but the views and sunny weather made it a very good day out, cut short only by the fact I had to be on the road ideally by 4 pm to make my way down to Aberystwyth so unfortunately I didn't complete the circuit by going all the way over to Esk Hause and onto the Langdale Pikes. After Bowfell it was a descent down to Ore Gap and then on to Angle Tarn, returning to Langdale via the steep steps down into Mickleden and along the valley bottom.