Coledale half day circuit

Dato:

07.08.2011

Illgill Head and Scafell

Dato:

06.08.2011

Coniston Old Man

Dato:

01.12.2010

Langdale in winter

Dato:

28.11.2010

Yet more fine and settled weather brought the wonderful cold and crisp conditions for winter walking that we often dream of having, so after a late start I headed over to Langdale to set off amongst some of my most well-known fells. Snow underfoot was hard and in fact, perfect for crampons - so I pulled on the pair I'd brought with me and speedily made my way across Bowfell first, then on towards Esk Pike and Esh Hause. I met only one other group of hikers along the way, who were very friendly and chatted for a while with me but they were going in the opposite direction so sadly I didn't have their company for long! Anyway, after that I continued along the familiar route towards the top of Esk Pike, then down to the haus and Angle Tarn. At this point I was debating whether or not to take the >>>

Red Screes

Dato:

27.11.2010

A dump of snow overnight, followed by bright sunshine the next morning gave us a great day for a hike up Red Screes. Unfortunately, the bright sunshine didn't hold out all the way to the top of Red Screes, and it was pretty windy and very chilly by the time we got there. No views down to Brotherswater whatsoever. That was definitely a pity, as it's a lovely viewpoint otherwise. Anyway, we descended from there down to Scandale Head and back down the valley to Rydal and Ambleside. My friend Sue and I enjoyed a nice coffee at Esquires before taking in a nice sunset over Windermere on the walk back to the Briery Wood hotel.

Buttermere to Keswick

Dato:

24.10.2010

This has to be one of my more memorable days of walking in the autumn! After a previous day's soaking in the rain, we were totally inspired by the beautiful route we had planned from the Buttermere youth hostel. So excited about it that I even made the effort to get up specially at 4.00am just so we could be out the hostel and onto the route by 5.00am. That's dedication I can tell you. Anyway, when we left the youth hostel it was pretty chilly, but fortunately the sky was almost crystal clear. The hike up through Burtness wood and following Sour Milk Gill in the dark wasn't my fondest memories of the day, but since we'd been looking forward to seeing a sunrise from the top of Red Pike, it simply had to be done. Unfortunately though, all our efforts weren't rewarded with the amazing sunrise >>>

Braithwaite to Buttermere

Dato:

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!

Yorkshire 3 Peaks

Dato:

31.07.2010

After much talking and emailing with my friend Sue we decided to meet somewhere other than the Lake District for some walking. I'm not sure how we wended up deciding on this route now, but for some reason it had an appeal which we could not resist. So the plan was made. I drove up from Leicester and Sue came down from Dumfries, and we both met up at the youth hostel in Ingleton on a very rainy Friday evening. Initially we would have been in a dormitory sharing a full dormitory with about 6 other women but we decided on a rather cunning plan to bag one of the smaller and empty 2-bed dorms by talking and smiling very sweetly to the guy at the hostel reception. Our excuse was that we were getting up very early the next morning and of course did not want to disturb other guests, so could we perhaps >>>

Wastwater to Honister

Dato:

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

Dato:

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 >>>