Summer's here
Meat-burning made easy with my BBQNordic vertical incinerator 🙄
Summer's here
Meat-burning made easy with my BBQNordic vertical incinerator 🙄
Items we forgot to take = 2 (Chris's Ajungilak inflatable pillow and Petzl Zoom headtorch).
Items we forgot to bring back = 0
Items we gained = 1 (a bit of graptolitic slate from the slopes of Bannerdale Crags):
Items we lost = 0
Ticks = 0
Walkers met on the fells = 3
Injuries = 1 minor, 0 major
Losses of dignity = 1
Distance = 21 miles according to Memory-Map, probably nearer to 25 miles actual
Ascent/descent = 4526 feet according to Memory-Map
Wainwrights = 6
Pubs visited = 1 (twice)
New kit tried and tested = 1 pair (AKU Croda GTXs, rating = brilliant!)
Revelations = 1 (Sainsbury's Basics Instant Custard. A pack weighs 74g, contains 68g of powder, needs 425ml of boiling water, provides 312 kcal, serves 2 and tastes excellent. Current price: 9p a pack. Bargain.)
The next morning we were clagged in again so we had a prolonged breakfast waiting for the wind-driven rain to abate. Eventually we packed up and checked out the vacated pitch to ensure that we'd left no trace of our temporary residence. Other than the dry patch uncovered as we struck the tent there wasn't any sign that we'd overnighted there, and we were confident that the ensuing rain would soon deal with that:
Without a trace
We headed back to and over the col and took the path beside the Glenderamackin to the footbridge below White Horse Bent:
Descending beside the Glenderamackin
While we were on our way down the wind picked up and lashed rain at us, so I packed away the camera to keep it safe. Declining the option to continue down the path along river, we crossed the bridge and went up the easy slope and along the deceptively-long ridge to the summit of Souther Fell. After a few minutes of map-checking just below the summit, we went off-piste down the eastern flank to intercept one of the diagonal tracks back to Low Beckside. We'd met no other walkers that day until we reached Mungrisdale.
At valley-level the wind and rain had ceased and the temperatures were rising fast, so we took the opportunity to rehydrate at The Mill Inn at Mungrisdale. Well, it would have been ignorant to have passed by without going in. That, and the fact that it would have been cruel on the wild horses needed to drag me kicking and screaming up the road:
The Rehydration Station
From there it was but a short mile back to the car at Bowscale Moss. Thankfully the local equine population weren't there to give us a send-off:
The final stretch back to Bowscale Moss
Just one more post to follow, then we're done.
After a good night's sleep in very windy conditions we woke fairly early to find that the weather was still cold, breezy and drizzly. The views down to the valley were good but intermittent:
Morning clag
Great Lingy Hill bothy-hut from the first pitch
We had a hearty breakfast and packed away sharpish. After pausing for a photo-opportunity near the bothy-hut...
The bothy-hut
we branched off the Cumbria Way and took the easy approach to High Pike:
Chris starts up towards High Pike
Chris huddled in the shelter, staying out of the icy wind...
High Pike shelter and summit
while I wandered off to take some pics of the fell and its surroundings:
Carrock Fell from High Pike
High Pike trig-point, cairn and memorial bench
The Bench, in memory of Mick Lewis
The inscription reads:
HE IS A PORTION OF THAT LOVLINESS THAT ONCE HE MADE MORE LOVELY
The next objective was Carrock Fell. We descended to the Cumbria Way and skirted the top of the Drygill ravines...
Drygill ravines
where we got our first glimpse of Bowscale Tarn overlooked by its guard of impressive crags:
Bowscale Fell and Tarn from High Pike
After a slog along the wide ridge, taking in Miton Hill and Round Knott, we arrived at Carrock Fell's summit. It's an impressive place with extensive views in most directions, well-worth a visit:
Carrock Fell summit cairn
Skiddaw and its subordinates from Carrock Fell
We dropped back down to Round Knott and had a discussion about our next course of action. We wanted to walk the fells on the other side of the Caldew, but there were a few ways of getting there. There was much procrastination...
The descent from Carrock Fell
To be continued.
After the long drag up the M6 we nipped into The Mill Inn at Mungrisdale for a swift beer before parking the car at the road-side overlooking Bowscale Moss (my thanks go to Karl Holden for suggesting this parking-place). After escaping from the marauding locals that insisted on trying to bite chunks out of our kit, we hoisted our packs and set off along the pleasant country road, passing through Bowscale and on towards Mosedale.
Chris fends off the pack-munching livestock
On the approach to Mosedale we got our first decent view of one of our objectives - Carrock Fell:
Carrock Fell above Mosedale
After looking at the fell and considering the weather forecast, we decided to change the plan of attack - instead of tackling Carrock Fell head-on and overnighting somewhere between there and High Pike, we opted for the longer walk-in along the valley of the Caldew and up Grainsgill Beck towards Great Lingy Hill. We knew that this would add considerably to our mileage and would mean that there would be much ground to be travelled twice, but we wanted to be near to running water all the way, and we knew that the ridge from Carrock Fell onwards would be dry. As it turned out the walk-in was a pleasant affair with much to see:
The view up the Caldew valley...
where the gorse was in full bloom...
and the trees lean away from the prevailing wind.
We saw plenty of butterflies (Green-veined White (Pieris napi), female, first brood?)...
and a Red Squirrel that ran the full length of the wall from Swineside to Roundhouse.
Mouseover the pic for an edited version.
Remember what you were told about checking for dead sheep when drinking from streams?
We did 🙂
There are many interesting rocks in the bed of the river, here's one that appealed to my geological side:
Fold 1
Fold 2
A while later we reached the bend in the road where it heads off westwards to Skiddaw House, and we ascended alongside Grainsgill Beck until we reached the ridge. After much searching we found a patch of dry level ground and pitched there for the night, within sight of the bothy-shed (formerly a shooting-box) on Great Lingy Hill, within 10 yards of the Cumbria Way and 10 yards west of the beck (so as not to be breaking the law which prohibits camping on the Caldbeck Fells). Shortly after getting set up the weather took a turn for the worse as the wind got up and the rain set in, but we were warm and snug in our "room with a view". During one odd clear spell we thought that we could make out two people at the bothy-hut, but we couldn't be sure. Anyway, here's a couple of pics taken a few minutes before the clag came down:
To be continued.