Wednesday 4 June 2008 - A Fine Lakeland Day - Lakeside B+B to The Old Homestead

Distance - 21 km
Ascent - 1134 metres
Time - 7 hours 40 mins including 1 hour 45 mins stops

A Fine Lakeland Day, but in a sense routine - I can find no fault with the company, the weather, the countryside, the B+Bs, the people we met, the food...

But should you wish to read further:-

breakfast was served by John Inman. He has been resurrected with a Geordie accent;

a red squirrel fought with hooded crows for possession of the bird feeder;

Leaving Dalegarth Guest House

blue skies gave way to cloud but then returned in place of the forecast rain;

Sue2 abandoned the rest of us to take a low level route more conducive to her feet;

Sue2 leaves on her low level route, below Whiteless Breast

The view to Rannerdale and Crummock Water

the rest of us enjoyed a fabulous brew stop astride the summit of Whiteless Pike (see header photo);

Wandope from beyond Whiteless Pike

the hillside was alive with these small beetles (leaf beetles?);



three of us enjoyed a trip to Grasmoor;

Gary on Grasmoor, with Buttermere and Scafell Pike in the background

meanwhile Notchy waited on Hopegill Head, where he acted as tour guide for a miscellany of people, from Chinese student to old codgers;

the ridge over Ladyside Pike was new ground for all of us - and an absolute delight, with good scrambly rocks and an excellent spot for lunch;

we descended by an ineffective wall over closely cropped turf;

past chirpy wheatears, then a leafy lane drew us to High Swinside Farm, and onwards down lovely grassy paths in the sun;

a jolly gardener chatted in sleepy High Lorton;

on through Lorton, an idyllic little village where we missed a path - that may have led to both a pub and a cream tea break;

so we savoured a 'green bench' break before taking a path through knee high grass;

some startlingly ineffective gate posts failed to halt our progress;

a glade of buttercups in this little used pathway warned of danger;

on we tramped, through the deep marsh;

we failed to release a startled sheep trapped in a kissing gate to the correct field;

but that sheep won't go hungry;

an elaborate watering place erected in 1897 was an unexpected find;

then on to Byersteads Farm and The Old Homestead, a delightful B+B bought by Zen and Jane three months ago from the farmers who still live next door and whose land surrounds us;

fabulous hot showers and spacious rooms;

then an excellent 'bar meal' in the well-appointed dining room of the nearby Hundith Hill Hotel;

Sue1 dashed back to watch 'The Apprentice' - we have our first TV since leaving home on Saturday;

at bed time David arrived from London, so Sue2 and her blistered feet will be warm and cosy tonight.

All in all a splendid Lakeland day.

Here's today's route.

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Tuesday 3 June 2008 - A Cream Tea Day - Hostel with Character to Dalegarth Guest House, Buttermere

Distance - 15 km
Ascent - 1028 metres
Time - 8 hours 40 mins including 2 hours 20 mins stops

Black Sail Hut, pictured above, has a rich history.

All I have time for here is mention of the following plaque in honour of
"Chris Brasher, 1928 - 2003.
Olympic athlete, mountaineer, journalist, businessman and philanthropist.
A lifetime of love and support for outdoor sport and the world's wild places.
A benefactor to the YHA and outdoor activity in the Lakes.
Spent his last night hostelling, with friends, at Black Sail on 29 June 2002 - 'a disgraceful episode at which we devoured 14 different curries and consumed nine bottles of good Australian wine.'"

Much more could be said about Chris Brasher, and perhaps about 'Mad Pete', the creator of all those curries. Our closest connection on the day seemed to be Lucy's dad, who apparently relates a tale of exhaustion in trying to keep up with the ageing Brasher on a hill walk.

Notchy snores. So it was ironic that Mark (aka Hebden) kept him awake last night.
'It wasn't me!' Notchy asserted.
'It was both of you' retorted Gary.
I kept quiet. I had heard nothing. Had it been me all the time?

We waved goodbye and headed off through clouds of midges in search of Wainwright's final resting place, Innominate Tarn on Haystacks. This was for Sue2's benefit. She limped along, the previous few days having taken their toll.

On the summit of Haystacks

A backpacker who had spent the night at Blackbeck Tarn - an excellent choice - joined us on the descent, with intermittent views down to Scarth Gap and Buttermere. A brew in the mist at Scarth Gap exhausted our tea bag supply.

Sue2 decided to rest her sore heel and headed directly to the fleshpots for lunch.

The rest of us headed slowly and quietly up the well made (recent) path to High Crag, where we chatted for a while about nick names, and 'Little and Large' (aka Tim and Kate) in particular. Bizarrely, a text message arrived from T + K - I didn't know they had the number!

Still in thick mist, we ambled along the ridge to High Stile for lunch, passing a few folk - we saw about 20 'on the hill' today. Whilst there the sky began to clear, bringing glimpses of fine views and impressive crags, and resolving any debate about our direction of onward travel.

Fleetwith Pike from High Stile

Onwards we went, passing above Bleaberry Tarn, where many years ago I unsuspectingly camped near to a stranger who turned out to be a nudist (scary at the time!).

A startlingly ineffective fence led to our final summit of the day, Red Pike.

As we descended from there the remaining clouds dispersed and sun tan cream was daubed. We have a green variety that turns us briefly into Incredible Hulks as it is applied.

It was a fine rocky path beside the clear waters of Scale Beck that led us down past the single blue flowers of abundant butterwort to the tall thin line of water that is Scale Force.

Sue disappeared for some time up a rock face to the upper falls.
'For a skinny dip?'
'No, just for photos this time'.


It was now a lovely hot summer's day and the rowan (please tell me if I'm wrong) was in full bloom.

The view down Crummock Water

A family with a papoose heralded our return to civilisation before we entered the bustling village of Buttermere, where no tea bags are sold.
However, the 'Dairy Tea Rooms at Buttermere Ayrshires' did provide an excellent cream tea, enjoyed outside with the masses, and accompanied by the olfactory delights of Ayrshire manure.

After this Excellent Cream Tea we wandered along the pretty shore path to Dalegarth.

We checked in and found our 5th member of the party, somewhat traumatised as her shower had almost caught fire and she had needed to run, almost naked, for help.

'I didn't even have time to put any make-up on' she reported.

A few glasses of wine at the Fish Hotel soon sorted her out.

The bar meal was good value at £8 a head, and the 20 minute walk back to Dalegarth in the dusk (see pictures) was most pleasant.

Here's today's route.

And here's the view from the top of Haystacks, with Buttermere and Crummock Water, taken by Lucy Fryer the previous afternoon when it wasn't in cloud.

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Monday 2 June 2008 - Through the Mist - Even Smarter Hostel to Black Sail

Distance - 15 km
Ascent - 1167 metres
Time - 8 hours 5 mins including 1 hour 50 mins stops

Which way shall we go today...

The new found Alpine etiquette (Gary is a fast learner) meant all was quiet until 7am this morning, and the buffet breakfast was excellent.

It was overcast with the peaks in cloud, but at least it was warm, calm and dry.
Would Sue2 turn up by 9 o'clock as planned? Yes! In the absence of a reliable taxi firm the nice lady at her B+B - Rainors Farm - ran her over to Wasdale by 8.45. This B+B is highly recommended.

A few metres took us down to the lakeside path, where a change to our original plan saw us turn left, past snoozing sheep and pretty rhododendrons, towards a colony of black headed gulls, and the road.

The road was quiet. Some greylag geese pottered by the shore, and a shy duck (not sure what sort) paddled away.

After 30 minutes we headed off up a bridle path, at an unlikely gradient at first, before it revealed itself to be an excellent contouring path, soon merging with the main path up Nether Beck.

The rising path past pretty waterfalls and erratics, with baaing sheep and mewing lambs, was wet with moisture. Today the high pressure cloud was persistent; we passed an excellent camping glade at 300 metres and stopped for a brew at 11 o'clock at 460 metres, just below the cloud.

The blue flowers of butterwort mingled with bright yellow tormentil beside the path.

At the col between Haycock and Scoat Fell, a cool wind drew us into warmer clothing.
Gary, Sue1 and I nipped up Haycock and played with our phones.
Then it was off to Scoat Fell for lunch behind a wall, sheltered from the SE wind.

Notchy's battered Sigg bottle sympathised with his equally battered and nearly as ancient nose.




My aging Fugitive boots were beginning to show signs of wear. Will they make it to the Alps? I wondered.


We started to see other walkers - about 10 were seen this afternoon, plus a group of 11 students.
At 2.20 we reached Wind Gap, rejoining our planned route that had gone via the screes and Wasdale Head. At last we had a sort of view - into Ennerdale.

The summit of Pillar was soon reached. Glimpses of sunshine filtered through the clouds. Soon the views opened up as the persistent clouds gave way to bright sunshine. We enjoyed a leisurely afternoon brew with fine views into Wasdale, to Burnmoor Tarn and beyond.

Views into Ennerdale, and tomorrow's route over High Crag, were excellent.

Then it was down to Black Sail Pass and the delights of a lovely descent to Black Sail Hut, with Kirk Fell's ramparts towering above us. Great views down Ennerdale (see picture at head of blog) and bobbing wheatears in the sun.

Great Gable has a hat on in this view of the upper reaches of Ennerdale

The remote youth hostel has just two other visitors tonight, Lucy - a first year geography student at Edinburgh, and Hebden - from a Bridge somewhere in Yorkshire. Sheep crop the lawn as we shower, yoga (not all) and admire the superb mountain scenery, now perfectly clear, whilst Graham produces a fine curry, the likes of which this hostel is renowned.

All washed down with glasses of Coniston Brewery's excellent Bluebird Bitter.

Here's today's route.

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