Making the most of the weather

Over the last couple of weeks we have had some unusually pleasant weather with a very welcome high pressure system over the UK. So not wanting to miss out I’ve headed North to the Lake District National Park 3 times over the last few days.

My first trip North was with Andy Beavers (who has an excellent wild camping You Tube channel - click here for link) . We suspected it was going to be a busy weekend in the Lakes, so we opted for a route away from the busy main areas and picked a route in the Northern Fells. An early start, followed by a 2 hour drive North and we were the first car into the car park at Peter House Farm (NY249323). Boots on and a quick kit check and we were on our way up a land rover track up to Black Nettle Hause. Just past the waterfalls we turned right and headed up Birkett Edge following the fence line which took us nicely to the summit of Bakestall, and our first Wainwright of the day. A steady plod from here up towards the summit of Skiddaw, listening to the Meadow Pipit, Skylark and Wheatear and were rewarded with some spectacular cloud formations swirling around in the valley below us. At the summit of Skiddaw the wind was gusting up to 40 mph with a wind chill of minus 3 degrees, so we dropped down onto the lea side for something to eat and watching a sheep round up in the distance. Once our stomachs were satisfied we continued South on the ridge line then dropped down towards Carl Side. This was quite a steep section and the old kneecaps were certainly warmed up. At Carl Side we simply followed the ridge line onto Longside Edge and Ullock Pike before dropping back down towards the van. 5 hills in total, and 3 new Wainwrights for my list. The route we took was much better than if we had done it the other way, there were some quite steep sections which we went down and glad we weren’t heading up them from the other direction.

My second trip was with my mate Lee from my Mountain Rescue Team, but this time we were heading towards the North Western Fells after a handful of Wainwrights that neither of us had done before. Another early alarm call, followed by a 2 hour drive and we eventually pulled into the car park at Powter How near to Thornthwaite, where we found one other car in the car park, which showed that these early starts were worth the effort. Boots on and we headed up through the woods passing the white stone rock feature called ‘The Bishop’ and up towards the summit of Barf which was our first Wainwright of the day. Some stunning views from here looking over Bassenthwaite Lake to the North and Keswick to the South. We then followed the obvious path to Lords Seat, onto Broom Fell and then onto the last of the 4 hills on this ridge line Graystones. Here we had a quick bite to eat, before we went and found the nearby spot heights to ensure that we had found Wainwright’s high point. We then headed down towards Scawgill Bridge passing a family with young kids, and credit to the kids were very polite, happy and smiling despite the steep slope they were ascending. We eventually found a forestry commission track which we followed and eventually made our way over the stream that feeds Spout Force and onto the other side of the valley. We then followed a series of forest tracks, stopping briefly to refill our water bottles in a nearby stream. We wanted to find a route up Whinlatter but there was nothing obvious on the map, but luckily we spotted a small pile of rocks at the side of the track (NY192259) and on closer inspection there was a path that was just visible heading up through the trees in the right direction. We took a chance and luckily this small path continued up through the forest and onto the slopes of Brown How which is one of Wainwrights outlying fells. From here we continued on the tops to the summit of Whinlatter Top and our final Wainwright of the day. After a brief stop we followed the faint path East down to the woods, found a track and followed the mountain bike trail down through the woods to the very busy Visitor Centre and surrounding buildings. From here we followed one of the cycle tracks NE which we followed all the way back to Thornthwaite and a short road section to the car park. In all about 11 miles, and some stunning views on the way.

The third trip North was again with Andy Beavers, the plan for this day was to do 3 shortish walks to grab 3 Wainwrights that were on their own. Our first was Stone Arthur which looks like an outcrop of its bigger brother Great Rigg. A really pleasant walk on the way up, stopping for lots of photos with some perfect lighting. On the way up we saw plenty of Meadow Pipit, Skylark, and Wheatear but the highlight of the day for me was a Ring Ouzel sat on the rock at the summit. It clearly wasn’t photogenic, because as soon as I lifted my camera it was gone. We enjoyed the views for about half an hour before heading down. On the way down we were gifted with a display from an RAF Typhoon, and a few less noisy Peacock butterflies.

Once back at the van, we relocated a short distance to Grasmere to start our second walk of the day, and as a wildlife photographer this walk had everything. From Grasmere we had a short walk on the road before finding the path that took us up towards Kelbarrow. From the outset there were little flowers and plants everywhere and we took our time to try and identify them. We found a small group of Mountain Grapes and plenty of Irish Shamrock. We made the steep climb up Silver How where took another lunch break and enjoyed the views in all directions. We headed down via the North footpath and at Wray Gill (NY324072) we spent about half an hour exploring the side of the gully walls where we found Primrose, Blueberry, Early Dog Violet, Pink Barren Strawberry, Alpine Butterwort and Wood Anemone. In truth I could have spent hours exploring all the little micro climates in this sheltered gully, but we had to get down and relocate to our third and final walk of the day.

Taking a chance that we could find a place to park, we headed to a little B road to the East of Black Fell and luckily we found a little lay by big enough to fit my van (NY346016). Leaving the rucksacks in the van we headed up through the woods which zig-zaged up the side of the hill. The woods were stunning with Wood Anemone carpeting the forest floor. We eventually arrived at a huge cairn with stunning views in all directions, then only a short walk to the trig point and the summit of Black Fell our third and final Wainwright of the day. We dropped back down to the van via the same route passing quite a few people on the way down.

In all a stunning day out and one of my more enjoyable days on the Lakeland fells. Looking for Flora and Fauna on the second route was fantastic, I saw lots of new plants, but disappointed not to have photographed the Ring Ouzel at the summit of Stone Arthur, but hey ho, guess I’ll have to go back up there.