|
|
| The start of the Allan Bank road |
Further along the road |
| It was quite cold but the short stroll through
the village had warmed us all up and the walk was of to a good start. The
road to Allan Bank made its way steadily upwards and the view out to Helm
Crag soon opened up. I spent countless minutes trying to explain to John
and Sarah about the "Lion and the Lamb", the "Lion Couchant" and the "Howitzer" on
the summit of Helm Crag. They refused to see any Lambs or Lions on the
hill, why do I waste my breath! (I'll show them sometime in the future!) |
|
|
| Helm Crag from the Allan Bank road |
The road turns left into a bridle path at Score Crag |
| The road soon turned into a bridle path and
soon after a rough path enclosed by dry stone walls and covered by overgrowing
trees. This was a good easy way up, the path was great underfoot and the
views just kept getting better. |
|
|
| The bridle path past Score Crag farm |
Turning into a rough path hemmed in by dry stone walls |
| When the path left the boundary's of the walls
and went out onto the open fell side the path became quite steep at first
but soon started to meander between Juniper bushes. This was a delightful
path, I explained to John that we must be at about 800' as Juniper only
grew this high. He was impressed, but I had to own up and tell him about
AW's description of this route. The berry's on the Juniper were black and
dried out. After breaking some up between my fingers and smelling them
we tried to remember what they smelt like and what use they were put to.
I thought I detected some form of eucalyptus smell, so I said it was in
something to help you breathe easier, John thought it was something that
cyclists rub into their chests to help them breathe, Charlotte thought
we were all mad! It has just come to me now, Juniper is used in the making
of GIN! (you learn something new everyday, even at
my age) , that's right,
the old mother's ruin, had neat I am sure it would clean out the sinuses! |
|
|
| The meandering path amongst the Juniper |
How old is this one? Frail and windswept |
| So as the path made it's way upwards, our sinuses now cleared
by the Juniper, the views became even better. Over Helm Crag, Fairfield
came into view and the valley of Far Easedale started to appear below.
With the weather still being kind to us, it was just what the doctor ordered
after last weeks toil. |
|
| Panoramic view over the Juniper
towards Helm Crag with Seat Sandal, Fairfield and High Rigg behind and
to the left with Steel Fell and Gibson Knott to the right |
| After leaving the Juniper behind and once more
onto the open fell side the sound of water in Wray Gill beckoned us. Why
take the path alongside the water when we could get wet, struggle on slippy
rock and miss all the views? The influence of the other three soon had
us down in Wray Gill making our way upwards. |
|
|
| John bringing up the rear on a short Gill,Ghyll or Gorge walk up Wray
Gill |
Charlotte leading the way. Oh, the enthusiasm of youth! |
| Picking our way amongst the stream bed we made
our way along. This was actually good fun (don't let
the other three know I said that!) and soon agreed that we should do this more often. After
having another one of those pointless conversations with John about the
difference between a Ghyll and a Gorge (Sarah loves
Gorge walking) we came
to the end of the Gill and once again came out onto the fell side. Charlotte,
with the enthusiasm of youth wanted to make sure that she got her money's
worth out of this Gill walk and carried on until the bitter end, literally! |
|
|
| You won't tell Mum will you? |
Charlotte following the Gill to the bitter end |
| A quick break for coffee gave us the chance
to look at the view to the west that had now appeared as we began to near
the summit. The skyline of the Langdale Pikes was now visible and I was
able to point out Harrison Stickle and Pavey Ark from last weeks walk.
John was able to recognize Bow Fell and Crinkle Crags, he his slowly coming
to grasp the geography of the area! (There's hope for him yet!) |
|
|
| Silver How summit comes into view |
Charlotte, after talking the optional scramble whilst us oldies had
a drink break |
After a quick drink Charlotte went of in search of adventure
whilst we repacked our rucksacks and made our way up the last short pull
to the summit of Silver How.
|
|
|
| Silver How summit |
The terrible trio plus one at Silver How summit |
| The summit was delightful. Great all round
views and not too busy. The route to our next summit, Loughrigg was plain
to see, and looked like a good walk .Whilst taking our obligatory summit
photos Sarah received a phone call about her mountain bike. As this was
going to be a lengthy call we decided to have lunch. We made our way down
out of the cold wind that had started to make it's presence felt and had
dinner. Sarah's call about mountain bike specifications and budgetary limitations
(Can't wait to see THIS bike!) was soon over and food was consumed by all.
The only draw back of our lunch spot was that it was on quite a steep slope.
This meant that everything had a tendency to slide away, sandwiches, maps
and all. Retrieving them kept me busy for a while (Find a level place for
lunch in future!) |
|
| 360 degree Panorama from Silver
How summit. |
| After finishing our lunch the next part of
the walk commenced. Down from Silver How towards Red Bank, onto Loughrigg
Terrace and up to Loughrigg Fell. It was a case of choose your path as
there seemed to numerous paths after the first steep descent down towards
Spedding Crag and Dow Bank. As we made our way towards the road across
Red Bank the views down into Chapel Stile and Elterwater opened up. On
this side of Silver How there was a sense of height above the valley below.
We spotted a large bird circling above us, not sure what it was, maybe
an eagle? |
|
|
| Descending from Silver How towards Red Bank |
Chapel Stile from near Spedding Crag |
| So along the way we went, Loughrigg Fell never
seeming to get any closer. Looking back at Silver How you could make out
a scree slope coming down from the summit. How had I missed that? |
|
|
| Looking back at Silver How from Spedding Crag |
The final path down to Red Bank with Loughrigg Fell in front |
Eventually we reached the road at Dow Bank, the final path
amongst the bracken was quite delightful. Quickly across the road and onto
Loughrigg Terrace. Here we once more stopped for a coffee break, chocolate
and coffee in Charlottes case, banana, chocolate, and horrible tasting
energy drink in John and Sarah's case. Whilst waiting at a junction of
two paths, in a short space of time were passed by ever larger processions
of a) manic mountain bikers , b) sunday rambling clubs, c) family's dragging
children along, d) more manic mountain bikers, and finally e) more sunday
rambling clubs!
It was here that the difference between the two hills that we have climbed today
began to sink in (more profound thoughts like this will
follow) |
|
|
| The start of Loughrigg Terrace, coffee time ! |
Yuck !!!! |
| So after admiring all the different types of mountain bikes
and riding styles, John being an expert and Sarah having a budget!, we
set of for our second summit. As mentioned it was very busy, we came to
a gate in the path. There was a queue to go through the small walkers gate
and Charlotte, bless her, walked straight up to the front of the queue
and opened the larger vehicle gate. The stampede started,"Oh why didn't
we think of that?" echoed amongst the sunday ramblers. I am just glad that
she did not climb over the gate as she had done to every previous obstacle
put in her path!. This would have caused a riot amongst the PC sunday brigade!
After fighting our way between these sunday ramblers who could not decide
where they were going we made our way up the recently refurbished path
towards the summit. |
|
|
| Looking towards Loughrigg Fell Summit after overtaking all of the crowds,
much better! |
Dow Bank and Silver How with Crinkle Crags, Bowfell, The Langdale Pikes
and Blea Rigg in the distance |
| Now I am all for conservation, some of the
paths in the Lake District are both an eyesore and a hazard to easy progress,
but I must comment on the way that this path has been renovated. If you
must put stones into the ground to make life easier great, we had come
across some stepping stones earlier in the day across wet ground that did
make things easier. These on the other hand have been set at ridiculous
heights. Some gave the impression of a gentle stair way, others you needed
to be seven foot tall to negotiate, so people detoured around these and
made their own way, doesn't this negate the reason for them in the first
place? Enough of this! |
|
|
| The summit of Loughrigg Fell looking towards Grasmere |
The terrible trio plus one at Loughrigg Fell summit |
| After passing a family carrying out running
repairs to a child's blistered feet( what do you expect
when wearing whellies?) we reached the summit of Loughrigg Fell. A quick photo opportunity and
the others tried to get out of the wind that was turning rather bitter
by this time. I carried on to take a panoramic view, actually quite liking
the weather! |
|
| 360 degree Panorama from Loughrigg Fell summit, I still
don't know what Charlotte is doing! Click on the image for larger version |
| So that was that, or was it? I had promised Charlotte a
cave, and a cave was what she would get. Many years previously I had stumbled
by accident across a huge cave in the fell side down near Rydal water,
this was the top cave of Loughrigg Quarry, as this was on our route back
to John's car, no problem. |
|
|
| Leaving the Summit of Loughrigg Fell |
"Er, Ste have you got a minute, I've done something a bit silly!" |
| As we made our way down to the quarry cave,
John started to make noises about leaving his car keys in my car. As he
had done this to us once before I thought he was joking. Only the plonker
wasn't joking, and he had really left the keys to his car, now only about
a mile away, in my car back in Grasmere, about two and a half miles away!
John seemed at a bit of a loss as what to do next, so as I tried to think
of the best way to tell him that HE was going to WALK all the way back
to GRASMERE on his own to get my car with HIS KEYS in it, I took a panoramic
shot of Rydal Water. I thought this was a fine view (John
sweating), and
Rydal Water didn't look bad either! |
|
| Rydal Water and part of Grasmere
with Nab Scar behind from just above Loughrigg Quarries |
| When we arrived at the big cave I gave John
directions on how to get back to Grasmere and my car, I also gave him my
CAR KEYS, Sarah gave him her phone in case he did something else silly
like getting lost. So off John went to get the car and drive back to his
car where we would meet. This gave the remaining sensible people in the
party time to explore the big cave. This Charlotte duly did, spending an
enjoyable half hour climbing up the inside of the cave, such a little daredevil,
but she had one up on all the other people there as she had on my new head
torch (Knew it would come in handy!) at least she could see were she was
going. |
|
|
| Looking into the big cave, Loughrigg Quarries |
And looking out |
| So after giving John a good head start, the
rest of us set of back to his car. Again this path was full of families
on a little sunday afternoon walk . I promised you some more profound thoughts
earlier, here they are. The first fell we climbed today, Silver How was
excellent, it was quiet, we only saw 5 other people the whole time of the
ascent. The paths were excellent, easy to walk on and always giving something
new and interesting to look at. Loughrigg Fell on the other hand was swarming
with people , the paths mostly recently"repaired"and horrible to walk on.
I know that it takes all sorts, but give me a cold winters day on top of
some bleak fell top, than these madding crowds on Loughrigg any day! I
come up here to escape the crowds, a bit of solitude with some good company,
not to queue up to start a climb! I would much rather hear the babbling
of a stream, the sound of the wind than the babbling crowds and the sound
of winded OAP's (Oh god, don't get me going!) Looking
on the bright side, at least I don't have to come here again for many a
year to come, maybe then I will feel at home and look at the young whippersnappers
rushing along with distane (Oh god I hope not!) |
|
|
| The path from the big cave back to the car |
The footbridge across the River Rothay |
| The last part of the walk well under way and
after crossing the footbridge the end was in sight. Charlotte of course
still kept disappearing off to find new climbing routes along the way!
When we arrived back at the car park my car was there. So was John's, for
without KEYS it wasn't going to go anywhere of course. No sign of John
thought, we kept on expecting him to jump out from behind a parked car
and say BOO!, just to deflect our thoughts away from his cock up of course!
But no, no sign of him. Realizing that he had probably set off to meet
us we waited for him to return. He still had a smile on his face when he
turned up a few minutes later, he had set off to meet us, but had taken
a different path, at least he had the sense to return back to the car park
and not carry on! |
|
|
| Charlotte still full of energy! |
My car, John's car, but no John (Plonker) |
As we got changed and ready for the return
journey we discussed the day and what to do or where to go next. After
deciding that we all wanted something a bit different (wait
till you see what I have planned now!) the promised rain started to fall. we had been
lucky with the weather considering the forecast (again!) and now the heavens
truly opened. The return journey down the M6 was terrible, but at least
we were in time for Sarah's night out. So all in all a good day, Charlotte
had fun, Sarah got her night out, I enjoyed my first trip up Silver How
and John cocked up, always a good thing when it's his turn to do something
silly!
|
 Above is a map of the area that those nice people at
the Ordnance Survey have put together for me. All I have to do in return
is to display the following.
Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service.
Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance
Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern
Ireland .
Now, how kind of them is that ? BUT, if you want to see something REALLY good, click
on this link. Those very clever people at Multimap.com have done
something even better than the kind people at the Ordnance Survey!
Not only do you get a map, but at no extra cost to you, a no nonsense
arial photograph, just click on the link and you get the photo, wait
a while and then you get the map in an overlay when you move your mouse.
I kid you not this is the dogs dangley bits, or as Charlotte and Sarah
would say "How cool is that then?" Enjoy !
|
