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| The start of the footpath |
and slightly higher up |
As well as getting ready we also commenced
some stretching exercises, they had been suggested by Sarah's better
half. This was funny as we did not know what we were supposed to do so
we all did our own thing. I suppose that John new what to do but when
I tried to copy him I just kept nearly falling over! Once we had all
been stretched we set of walking. As I have said we had parked just by
a stile and a footpath led from it upwards through all of the dead bracken.
This soon got us higher up the fell side, the only problem was that there
seemed to be any number of different paths about! One led up to a slight
outcrop that had a good view and then we were able to see a path that
definitely went up in the direction we wanted. |
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| Looking back over to Castle Crag |
Heading up the fell side |
It was easy to walk on and we made good progress
even though it was slow as I was in the front! I was expecting John to
race past me at any minute but he seemed quite happy walking at my pace,
I think it was his turn for a cold and blocked nose this time. There
were a few Yew trees scattered across the fell side, the greens of these
trees made an interesting contrast to the dark golden colours of the
dead bracken. After passing through a wall the path started to make its
way steeper up the fell side and into the trees. At one point there was
even a cairn to mark a turn in the path. A bit after this we came to
a point that the path seemed to go in two directions. They seemed to
work a way around a section of rocky outcrops. I just could not make
my mind up which way to go. I wanted to go left and Sarah wanted to go
right. After a few seconds thought I proposed a compromise, straight
up! |
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| A conspicuous Yew tree |
Into the trees |
Sarah's face lit up and straight up we went.
I guess it was not real scrambling as a fair amount of tree climbing
was involved as well but it was fun anyway! All this exertion took its
toll on me and when we reached the top I suggested a break. To be honest
I was absolutely starving, I had felt hungry for hours now so I tucked
into some sandwiches whilst John and Sarah just had a drink. John was
on a new drink today, some sort of fluid that rinses out or cleanses
your system. Sarah tried some and after the first taste decided that
it tasted worse the further it got into her, or something like that! |
|
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| A choice of routes ! |
Whilst we sat here we looked over the river
towards Castle Crag and talked about the way we had gone up it, we could
even see some people on the summit rock. John pointed out a couple of
sheep that had sneaked up on us, perhaps they wanted to see what all
the fuss was about. Apart from the odd bird or two flying about it was
very, very quiet, I think that we must have become accustomed to the
noise of the wind during the last few walks, today the silence was very
strange! The sheep must have come to see what was disturbing their saturday
afternoon rest. |
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| Heading up the between the crags |
I would have gone that way up! |
We looked around for some signs of a path
but as the only one that we could see was inhabited by resting sheep
John decided that we should continue to head straight up the fell side
instead of disturbing the sheep. This was fine by me but it was hard
work trying to make our way straight up. The grass and dead bracken was
slippy and the odd bit of scree was quite loose. Here we were again,
off the beaten track and making our own route upwards, this brought a
smile to my face, it always seems to be harder work than keeping to a
path but much more fun! We were making a way upwards between some crags
and as John reached an area below the crag he started to ask about which
way. To the right seemed to be higher ground but I wanted to visit the
top of King's How which was to the left (I hoped!) Heading underneath
this large crag I was surprised that John did not fancy a crack at it,
I guess he was just not in the mood. |
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| A shaft of sunlight on Seatoller |
Nearing Kings How |
From here we found a path of sorts, possibly a sheep track
that led in the general direction that I wanted. Once out into the open
the fell side leveled out and we even came across a few cairns that
led up towards what I hoped was King's How. We could now see a fair way
in front of us and I knew that we were on the summit plateau. I was sure
that it was Brund Fell that we could see away to our right so we must
be on King's How (mustn't we!) Very soon
we arrived at a point where it was down in all directions. It offered
great views over Derwent water and I guessed this was it. I was happy,
we were dry, at the top of something, I had not lagged behind, we had
a good view and all was well with the world! |
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| Derwent Water |
More sunlight over Borrowdale |
John and Sarah seemed a bit confused as to
why we were here when the actual summit of Grange Fell was Brund Fell,
and that was over there! We could clearly see a path that led over towards
Brund Fell as well as a path that zig zagged down from King's How (I
had now decided that we WERE at King's How!) The only problem
was there was no sign of the memorial tablet that had made me want to
come here in the first place! |
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| Kings How summit cairn |
Grange |
|
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| A panorama from Kings How showing Ether Knott and Brund Fell,
the other tops of Grange Fell. |
Feeling a bit miffed we set of for Brund Fell. As we made
our way down I felt like I wanted to follow this path down until I did
find the memorial! I was talking about this with John and Sarah and John
thought it was a bit strange. Just as he said something back to me I
looked around and there it was, just below the summit of King's How and
just off the path we were walking on, John had managed to walk straight
past it. I was made up! I struggled to read the inscription as it had “v”'s
instead of “u”'s but John helped me out. In fact he was twice as far
away as me and could read it better than me (anybody know a good optician!) |
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| The Edward VII memorial |
and a close up |
Now that I was happy again we headed straight
down towards the path, a stile was below us and down a steep path seemed
like the natural choice. Sarah managed to loose her footing once and
ended up on her backside, after that I took my time and looked out for
Sarah. John meanwhile went even faster down hill, jumping down and around
without a care in the world. He had just seen an old sheepfold that he
announced loudly to us was going to be our lunch spot! I commented that
John must never have had an ankle injury the way he was going downhill! |
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| Heading for Brund Fell |
Brund Fell |
We arrived at the old sheep fold and settled down for
lunch. I finished of my sandwiches as John got out his homemade chicken
soup and Sarah had some tomato soup, she even managed to get some of
it onto her nose, this looked quite humorous! Over in the distance we
could see someone standing on top of one of the rocky tops of Brund Fell,
that looked interesting. Coming down from King's How were a couple with
a dog. After watching them for a few minutes I told Sarah that the dogs
name was Charlie. I guess my hearing is not as bad as my eyesight! This
proved to be the right name and as we packed up and set off again Charlie
and its owners walked past us. John bribed Charlie with some of his organic
chocolate and all of a sudden we had a new walking companion! |
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| Looking back to Kings How |
The path to Brund Fell |
We enjoyed a few minutes with the company
of Charlie and his owners, it had even started to brighten up. I'm not
saying that the sun was out but it definitely felt warmer and looked
brighter. At a stile over a wall we parted company and crossed over the
wall and headed for Brund Fell. As we reached the start of some crags
John left us to investigate a walled enclosure directly under the crags,
well that's what he told us but I think that stuff he had been drinking
to help clear his system out was having the desired effect, if you know
what I mean! Sarah and myself carried on up a steeper section until we
saw a party of walkers coming down from our left. Although the path was
indistinct I knew that it was the way we wanted. I smiled at the other
walkers and was ready to say hello when they marched straight past us
without a nod, they must have been old people or something! |
 |
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| Along the top of Brund Fell |
One of the many rocky outcrops on Brund Fell |
Reunited with John we headed up the way they
came down and soon found ourselves on the top of Grange Fell. Now Grange
Fell is one of those confusing places. It is made up of various high
points, King's How, Ether Knott and Brund Fell. Brund Fell is the highest
and so it is the top of Grange Fell. Saying that, Brund Fell is made
up of various rocky tops itself so it gets even more confusing trying
to figure out which one is the highest and so being, the summit of Grange
Fell! I headed for one whilst John and Sarah made for another. Only when
I got to the top of mine did I realize that I had made the wrong choice.
I retraced my steps and followed John and Sarah to what was the top of
Brund Fell and hence the summit of Grange Fell (I was
confused as well!) |
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| Kings How |
The summit of Grange Fell, Brund Fell |
| for the first time today I was playing catch
up. I did not mind this at all now as it was not due to my feet or fitness,
it was due to a navigation error. Well when you are on top of Grange Fell
I suppose this can be excused as you can take your pick of places that
look like the highest! Eventually I arrived at the top to join some patient
walkers who kindly waited for me! |
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| The terrible trio at Grange Fell summit |
Grange Fell summit cairn |
| I have to say that I was completely impressed with Grange
Fell. It is the sort of place that you could spend hours just walking
around. The top of Kings How gave great views over Derwent Water and Brund
Fell seemed to offer all sorts of little outcrops to climb or look around.
That feeling of missing out on the rain and having a dry walk coupled with
an unorthodox approach just seemed to mean something special today. It
is really hard to put in to words but for some reason I thought today was
different, something special. |
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| 360 degree panorama from Grange Fell |
| Whilst John and Sarah were in deep conversation
about weddings (a couple that we work with) and jobs on cruise liners (
a good friend of John's) I quickly took the usual summit photos. It seemed
such a shame to tell them to move out of the way, but they looked so out
of place where they were! When I had finished with the camera I joined
in the conversation. What were we going to do next? We could find another
route back to the car or have a walk over to another summit, namely Great
Crag. On the map the route to Great Crag did not look too promising, a
no direct path sort of thing, but then again it was only over there ! We
had a look at the lay of the land and seemed to be able to see a path of
sorts that led in the right direction, Sarah decided that we should head
that way, a sort of "while we are here" sort of thing! |
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| Looking towards Great Crag |
Leaving Grange Fell |
| With this decided we headed down towards the
path that we could see. This soon turned into a route between the rocks
that had seen many feet in the past. Perhaps it was a way up from Watendlath,
whatever the reason when we reached the wall there was a stile or ladder
thing waiting for us to cross it. On the other side of the wall the way
towards Great Crag was much more indistinct. Even so it was obvious that
previous Wainwright baggers had been here before as there was a faint track
that led in the direction of Great Crag. |
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| One of the many paths along Brund Fell |
Following a path besides the wall towards Great Crag |
| This track sometimes kept to the wall and sometimes
left it to avoid boggy areas. The wall or the path that followed the wall
kept us walking in the direction that led towards Pudding Stone Bank marked
on the OS map. Looking at the Anquet map based on the Harvey's Maps that
I had printed out, and the OS map that I also carried I was confused about
the paths. I suppose this is just another example of footpaths on the ground
not agreeing with footpaths shown on maps. This one that we walked on was
definitely there but not shown on the map, confusing or what! Sarah started
to tell us about a recent night out in Liverpool, or was it 2 nights out
that I seemed to blur into one? Whichever it was I became distracted by
some thing that caught my eye. I started to see lots of wool on the ground
, up here this |
 |
usually denotes a sheep's body
nearby. This time it was even worse. We came across something hanging from
a fence that ran alongside the wall. At first we could not figure out
what it was but a closer inspection revealed it to be the leg of a sheep.
This sheep had obviously been trying to climb over the wall but had somehow
managed to get it's leg wrapped up in the wire fence. As it had tried to
get over it had become trapped by the leg upside down, there was no way
that the sheep could have freed it's self from this. Not far away was the
rest of the carcass, as it happened a ram with large horns. It was just
bones now, picked
clean by a fox |
| A sheep's leg trapped in a fence, all that was
left |
| and whatever else wanted a free
meal. This sight upset us, it must have been a terrible end for the ram,
absolutely helpless and unable to move. John made some comments about
the poor state of repair of the wall and fence, wanting to blame the
farmer for this. I started thinking about these walls, why put a fence
there as well, sheep do climb onto walls. This wire fence was just as
good as putting a trap there to catch any animal that made its way over
the wall. It put a somber mood onto the walk for quite a while. Leaving
this grisly sight behind we continued down towards the path that goes
between Watendlath and Rosthwaite. This seemed to be a popular place
as lots of walkers crossed perpendicular (that's
a big word!) to our path. Our way was straight across this path,
luckily for us we were able to see a path on the ground even though the
maps tended to agree that there was not one! For the next ten or twenty
minutes we followed a track or path of sorts directly towards Great
Crag. The weather turned more overcast and it got much colder. in fact
the only thing that kept us cheerful was the view behind us that revealed
Watendlath (only if you stopped to look back like
I did!) and Sarah's story about the night out in Liverpool. A
tip that I learned from this story is that if you spill red wine onto
a white top, buy a white wine and mix the two together! Failing this
have another red wine and forget about it! |
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| Great Crag |
A helpful signpost |
| As we came to another wall and passed through
a" kissing gate" Great Crag lay before us. It was there right
ahead and from here looked like it offered a fun way up. All we had to do
was head straight for the crags and find our own way up, was that going to
be fun or what! The only problem was a little National Trust sign that asked
us to follow the posts and not try the direct route! Looking back as I reread
AW's Central Fells book, there seemed to be an area of "wetland" or
as best I can figure it "Bog Myrtle" (whatever
that is ! ) between us and Great Crag. John looked at the little tree/shrub/flower
things that lay before us and suggested that it was heather, I was not convinced,
perhaps, it was Bog Myrtle after all. Needless to say we followed the posts
and soon found ourselves walking around an area that that did not seem to
invite walkers anyway. The National Trust posts soon had us heading around
this area of whatever and before we knew it the path up towards Great Crag
was before us. |
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| Watendlath |
Heading up the path towards Great Crag |
| John soon decided that he needed to clear his
system out again and I decided that I needed a coffee break! From where
we stopped Sarah decided that Great Crag looked liked it was going to
take us ages to walk up, I looked up and thought that it was a similar
thing to the last walk of the terrible trio. Sarah thought Causey Pie looked
hard work from Rowling End whilst I thought it was not as bad as it seemed!
I have to say that I think that I was right, the path was easy, in fact
it was made up of big stones that made upwards progress easy! |
 |
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| Nearing the steep section |
On the steps |
| Passing through a wall we found ourselves on
a remade path that headed up the steep fell side towards a depression to
the left of Great Crag. As I look back at the AW central fells book he
shows an old wall up here. I am sure that the stone from the old wall had
been used to make the steps that we now walked on, how's that for recycling!
Once at the top of the steps the path continued on towards Dock Tarn. We
turned off to the right and headed up a path through the heather until
we reached the summit of Great Crag. |
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| Great Crag summit |
The terrible trio at Great Crag summit |
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| 360 degree panorama from Great Crag |
| Great Crag as a name is great, but by walking
to it from this direction we had not really seen any crags at all, a bit
of a disappointment really. We had no desire to stay up here any longer
than necessary, the views around us were OK but nothing special, apart
from two things. Another shaft of sunlight shone down into Borrowdale which
made me think how lucky they had been down there today and the strange
sight of the top of Pike O'Stickle sticking up above High Raise. It was
funny how that little dome of rock looked from this direction. |
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| Great Crag summit cairn |
More sunlight on Borrowdale |
| With the weather turning colder we started to
retrace our steps back towards the Rosthwaite - Watendlath path. We had
talked about continuing on to Dock Tarn and then down into Stonethwaite
to make a full circuit but that would have involved a fair amount of road
walking that we did not fancy, so it was retrace our steps and back down
into Borrowdale. |
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| The northern top of Great Crag |
Retracing our steps back down |
| At least by retracing our steps we had the chance
to look over Watendlath and talk about a future planned walk that involves
using the bus from Keswick to Watendlath and return to Keswick on foot
via the central spine of the Lake District. I must admit that I am looking
forwards to that walk, it will be something different. |
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| A panorama of Grange Fell from Great
Crag |
At the top of the section of the path that was
made of stepping stones I stopped to take a panoramic photo. It looked
a bit bleak from up here with nothing to really capture your sight, just
miles and miles of moorland, but I think that AW had it right when he said;
"On the right sort of day ( warm sunshine) and at
the right time of year (August) the top of Great Crag, carpeted with lovely
heather, is quite the right place to be"
Not today though! |
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| Looking towards Grange Fell |
Looking down the steep section |
| Making my way down the path I stepped onto the
grass by the side to let a couple of lady's pass going up to the top. I
found the grass much easier to walk down than the steps. John noticed this
and told me off! He mentioned things about path erosion and stuff. I had
to reply about the number of accidents caused when descending these sorts
of remade paths, they are OK going up but much worse when going down. sarah
thought about this for a while before joining me on the grass! |
 |
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| Heading back towards Grange Fell |
Nearing the Rosthwaite - Watendlath path |
| We followed the posted track around the Bog
Myrtle stuff and soon reached the wall. From here it was back along the
faint track and Sarah was soon a bit confused as she did not recognize
where we were. I have noticed this before about Sarah, whenever we have
retraced our steps she always seems to have no recollection about walking
there before! Walking back this way was definitely worse than the first
time, it just seemed so boring! |
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| The path down to Rosthwaite |
And a bit further down |
| Back at the main path we turned downhill and
headed of back to Borrowdale. Sarah was upset with me as I mentioned the
dead sheep again, she had managed to forget about it by now. She will probably
kill me for writing about it here! To try and take her mind of it we started
to talk about work, I know, I know!!!, but it had to be done!!! |
 |
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| And again! |
Leaving the Rosthwaite path |
| To be honest me and John vented a bit of steam
on the way down here. Sarah used to work with us, in fact she told us what
to do and where to go (no you misunderstand, that
was her job!) She used
to do it in such a way that everyone was happy, the customers, the company,
us, her, everybody! That's enough of that, I cannot for legal reasons say
what happens now, but it is not as good as when Sarah was there. |
 |
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| Along the path below the trees |
Rosthwaite |
| With steam coming out of my ears I decided that
it was time for a last coffee break. It's amazing how some caffeine, a
bit of nicotine and a good old rant can cheer me up! Very soon I was myself
again, calm, collected and ready to go again. The path that we were on
made its way under a wood and then into the wood itself. I have a thing
about paths and I liked this one! It made its way down, along, and through
the trees, great! Sarah even started to crack a few jokes that she had
heard on the radio, this walk was ending the way it started, with a laugh
and a joke. |
 |
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| Through the trees |
And finally back to the road |
We eventually reached the road, what a place
to park a car! Here was space for loads of cars and we had missed it, well
we had not traveled this far up the road so I can be excused. Back onto
the road and after a few corners we found the car just where we left it.
Sarah seemed to dislike this last bit of road walking but on the whole
I thought that the walk had been a good one.
We had expected to get wet
and we didn't. Sarah wanted a less windy walk and she got it. John,
although he never admitted it, was a bit under the weather so it was
OK for him. I had managed to keep up and not lagged behind at all (always
a bonus!), not much pain in my feet (a definite
plus!), a bit
of making our own way, a small bit of scrambling, a memorial, and that
thought of having a dry walk instead of a wet one all made me thouroughley
enjoy today! All we now needed was a pub to finnish the day off! |
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| GPS Track log from today's walk |
| We needed a change from the Cross Keys in Tebay.
I had suggested that we drive back down south via Grasmere and Ambleside
but not really knowing any good pubs we plumped for a location that we
knew well. I know it was not on the direct route home but Pooley Bridge
just seemed to be calling out for a visit! I was looking forwards to the
gammon and eggs in the Sun Inn. When we arrived at about 5.40pm the pub
was busy, what seemed to be a hen party was in full swing, and they say
I can't plan anything! John helped the situation by calling out very loudly
"Hi there!" as soon as he walked in, every one turned around to see who
it was and seemed a bit confused when all they saw was us! Unfortunately
they did not start serving food until 6pm so we reluctantly left and went
down to the Crown. I have nothing against this pub, but it seems to me
that you can visit a pub like this any where near home. It's not a Lake
District pub if you know what I mean. John seems to like it though, "Hi
there!" and he was welcomed with open arms this time, well that is until
his first two choices of the menu were not available (again!) The
food came and we tucked in. Sarah seemed to have trouble with her hand
/ mouth co-ordination, especially when it came to dessert! Very soon the
table, Sarah's legs, the seats, and finally the floor were all sampling
Sarah's ice cream, and I though I could be a messy eater! This made us
laugh again and we tried to clean up her mess as best we could before making
a hasty retreat. This had been a great day out, made even better by no
traffic jams on the M6 on the way home. I am glad that the Highways Agency
have taken the time to read my comments and make it a trouble free return
trip for us, I wonder if it will last! |
