Arriving at Tarn Hows we parked up in the National Trust car park and got ready. I had the advantage over John and Sarah here, I had woken up to lovely blue sky's and had decided to wear shorts, the others had woken up to lots of rain and had decided to do without the shorts! As it was quite nice and warm I felt like I had made the right decision. I have to talk about the weather here, the last few weeks has seen loads of thunder storms and heavy rain. In fact it has been the worst summer that I can remember, but, we have been walking every Saturday in August so far and have had really good sunny days, are we just plain lucky or is it great planning on my part ? I think I know the answer to that one!
We left the car park and headed for the path that goes around Tarn Hows. Instead of following the crowds we walked anti-clockwise. I have been coming here for years, in fact I have lost count of the number of times that I have walked round, carried a baby in a papoose or pushed a pram around. In my opinion it is one of the most scenic parts of the Lake District , the National Trust also seem to like it but are doing their best to stop people from coming here. Well all of the signs saying “No this” and “No that” , “This is banned” and “That is banned” coupled with the extortionate car parking charges seem to indicate that the do not want people to visit, but perhaps that is best saved for another time!
Walking along the path John wanted to turn around and go back the other way. He thought it must be a one way path as everyone was walking in the opposite direction to us! We actually felt out of place here, all geared up with rucksacks and boots and stuff whilst everyone else was just out for a stroll! This was not to last too long as we were soon to leave the main path and head away from Tarn Hows.
As the path started to head back towards the car park I was watching for a path that led away to our right. I eventually spotted one and we turned off the main path just as a large group of people appeared. This path just made its way around a small hillock and we soon found ourselves back on the main path, right in the middle of the large group of walkers! John came out with a few choice comments about my navigating and was wondering what the large group of people thought about us, or in particular me! Oh well…
A minute later we found the right path and headed away from the crowds. This soon joined a byway; I know it's a byway because it says so on the map! I would have called it a bridleway, but then again what do I know! We startled a group of walkers who had decided to stop for lunch on the stile, to save then from moving we used the big gate, we are kind aren't we! From here the byway started to climb up hill, the first real height gain so far. This was a nice wide track that headed upwards and around below the higher ground. We came across a gate that had a sign on it saying something about no entry and a private nature reserve but also had a sign saying 260 meters to Iron Keld, that was helpful! Fair enough, and a bit further along we came across an entrance to Iron Keld plantation.
Iron Keld plantation was a scene of devastation after recent felling work, it looked a right mess! John decided that since it was now 4 hours since he had last eaten it was lunch time. We found a nice big boulder by the side of the track to sit on and had some food. Sarah seemed to attract a wasp; it was quite funny to watch as she tried to run away from it! John started to tell us about wasps and what they do. When one came near me I just stood still and let it get on with being a wasp, I did not have the inclination to run around, waving my hands in the air and shouting loudly! When we set off again John and Sarah argued about the differences between bees and wasps, which one dies if they sting you? that sort of thing. I'm still not sure of the answer and as long as they don't sting me I honestly don't care!
Leaving the plantation at an old gate we turned right and headed upwards. Soon the summit came into view and we passed a couple of blokes heading down. As we neared the summit I could see a head that kept appearing and disappearing behind the summit. I stopped a few times to look back at the view and have a chat, hopefully this would give the person at the summit time to disappear! My plan worked and we reached the summit to find it deserted, just the way we like it!
The views from here were great. As well as being able to see Windermere and Ambleside we could also make out Hawkshead and Coniston but the best views were of the Crinkle Crags, Bowfell and Langdale Pikes. The visibility was very clear and we could make out the paths that we had walked on when we did Crinkle Crags the other week. Sarah seemed surprised by how easy it had been to get up here, it's no wonder I was saving this one for a winter walk! John asked where we should have been walking and when I pointed in the general direction he commented on the fact that it was in an area of cloud and not sunshine like we were enjoying here. I looked at my watch and decided that they could have an hours sunbathing. I think that they thought the breeze up here was just a little bit too much for that, but they tried!
I'm not going to go into all of the details but Sarah, after 2 years of walking in the Lake District set a bit of a precedent for herself now. Much to John's and my amusement she left us for a while and disappeared over to the other side of the wall that goes across the summit, perhaps there was a better view from there, perhaps she wanted a bit of solitude on the fells', or just a quite phone call home? Who knows!
While John and Sarah tried to sunbathe I took loads of photos. I was quite pleased with today, after psyching myself up for a big walk and then having to come up with a Plan B, I was enjoying it much more than I thought I would. The views over to Crinkle Crags, so soon after walking up there, seemed to mean more than a good view of Crinkle Crags should, it was a bit surreal really! It has been quite a while since we had such clear views from anywhere, perhaps it had something to do with all the rain we have had lately?
About 5 minutes into the hour of sunbathing I was bored. Sarah was starting to wonder what we should do next. When she said that she needed a new bikini for a holiday next week I knew we were in trouble! I decided to have a walk down to a large cairn that I could see and left John to discuss the merits of shopping for bikinis in the Lake District with Sarah! The cairn was big, but showing signs of disrepair. When I returned back to the summit Sarah was not talking about shopping anymore, nice one John!
It was still much too early to return home so we had to think about what to do next. I had originally thought that we could go and do a bit of scrambling on Raven Crag but somehow we got into the idea of getting a boat or something on Coniston. With that decided we set off to retrace our steps back to Tarn Hows. Unfortunately for me we started to talk about work and as I had such a bad week I sort of lost it and went into a bit of a rage, as such the return journey was all a blur to me until we reached Tarn Hows and carried on around the rest of the path around the Tarn . Here we joined the crowds again. Mum, Dad, Sons and Daughters, Grandparents, Tom, Dick and Harry and all of the family pets! One thing made us laugh was the sight of a dog swimming besides the path, the owner throwing stones into the Tarn to make the dog follow the splashes along side the path.
I have used the LDNPA (Lake District National Park Authority) Coniston Boating Centre quite a few times in the past, mainly to hire the electric powered boats but today was going to be different. Parking in the newly refurbished (since last time I was here) car park we walked down to the hire centre and chatted with the always helpful and cheerful bloke there. We wanted to hire 3 single canoes, or as Sarah has it, kayaks! We had to convince the bloke that we could right ourselves in case of a capsize and while I nodded at all the right times Sarah told him about some of the things she had to do when she gained some sort of qualification. The bloke was impressed; I'm still not sure whether it was with my head nodding or Sarah's qualifications. Either way we soon had 3 single canoe / kayak things in the water. Sarah was first out and looked confidant, I was next and nearly managed a capsize immediately, John was last but looked like he knew what he was doing.
We headed away from shore and it was soon evident that I had chosen a duff boat, it kept going around in right hand circles! This made John and Sarah laugh. Once away from the crowds I made better progress, John wanted to cross the lake as he had seen something that took his interest over there. I did not feel confident enough to do that so I decided to explore the shore line. Due to the high water levels this was interesting and it was possible to paddle through reed banks and under trees. John and Sarah thought that it was because I could not steer the canoe that I did this. Not at all!
After a while we paddled back past the boating centre to the river that comes down into Coniston. Again I went exploring up it before running aground and having to turn around. A few more minutes exploring some reed beds and watching the ducks and I decided that I needed to get out and get the camera from the car. Unfortunately my canoe now had a tendency to go around in left hand circles so it took me a while to get back! At least I was not nearly run over by the Steamer like Sarah was! So I returned to dry land and managed to get the camera and some photos of Sarah and John, they still kept taking the Mick out of me and even in The Farmers Arms at Spark Bridge where we stopped
This had turned out to be another great day out, I am still not convinced that Sarah had a dodgy knee, it could have been one of those female ploys to get her own way, and after all, she has been going on about sunbathing and kayaking for a while now!