Honister, Great Langdale and points in between

6-8/8/13
Walking with; Nobody/Nathan 

Not being in possession of either children or gainful employment I'd kind of forgotten how the Summer holidays affect the Lake District. There are hills best avoided under these conditions and yet I'd already planned a roughish selection of wanderings to occupy me over three days and I was loathe to stray too far from my prescribed ideas. Whilst it was considerably busier than usual I was fortunate that a little judicious route selection and some reasonably timed starts minimised the amount of contact I was required to have with the many hundreds thronging the fells!
Day one started at the prohibitively priced NT car park in Seatoller. I'd been a member once and when they tried to strong arm us into renewing the subscription they wanted £92 for a couple, the exorbitant fees are clearly the latest example of strong arming people into membership...Heading off up Thorneythwaite Fell (try saying that after a pint or three of Snecklifter) I was soon being treated to views of Derwentwater and the crags above Comb Gill. I was heading for Glaramara, a previous attempt had had to be aborted due to the depth of snow http://www.comewalkwithmeuk.co.uk/2012/12/borrowdaleand-snow.html, so I was keen to get it under my belt. The final gentle scramble onto the summit proved very rewarding, two hours in to my Lakeland August odyssey and still not a soul to be seen! I was experimenting with a 1:50000 scale OS in order to sharpen my identification of contours but my brain hadn't quite computed the full repercussions so the wander over to Allen Crags took me twice as long as I had convinced myself it would. Arriving at the Crags and with Great End and Esk Hause in clear view I discovered where all the Summer visitors had been, it was akin to Oxford Street in December, people (and dogs) here, there and everywhere! The path most being trodden appeared to be the one towards Scafell Pike but I dropped off it and headed over to Great End for magnificent views and some close inspection by a rescue chopper which circled the summit for some time. Leaving the tops I followed Ruddy Gill down to Seathwaite and then tramped along The Allerdale Ramble back to Seatoller from where I headed up to the YHA at Honister. Whilst it may be that the hostel could do with a lick of paint and a wee bit of TLC, the staff were friendly, the beer cold and the views spectacular all for the price of a good bottle of wine!
The next morning started with the steep haul up Grey Knotts where I snapped a sure fire winner for the "Trail magazine-Face of Fatigue". The top was reached and the vistas opened out in all directions, Borrowdale, Buttermere, Ennerdale, the heart of the Lakes. The walking over Brandreth and upto Green Gable was gentle and I slipped and slid my way down the Aaron Slack for a bite to eat at Styhead Tarn. Last time I'd been here the snow was knee deep and I'd had the place pretty much to myself, but by lunchtime on a Thursday in August there were already two tents pitched and a plethora of walkers milling about. I headed on up and before too long was escaping the bulk of the crowds once more and slowly ascending Esk Pike for more views back towards England's highest peak. I had one more peak in mind for the day, Bowfell, which I duly meandered up before the descent to the Three Tarns and then down the knee crunching The Band to arrive in Great Langdale with the sun shining and the lure of a good pint foremost in my mind. Tent pitched and chilli cooked it was time to head off to "The Old Dungeon Ghyll" and then "The Stickleback" to refresh myself with a couple of pints of Esthwaite Ale and Loweswater Gold!
Nathan had come across to join me for the Thursday. We headed off into Mickleden and began the brutal climb up Rossett Pike, this was made slightly less arduous for us by the sight of eight gents hefting their mountain bikes up and over the summit, respect due. We carried on to Angle Tarn and gradually ascended to Esk Hause where perched upon one of the shelter walls I found the Guinness cap that I had inadvertently left there the afternoon before! Honest bunch walkers? Or perhaps the sweat stained soiled and grubby cap hadn't proved enough of a prize for anyone to covet, who knows? We'd decided to do a traverse around Great Gable and stopped opposite Lingmell for a bit of rope work practice, still one of my bete noirs! The traverse was spectacular, crossing the screes with stunning views down Wasdale and we eventually ended up at Beck Head from where we made our way back towards Honister with some truly awesome views back down Ennerdale and towards Buttermere and Crummock Water.
Even in the height of Summer there are still plenty of spots where it's possible to find a little Lakeland solitude and the sunshine and the views made this three of my favourite days out so far this year! All that being said, roll on September and the hills to myself once more!

Prestbury to Hare Hill via Mottram

12.6.13
Walking with; Nobody

The agricultural fields of Cheshire have not always been happy walking grounds over the years http://www.comewalkwithmeuk.co.uk/2012/03/mud-mud-not-so-glorious-mud-round.html or http://www.comewalkwithmeuk.co.uk/2012/04/cloud-and-dane-valley.html but they are convenient and require little in the way of preparation a day in the hills needs. So it was I found myself parking in amongst the palatial mansions and expensive cars of the residents of Prestbury and setting off along the River Bollin. On past escapades I had found blocked rights of way, paths that didn't follow mapped routes and routes destroyed by the heavy hooves of the Cheshire dairy herds. The initial path did appear to have been rerouted around Lower Gadhole Farm, but from that point on it was easy, and very pleasant, going. One of the benefits of the late Summer has been the fantastic wildflowers lasting well into June. After the stunning Bluebells in the Duddon Valley at the weekend I was treated to copious meadows of Buttercups, Pink Campion and Cow Parsley in the hedgerows and the Hawthorns turning from white to a faint pink blush. There were Greenfinches in the hedges, Lapwings in the fields and rabbits aplenty bounding around, it was a very convincing argument for a genuine rural idyll.
I pressed on, swallowing envy at the mansions and rolling grounds and eventually made my way into the village of Mottram St Andrew. The village has attracted a number of high profile sportsman over the years and Wayne Rooney and Freddie Flintoff have lived in the area, judging from the size of the houses this isn't surprising! The path climbed up to Danielhill wood and from there, the permissive path led me along to the National Trust gardens at Hare Hill. Hare Hill is famous for the stunning collection of rhododendrons it holds, but the whole area surrounding the walled gardens is beautiful and well worth an hour of gentle exploration. Leaving the gardens behind I headed back to Prestbury past Harebarrow Farm and through the Big Wood which sounded like something out of A.A.Milne's world.....The path skirted the immaculate golf course before I passed some even more opulent mansions and arrived back in Prestbury.

Aira Force and Dockray

31.3.13
Walking with; Rich

After a couple of weeks of indolence as a result of a rugby obtained knee injury it felt good to be out and about even on the gentlest of ambles. I was in the Lakes on a stag do staying at the fantastically appointed Blencathra Centre, in the shadow of the eponymous hill and with magnificent vistas of snow capped peaks. The stag and less injured parties were off scrambling in ghylls and via ferrata-ing, so it was left to me and Rich (hobbled by a hip injury) to enjoy a perambulation of a less demanding sort.
  Wordsworth writes in his poem "The Somnambulist", "Wild stream of Aira, hold thy course" and the falls are mentioned in two further works of his. They are certainly a popular spot and easily accessible from the Ullswater road. The name is believed to come from the Nordic "eyrara" meaning "gravel-bank stream" with the word force (or sometimes foss) being a commonly used term for waterfall. The land is now owned by the National Trust but was developed as a pleasure garden by the Howard family in the eighteenth century who landscaped the area around their hunting lodge. The two bridges are dedicated to members of the Spring-Rice family and are popular photo spots.
Our car park provided good views of Ullswater and the snowy hills beyond and we descended the gentle path through the pine arboretum before crossing the stream and climbing slowly up the other side of the valley.  The view of the falls from below is spectacular and was enhanced by the icicles and frozen spray decorating the surrounding rocks. We continued, following the river, until we eventually reached the tiny hamlet of Dockray for a pint of "hair of the dog" in the very attractive "Royal Hotel". It was a simple matter of following the road back to the car then and whilst four ambled miles might not represent my most challenging walk, it felt could to be back out in the countryside once more, and even more pleasingly, the knee held up pretty well!

To view the full album please click on the link below;
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A Lyme Park Loop

12.4.12

Walking with; Nobody

When I first moved to the North West one of the first places I visited was Lyme Park and it's remained a firm favourite ever since whenever I get the itch for a few miles. The house itself is the largest in Cheshire and is Grade one listed. It was built in the latter part of the 16th Century and modified in the 1720s by Giacomo Leoni and then by Lewis Wyatt in the 19th Century. The Legh family gave the house to the National Trust in 1946 and more recently it found fame as the "Pemberley", Mr Darcy's house in the BBC adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen.

I started out in Disley and made my way towards the Park before beginning the slow ascent towards The Cage, originally built as a hunting lodge and commanding 360 degree views including a herd of Fallow Deer. Bypassing the house I started out on The Gritstone Trail and climbed steadily through Knightslow Woods and out onto Park Moor. The path leads up to the Bowstones, remnants of an Anglo-Saxon cross before following a ridge with beautiful views across the Peak District. It was clear and I could see snow on the slopes of Kinder as well as views all the way to the distinctive profile of Shutlingsloe in the South. It was muddy underfoot but the walking was easy and there were plenty of new lambs and a couple of buzzards to keep me entertained. I dropped down towards Pott Shrigley and then started another climb up Bakestonedale Moor which had great views across to last weeks walk on White Nancy and the Kerridge Saddle. Dropping down past Moorside Quarry I continued down to re-enter Lyme Park at the West Gate and climbed the track through Pursegate Woods which had a few late bluebells and a plentiful supply of Wild Garlic coming through and making the lower half of the track smell like an Italian restaurant.

It started to rain as I reached the carpark and I was regretting my decision not to park on site, but as I pottered on towards Disley I was rewarded with some fantastic views of the stormclouds hovering over Kinder which made the last half mile in a torrential downpour almost worth while!

To view the full photo album please click on the link below;

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