After our walking holiday in September,
which was based at the Borrowdale Youth Hostel, we decided to stay
at Butterlip How Youth Hostel in Grasmere for our long weekend break
in March.
Although the Grasmere Hotel was extremely nice,
we thought the meal times might become restrictive, as having gained
more confidence in our walking, we were ready to start some longer
walks. |
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The annexe of Butterlyp Howe Youth hostel,
where we were staying |
Having said that, the first walk
we chose was a short one - just over 4 miles - to my favourite mountain,
Blencathra.
We started from the car park at the bottom of
Blease Fell, and walked up the broad ascent towards Knowe Crags. |
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derwent water with catbells and the grasmoor range
behind from the ascent |
| The weather was lovely for the time
of year, but there was still some haze about. |
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Looking towards Derwent Water |
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towards st john's in the vale with tewet tarn in the
near distance |
| From the top of Blease Fell we were
able to see the day's walk stretched out ahead of us. We were also
able to see solitary snow drifts still lingering in the more sheltered
spots. |
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Blencathra from Blease Fell |
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Gategill fell from blease fell |
| On Gategill Fell Top we could see
the full extent of the impressive arete of Hall's Fell. |
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Hall's fell from gategill fell |
| And we were able to look back to Knowe
Crags and our ascent. |
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knowe crags from gategill fell |
| After we reached the top of Blease
Fell, we soon made it to the true summit on Hall's Fell Top. |
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david at the summit of blencathra |
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and me on my favourite mountain |
| As it was a short walk, and the weather was nice, we
decided to walk across to Scales Fell and take a look down at Scales
Tarn and Sharp Edge. |
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Scales Tarn and Sharp Edge |
We were not tempted to use Sharp
Edge for our descent!
We then sat down at the summit for lunch and got out our Wainwright
and map, and started identifying the peaks we could see in the distance.
Although the haze was there, the outlines were quite clear, and
we were truly impressed at just how accurate the Wainwright panoramas
were.
We were retracing our route for the descent, and David used every
available opportunity to get in some snow walking. |
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david walking the snow on blencathra |
| We also had a few snowball fights
along the way. |
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having a snowball fight on blencathra |
| The descent is very easy and pleasant
on Blease and we were back down in time to have a look at the Threlkeld
Mining Museum and a stop in St John's In the Vale to look back at
the day's walk. |
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david in front of Blencathra from st john's in the
vale |
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Back at Butterlyp Howe Youth Hostel with Stone Arthur
in the background |
