Our final walk of this holiday
was a short one. My body (and mind) had not quite forgiven me for
Thursday's extension to Bowfell, and only grumblingly accepted their
fate as we got out of the car at Revelin Moss with a view to walking
straight up the side of Grisedale Pike.
The weather was, again, indifferent, with cloud at the summit,
and the only thing in its favour was that at least it was not windy. |
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Revelin Moss Car Park |
| The path to the start of Grisedale
Pike is clearly marked through the woods, which is just as well, as
I generally find it much more difficult to find one's way at low level
than when up in the fells, and especially so when trying to navigate
through a forest. |
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The path through Revelin Moss from the Car Park to
Grisedale Pike |
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Revelin Moss |
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Northern Marsh Orchid |
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Northern Marsh Orchid |
Revelin Moss is a lovely place
to walk, just for the sake of it, and there are lots of flora and
bird life to observe.
With Thursday's walk still in my legs, I was quite content to just
observe, but before long Grisedale Pike came into view ahead, and
it was time to prepare for the ascent. |
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Grisedale Pike comes into view from Revelin Moss |
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Cinnabar Moths |
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Walking towards the small footbridge on the path to
Grisedale Pike |
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Grisedale Pike with the summit still in cloud |
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A Robin by the path to Grisedale Pike |
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Northern Marsh Orchids and a few Common Spotted Orchids |
| The path through the woods is clearly
marked until the last path off to the stile and gate leading out onto
the open fell side. This took a little bit of searching out, though
this was possibly because of everything growing vigorously at this
time of year. |
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The gate in the fence that brings you onto the open
fell |
| From the gate, the ascent route must
be the easiest we have ever done. You just follow an old stone wall
up the steep fell side to the summit. |
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Looking back to Whinlatter Forest |
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Following the wall to Grisedale Pike's summit |
| In spite of the earlier mist, things
were much clearer now, with views in all directions, especially to
the North, where we could see the Solway Firth and Scotland, all in
sunshine. It was not exactly sunny on Grisedale Pike, but it was certainly
much brighter than it had been earlier, and we were not sure whether
the forecast of rain coming in would materialise. |
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Hobcarton End from our ascent |
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Whinlatter Forest with Lord's Seat in the background |
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Still following the wall... |
| As we followed the wall, we could
see quite clearly our previous route from January
with Roger and Ann Hiley and Andrew Leaney, when we had to turn round
due to strong winds. |
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Hospital Plantation and Kinn from the ascent |
| As we approached Grisedale Pike's
summit, the mist was just lifting from it. |
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The summit comes into view with the mist just lifting |
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Derwent Water and Causey Pike |
| Until now the path had been very good
but, as if to remind us that we were on one of the high fells, the
path got more stony and eroded at the very top as we got near the
summit. |
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The path gets a bit more eroded nearer the summit |
| And then we arrived at the slender
summit of this graceful mountain. Considering the forecast of rain
and mist, we were very satisfied with the views we got, particularly
of the other North Western Fells, with whom we have yet to make our
acquaintance. |
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David at the summit of Grisedale Pike |
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Grasmoor and Hopegill Head from the summit |
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Eel Crag and Grasmoor |
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Outerside, Sail and Crag Hill from the summit |
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Barrow and Outerside with Causey Pike behind from
the summit |
| Looking down on the narrow path to
Kinn, it was clear to see what Andrew had meant in January, when he
suggested we call it a day above Kinn, as we were barely able to stand
up. Today, however, there was not much wind about, which was lucky,
because we have since heard several horror stories from others, who
have been blown over at the summit in high winds. It seems that Grisedale
Pike is just ideally suited for catching strong currents, and is definitely
not the place to be in a gale! |
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The Vale of Keswick and Derwent Water, with the path
down to Kinn in the foreground |
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The path back to Revelin Moss |
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Blencathra in the distance, just out of the clouds |
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Skiddaw from the path back to Revelin Moss |
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Nearly back at the gate into Revelin Moss |
Back in the woods, we decided to
make the most of our last day, by following the Arboretum trail
round before returning to our car.
This was a good decision, as we were rewarded with magnificent
views of Grisedale Pike. We completed the walk just in time to get
back to the car before the heavens opened and down came the rain
they had forecast! |
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Grisedale Pike from the Arboretum Walk |
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A large Black Slug |
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Eyebright |
One of my first memories from the
Lake District is arriving at Ings, just before Windermere, on our
first ever trip and seeing a couple of happy, waving, wooden bears
greeting us.
I have been determined to get one of my own ever since, but it
was only last year that I finally found out that they were Derwent
Bay Bears. We came across them almost by accident in the Derwent
Bay Bear shop in Keswick, where for some odd reason they sold every
bear except a Derwent Bay Bear.
We had noticed earlier in the week that there was a signpost in
the direction of Grange for "Derwent Bay Bears", so David
suggested we stop off there on the way back. The Derwent
Bay Bear Shop is a must. They have all sorts of bears and other
sculptures, all made by chain saws, on display and they even have
a mini museum of sawmill implements. They still don't have very
many bears for sale, but we did not take long to find Bruno, who
was duly wrapped safely in bubblewrap for his journey back to Dorset,
after we had been provided with a detailed care sheet for our new
little friend.
This holiday will now be remembered every time I look out of my
bedroom window and see Bruno waving cheerfully to me from the garden. |
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Derwent Bay Bears |
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Bruno, the Derwent Bay Bear, waving from our Garden |
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