When we woke up on the Saturday
morning it was still raining, and the wind was getting stronger.
We rang the Lake District Weatherline, and they said that the forecast
was showers and wind reaching gale force on the fell tops. We did
not want to be put off our final walk, as we had attempted it already
in January, when we had to turn around as we ran out of time, but
we realised we might have to abandon the walk again if the wind
got too strong - there was only one way to find out.
We drove to Grasmere quite early, and were able
to park in the village centre, just by Easedale Road for free. We
then set off along Easedale Road on the same route as we had taken
in January towards Easedale Tarn. It was raining, but it was not
too unpleasant, although the views were quite lacking, compared
to the rest of the week. |
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Easedale Road |
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Goody Bridge |
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Honeysuckle near Goody Bridge |
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Ivy-leaved Toadflax near Goody Bridge |
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Welsh Poppy near Goody Bridge |
| As we went through the gate along
the soggy path, Sour Milk Gill came into view in the distance |
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The path to Sour Milk gill |
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The path to Sour Milk Gill |
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Easedale Tarn signposted |
| As we walked through the field below
Sour Milk Gill, we passed a field with cows, bullocks and a bull,
but they took no notice of us, apart from giving us puzzled looks.
They were no doubt wondering why we were silly enough to go walking
on a day like this. |
|
"Yes, David it is a bull, but don't worry - as
long as you are not wearing anything red........Ah!" |
| After the field, the path starts climbing
to reach Sour Milk Gill. |
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Sour Milk Gill |
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By Sour Milk Gill |
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Sour Milk Gill |
| There was a lot of Bracken both sides
of the path, quite unlike when we had walked there in January. |
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Bracken by the path to Easedale Tarn |
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The path to Easedale Tarn |
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Looking back to Helm Crag |
The ascent to Blea Rigg is in sections.
After an almost level walk in the Easedale Valley, you climb past
Sour Milk Gill, then reach a plateau with only a slight incline
to Easedale Tarn. There is then another steep climb onto Blea Rigg
past Belles Knott.
The path itself is clear to Easedale Tarn, although very wet today. |
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Below Easedale Tarn |
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Easedale Tarn comes into view |
| |
|
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Tarn Crag and Easedale Tarn |
| The path then follows the southern
end of Easedale Tarn to the other side, before climbing steeply to
Belles Knott by the side of the little stream from Codale Tarn. |
|
Easedale Tarn, looking towards Belles Knott |
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Easedale Tarn with some water lilies still remaining |
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Walking towards Belles Knott |
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Belles Knott |
| By now we were getting strong gusts
of wind that made it slightly difficult to stay on the path at times. |
|
Water running down the path |
| The path past Belles Knott is almost
a scramble, you certainly have to handle the rock in places. In January
there had been snow, and we were not sure if we had been on the path
as it was not visible then, but today it was obvious that there had
been no way of avoiding these mini-scrambles whichever route we took.
David had left his walking poles behind because he was expecting this
section to still be like this, and he was pleased that he had done
so now, as they can be a hindrance when you are trying to grip the
rock. |
|
Belles Knott |
|
Looking back to Easedale Tarn with the Fairfield Horseshoe
in the background |
| After Belles Knott, the path evens
out a little again as you pass Codale Tarn, before a final scramble
onto Blea Rigg. |
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The path evens out above Belles Knott |
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Codale Tarn |
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The path gets steeper again |
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Loose rocks on the final section before we reach Blea
Rigg |
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Codale Tarn and Easedale Tarn, with Belles Knott in
the centre, just about visible as we have another heavy shower |
We turned right at the junction
of paths on Blea Rigg, and before long Sergeant Man came into view.
This was the point where we had decided to turn round in January,
so every step now was a bonus. It was also the point where we first
saw another walker today, and when asked about the wind out there
(as it was now getting very strong even here), he informed us that
he had been able to just about get up onto Sergeant Man without
being blown away.
Comforted by the fact that he was still there to tell the tale,
we continued along the path, occasionally crashing into each other
or off the path as a strong gust of wind caught us unawares. |
|
Sergeant Man comes into view |
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Sergeant Man |
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Sergeant Man |
| There was no doubt that Sergeant Man
was going to be more of a problem in the by now almost gale force
wind than High Raise, as it is a conical top. Luckily, we were sheltered
a little as we ascended, so we reasoned that as long as we kept our
heads down when we reached the summit, we should be alright. We had
also watched a couple of other walkers at the summit as we approached
and were relieved to see that they did not get blown over the edge. |
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The cloud swirling in the wind over Thunacar Knott |
| When we reached the summit, David
had a couple of failed attempts at standing up, before finally sitting
down to have his picture taken. |
|
David at the summit of Sergeant Man
|
From Sergeant Man it was a case
of walking off into the mist across the bog and hoping that we did
not bypass the summit of High Raise.
There is no real danger on High Raise, but the enormous plateau
has no real paths and plenty of bogs to make diversions necessary,
and this makes it extremely difficult to keep in a straight line.
I cheated and used the GPS! |
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The route to High Raise from Sergeant Man |
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Pavey Ark and HArrison Stickle come out of cloud from
Sergeant Man |
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Blea Rigg from Sergeant Man |
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Sergeant Man |
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Our "clearly defined" route to High Raise |
| On more that one occasion, David came
crashing into me as we walked on the now very exposed plateau to High
Raise, and once he was actually blown over. I managed to stay upright,
mainly thanks to my walking poles, that were now coming into their
own. |
|
The Langdale Pikes from the path to High Raise |
| After walking for a while on boggy
ground, which all looked the same, we were quite relieved to finally
spot the summit cairn ahead. |
|
The summit cairn comes into view |
When we reached the summit, there
were another couple of walkers sheltering in the shelter cairn,
and David asked me if I wanted a break, but by now I had had enough
of the wind, so I suggested we should get straight on to Low White
Stones, where we would hopefully be a little more sheltered as we
started to drop down a little.
The cloud stopped us from having good views from High Raise, but
in fairness, they were better than we had expected, as the gusting
wind kept lifting the cloud in different directions, to expose the
occasional view here and there. |
|
David getting blown about on the Summit of High
Raise
|
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The Langstrath Valley visible below the cloud from
High Raise |
| We decided to use the fence posts
to get us to Greenup Edge, so we set off in a north easterly direction
to pick them up, as they do not go across the summit. |
|
Making our way towards the fence posts |
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Sergeant's Crag and EAgle Crag |
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Glaramara and Bessyboot (rosthwaite Fell) with Tarn
at Leaves just about visible in between |
| Before long, we had reached the point
of a very prominent rock outcrop on High Raise with a fence post running
through it and from here it was a case of making our way towards Low
White Stones and then drop down to Greenup Edge. |
|
Fence post in rock outcrop on High Raise |
| We were lucky that, although it was
raining and there was a lot of cloud about, it stayed high enough
to make it quite easy to see where we should be heading. |
|
Low White Stones and Ullscarf |
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Low White Stones |
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Looking back at High Raise |
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Wyth Burn and the ridge out to Helm Crag |
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Ullscarf |
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Sergeant's Crag and Eagle Crag with the Borrowdale
Valley behind |
| |
Greenup Edge with Ullscarf behind |
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Wyth Burn |
| When we reached Greenup Edge, we took
a right turn to join the path to the Far Easedale Valley. Again this
was all made easy by the fact that we could see where we were going. |
|
Greenup Edge |
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Low White Stones from Greenup Edge |
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Calf Crag from the path to Far EAsedale. Our path
took us to the depression on the right |
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The path to Far Easedale |
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Crossing Mere Beck |
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Far Easedale |
| There was so much water on the path
that at times we wondered if we were in Far Easedale Gill, but apart
from the water, the walk back through Far Easedale was pleasant enough,
with a very steady descent along the long valley back to Grasmere.
We had also got out of the worst of the wind, which was a blessing. |
|
The very wet path |
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Far Easedale |
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Far Easedale Gill |
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Waterfalls in Far Easedale Gill |
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The path gets wetter still as another heavy shower
moves in |
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Rain over Gibson Knott |
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Rain over Gibson Knott |
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Footbridge over Far Easedale Gill |
| As David sat down to wait for me on
a rock near Far Easedale Gill, he discover some tiny Matchstick and
Birds-nest Fungi |
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Matchstick Fungus |
| |
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Birds-nest Fungus |
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Far Easedale |
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A Herdwick at Far Easedale |
| As we got back almost to valley level,
we reached the trees and some buildings. |
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Almost back at Valley Level |
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The first buildings appear |
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Looking across to Sour Milk Gill |
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The farm in the Easedale Valley |
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A hole in the wall to allow a small stream to run
through |
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David waits for me by the gate |
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Far Easedale |
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Free range chickens |
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Easedale Beck |
| Back at Easedale Road, we started
the final section of the walk back into Grasmere village. |
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Herb Robert |
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Easedale Road |
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Foxglove |
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Goody Bridge |
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Cuddly sheep in the field by Easedale Road |
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Back in Grasmere Village |
| Back in Grasmere village, we made
a quick stop to buy a backpack in Stewart Cunningham's outdoor shop,
and I could not resist taking a picture of their unique advert for
dog jackets. |
|
A unique advert for a dog jacket in Stewart Cunningham's
Outdoor shop in Grasmere |
| Back at the car, we were damp and
tired, but both agreed that our last walk in the Lake District this
year had been a success in spite of the wind and the rain. |
|
Back at the car in Grasmere |
By the time we got back to the
campsite, the wind had got up down there as well, and as we went
to bed, it was really going for it. During the night, I was woken
by something, and I asked David if he heard shouting too, but I
only got a grunt in response, so I went back to sleep.
When I went down to wash the next morning, a woman was sitting
on the bench with a cup of tea, and she said to me "Our tent
has gone!". "Gone where?", I asked, and she told
me it had got torn in the gale overnight, and when they got out
to repair it, it had flown away over the fence, never to be seen
again! Later in the morning, when we had packed our tent up and
went to the shop to say goodbye for this year, we were told that
there had also been 6 people sleeping in the laundry room, where
their tents had flown away too! |
