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Overnighter in deepest Borrowdale

Overnighter in deepest Borrowdale


Postby Phooooey » Sat Aug 31, 2013 2:30 pm

Wainwrights included on this walk: Castle Crag

Date walked: 12/08/2013

Time taken: 12

Distance: 20 km

Ascent: 715m

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Grange - Castle Crag - Stonethwaite - Camp Site - Langstrath - Camp Site - Langstrath Bridge - Langstrath Country Inn - Rosthwaite - The Bowder Stone - Grange

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On a weeks holiday from work, my step-daughter Amy and family came up to join us in Dalton In Furness.
Her boyfriend Kelvin and daughter Charlie (now 9, where has the time gone ??), Damson & I already had plans for a wild camp and wander somewhere and so I planned an easy-ish clamber over Castle Crag and a wander through Borrowdale.
Amy unfortunately couldn't join us with another baby on the way and our 1 year old Sophie and Ellie to look after.

With 3 rucksacks, 2 tents, sleeping gear, food, etc. we really needed decent weather and apart from the drive through to Grange and the first 15 minutes we did very well.

We parked up in a 6-8 car lay-by just outside Grange at about lunch time on the Monday and set off down the side of the river formed from the outflow of Derwent Water down to Grange village. From the small cafe / shop there we took the small path left to Castle Crag going up via the tourist route up the right hand side of the fell on a clear stony path before taking the split left up and over the wall stiles.

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Kelvin & Charlie fully loaded
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Charlie at memorial plaque as we headed up stepper section of Castle Crag
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Kelvin & I heading up Castle Crag
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First wall stile heading up Castle Crag
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Charlie on wall stile

From the top of this section, a large slate fell side has been created with a zig zag path leading up to the final summit rocks. At a level just below the summit, a large number of upstanding slate monoliths have been created and so Charlie and I had a go at creating our own before the final climb.

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Charlie & Kelvin on slate path
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Charlie creates mini monolith
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Slte monoliths below summit
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Borrowdale and Stonethwaite from Castle Crag (our path follws trees on right)

The fell was popular today with plenty of people up there but not the queues that have been witnessed on previous occasions. We grabbed a few photos including one taken by Charlie of me supposedly holding up a mountain (I think she was just making me look an idiot in front of the crowds on the top !! :? )

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Charlie on Castle Crag summit
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Kelvin on summit before Derwent Water
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Kelvin on summit looking towards Seatoller
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And Charlie ...
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Taking a well deserved break on summit
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Derwent Water, Grange (near) and Keswick (opposite bank) from Castle Crag
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Supposedly holding up a mountain ?? :?
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Damson on summit rock
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Charlie on summit rock

Our descent took us down the opposite flank of the fell to rejoin the River Derwent which we followed through Borrowdale down to the roads leading into Stonethwaite grabbing a few caches along the way.

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Way down
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Stone steps leading back to river
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Kelvin above Derwent River

Our plan was to grab some grub and a pint or two from the Langstrath Country Inn in Stonethwaite but when we arrived we found it didn't open on a Monday. This was to be our resting and re-fuelling stop before heading into Langstrath for a true wild camp at the top of the valley. Instead we changed our plans and stopped at the camp site at the end of Stonethwaite under the gaze of Eagle Crag. We set up the tents, had a paddle in the freezing cold Stonethwaite Beck :shock: and ate the few sandwiches we'd packed purely as a back up plan.

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Pitching the tents
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Preparing for the river paddle ?? :crazy: :roll: :lol:

We'd covered 6km up to this point but decided to grab a few more geocaches in Langstrath so went for a lovely evening stroll round the corner and up the western sidfe of Langstrath Beck grabbing as many caches as we could find. Going was much easier without the weight of the packs and we had gone another 3km before making the decision to head back before the light had gone.

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Heading into Langstrath
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Eagle Crag from Langstrath
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Light starting to dim in Langstrath

The walk back to camp was obviously a little too much for young Charlie who's legs had tired by this point so it was somewhat slower for our return.

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Charlie getting tired as we head back to camp

A game of cards and a stashed bag of sweets later and it was time for bed with Damson ending up in the bottom of my sleeping bag by the time morning arrived ?? :roll:

With tents re-packed we again donned the packs and headed back into Langstrath to cross the first bridge and then walked back on ourselves down the opposite bank of Stonethwaite Beck grabbing more caches along the way. Across the 2 days we managed 20 finds including some considerably off the paths and requiring some scrambling up the fell sides.

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Damson at Galleny Force
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Charlie coming down off a geocaching scramble
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Kelvin & Charlie in deepest Stonethwaite before Eagle Crag
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Guess who got the biggest rucksack ??
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Stop messing about with my camera !! :lol:

Not to be outdone by yesterdays failure, we got back to the Country Inn at 5 minutes to 12:00 and weren't the only ones waiting for a nice pint and a bite to eat. Kelvin & I grabbed a pork joint whilst Charlie grabbed gammon and chips (possibly the best gammon and chips I've tasted in a while as we finished what Charlie couldn't eat). Topped off with a couple of pints and Damson being fussed over by a young family who had joined us in the pub.

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Damson at Langstrath Country Inn
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Doors open !!

We headed back down into Borrowdale again crossing the Stonethwaite bridge and following the beck up to Rosthwaite before taking the main road (B5289) up to a small path leading to the Bowder Stone.


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On our way again
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Heading to Rosthwaite
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Fed and refreshed

The Bowder Stone is approximately three storeys high with a lovely wooden ladder leading to its summit. After thinking Charlie might struggle with this, she was first up and it took us quite a while to coax her off.
Only one guy was attempting to scale its smooth surface today prepped with his crash mats in case of a fall.

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Wooden ladder climb up the Bowder Stone
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Atop the Bowder Stone
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Kelvin & Damson on the Bowder Stone
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Charlie on the Bowder Stone
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And again ...
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And again ... :wink:

The path back to Grange passed a number of abseiling and rock climbing groups before the final road stretch back to take a well deserved paddle in the river below Grange's old stone bridge.

I walked the final few metres back to grab the car as Charlie had a play in the stream.
In total we had covered 20km (6km to the camp site, 6km up and down Langstrath and 8km on the return journey) almost completely in glorious sunshine.

It was Kelvin's 1st fell and Charlie's 4th and I believe we now have another convert to the Lake District fan club. Well done to them both :clap: :clap:

We stopped at the Badger Bar at Rydal Water on the way home to celebrate with a pint and some nuts.

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My precious ...
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Charlie grabs a coke
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Kelvin grabs a pint
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A celebratory pint
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Phooooey
 
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Location: Dalton -In-Furness

Re: Overnighter in deepest Borrowdale

Postby simon-b » Sun Sep 01, 2013 6:07 pm

A nice outing, Phooooey, Castle Crag's a good little fell. There was a lot of smoke in the Stonethwaite valley during the bank holiday, due to all the camp fires at that site.
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simon-b
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Re: Overnighter in deepest Borrowdale

Postby ChrisW » Tue Sep 03, 2013 5:24 am

Fine report Phooooey, what a beautiful part of the world the lake district really is, as always lovely shots of a great hike and a shed load of geofinds :clap:
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ChrisW
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