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So we might have overdone it a bit yesterday - we were both rather tired and aching this morning. Plus Lorraine had a meeting she needed to go to in the afternoon (apparently she hasn't quite understood what being on holiday means), so we seleted a (very) short walk today - up and down Wansfell from the Kirkstone Pass road.
We parked up in the lay-by right by the stile.
Parked up in lay-byThe stile leading to the path was a bit odd, with a gate on the top. The first of several rather odd stiles encountered today...
Stile in lay-byThe path up didn't look too challenging. Started off with a gentle descent before climbing slowly towards the summit.
Heading up to WansfellThe most exciting part of the ascent was a selection of walls to be crossed, each with a distinctive stile and/or gate...
First wall...The final wall crossing before the summit had the remains of a ... not sure what sort of stile or gate used to be here.
Not sure what happened here!The final few steps to the summit opened up some lovely views over Windemere, and indeed in all directions.
Summit panorama looking WestSummit panorama looking EastI spent a while trying to decide if the lake I could see was Rydal or Grasmere - it looked wrong for Grasmere but I didn't think Rydal had an island. Wainwright was little help as he said both could be seen from the summit, yet I could only see one lake. Eventually I determined that (a) Rydal Water does have an island and (b) there's a little bit of another lake visible behind, wihch is Grasmere.
Rydal Water and GrasmereObligatory picture of summit cairn before returning. We debated walking the ridge to Wansfell Pike but exhaustion won the day...
Summit cairnOn the return leg I decided to photograph the strange stiles that I had noticed on the way up. It seems whoever built these was paranoid about making sure there was no part of the fence that was not 7 feet high. Keeping deer out?
Strange stileAnother strange stileJust before we got to the car we were overflown at low altitude by a very noisy fighter plane, coming up from Troutbeck then banking hard to fly through Kirkstone Pass. Usually this week they've been flying in pairs, so I quickly got the camera ready for the second one I was sure was going to follow. But of course, this time there was just the one...
Nearly back at the carA simple walk, but enjoyable, with great views, and the added bonus of completing the "Far Eastern" fells for me. 203 down, 11 to go...