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I'm going to start off this report with a massive whinge, a whine, a bitch and a well deserved moan regarding the antics of Flickr's new owners, SmugMug, who didn't take too long in wielding their corporate and capitalist muscle to hold all subscribers to the once free option of Flickr to ransom with the threat of removing all but 1,000 of their images if a yearly fee of nearly £48 wasn't paid by the 5th February 2019.
Okay, a profit has to be made, but why this way? If it was free I wouldn't mind annoying adverts, I'd get over it. They know damn well that if we don't come up with the money then all our images will be forever lost to whatever other online social media site we use to showcase our images to the wider audience, or viewer. Who knows how many will be affected by this - in my opinion immoralistic - move to glean even more money from the general public, and to me it could be said that 'why, it's only about.92 pence per week' but, that's not the point, we now have no option. Pay up or lose 'em. I am not a professional or even amateur photographer; I'm a happy hill snapper. Others would say 'well, migrate your images to somewhere else in the cloud', yes, there's plenty of options about but who realistically wants to start moving thousands of images around with the chance of something going wrong and then losing all. If subscribers to WH don't join the rush to part with their hard earned brass then all but a few past posts will begin to appear imageless with nothing left to see but the thoughtful prose of a walk enjoyed, the script with which one could only try to imagine what the walk was like.
When I first discovered WH I used to reduce the size of my images to the required size so that I could place the maximum of 24 of them on to their own servers. Now this way is OK although the images do lose some content in the squashing down process and being either a pro, amateur, or just a happy snapper I'm sure that we all like our photos to be shown to their best value, and sometimes more of them to better showcase the walk. Then I was made aware of Flickr, it opened my options, more images at full size, and it was free, what's not to like about this?
I know that some people will think that I'm bitching about the small matter of paying the small amount of £48 but it's not only the fact that I'm a Yorkshire man with short arms and deep pockets; it's just another incidence of hit the public's pockets with corporate greed. After much deliberation - and of course - permission from the paymaster general I reluctantly submitted to this act of kidnap and ransom and am now a fully paid up member of Flickr Pro even though I wield only a compact camera and will never use any of the other 'goodies' that are now on offer to us 'Pro's'.
Well, now that I've got that off my chest I'll get on with the report about the amble over some of the smaller of the North Western Fells, another easy walk for Chris on his way back to the way he was. Only two days after we had walked over Wansfell he was wanting another go, with this walk being a tad longer and with a little more height gain than on the Wednesday. He also brought along a friend of his, Ray, who's having a beer free January and needs a walk on a hill to get fit, Ha.
The start of this walk is from a small quarry at Brumston Bridge - NY185293 - and it's a bit of a nemesis for me as although I have been here on numerous occasions I always somehow seem to take a wrong turn and finish up far away from where I intended to be and today was no exception as on this visit I made the mistake of turning off at the sign marking the way to the Pheasant Inn, turning left instead of right and ended up in the old quarries in Wythop Woods. After then putting things and my navigation to rights we arrived at the quarry on a cold and mostly cloudy day with just a few streaks of blue in the far distance to escort us along into the hills.
Car Park at Brumston Bridge The woodland that we were parked in was looking winter miserable, bare, damp and partly clothed in cloaks of moss and algae with the remnants of last year's finery scattered about on the ground. All was quiet and peaceful as we walked down to cross the old stone bridge and then turn west along the narrow metalled road for a few metres before arriving at a double width wooden gate where we then left the blacktop to enter the realms of a long and green old Corpse Road that we would follow west for quite some distance.
There was a bit of a chill in the air as we made our way along this very easily graded and well made track and on looking back from around the 230 metre contour Sale Fell could be seen on our left with a cloud covered vision of Skiddaw sat behind Longside Edge in the far distance.
A view east along the Old Corpse Road towards SkiddawSale Fell Another few minutes brought us a view of the pastures of Embleton sat beneath a sky that was striped white and blue giving it the appearance of a large bathroom towel.
Looking across to Embleton With ambling and chatting it didn't seem to take long before we were turning the corner to now start walking roughly SSE still following a good green and well graded track that had now left the dead bracken behind to begin its journey through large patches of dormant brown heather.
A well graded track all the way to the summitThere were one or two other walkers about, locals we suspected, with their lack of proper walking gear and carrying no bags on their backs. It was peaceful enough, but only when the other two were apart from each other. Struth, they say that women can talk but these two would give 'em a good run for their money when the occasion warranted it. Everything and everybody got mauled, the government, celebrities - especially those from their own neck of the woods - football managers and teams, you name it, they got it. Talk about hillside barristers. After a bit more steady climbing having the odd rest on the way up we reached the level platform that plays host to a couple of ancient grouse butts.
Old grouse butts-Sale Fell and Binsey The views were opening up nicely with a few northern fells becoming visible behind the cloud cloaked Skiddaw but with the still good track beckoning us on we didn't linger and within a few minutes more were stood on the 373 metre high summit beside the stone built trig column.
Ling Fell summit posers Now we could see a landscape that wasn't going to change much throughout this walk as to the south we could see the rolling green grassy slopes of Lord's Seat, Broom Fell and Graystones sat in front of Grisedale Pike, Hopegill Head, and Grasmoor, east is Skiddaw with a hint of some of the northern fells peeping out from behind it. West is open ground towards Cockermouth, north is similar.
Sale Fell with Skiddaw behind Earlier as we set off Skiddaw had just a light covering of cloud but now it is much thicker and looks like a massive waterfall as the clouds tumbled down its west facing slopes as though they were going to fill Barkbethdale and Southerndale.
We left the summit to follow a path east down the easy slopes, a path that put us on to a hard stony track…
The track to Burthwaite Heights that we would now follow south until we reached a fork where we turned left to follow a path through rough pasture ground.
Lord's Seat to Graystones ridge on the way to Burthwaite Heights Over to our left was the small hump of Burthwaite Heights, a Birkett of some 318 metres, and along with the other two - Lothwaite and Rivings - of no consequence really apart from the fact that Chris is currently on a mission to complete those lesser fells and they are in our way as we walk this circuit back to Brumston Bridge. It was at the access gate that we stopped for our second break of the walk so far.
Another break before climbing on to Burthwaite Heights Burthwaite Heights A decent enough path took us over the rough grass to then climb the easy slopes through patches of gorse that grows on the lower slopes of this nearly flat grassy hill.
Ling Fell from the foot of Burthwaite Heights After a short and easy climb we decided that this was the highest point on the fell.
A mole hill and one stone marks the high spotOur way now leads us along a wiggly course northeast down the pathless fellside towards the farm at Old Scales…
Now on to Lothwaite-Rivings and Sale Fell until we reached a gate in the wall from where we walked along a track down to and through the farmyard at Old Scales.
Old Scales We left the farm behind to reach a narrow metalled lane where we now turned right to follow it for a good few metres until we spotted the fingerpost that would point us in the direction of the path through the fields to Chapel Wood…
Looking back to Old Scales and Burthwaite Heights The track to Chapel Wood where we passed through a deer fence identified by its extra height over a normal fence. The last time that I came this way with E there was a notice saying that the wood was closed due to tree felling when there was actually no forestry activity at all. Today there was no such notice and as we neared the gate a few horse riders passed by on the higher track that runs through the wood. This was to be our way of passage also but in the opposite direction.
Ray and Sonny in Chapel Wood The track is once again good, firm and well graded as it runs through the trees along the bottom of the fellside slowly rising as it creeps upwards through the contours until as we reach the spot below Lothwaite summit it begins to climb a little steeper, over tree roots and some straggly gorse in the higher reaches just below the summit. As we climbed Bassenthwaite began to appear below us with a backdrop of Dodd, Longside Edge and Skiddaw.
Dodd - Longside Edge - Skiddaw Once through these minor obstacles we were once again on a wide and green track that we would now follow all the way to Sale Fell and beyond.
Lothwaite summit in view The views over to the east were marred only by the haze of low but thin cloud but the 'waterfall' on Skiddaw now looked to be in full flow as the clouds tumbled endlessly from the summit into the dales below.
Skiddaw from Lothwaite summit Looking west we could see our way forward to Rivings - 335 metres - and our second Wainwright, Sale Fell at 359 metres.
Rivings and Sale Fell from Lothwaite We also had a good view of the Lord's Seat to Graystones ridge over to the south.
The Lord's Seat hills ridge The way between Lothwaite and Sale Fell is once again easy going, just what Chris needs to help get his hill fitness back, a long green lane as far as the eye can see.
Sale Fell far distance Looking back to Lothwaite from near Rivings Within minutes from leaving Lothwaite we were at the massive cairn that sits on the small hump of Rivings, a cairn that would give some of the bigger and higher fells, or even mountains, more credibility had they been blessed with a cairn such as this.
Sale Fell from Rivings The path is wide and clear, leading towards a gate in a wall where we stopped to rest awhile whilst we had food and drink to fortify body and soul. A few minutes after our meal break we were climbing the easy slopes of Sale Fell to soon reach the bare summit area of small stones, dirt, and some patches of wrinkled rock slabs from where familiar views are to be had.
Sale Fell summit Skiddaw and the Northern Fells from Sale Fell topLeaving these fells behind is as easy as walking along the high street with a wide and gentle grass track all the way back down to the short walk along the metalled lane back to the car.
Descending Sale Fell with Ling Fell beyond Good and easy tracks on these fells Another decent days walking on maybe what are the two easiest fells to walk in the LD, ideal for Chris who was coping all right today only two days after his first outing and he's already calling for the next one on the following Monday of next week. I'll maybe stretch him a bit on the next one but we'll see how he is on the day.
Today's steady pace has kept the cold at bay although the wind did sneak into any loose place that it could find with the body and particularly the hands cooling fairly rapidly whenever we stopped for a break. But whatever the weather it's always a joy to be out and about on the fells.