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For the week June 9th to 16th I had asked a couple of friends to join me in Patterdale, and they had asked an old friend to join us. The latter, although a fantastic walker earlier on in the late nineties and the beginning of the millennium (once he had thrown off his London induced rust) hadn’t done any major walking for the last ten years. However half of the couple had a bad back that made uphill tough, so I had thought that for the higher hills we could maybe split into two parties. Then pneumonia struck. T had been walking the Pilgrim Route of Santiago de Compostela, and had picked it up, possibly from the plane, so they weren’t coming.
On the 10th, still solo, I had an early breakfast and driven round to Haweswater to climb Mardale Ill Bell (10 ft below Corbett height at 2490 feet). It was very hot, but I had kept my light jacket on for my mobile phone. Quite ridiculous.
I set off up the path
I reached what I must learn to call a tarn, not a lochan where some people had come just to swim
Climbed up the steep hill behind. Below, looking back
and made my way steeply up
to the summit where I buttonholed a walker to take my pic.
Below, view from top
Below, view from top again
On Sunday, I went to pick up M at Penrith Station, and later on, tactlessly drove him to have a look at the route to Rest Dodd and The Nab. “Hmmm,” he said, “Maybe later on.”
How could I have been so stupid. He is 86, as we all met at Uni. and he was one of the ones who had done his National Service, two years older than me. Even ringing a full peal of bells at Christmas, impressive as it was (over three hours,) does not use the same set of muscles as going up hill, and London is rather flat.
Monday 12th June
We opted for Gowbarrow Fell. The sun was still beating down, and we could do the first bit in the trees that surround Aire Falls.
En route, I stopped to take a picture of the swan man who always seems to sit in a kayak with a suitcase of bread
Below, M looking a bit apprehensive. We stopped for a sit down soon after this
Below
Path through the trees
Below
The whole falls were unremarkable after a boiling June. I have stood next to them on some occasions with a brolly up to shelter from the spray
Below
Out into the unrelenting sun.
Below. We coped with the dizzy spells induced by the heat by sitting down for a drink frequently and looking at the view
Below
A good example of path repair
Below, looking back again
Below, I think both of us were feeling a bit fuzzy by the time we reached the top, but we did it
Below, setting off back down
Below, Green Hill
Below, Ullswater
I had already bagged Gowbarrow, but could get another Wainwright if M was up for walking two days running. He said he was up for the long drive round through Shap and approaching Grey Crag via Longsleddale
I parked the car by the bridge car-park on the way into the village, and we walked back to get a less steep approach via Stockdale. I then realised that the cable must have pulled out of my phone when I had tried to charge it the previous night, and it was dead. We followed a fairly direct path to the summit, and without my phone GPS, I insisted on walking on to Harrop Pike, just to make sure. M took this photo of me back at the cairn on Grey Crag
The wide brimmed hat does little for me, and the stiff brim keeps poking my neck, so back to the other one in future.
On descending, I saw some commercially printed notices, saying “Coffee” in a building, and swiftly followed a guy inside. I must have had heatstroke not to realise that this remote cottage was hardly the place to set up a cafe. He explained that his son was an agricultural expert and had gone to Uganda to help them improve their coffee yields. He was more or less the sole distributor for their coffee at present. Meanwhile he got two bottles of iced water out of his fridge and gave us a very welcome drink.
I didn’t think I should try my luck with a big hill the next day, as the weather was still hot, hot, hot
“The Met Office has not recorded a June this hot (for the Lake District) since it began collecting temperature data in 1884. “
A tour on Ullswater is always a good start, so we made for Hallin Fell. On the boat we met a woman whose feet had prevented her helping her husband update the series of small walking guides. The idea had been to walk them all and note any changes.
We disembarked and made for the fell. Below, boats on Ullswater
We followed the road up to the back
We met a couple climbing up. M kindly slowed his pace for the guy who had hurt his foot, yet was still finding ascending painful even on a small hill like this.
Below, near the summit
Below, the huge cairn
We spent a long time sitting up there fascinated by the guy’s account of his work and how he can sort problem for clients remotely from his home. Language is no problem, he just goes for the position instructions are placed in with English on Windows 11.
We spent a lot of the late afternoon drinking iced lemonade on the lawns of the posh hotel in Glenridding. This was about the only way one can park a car anywhere near a lakeside much after 9 a.m. on these sunny days.
On the final day, M said that he was up for giving Rest Dodd and The Nab a try. These and Froswick were the only Wainwrights I had left to do in the area but at 2,283 feet, Rest Dodd still equates to a Scottish Graham. The Nab is possible from Martindale, but involves a spot of trespassing. I am hardened to this, having climbed all the English Marilyns that are owned by the “Get Orff My Land” brigade, but had so positioned myself that the Rest Dodd option was best. We parked at Hartsop and set off up the track
Below looking back
I had been all for galloping on up the track once we had met the coast to coast path, but M pointed out that we needed to double back to reach Rest Dodd. Here he is (below) on the summit, checking that we are OK
Below, looking across to The Nab. Usually full of peat bogs, it had dried out. The only problem being that we would have to loose a lot of height and regain it
Below, marker on the summit of The Nab
Below ,behind me is the route of return
Below, view from the summit
Below, after having reclimbed over the shoulder of Rest Dodd, we discovered these bees swarming
We walked back more or less directly to the track, which involved wading through bracken
I was really impressed by M for taking on this walk, as it is above and beyond anything he has done for years. Thanks to him for putting up with my insane ambitions for the week. In fact he almost reverted to being the old M of his sixties and early seventies. On day 1, we used to wonder if he should have been invited this time or whether London life hadn’t finally taken its toll as he plodded behind, by day 2 he would be walking along with the rest of us and by day 3 he would be leaping ahead. He has amazing resilience.
