Some Wainwrights around Martindale

[dav2930]

Karl was keen to crack on with his Wainwright agenda and bag these ones in the Martindale area. Looked a good walk to me so I was happy to tag along.

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Arrived at the car park at the top of the Howtown zig-zags at 8.20am and set off past the church to join the path for Mellguards and so up the first top of the day, Bonscale Pike. Bit of a grind up there, but once on top the walking is much easier for many miles along the spine of the High Street range.

Howtown Bay

The weather was a bit cloudy / hazy / misty but very mild for the time of year and there wasn't a breath of wind.

Howtown and Hallin Fell from the slopes of Bonscale Pike

Ullswater from slopes of Bonscale Pike

Steel Knotts and Place Fell

Lower reach of Ullswater from Bonscale Pike

Upper reach of Ullswater

Ruin in Swarthbeck Gill

Summit of Arthur's Pike

Summit of Loadpot Hill

The highlight of the day was finding a perfect little perch on Kidsty Pike, overlooking Riggindale, for an extended lunch stop. We had a grandstand view of a great cloud-sea spilling over Harter Fell and Nan Bield from the south. Quite mesmerising.

Sea of cloud spilling over Nan Bield, viewed from Kidsty Pike

zoomed

High Street from Kidsty Pike

Straits of Riggindale

Summit of Rampsgill Head

Riggindale

Summit of The Knott

Rest Dodd and The Nab

The Nab from Rest Dodd

Descending from Rest Dodd we passed a couple coming up. They'd come from The Nab and warned us about the peat hags, rather confirming the visual indications from above. They weren't too bad as it turned out, but it's a psychological advantage to be forewarned.

Helvellyn from The Nab

Martindale from The Nab

From the top of The Nab we went straight down the north ridge, which was very steep! The red deer were bellowing but we couldn't see them.

Descending the steep north ridge of The Nab

Down at the head of the valley is a red building that serves as a shooting lodge. Apparently it was built in 1910 for Kaiser Willhelm II who had a predilection for shooting deer. Obviously they didn't suspect what he'd be up to four years later (or at least we assume they didn't)!

Kaiser Wilhelm's shooting lodge

Martindale

Bannerdale Beck and The Nab

Got back to the car at 3.15pm. A very enjoyable walk and a good way to tick off ten Wainwrights.

[ChrisW]

That's some good graft in one go Dav but ticking off 10 in one is a pretty impressive outcome love the cloud pouring over the hilltop .... fantastic

[dav2930]

That's some good graft in one go Dav but ticking off 10 in one is a pretty impressive outcome love the cloud pouring over the hilltop .... fantastic

Thanks Chris
10 in one go sounds a lot but it has to be said that, unlike the Munros or Corbetts, the Wainwrights are sometimes like clusters of bilberries in August - easily picked off
We were quite spellbound by that cloud inversion coming over the ridge!

[Alteknacker]

That cloud spill over Nan Bield must have been absolutely fantastic - lucky you

BTW some of the pics seem very slightly blurred to me - is it me old eyes givin' up on me..??

[dav2930]

That cloud spill over Nan Bield must have been absolutely fantastic - lucky you

BTW some of the pics seem very slightly blurred to me - is it me old eyes givin' up on me..??

Yeah that 'cloud spill' (good name for it!) was totally captivating and we were lucky to be where we were when it was happening.

All my pics seem to lose some of their sharpness when I upload them onto WH. Maybe I should try using Flickr or some such. In this particular case though, some of the pics suffer from the lack of contrast caused by the atmospheric conditions - overcast, hazy and misty. The one looking down Riggindale is especially bad in that respect and maybe I should have left it out!