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Easter weekend, for most people, is the first holiday after Christmas and we all wish for favourable weather, after all, it is spring and should be getting warmer by now.
We only had a couple of days so we decided to go Saturday, the Lakes was chosen and when the forecast was looking good we decided on the Northern Lakes, well away from the main centres
where it could be a bit manic to say the least.
I had looked at the map and saw there were four Wainwrights we hadn't even considered stringing together untill I'd read a few threads on Walkhighlands so Mungrisdale was to be our start point and Bowscale Fell, Mungrisdale Common, Bannerdale Crags and Souther Fell were our chosen ones.
Hoping to grab a decent parking spot in Mungrisdale village we had an early start, set off from home 7.20am and was parked up in the little carpark opposite the community centre in Mungrisdale by 9.10am, paid the £2.00 all day fee in the honesty box (bargain) and were off walking by 9.30.
The morning was fine, a bit of cloud on the higher summits but that was shifting and it as warm. Walking out of the village we took the track leading straight on from the phone box and walked towards The Tongue.
- Heading towards The Tongue
- Bannerdale Crags from the track.
As we were getting closer we decided on a direct assult of The Tongue instead of following the track around to the left of it.
- Straight up, not too bad especially compared to some of the ascents we've done in Glen Shiel.
Looking at the map, once on the ridge above its a direct line to the summit of Bowscale Fell. It was a steep climb but not a long one, about 260 mtrs of height and 1/2 km distance to the top of The Tongue.
- Views from our climb, towards the Northern Pennines.
- Down to the track from Mungrisdale.
Once up there the hard work was done for the rest of the day really, the clouds were lifting off the summits and the views were getting better.
- Bowscale Fell from The Tongue
- Across to Bannerdale Crags.
Instead of going directly for the summit of Bowscale Fell we contoured around the head of Bullfell Beck to the small cairns on the lumps above Bowscale Tarn once there there we turned round and headed for Bowscale Fell itself.
As we were wandering over to Bowscale Fell it dawned on me that this was to be my halfway point for collecting Wainwrights, a small landmark I know but it does feel like things are moving, for me anyway, Denise still has 40 to do to catch up but we'll try and combine new ones for us both and duplicates for me to help Denise to catch up.
- Denise on Bowscale Fell.
- Me, halfway there.
- Hillside steaming, Bannerdale Crags behind.
- Skiddaw in the distance.
- Blencathra from Bowscale Fell.
From Bowscale Fell we headed for the dip between Bannerdale Crags and Blencathra and then headed out to Mungrisdale Common.
- Bowscale Fell from the dip.
This is a 25 minute soggy walk to what amounts to a small pile of stones, nothing else, completely featureless but you do get some nice views of Skiddaw and the softer side of Blencathra, I can see why A.W. likened it to a pudding that has been sat on.
- Mungrisdale Common cairn, a long soggy walk was had to get there.
- The serene side of Blencathra from Mungrisdale Common.
From the cairn we simply walked back for another 25 mins to the dip and headed on up Bannerdale Crags, it only took 15 mins to get to the summit but what a contrast to the mundane Mungrisdale Common, the views from the summit were fantastic.
- Denise on Bannerdale Crags.
- Blencathra from Bannerdale Crags, looks quite nice from this angle.
- Bannerdale Crags themselves, could be interesting in full winter conditions.
- Souther Fell to the right The tounge to the lower left.
From the summit we headed down White Horse Bent to the footbridge over the River Glendermackin and started the rather pleasant but easy walk up Souther Fell.
- Views from the climb onto Souther Fell - Sharp Edge on Blencathra.
- Bannerdale Crags from Souther Fell.
Arrived at the summit and, not realising it, headed straight on there's not much of a cairn, if at all, so we had to break with tradition and took the photo of Denise minus cairn.
- Denise on Souther Fell Bannerdale Crags in the background.
and I took one of the end of The Tongue because from Souther Fell our direct route does look steepish.
- The Tongue from Souther Fell.
From Souther Fell back down to Mungrisdale village is an easy but steepish descent, we followed a group of people who took the direct line along the ridge and soon realised it was a mistake because when we reached the fence at the bottom the farmer had blocked all access to his fields in an attempt to stop walkers from leaving gates open allowing livestock to wander out of the fields, I had read about this and you can't blame the farmer for his actions but I was hoping the group of folk knew of a new development regarding the farmer but to no avail so we had to divert about a 1/2 mile or so untill we found access to the minor road. If you keep your eyes peeled whilst approaching the top of Souther Fell from the S.W. a path does lead off down to the right at about NY354289, although we didn't use this it looks like its the way off so a small amount of backtracing is needed from the summit.
This is a fairly quiet part of Lakeland, we did see quite a few people on our hills but we could see a load more on Blencathra, we had a good day out and we've a few more to do around this part of the Lakes so we'll save them for the summer when the rest of the Lakes comes to a near standstill.