Four seasons in 3 days.....

Later this year we are heading off on a 'hike' overseas so we needed to do some training for this, especially since Abs hasn't back packed since her DOE award (don't you know!). I was hankering after a trip to the wilds of Scotland, but in the end it made much more sense to stay local and head off into the Lake District for a few days.


Day 1
We set off from Shap (frontier outpost on the East of the Lake District)  in glorious sunshine, in fact it was so hot that I got sunburnt. We headed over into Swindale, which is an amazingly quiet bit of the Lakes. We saw a redstart, meadow pippets, skylarks, wheatears, a dipper and heard the first cuckoo of the year on this stretch.

Leaving Shap - strike a pose (our camp spot on the horizon looks a long way!)

 From Swindale we took the old 'corpse road'. This ancient route links Swindale with the old settlement of Mardale further West. Up until the 1700's Mardale didn't have its own cemetery so bodies had to be carried over this hilly route to Swindale and on to Shap for burial. The settlement of Mardale is now long gone (under water) due to being compulsory purchased to allow Haweswater reservoir to be built in 1929 (to supply water for Manchester - thirsty beggars!). From the high point of this old byway we had our first clear spectacular views of High Street and our onward route.

On the Corpse Road, views of Haweswater and High Street beyond

Sadly there wasn't an ice cream van at the reservoir car park as I had promised, so we pushed on up to Blea Water our high camp for the night. It was a great spot, and we were the only ones here. Abs had brought a poetry book on the trip and we spent the night reading poems in the tent (I didn't want to admit this point!).

Camp with our own pool

Day 2
It was quite cold and overcast at the start of day 2 and felt quite Autumnal. We were on top of High Street at 9.30am, and had the great views out to Morecambe bay (South), and deeper into the Lakes to ourselves. It was freezing, I had every item of clothing on that I had with me. The descent path down into Patterdale, is a treat, and I can understand why its on the Coast to Coast route. This is where we saw the first of the coast to coasters. Quite a collection of people passed us, including a large fun party of 'mature' ladies (sorry I can't think of a better description), led by a well spoken lady with a tall single stick brandishing a sheep horn at its top, enquiring how much further Shap was (about 14 miles). We also saw a 'mature' gentleman, who was hobbling badly in shorts with his knee strapped up, swinging wildly from tuft to tuft, trying to avoid the bogs with all of his days possessions in a single carrier bag (no rucksack). I wouldn't want a carrier bag for company on their 17 mile day. They were all very friendly, and from lots of different corners of the world too.

On High Street (icy cold wind but still happy!)

Dropping into Patterdale (hot again)

Down in Patterdale, it was hot again, and we had a brief stop in the pub before heading onward. The valley of Grisedale is beautiful (never been here before now), it was still sunny as we headed upwards once more, but really windy and quite cold (spring like). We pitched our tent at Grisedale Tarn as the last of the day hikers were heading down into the valleys. Finally the wind eased as we enjoyed our yummy Vegi Dahl.

Camp at Grisedale Tarn

Day 3 
Well we were surprised to wake up in a blizzard and covering of snow this morning! No wonder I had been a little cold in the night.

Crazy weather, no wonder I was cold last night!

Time to head down.....

A quick cup of tea, and hasty pack up, before heading off as the snow worsened. Due to the high winds instead of heading up Fairfield as originally planned we headed down into Grasmere for a quick cafe stop, before walking on another 'corpse road' that leads to Rydal (nice route) and finally Ambleside.

Looking back at our route from the valley

A miniature Abi

Nearing the finish at Ambleside

A great 30 mile trip around part of the Lakes, and typically Abs is feeling fit and fresh whilst I hobble around the house and write this.....