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.
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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.
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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!).
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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.
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On High Street (icy cold wind but still happy!) |
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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.
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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.
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Crazy weather, no wonder I was cold last night! |
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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.
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Looking back at our route from the valley |
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A miniature Abi |
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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.....