It’s half-term, so school is closed, and with Clare at university today it fell to me to entertain the Boy. By a few miles into the walk I chose he was probably regretting this, but too late. Still, even he agreed it was better than sitting in school.
I accept I am lucky to have a job which allows me, some days anyway, to get paid for reading and thinking, and there’s no particular reason why I need to do those things in an office, or at home. Alfred Wainwright — a man who did know a thing or two about the Lake District — calls the view south from the Skiddaw range the best one there is, and I think there are more people who would agree with him than dispute this. Particularly today….
When I came back and reflected on my climb up Kilimanjaro last summer, one thing I was pleased about was the thought that ‘at least I got a decent bloody photo of the summit’ (I mean this one). After all the effort, physical, financial and more, that it had taken to reach it, I would have been rather irritated had I not managed to match all that with a decent picture. But I feel I fulfilled that photography brief.
The same thing applies today. From starting walking at 11.30am on Wednesday morning to finishing at 10 this morning I have tramped through a lot of rather dreary and boggy moorland, spent last night three miles from the nearest other person using facilities that were basic to say the least and, from about 8am this morning anyway, got very wet. But I hope you like this photo, because to me it makes it worthwhile. How many times do we get the chance to be somewhere like this, and 1,930 feet above sea level, at 7am on a Thursday morning? Make the most of it…. that’s what it’s all about isn’t it. Making the most of it.
Welcome to Mosedale Cottage in the Lake District. You’ve seen it before, on the inside, a couple of times (31/8/12 and 15/4/14). On both those occasions I was passing through and having lunch, but tonight I stayed there, having walked 13 miles to get there (and 8 miles out the following morning). Amenities: well, it’s got a stove (but not necessarily any fuel), a rather dubious toilet and a sofa. The rest, you bring on your back. Was it worth it? See tomorrow morning’s post.
Today really was the last hurrah of my summer holiday; and I still got several hours’ reading in while I made my way to and from the north-western fringes of the Lake District. That is Crummock Water in the distance, the fell behind it being Mellbreak. Meanwhile, on Whiteside, a spectacular profusion of heather; purple was definitely the dominant colour today. Or is it pink? Whatever.
A decent day of weather (it was nice to see blue skies for a change); I’m still off work so no reason not to go on a walk. Thornthwaite Crag was one of seven summits reached today, and has what is probably the tallest summit cairn in the Lake District.
In need of distraction from the various (minor) personal and (major) political and institutional cock-ups afflicting my life at the moment — so I did what I usually do in these circumstances, took a book to read on the way and got myself up a mountain. On the top of Dollywaggon Pike (2815 feet, or 858m, above sea level), this tableau awaited…. is the stone on top of the bear a kindness, to keep it there until its owner returns? Looks more like a sacrificial altar to me. Still, there are worse places to be exposed to the elements.
After over a week of it raining every day, today — the summer solstice — while not exactly sunny, was at least dry. I had a book needing reading for work, I took it on the trains and went for a short but rewarding walk around the head of Great Langdale. Bowfell, in the background, is 2,960 feet high, and not on the itinerary today, but I did get to the sugarloaf summit of Pike o’Stickle about half an hour after this picture was taken. Note the walkers on the top at this point.
My weekend was Sunday and today. I still seem willing to get up to the Lake District when I can — it’s been six weeks since my last visit, I was getting itchy. Probably I’ll still be doing it when I’m this guy’s age. After all, with a backdrop like this for one’s life — how can it be wrong? The lake is Derwent Water, the town Keswick, the mountains are all worth the time, if I haven’t convinced you yet to visit this part of the world then you really haven’t been paying attention. (See my other blog for the details of today’s walk, and all the rest of them too.)
As its name suggests, Great Gable is the pyramid on the left, and one of the most well-known fells in the Lake District and/or England. Last time I went up it was in foul weather (on 29/7/12) and I am determined to return to it in blue skies, so it was not on my itinerary today — but it was the best looking object on my walk round the upper reaches of the valleys of Borrowdale and Gillercomb. Colder and greyer than it might have been, but I quite like this shot, taken from the nearby summit of Brandreth.
Being 42 