As mentioned SWMBO and I grabbed the chance to take a short break in the English Lake District last week, and as promised, I managed to get a few pics together of our adventures (and we certainly had some adventures)!
Day 1We arrived in the village of Ambleside during the late morning, checked into the B&B, did a bit of shopping, tried a couple of pubs (
) and eventually started our route about 3 hours later than expected at 2:30pm ish!
I'd drawn up the route from an OS map, together with a Wainwright guide, which I thought would be about 9 or 10 miles which is the sort of distance we typically do. I hadn't however accounted for the fact that 10 miles around Lakeland Fells is a lot tougher than around the Peak District, so you'll notice that the pictures sort of stop as we decided it was time to concentrate on getting back down before it got dark and all the restaurants in the village closed!
Leaving Ambleside:
Passing High Sweden Bridge:
After a mile or so, the flat bottomed Scandale Bottom valley below Scandale Fell opened up before us - simply breathtaking and it's a shame that my pictures don't really do it justice. I hope you get a flavour though - I was bowled over!
We must have crossed Scandale Beck about a dozen times as we headed towards the increasingly scary climb into Scandale pass. It was scary partly because it was becoming obvious that it was to be hard work, but also I'd kind of assumed that it would easy enough to find the paths etc, and I did have a few doubts starting to form in my mind as we got closer
My navigational skills held good though, and eventually we reached the top of Scandale Pass and were confronted with more breathtaking views, and an
extremely steep path to follow past Little Hart Crag
We had read in the Wainwright guide about what he considered to be one of the most impressive cairns in Lakeland. In the great man's own words:
This beautifully built 8' column, commanding a view of Scandale, is one of the finest specimens in these hills. It is more than a cairn. Its a work of art and a lasting memorial to its builder.
Although we were warned that it was a tough one to reach, we went for it anyway and scrambled all the way to the top! It was bloody hard going but well worth it as we reached the summit of High Bakelands:
Fiona added our little bit to the cairn - I'm sure the original builder wouldn't mind too much, especially as he's likely been dead for ages
We then completed the last few hundred feet of ascent to reach the ridge that runs all the way along the top of Scandale Fell back to Ambleside. On the way down, we crossed High and Low Pike, but in fading light and concerned about the time, we got very few pictures as we marched down. I did get this one from High Pike however, which shows Scandale Pass rising in the middle distance and the route that we had taken. The Wainwright guide mentions a much more impressive cairn at High Pike than exists today, so we sat and pondered what may have happened to the one he knew for a few minutes before heading down to the village.
The GPS recorded about 9.5 miles, and about 3,200 feet of ascent, and I managed to take a fall on the way down which prompted me to buy some new boots the next day, but we'd thoroughly enjoyed day 1 as we tucked into our Indian meal that night (it was all that was open by the time we got back down
)
The real adventure came on Day 2 though, so stay tuned
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