Tour of (some of) the Central and Western Lakeland Valleys - Saturday 25th June 2016

The plan was to visit a number of the main Lakeland valleys, using seven high passes; the 'seven' being based on my having reached the final year of my seventh decade. 'Seventy' somethings might have  been more apt, but I was at a loss to come up with anything that I could do 70 of.

The passes were to be as follows:-

1. The route from Great Langdale passing below Silver How and thence to Grasmere.

2. Easedale to Greenup Edge and down Greenup Gill to Stonethwaite in Borrowdale.

3. Honister Bridle Path (north side of the motor road) to Honister Quarries.

4. Loft Beck Crossing and down into Ennerdale.

5. Black Sail Pass to Wasdale Head.

6. Burnmoor Corpse Road to Boot in Eskdale.

7. Three Tarns back to Great Langdale.

Five of us toed the start line, a little later than planned, and on this occasion, I was not responsible for the delay! The wise three of the party had already judged that the planned route was a little ambitious, and had agreed that shortcutting for home, soon after Honister was a sensible option. I was planning to go for broke, and YJ went along with my aspirations, more, I feel, out of a sense of brotherly duty, than with any great expectation of success.

We crossed over to Grasmere successfully in good spirits and although I called for a photo-shoot in the village, no-one stopped and by the time I had got the camera out, there they were, gone:-

The photography was a little more successful on the way up Easedale:-

And again on Greenup Edge:-

The descent to Stonethwaite was a little slow and we could see that we were falling behind my sketchy schedule. However, we soldiered on and subsequently stopped at the Honister Quarry Sky Hi Cafe for refreshments. It was on the approach to the Quarry that we became aware of the amount of activity taking place all over Lakeland on our chosen day. There were a number of  parties awaiting, or already tending to, Bob Graham aspirants and at least one ultra event involving visiting the ten highest peaks in he area.

It was here that I agreed that my plan to complete the whole route was not achievable and that we would all return to Great Langdale together. We headed to the two Gables, passing to the west of Grey Knotts and Brandreth. At this point it appeared that the weather, which had so far been very kind might be taking a turn for the worse.

From another aspect, Great Gable is included in 'Britain's Favourite View', not appropriate for this exposure:-

Then we needed to plan our return in a little more detail:-

We opted for Windy Gap, between the Green and Great Gables, but I don't think anyone had remembered just how much scree was involved, both on the way up and on the way down. Near the col we met a runner who was looking for 'Joss's squad'. Apparently the big man was out celebrating his eightieth birthday with a run over 30 tops. We didn't see them but follow this link:- https://www.facebook.com/iwcharters/media_set?set=a.1213785458634583.1073742020.100000094225343&type=3 

We were in the clag for a little while and experienced some precipitation, but as we descended it cleared and we were able to doff our waterproofs again.

Then it was down to Sty Head, up to Esk Hause and on towards Rosset Gill:- 

On the descent we met a number of competitors in Triathlon X, follow this link:- http://www.wasdalex.co.uk/index.php/enter-2016 - and we thought we'd taken a lot on!

We reached the New Dungeon Gill complex just short of  12 hours after having left. Most of us feeling a trifle weary by then, but generally agreeing that we'd had a fine day out.

I'll sign off by thanking everybody for their company, navigation and for getting so far in front of me that I completely lost sight of them on only a few occasions. Hope you all got home safely.