Merry Christmas

Christmas Day has brought a welcome break in the wild and wet weather we have been having. For the first time, w have got Christmas to ourselves this year, and the plan has always been to get out on the fells. So here we go

Beautiful, sunny day but a bitterly cold, strong wind make for hard work. We have opted for High Pike. It's only a few minutes down the road, we know it like the back of our hand and no matter how icy, it won't cause a problem as its all grassy terrain. Above about 1600 feet and we had an inch or two of snow to make it feel like Christmas!

Christmas lunch. Hot soup and pasties in the shelter. What a fab way to spend Christmas, just the three of us doing what we love.

Too windy for pictures on the summit, but just before we get there, a quick snap to prove that we were there

Jeff demonstrates how windy it is.................. and so does Breeze

Back down nearly at the car. The locals have come to wish us a Merry Christmas

Breeze and Friends

Breeze has been doing a fair bit of socialising just lately. The first few pics were actually taken at the beginning of November. They were taken by Abby, Dawns daughter and she has just emailed them to us.

Dawn and family have a collie pup (who is now nearly fully grown) called Buddy (yes it's a popular name round these parts). We have never managed to get the pair of them together, but finally we did. Breeze was her usual timid self for a while

'Hello, I'm Buddy.'
 'No you're not, he's all black and he's in France'

 Unusually for breeze, there was a glimmer of hope that she might start to play, we decided to take them into the sand ring and the moment their feet touched the sand, she was off!

She quickly learnt that she could stop and turn much more quickly than a young, uncoordinated collie

By the end of their first date they were firm friends, and racing round the sand ring has become a regular occurrence.

 Fast forward a ffew weeks, and Breeze had her mate Jess to stay for a few days. Exercising two was no problem, Breeze always runs for fun and Jess (who doesn't normally) was quite happy to chase her

You might notice we've had a bit of rain lately!

And her comes Kane - 7 months and huge. Breeze still puts him in his place though!

Jess watches as Breeze and Kane have a game 

Two very wet, very muddy girls. Best friends!

Over To The Other Side

If you know us well, you will know that going to a city is a Big Deal (excluding Lincoln which doesn't count), so you may be surprised to hear that we have had an away night in Newcastle. Only a few crap photos as I didn't take the camera, so the phone had to do. A flying visit to say the least. Arrived at about 3pm (by train) with just a short while to have a quick look around and find somewhere for a bite to eat.

Millennium Bridge (not it's real name)

There are Loads of wonderful Bridges

And beautiful buildings. We were really impressed with our brief tour.

After a really good meal we headed to the City Hall for the main reason for our visit. Four tickets to see Deacon Blue

Crap picture but you get the idea. They really were Awesome!

Then hotel over night and catch the train first thing in the morning.

Grisedale

A good dusting of snow on the Northern fells and a forecast for freezing temperatures all day, so we decided to stick to a low level walk today and leave the heroics to others. As we drove down to Patterdale to start our walk, it soon became clear that the snow had not fallen just that bit further south and all that was evident was a slight dusting here and there. 

We parked in Patterdale and took the footpath to climb gently along the bottom of Glenmara Park which would eventually lead us into Grisedale.

A really easy 8 miles. It's great to have a few low level options up your sleeve that can be lengthened or shortened to suit the day or the company. This is definitely one of those spots.

Wildlife Update

For a while we have had an inkling that we had a visiting bird of prey other than the resident sparrow hawks. This afternoon after we returned home from our walk (see next post!) our suspicions were confirmed. Unfortunately the camera wasn't to hand in time, but with said bird perching on a fence post for long enough for detailed identification, we now know that we have a male goshawk visiting. Not good news for the other wildlife in the garden, but it's wonderful to have such a diverse range of wildlife in our own back garden. He better leave the squirrels alone though.

Picture courtesy of www.falconryforum.co.uk

Boys on Tour

Mr B and Nick were off up to Newcastle to watch The Falcons, so Rose and I decided on an afternoon stroll in their absence. Obviously we couldn't be out for too long, they will need feeding when they get back!

So after a morning of normal chores, like feeding the livestock

We parked up Swineside and headed up the Cumbria way by Grainsgill Beck (spot the white thing ahead, between the beck and the path)

Looking back, the car is down there in the valley

When we reached Arm o Grain, we left the Cumbria way and headed for Lingy Hut - there it is up on the skyline

From Lingy Hut we headed south west and made our way onto Coomb Height. From there it was downhill all the way

With a fairly steep section over the end of the fell

Breeze has been suitably booted again. These boots are amazing, you will soon see Breeze featured on their website singing her praises 

Nearly back at the car. Only 3.5 miles, but a lovely 'make it up as you go' sort of walk leaving plenty of time to go back and turn into a domestic goddess or two.

Bowscale Fell

A shorter walk than usual as we don't want to wear Breeze's boot out - her foot has healed nicely since our last fell walk, but it hasn't had chance to harden yet, so the boot is a necessary precaution

We parked at Bowscale and walked along the road to Mungrisdale. Then it was steep, steep, steep up Raven Crag. Mungrisdale an be seen below us (that's Mr B's rucksack)

The boot doesn't make any difference to Breeze's speed or where she goes. She does look a bit embarrassed about it though doesn't she!

Striding out along Bowscale Fell. That's Blencathra with a cloud just hiding the summit

We are above Bowscale tarn at this point. We will descend along the ridge that runs from left to right in this picture

Bowscale Tarn comes into view

And here it is from a bit lower down

Mr B and Jay spot something on the rock

It's a cup and ring mark. Prehistoric art, the likes of which can be found all over the North of England and Scotland

From the tarn, it's a nice gentle walk back to the car which is down there in the sunshine. just 6 miles today, but a lovely walk in another of our favourite places minutes from home.

Awesome!

And today's walk........................... is a belter. Prepare to sit through a lot of photos! To see them at their best, double click on the first one and scroll through the lot.

We parked at Braithwaite on what was turning out to be a better than forecast morning and headed off to meet the miners track. Causey Pike can be seen in the distance with it's distinctive knobles.

As we look back, Skiddaw Little Man has a fresh dusting of snow

and as we reach the miners track we can see more white stuff on the summits ahead

Force Crag Mine comes into view at the end of the track. We are aiming to the left of the mine to head over behind the top of Force Crag

As we climb up, we can look down into the mine. A Defra funded project is constructing a passive water treatment system to remove heavy metals from water before it enters Coledale Beck. You can see the plant machinery working !

Add capFrom above Force Crag, looking back to Skiddaw and Blencathra. The miners track we have come up is to the left of the beck.

Then it's uphill, over Sandhill and onto Hopegill Head. Our next summit will be Grisedale Pike, the pointy bit left of centre

But first we have to walk along the edge of Hobcarton Crag (Time to go on the lead Breezy!). We will walk along the edge of the face you can see here

Until finally reaching the main objective of today Grisedale pike. A nicely positioned cairn with a nice flat stone to stand the camera on gives the opportunity for a rare family photo

 And then it's time to soak in the views. Looking south the Langdale Pikes, Scafell Pike (just under that wisp of clould) and everything else in between

Add caZooming in on the Langdale Pikes - the camera was getting a bit cold and suffering from a bit of condensation, hence the hazy picture!

 Looking East across Derwent water and the Eastern fells

Then it was time to start the tricky descent. Frozen solid it was a bit tricky in places, but nice and steady, we made it over the worst section while Breeze just charged up and down without a care in the world

 Looking back from further down, our path was on the snow side of the ridge seen here

Then back onto easier going and Bassenthwaite comes into view in the afternoon sunshine. Nearly back at the car

What a fabulous walk. Just short of 9 miles. Awesome views and we had been in sunshine for pretty much all bar the descent from Grisedale Pike. The only negative from the day is that the ice snd snow have had the same effect on Breeze's pads as dry hot ground. She now has a hole in one foot. Trust us to get a dog that runs so far and fast it wears it's feet out!