Skiddaw House

Crap forecast, but it's the only day we'll be able to get out for a proper walk for a while, so we donned the full water proofs and headed off to do something we NEVER do - walk there and back. No circuit, no route to plan, no navigation needed. Just park at Broken End and head up to Skiddaw house - and then turn round and go back down.

It was steadily raining when we set out, but as we turned round it looked as though the sun might be making an appearance further south

That's it on the skyline. The trees surrounding Skiddaw House. We made our way up to there, had our lunch and made our way back down

Breeze was enjoying flushing Grouse from the heather

Bottoms Up!

Hiding (at full speed!)

Loving the heather

Flying

Those Ears must help

Plenty of water about today!

A nice easy 6.5 miles. It didn't matter that it rained for much of the walk, we had dressed for the occasion.

Loadpot Hill and Wether Hill

We have some books to drop off and Breeze's Aunty Janets (where she goes on her holidays!), so we thought we'd do a walk near there and kill two birds with one stone. So we started near Heltondale and gently climbed up Heltondale and Hart hill

Spot the dog!

Here she comes back again

Finally we reach the summit of Loadpot Hill, which was in cloud when we got there!

From there we join High Street to reach Wether Hill. The cloud was coming and going for a good lot of this walk

From Wether Hill it was downhill all the way, over Low Kop, The Hause and Hause end. The day was improving all the time

We should have crossed Cawdale Beck at the ford, but as it was about 3ft deep, we carried on to this bridge nearby

Over the bridge and  up to the lonning that leads back to the car. Looking back the cloud has lifted from the tops now. The Hause is just to the left of the telegraph pole

About 9 miles today, but gentle up and gentle down made it feel much less. Shame about the cloud on the top, but a really nice walk.

Dash Falls

With all the rain we have had recently, it seemed like a good idea to visit a waterfall. It will come as no surprise to learn that the best ones are off the tourists radar. So we headed off for a quiet 'Back O'Skiddaw' walk today.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road. Dash Falls appears as we steadily climb away from the car

Hurry up Mummy, you know I don't like stopping.

As expected, Dash Falls were pretty spectacular to day - and it was sunny!

Into the sunshine and it was a really steep climb up Birkett Edge onto Bakestall. Good job the views were worth stopping for!

Looking East, a bit of cloud on Blencathra and the pointy side of Lonscale silhouetted in the sunshine

At the top of Bakestall with Skiddaw in the background, but we are heading over Broad End today

An equally steep decent down White Horse into the lovely Barkbethdale and back to the car (Bassenthwaite in the middle distance).

Just short of 7 miles. A really steep climb and a really steep descent, coupled with some strong cold winds after lunch (in the shelter on Bakestall). That's blown the Christmas and New Year cobwebs away!

Walking The Dog

A spur of the moment decision took us over t'other side of High Pike this morning for a make it up as we go along sort of walk. We set off up Fellside Brow and onto Birk Hill

Nice to see a bit of sun. Breeze proving that she has been trained!

Mr B decides which way to go across Birk Moss (Breeze behaving again!)

Behind me is Roughton Gill. Our aim for today. Time for a coffee stop

Looking back as we follow Dale Beck back to the car

We ended up doing about 5.5 miles and although we hadn't planned where we would walk, we also hadn't brought any lunch as we didn't intend being out that long. So as we were passing the door, we stopped off for a pint and a bowl of soup at Hesket Pub, the first community pub in the UK - and it's been that way for years now. What a great way to end a dog walk!

Happy New Year

Breeze has had her Cousin to stay. Chris and Alison arrived on New Years Eve to stay for a few days, with Gwen the Welsh Terrier. This is the first time the two of them have spent any amount of time together (Breeze and Gwen, not Chris and Alison!). Gwen didn't take long to make herself comfortable. It's a good job Breeze is good at sharing!

Excuse me, that's my spot.

With the stormy weather continuing, there are no photos of walks. New Years day was a washout (as forecast) so full head to toe waterproofs and a 'make it up as you go along' dog walk over The Tongue at Mungrisdale. We probably covered about 2 miles. As usual Breeze will have done about 20 and Gwen started out chasing her and barking at her. She soon realised that with her short legs she was wasting her time and settled to a more sensible pace!

2nd January was a much better day, but again no photos. We decided on a short trip up Great Lingy Hill to give Chris and Alison the experience of  a Lingy Hut picnic. Followed by an off piste route over Coomb Height and down to meet The Cumbria Way. Again 3.5 to 4 miles, but a bit more of a climb and a lot of heather to tramp through. Gwen slept well that night!

So it's back to normal now 2014 is well under way.

Peace at last