Mardale

As the dry weather continues, the old village of Mardale Green which was flooded in order to create Haweswater back in 1935, reappears. Well the remnants of it do. The buildings were all demolished before the village was flooded, but walls and eventually a bridge gradually appear as the water level drops. This is a pretty rare occurrence so we thought we'd go and see how it looks at the moment - along with all the tourists!! The last time we visited was back in July and this is how it looked then.

 

We got there in decent time as we envisaged a lot of folk being about. That turned out to be the right decision!

 

Once again we've picked a cracking day, flat calm reflections on Haweswater which is behind us as we climb up onto Swine Crag

As we walk along the ridge of Heron Crag and Eagle Crag, looking down you can see the walls below which would normally be under water

It's really hot up here and Breeze makes the most of the tarn on Caspel Gate. There must have been a hatch this morning, the midges are awful.

Looking back at our route from Long Stile you can see Breeze's tarn just below rough crag. At this point we haven't seen a single person. That was not what we expected in this area given the draw of the low lake level, but it was a real bonus.

and up onto Racecourse Hill. The western fells provide a view for our lunch stop. Thankfully as we reached the top, the midges disappeared and didn't reappear. People were the opposite - gradually we saw more and more of them from now on. Although to be fair, we still didn't see too many until we got back to within a gnats whisker of the carpark.

Zooming in on the western fells.

Breeze has always thought she is really a racehorse, so she feels well at home on Racecourse Hill. We are heading over to Mardale Ill Bell which is the flat ridge in the centre here



and the down Nan Bield Pass to Small water (seen below) and back to the carpark at Mardale Head



When we got back to the car it was clear that the hoards had arrived. There were cars queuing for parking spots and people milling about on the muddy lake bottom.

The reflections were awesome

A very warm 6.75 miles.