Wall to Wall Sunshine in Grisedale

We parked at Glenridding bridge and then followed Beck eastwards, heading off into the trees to climb up onto Keldas

Once out of the trees Ullswater comes into view behind us. It's another glorious Monday!

Lanty's Tarn suddenly appears as you get to the gateway

Then after walking through Brownend Plantation, the views up Grisedale open up ahead. Awesome on a day like this

Looking behind is pretty good too

This is such a peaceful valley. Pure, unadulterated isolation. On a day like this there can be few places more appealing.

Up ahead, Ruthwaite Lodge comes into view. An Outward Bound maintained Bothy, that's our turning point.

That's Mummies Little Princess looking a bit muddy

Towards the end of the walk, looking back

And ending the walk with a quick dip in Ullswater.  8.6 miles for us, so about 86 for her, I guess she deserves it - and it's not a bad way of cleaning her up either!

Souther Fell

Another glorious Monday morning. The last time we did Souther (pronounced Sooter) Fell, the cloud came down and there was no view, so we decided to do it again today and show Jay what she should have seen last time. This time we went the other way, starting in Mungrisdale we walked round to Low Beckside and then headed up the side of Souther

Once on the top the views did not disappoint

Down we go to the Glenderamackin below White Horse Bent (spot the dog - you might need to double click on the picture to find her)

Master of all she surveys

Lunch with a view - that's Sharp edge on Blencathra

And that's what a power nap looks like

We walked across Bannerdale crags 

and then down the side of the Tongue, into Bannerdale. That's the crags as we look back on the descent

And that's a very pretty spaniel at the end of a 7 mile walk!

Barton Fell

It's the first time in ages that we have been able to get out and do a proper walk. We've been here before, but then we got to lots of places frequently. It's a lovely day, so lets head off..........

We parked at Roehead and made our way up onto Askham Fell, before heading right at The Cockpit, in the direction of Barton Fell and Arthur's Pike

Ullswater soon comes into view, flat calm.

Brrr, it looks cold up there.

From Arthur's Pike, we headed across the Wartches to Helton Fell. Breeze just loves this sort of ground. Scent everywhere.

After Helton Fell we made our way back over Moor Divock. The reflections on Ullswater in view as we start to descend back towards our starting place 

8.5 miles on a beautiful day. A nice return to the fells after our break. Back at home, we can sit and study our route - that's Barton Fell and Arthur's Pike in the distance.

Home again!

Back home again after our Horse(s), Dog(s), Guinea Pig(s) sitting visit to the Borders. Whilst the scenery up there is much more to our liking than Lincolnshire, it still isn't home!

At the first opportunity, we are out to another of our regular dog walking spots - the Caldbeck Fells - Jay comes along for a short walk too. We probably only did about 4 miles, but it was wild and windy, so it was quite energetic. 

Jeff and Jay wait for me to catch up

While Breeze runs back (again) to see where we have got to. We estimate that she does 10 times the distance we do.

Snow on the higher fells

Roughton Gill again

We are just back from our annual 10 days of horse(s), dog and cat sitting for our dear friends, Simon and Sal. It is great to catch up with old pals and family in Lincolnshire, but we missed Cumbria soooo much, we couldn't wait to come back. Not much time this week before we are off to Scotland to do the same for Richard and Trina, so just a short walk. About 5 miles in one of our regular spots, Roughton Gill.

Yippee, we're home!!!

Making up for lost time

It is so lovely to be amongst hills again!

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