Today we had planned to have a right sort out in our shed. But what the hell. Would you stand inside a cold dark brick box on a day like this if you didn't have to?
We headed to Mungrisdale and ended up parking at Bowscale, so we headed up towards the tarn. This is looking back as we set off. Our car is parked just beyond the building, and that's Breeze on her third or forth lap.
Carrock Fell across the valley as we gradually gain a bit of height
Mosedale (and Breeze)
Autumn is in full swing now
Time for a coffee at Bowscale tarn (did you spot Husband?) While here we decide that we will climb the steep slope seen in the middle here, up onto Bowscale Fell
I did say it was steep
As we emerge onto the top Skiddaw comes into view. Breeze does a fly past (or three)
We'd saved a bit of coffee, so time for another brief stop before we head down
Blencathra in the background
Losing height as we make our way down Raven Crags
Bannerdale (The Northern Fells one, not the Martindale one we were in on Monday)
5.5 miles and back home in time for lunch. OK, so the shed didn't get a look in today, but in the whole scheme of things, I really don't think it matters.
Today Husband needs to go to the dentist for an xray but I don't have to go. I don't HAVE to go, but I do! After all Breeze needs a run and on a day like this why wouldn't I? I drop Husband nearly outside the dentists door while I drive through town and park at the Theatre By The Lake. I barely walk a mile, Breeze runs quite a few and in no time at all her Dad is back to throw her a stick or two.
Martindale is home to the oldest Red Deer herd in England. We normally take a trip down the valley at this time of year to witness the amazing spectacle of the Rutting Season. Today we decided to combine that annual outing with a decent length walk. We parked at the Old Church on another beautiful autumn morning.
We quickly left the road to start climbing up Winter Crag
Breeze can never resist a seat
She loves having her photo taken!
Over Howsteads Brow onto Beda Head
Boredale on our right
I think Breeze has found a peat bog!
Ullswater behind us from Beda Fell
Beda Fell summit
Then we make our way over Heckbeck Head
To Angletarn Pikes - the pointy bit. We were only here a few days ago, but who cares? It's a lovely spot and we have a very good reason for coming back
Angle Tarn
As we reach the tarn we head off to the left, to pick up a path running below Heck Crag. One of the best places for viewing the Deer, without also viewing lots of other people viewing the deer. We had only gone a short distance down this path and were just about to stop for our lunch when we suddenly spotted a stag and a few hinds, only a few yards in front of us. We were so lucky, the wind was blowing towards us, we had Breeze on a lead in anticipation of there being deer about, and we just very quietly settled ourselves down and sat and watched
The roaring had been all around us all morning, but here it was so intense. There were stags in every direction and once you had your eye in, you couldn't count how many deer there were
Turn up your speakers to watch this short clip and hear a sample of the noise, but remember this is recorded on my little point ans shoot camera, it really doesn't do the sound justice
Lunch with a view down Bannerdale
And again, a short clip showing some of just one group and recording a bit of the noise
We follow the narrow path right along Bannerdale
Can you spot the stag?
Until we reach the road at Dale Head. From here it's a little way up the road back to the car.
Time for a quick look inside the church
We walked about 7.5 miles today, but it certainly wasn't one of our quickest walks! There was so much to watch and listen to, it really was a walk to remember.
I had two incentives for this walk; it's rutting season and the sound of roaring stags in Bannerdale and Martindale is amazing and it's several months since the dam was removed at Hayeswater and we fancied having a look at the renaturalisation that is happening there. So we parked at Hartsop and followed the intake wall back towards Ullswater. A walking party had set off just ahead of us, 21 folk from Cockermouth, who had caused havoc in the car park (out of about 15 cars only one driver seemed to have any common sense). To our dismay we soon discovered they were heading the same way as us!
Looking back to Brothers water
Calf close below Lingy crag, just ahead of us are the walking party.........................
Leaving the intake wall we begin to climb to Boredale Hause, but now we have managed to overtake the entire party thankfully.
Jay is with us today, although we did nearly lose her among the crowd as we negotiated our way through them all!
Wait for me!
Ullswater
Brothers water again. Anyone viewing my pictures probably thinks that Breeze trots along in front of us all day. WRONG!! Breeze charges about like a complete lunatic all day, I just take pictures as she runs past me as I like to have her on as many as possible to add a bit of scale. In truth, this is more like the real thing, although even this is pretty close for Breeze! There is no doubt that she easily covers 10 times the ground that we do.
From Boredale Hause we turn right and head over Angle Tarn Pikes and then down to Angle Tarn, seen here ahead
Star Jelly, it was everywhere around Angle Tarn.
Lunchtime!
As we left Angle Tarn and made our way along Satura Crag, the Stags were roaring away down below us. Such an evocative sound.
It's a popular spot up here. The group from Cockermouth had stopped at Angle Tarn just as we were setting off again after our lunch, there was another big party ahead and I lost count of the number of people we passed en route. We also collected our biggest haul of litter for quite some time. We always pick up anything we find, but we were running out of pooh bags and pockets on the rucksack to stuff it all in today.
The clouds were fairly low at this point, but the sun was peeping out from time to time, here it is lighting up Deepdale
Hayeswater comes into view
Looks like Dr Who is visiting
OK, so this isn't what we expected. The idea is to let Hayeswater re naturalise to it's original state, so what on earth is going on here? A new road and an awful lot of groundwork going on
Here's the explanation. A hydroelectric plant. I can accept that. If only this sort of thing had started decades ago, perhaps we wouldn't have all those hideous and ineffective wind farms everywhere.
Timw to wash the dog - notice she has two boots on again. Her feet are fine, but having had a number of injuries recently, we are being ultra cautious to try and get them hardened off without damaging them. So first half barefoot and fancy free, after lunch booted and fancy free!
Heading down Hayeswater Gill
Posing
Showing how to negotiate a wall stile
The old and the new - new plant and container on the left (for the Hydro works) and the remains of an old Lead mine in the centre.
One last view before we reach the car, I had to take this and I had to put it on here.......................... that's Pasture Bottom :-)
Another lovely walk with pretty amazing autumn weather. We are having such a dry autumn it's hard to believe. We walked about 6.75 miles and it's a really easy walk to. No wonder it's so busy!
