Walla Crag walk, Derwentwater, Cumbria

Walla Crag cairn

I'll start by wishing you all a Happy and Healthy New Year. I'd thought I'd make an early start on the blog this year to ... try and squeeze an extra post in :-)

There's nothing better on occasions to go for a winter walk to escape Christmas food indulgence, lethargy and shopping. Today however was different as it was too windy and this virtual walk will have to do as a reserve.

It seems to me that I now post in Time Tunnels or a Time Hop with consecutive themes either being from last week, last year or maybe 2011. I haven't covered much of what I got up to in the not so happy year of 2012 on this blog but it was a great period of change, un-needful stress and lots of excessive travel on the road (usually in the dark) to South Yorkshire. All of this had to come to a sudden end in late January 2013 when the need to renovate and clear out my Mother's house for rental (nursing care home fees) purposes. Both February and March of that year were tough accepting the change whist constantly working on the house at weekends, late at night after work and then after visiting my Mother.

The day finally arrived when I handed in the house keys to the Estate agent to pass on to the new tenant. As I hadn't been anywhere for months and needed a break, the following saturday I checked and opted for the best available weather conditions in a radius of a two hour drive. This particular day out on 6th April 2013 was momentous in many ways as it was the beginning of a new chapter in my life although I wasn't quite sure what kind of chapter at the time.

Climbing up to Walla Crag

I drove to Keswick in Cumbria and opted to do my favourite walk, details and map are here ...

The Walla Crag / Ashness Bridge circular walk

... heading south on the east side of Derwentwater. This is the walk that I always recommend to any friends who are new to hillwalking in Cumbria / The English Lake District as it is so varied and inspiring.

In fact I get so enthused about it that I am pleased that you are about to join me on this visual feast of walking.

Derwentwater and Catbells

The view starts to open out a bit once the path hits the edge of the woods above Keswick. (above two images)

Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite Lake from Walla Crag

On leaving the trees behind, there is a bit of ascent pain that average walkers manage to deal with for a short time but as they say "No pain. no gain" and the views from the top are spectacular.

Derwentwater and Keswick from Walla Crag

I'm sure you can understand why I am a fair weather walker to capture photographic views like this and share them with you. For those walkers like myself who have followed in the footsteps of Alfred Wainwright will know that the imperial height measurement in feet was easy to remember at 1234 ft, but Ordnance survey seem to have upgraded it in more recent years to 1243 ft (379 metres)

Passing Ships, Keswick Launch, Derwentwater

The Keswick Launch is a ferry company that runs a simultaneous clockwise and anticlockwise service around Derwentwater calling at numerous landing stages on the lakeshore.

Bleaberry Fell

Not being one to conform to tradition, I decided to add an extra dog leg into the the walk by covering the higher and more exciting looking wintery Bleaberry Fell at 1936 feet (590 m)

Bleaberry Fell path

The path seemed pretty much straightforward to start with so I'd thought I'd give it a go, however ...

Bleaberry Fell ascent

The extra dog leg walk was a bit more tricky at one point of ascent as four dog legs found it far easier than the human's two :-)

Skiddaw from Bleaberry Fell

From experience and what you can observe in this post is that the greatest ascent doesn't usually produce the better views as their is always some undulating crag or mound in the way, but it certainly opens up a different world. Skiddaw in the background being the fourth highest mountain in England at 3054 ft (931 m) ...

Helvellyn

...and then swinging panoramically to the south east, Helvellyn being the third highest at 3118 ft (950m). Brrr, too cold to hang about here, so time to re-join the main path again.

Ashness Bridge

The path southwards from Walla Crag defends the gradually down the hill until the World Famous Ashness Bridge is reached.

Although Ashness bridge bears a single track road serving the remote and hamlet of Watendlath, it became famous in Victorian times on The Grand Tour as many artists travelled to the area to replicate the scene. A William Linton (1791-1876) example
Comparing the Victorian scene with the 21st century image, it is unfortunate that the trees are starting to obscure Derwentwater with the Bridge gradually becoming more prominent in it's own right with each passing decade.

Derwentwater Lakeshore

The best way to see the lake of course is to continue with the walk down the road to the lakeshore.

Skiddaw and Derwentwater

and a beautiful and easy stroll back northwards to Keswick with views of the mountain Skiddaw

Friar's Crag

One of the most famous locations on the shores of Derwentwater is Friar's Crag. It seemed to get it's name from the peninsula that was used to moor boats and transport monks to the nearby St Herbert's Island for a pilgrimage.

Walla Crag from Friar's crag

Had this been a summer post, I would have chosen the above image as the title shot, but instead I've just highlighted it from obscurity !!

Friar's Crag view

Not only did the view south from Friar's Crag attract the monks for their onward journey but the tourists came later, although maybe not before Canon Rawnsley set the scene as a founding member of The National Trust. The Canon was influential as vicar of Crosthwaite in preserving large areas of Borrowdale from the developers. Brandlehow Woods was the first on the far side of the lake towards the right of the image.
Friar's Crag was handed over to the National Trust in 1920 following Rawnsley's death.

Keswick Launch

It might be romance and speculation to suggest that the Monks inspired boat travel on Derwentwater but boat owners didn't miss a trick and hired out their craft for pleasure use on the lake. That was all blown out of the water by the arrival of a super ferry of it's day called The May Queen. Everyone wanted to travel on it and a lot of surrounding business was lost. The Keswick Launch company commenced operations around the same time in 1935 with big plans for the imminent launch of a second boat.

Annie Mellor

There was much controversy in the town of Keswick as many locals didn't think that there would be enough business for the Annie Mellor. As you can see, it is still operational today along with other classical vessels in the fleet. Unfortunately due to regulation changes as a result of a fire on a boat in The River Thames (Marchioness Disaster 1989), two of the fleet including The May Queen that were taken out of service were beyond repair and broken up. The vessels that survived and were rebuilt to the new required standards were Annie Mellor, Princess Margaret Rose, Lady Derwentwater and Iris.

Boats for Hire Derwentwater

Just to complete the story ... It's nice to know that some of the classical smaller boats are still available for hire.

The Heads, Keswick

The walk back into Keswick passes the unusual street name where the Victorians first built their hotels that overlooked the lake and some of the scenes depicted above. The mountain backdrop is Skiddaw to the north once again.

Hi... Robin, Keswick

Lastly there were no comedy shots today but a bird bonus at the both the start and end of the walk as I changed in and out of my walking boots in the passenger seat of my car. Those that know Keswick and The Lake District will understand that car parking fees can be expensive as the authorities seek to encourage longer stay visitors and the use of public transport such as the one I have hinted at in this post. However as a long stay day visitor, I have a secret parking location in Keswick and with a visual treat like this, I'll be returning there again !! It was good he came back to see me at the end of the day.

Robin, Keswick

The Wrekin, Wellington, Shropshire.

The Wrekin is a hill (1335 ft / 407m) that overlooks Shropshire Plains and is probably a welcoming sight for the local people of Wellington and Shrewsbury arriving back by road to their home county from all parts of the east.

(( I had no idea what kind of photographical material that I would collect on this walk (part 2 of 3 Shropshire) and even though it's not a strong set, I think it's passable as a cloud fest !
I hope you don't mind me taking the liberty of matching that with a shorter post where I don't have to think too much either for once in a while :-) ... I'm due a lazy post !!
I thought I'd experiment with something else a little bit different ... wonder if anyone will notice ! ))

It makes a nice change to go with the flow to see what happens as some of my solo trips can be ordered, complex but fun nonetheless. About ten days before this trip, I got an e-mail from the national organisation that I booked with to say that the hotel we were meant to be staying at (Buckatree Hall Hotel, Wellington) had been double booked. Fortunately though, alternative short notice accommodation was found at The Lion Hotel in Shrewsbury (Flickr image from previous post).
The Lion Hotel was probably a better option than the country hotel as we could use the facilities of the town at various stages of the weekend. However, there is always a downside as the planned figure of eight walk starting from the original Hotel door had to be modified and shortened significantly.
The task of transporting thirty people by cars to the main Wellington car park seemed routine enough but not practical on a busy saturday morning. Eventually the group somehow managed to congregate outside Wellington Leisure centre but not before numerous visits to the toilet inside !!

We set off to conquer the hill having lost a lot of time, passing the infamous hotel on the way. I got a bit lost from the surroundings with some interesting and unusual conversations talking to people I hadn't met before. It seemed a shame that some people from London can count on half of a hand how many times they had travelled more than 100 miles north of their City ... a wedding being one of the excuses, I mean reasons !!
On nearing the summit, it was time to take a talking break from all of that and let the camera do the talking instead ...

The Gathering !  The Wrekin.

Due to the modified extension at the beginning of the walk and some of the party not being used to walking up hills, we reached the summit at the same time that lunch had been arranged at a Pub in town !!

Geologically, The Shropshire hills are mainly found in the south west of the county with the volcanic style rock structure of The Wrekin being the exception to the rule. A narrow band of hillside extends north eastwards into the Shropshire plains with The Wrekin at the head.

However if you find that information quite dull, you can always believe the other story :-)  ......

There was a giant called Gwendol Wrekin and he didn't like Shrewsbury to the point that he wanted to flood it and destroy the residents with a giant sized spade full of earth. On the way there, he met a cobbler going in the opposite direction with a huge sack of old repairable shoes. As there were no maps at the time, the giant wanted the cobbler to give him directions for Shrewsbury. The cobbler, fearing for his trade, informed him that it was a very long way and he had worn out all these shoes getting to this point. On hearing this, the giant gave up on the idea and dumped the earth on the ground and it was called The Wrekin. A smaller mound called Ercall Hill was formed as he scraped the mud off his boots.

The Iron Age Hill fort became the location for a World War II beacon to deter planes away from its elevated intrusion on the nearby Shropshire Plains.

Transmission lines, The Wrekin

The beacon remained operational until 1960 and was replaced by a telecommunications media mast that started broadcasting TV and radio in 1975 with a replacement upgraded structure in 2000.

It seemed appropriate that many people wanted to join in with the digital experience and broadcast the events of their day to all their friends :-)

Family photo, The Wrekin

Having read the Mountain Rescue reports in years gone by from more severe terrain, I was reminded that people may be affected by the altitude and have the possibility of not having clarity of mind to think normally :-)

All too soon, it was time to descend a different way for a very late lunch. Had I had my own space and transport, it would have been nice to drive somewhere for a profile of the hill. This is the best I could do given the circumstances.

It's been some time since I ended a post this way so that just leaves me with the image you've all guessed was coming ....

New Dog, Old Trigs ! The Wrekin

A Boxing day walk, Hedgehope Hill, Northumberland

The Cheviot

Christmas was a bit unusual for me this year as I had planned to go away at New Year with a walking friend. The only way I could barter for holiday with my job was to offer to work a difficult shift around Christmas which ended up being late afternoon and evening on Christmas day. Another friend and his wife are always discussing and bantering about doing a walk with a group of friends but we can never agree on a distance or location. I was concerned about taking him away from his wife on Boxing day but she was pleased that he had a companion for this kind of walk. The extremes of this set depicts why I haven't done a walk with this particular group of friends in nearly three years.

The weather forecast for the day was essentially extreme cold, sun, no wind, high level snow and on the basis of no wind at low altitude (acceptable at high levels in relative terms), I grasped the photo opportunity with both hands.

My friend was probably more concerned about getting his car safely to and from the starting point as the single track road in the valley has two very steep hills that could possibly have been icy but with a bit of caution we made it.

Hedgehope hill (2343ft / 714m) was the target of the day which in normal conditions would be quite simple.

My previous experiences of hill walking in snow was a long time ago with my walking mentor on Ben Lomond in Scotland and his inexperience in that environment frightened me into staying with the 3 seasons.

I did have memories of that trip in that the more difficult legwork was comparable although there were a few 6 inch prints to follow at times !

Hedgehope Hill Summit at last

Considering the possibilities for an onward route ... another time obviously !

It was great to get in behind the cairn for some shelter away from the cold for a lunch break, however 20 minutes was long enough as my inexperience told me that I should have eaten with my gloves on !

Does anyone recognise this view 30 minutes earlier? ... definitely time to keep moving !

Getting to grips with a walking pole that wouldn't extend ... no, it's not an ice axe !

Time to head back to some ...errr .... colour  and reflect on the experiences of the day.

Some wisdom I invented from the start of the day although a little unfounded ...

" You always know it's a bad idea to do a high level mountain walk when ...

it's a challenge to open the frozen front door" ! :-)

Allen Crags & Glaramara

The following morning after settling in, the group ( of mixed walking ability ) were all asked which walk we would like to do from a choice of 3 grades. As it was a good day, I chose the harder one of the three which was the mountain that we could see from the front door... Glaramara.
The above view of Glaramara shows the curving descent that we took on a rounded ridge at the end of the day.

I had done this route twice before, once in each direction and it is unfortunate to say that my favourite direction was the clockwise route! The route starts at the top of the map and follows the anti-clockwise direction taking a path to avoid the busy road to Seathwaite. The D-tour at the south end was a lunch break at Sprinkling Tarn. The final climb to Allen Crags, across the tops to Glaramara and down the curving descending rounded ridge back to the accommodation.

We set off along the Borrowdale road to the start of the path with the walk leader striding ahead on the right hand side of the road.

This part of the route is known as the Allerdale ramble which is a long distance north / south Lake District walking route.

Soon we approached Seathwaite ( officially the wettest place in England ), the starting point for many high level walks in this area.

Seathwaite Farm

Door to the mountains !

After a last toilet stop here, it was time to step out into the open country ...

( Allen Crags on the left with our route up Grains Gill valley to the right of it. Seathwaite fell on the right)

Taylorgill Force to the right of Seathwaite Fell

Breaktime at Stockley bridge where the path splits around Seathwaite Fell

The stream just beyond the bridge looking up towards Allen Crags

Grains Gill is a bit of a pull and it lasts for the best part of 90 minutes.

After lunch at Sprinkling Tarn, this is the view at the bottom of the map making the final ascent to Allen Crags.....

.... with the view from the top looking towards Derwentwater, Keswick and The Skiddaw mountain range.

From the summit of Allen Crags, we could see the tarn where we stopped for lunch with a similar view to this of Great Gable ( A mountain I described in an earlier blog last summer ).

As Allen Crags was the high point of the day & indeed the weekend  (2575 ft / 785m ) it was time for some of the group to take some photos of the memorable occasion.

mountain tarn and Langdale Pikes in background

The next section of the walk between the two summits is reasonably demanding as Glaramara has several lower summits with the main one being the last one before dropping down the mountain. A few of the group found this section quite unexpectedly tough. On the north side of Glaramara is a 20 foot easy rock scramble but the walk leader opted to avoid this on descent ... hence the dog leg on the above map near the summit.

Taking a break below the summit watching those on the normal ascent route

The main reason for opting to do the walk in this direction is the view on the descent towards Derwentwater again but a lot of the group were so tired from climbing all of Glaramara's false summits that they were just glad to see our accommodation in the centre base of the above photo. So I'll finish with one of someone who did appreciate it ....

"Wow, look at that great view" !!

( I promise a bit more variety in the next walk which involves a boat trip )