I travelled to Threlkeld in the Lake District with good friend Al from Gloucester for a trek. It’s just 5 days this time as I wasn’t sure my bad back would last the usual 8 days. We are starting from the Horse and Farrier in Threlkeld, jolly nice Sneck Lifter on draught.
The black and white photos were all taken on Ilford 400 Delta 120 film and the colour images were taken on my Moto-X phone.
If you would like a black and white print as a memento of your trip, all of the black and white images are available. They were taken with a Mamiya 7 camera on Ilford 120 film and are available as high quality hand made darkroom prints in a range of sizes from 40x30cm to 70x70cm (size refers to mount and frame, image is a few cm smaller).
They all have a 6 digit number at the end of the title to uniquely identify the negative to help ordering – just type this number into the search box in the UK Landscapes Gallery and it will show the image and ordering information. Not all images are included so if you can’t find the ones that interest you just send me an email using the Contact page form on this website and we’ll sort out the details between us.
The forecast was for a sunny day but it was overcast with low clouds on the hills.
We stayed in Threlkeld so that we could climb Blencathra and I could take some photos from the top. Unfortunately, the view extended for all of 20 yards, so no pictures. The descent wasn’t that interesting either as there was no view until we were quite low.
As we made our way down to the river we started seeing bridges half washed away by the December 2015 storms. Then further on our route was completely blocked by fencing, 2 bridges had been washed away making the path impassable. One of the bridges was an enormous old metal railway bridge, it was sitting in the river bed quite a way from where it was 2 years ago when we walked over it!
The shortest alternative added just under 2 miles to our route but there was no choice. We walked into Keswick and headed for the Oddfellows Arms, an old favourite in the town centre, for a swift Snecklifter. Then it was along to the Royal Oak in Braithwaite, our lodgings for the night.
I carried my Mamiya 7 camera all day but didn’t take any photos, just a few snaps on my Moto-X phone. Tomorrow we head over Causey Pike to Loweswater to stay at the brewery!
After a big breakfast at the Royal Oak in Braithwaite we were on our way at the crack of 9.45am. Golly what an early start!
From the village we climbed steadily to the summit of Causey Pike. Views improved as we waited a few minutes but it wasn’t that bright and from here we followed the ridge over Scar Crags, Sail, Eel Crags and on to Grasmoor. That was 5 Wainwright’s in a day but we didn’t realise this until we looked at the Harvey’s map down in the valley, it has them all marked which I hadn’t realised before.
We came down beside the stream between Grasmoor and Whiteside. So many waterfalls, what a beautiful walk! In several places the path had been washed away by the December storms but it was mostly easy to find an alternative since water levels weren’t that high.
I took a few black and white photos on medium format film with my Mamiya 7 camera. We’re staying at the Kirkstile Inn tonight, complete with its own brewery and the Grasmoor Dark Ale was excellent! Tomorrow is a short day to Buttermere, over Mellbreak then on to Scales Force. Keeping fingers crossed it stays dry.
Today is a sort of rest day as it’s just 6 miles and 1500 feet (less than 500m) of ascent over a small peak called Mellbreak. We were well looked after by the staff at the Kirkstile Inn in Loweswater. The Grasmoor Dark Ale was very nice, as was the steak pie last night. The full English breakfast was a bit much for such a short day but I forced it down anyway. Suzi, our luggage transfer supremo from Keswick (Suzi’z Taxis) obviously couldn’t sleep very well as she came to pick up our bags shortly after we’d started breakfast. Fortunately, she didn’t mind waiting a few minutes.
Once again we excelled by getting out by the crack of 9.25am! Immediately we saw a confusing sign obviously designed to stop you going any further, see picture below. A good farm track led us to the small wood at the foot of the northern end of Mellbreak. The track started off grassy then became loose rocks so I headed off to the right of this to climb the smaller track through the heather just as it steepened. There was a short section where no track existed but it was easy enough to the Mellbreak ridge above.
Al seemed somewhat subdued when he reached the top. He soon pointed out that he hadn’t enjoyed climbing through the heather wearing shorts, his legs were covered in cuts and grazes and were bleeding. This reminds me of rule number one when climbing steep heather covered mountain slopes, ‘Don’t Wear Shorts’! From here it was a short romp to the lower top then a broad ridge took us to the main top at the other end. Good views all round as we marched along. The southern slopes of Mellbreak are steepish grass but easy underfoot and we soon found ourselves at the bottom looking back at our route.
Immediately opposite is a narrow steep sided gorge, home to Scales Force waterfalls. There wasn’t a huge amount of water but it was still impressive. The waterfalls are split into 2 main falls, the lower one about 15 feet high, the upper falls about 150 feet, maybe more. The rocks were dry to the side of the lower falls so Al climbed up to check it out while I took more shots below him, as if I don’t have enough photos of these lower falls already from several previous trips! Al gave me the nod that it was worth me clambering up to take some proper photos with my Mamiya. I must say it was impressive. The bottom section of the upper falls in particular was beautiful. I went in as close as I could without getting soaked.
After this short interlude we returned, carefully, to our rucsacks and made our way to Buttermere. We had just bought our beers and found a table to sit down at and it started raining outside. The first rain of this trip and we avoided it. Makes a change to last year’s trip where we had lots of rain on 7 of our 8 days in Snowdonia.
So far in 3 days I’ve taken 34 photographs with my Mamiya 7 camera, 67mm lens and Ilford 400 Delta 120 film, all handheld as I can’t carry the weight of even my lightest carbon fibre Gitzo tripod with my bad back. There must have been a mistake on booking as our room at the Bridge Hotel is extremely good and reasonably spacious. There was even a towel shaped to look like a swan in one of our 2 washbasins!
It was our penultimate day today and the weather forecast was not good until mid-afternoon. We were staying at the Bridge Hotel in Buttermere, jolly nice room and good beer and food last night. Good breakfast too to set us on our way this morning.
It stayed dry for the first 40 minutes or so, then we had very heavy rain for 15 minutes, just long enough for us to put full waterproofs on. The rest of the day was dry with sunny spells from midday. So much for the forecast for rain showers all day!
It was very peaceful walking along beside Buttermere Lake, we didn’t see anyone until we reached the other end of the lake. We started up the steep main ridge of Fleetwith Pike from the road and made good time, passing a couple on the way up. I’ve been up this route a few times before but I always like the steep rocky bits, you can get into a sort of rhythm on them. Jolly good views at the top. Chatting to the couple that we passed when they reached the top, the woman worked in Macclesfield just 10 miles from home! Small world.
Lots of sunny spells as we made our way across to Honister Slate Mine. We refrained from using the zip wire for fear of being disqualified from our trek and walked down. We originally planned to go straight down to Rosthwaite, our stop for the night but as it was early we changed our minds and headed for Stonethwaite. The Langstrath Inn is open all day and always has good beer. From there it was just 1.5 miles along to Rosthwaite but it was still early so we dashed into the Scafell Hotel, next door to our hotel. The last time I can remember being in here was on my first Coast to Coast trek in 1979. They had 6 real Ales on today so well worth the visit.
The Royal Oak Hotel was a little bit different to our other hotels. We booked dinner, b&b for a change. Our 4 course Dinner started at 7.30pm. Quite a few of the others were walking Wainwright’s Coast to Coast so a lot of others were staying just one night. We couldn’t get into the Scafell or Langstrath because of it being just a 1 night booking. The bar area was very small with just 1 real ale and a keg beer. It was local beer from near Ullswater but not my favourite. The meal was excellent and they catered very well for my allergies. After the meal we ran next door to the Scafell in the rain for a couple of nightcaps, of the Snecklifter variety!
Last day tomorrow. We walk up to Watendlath Tarn then over 3 peaks to Castlerigg stone circle and back to the Horse and Farrier in Threlkeld to finish.
This was the last day of our Lake District Trek . Jolly good breakfast, complete with soya milk for my corn flakes, at the Royal Oak in Rosthwaite. A good start to the day.
After a few hundred yards along the valley floor we headed up to Watendlath Tarn. The old packhorse bridge at Watendlath was closed, damaged by the December storms, but there was a temporary wooden bridge next to it so we crossed the river with dry feet! There was a chilly old wind as we climbed up the slope behind the Tarn so I stopped to put on my waterproof, the only windproof that I was carrying. It was still quite bright.
There was a pretty good path to the top of High Tove which we reached as the rain started. Proper rain driven by strong winds of over 25mph. The next bit to High Seat was horrible. Peat bog with deep soft areas. We had to weave around to find a way through. I was jolly pleased that my boots (Meindl Dovre Extreme GTX) were 10 inches tall so no problem keeping my feet dry, unlike Al with normal height boots. We reached High Seat after a couple of hours, now with the rain beating down. The next section was a bit easier. No deep boggy bits but it was very wet. We passed lots of people coming the other way. Looked like there was some event on, there must have been over 40 people in 4 or 5 groups. Bleaberry Fell was similarly wet but the rain eased off and stopped as we made our way down. Interesting at times, rain, wind and sunshine, all at the same time. A bit over an hour of rain in total. There were a few hillocks to the side of the path as we descended and it was brightening up so we went up a couple of them. The last was called Falcon Crag. Quite a view with nice light over Derwent Water and Keswick so I pulled my Mamiya camera out of the rucsac to take a few pictures, the only ones of the day.
We called in at Castlerigg stone circle on the way to Threlkeld. Lots of people here. Just a few phone photos as I already have lots of photos of it, summer, winter, normal, infrared, with and without snow in the background. From here it was a short hop to the end, the Horse and Farrier in Threlkeld, which was where we started 5 days ago. I celebrated with a Snecklifter or two!
Our evening meals were good but having 5 dogs in the pub, which is effectively a restaurant as all tables are booked for food, spoiled it as I’m allergic to dogs. The place was packed so I just had to rely on my Ventolin spray for my asthma to get me through the evening.
It was about 50 miles and 11 mountains/hills in 5 days. Just 1.5 hours of rain in total, this compares with 7 days of rain in 8 in Snowdonia last year! I also took 46 proper black and white photographs, all on Ilford 400 Delta 120 film, with my Mamiya 7 camera and 65mm lens.
We also managed about 14 miles to the gallon…..of beer.
The end!
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