Keswick Weekender - Part 2

 After my Father's birthday the day before - Saturday we decided to do separate things - my Parents planned to head into Keswick & pay a visit to the market that was being held. I, however, not being one for markets, had my eye set on my first major walk in the Northern Fells...

Saturday

My plan was to set off from The Old Sawmill Car Park at Dodd Wood, on the opposite side of Bassenthwaite Lake. On checking Google Maps, I found that the main road which skirts the eastern shore of Bassenthwaite Lake was closed 'near Dodd Wood' for water mains works...so, not knowing which side of the wood the closure was on, flipped a coin and after another hearty cumbrian breakfast decided to head north, around the northern tip of the lake & back down the eastern shoreline. The road on the eastern shore had signs up at regular intervals as I was driving. 'Road Closed Ahead'. 'No through route', etc. I was keeping my fingers crossed as I drove that I would reach the car park before I reached the road works. It paid off, and I reached the empty car park at 09:40am.

Booted up, and pack on my back, I picked up a leaflet from the visitor board outside the public washrooms, which detailed the various forest tracks through the wood. My first waypoint was to follow the route marked 'Dodd Summit' upto the forest track clearing, where I would then head off on a mountain path upto today's first summit: Carl Side.

The forest tracks were steep in places, but quite wide and gravelled smooth - they had to be to cope with the lumber trucks which would carry timber off the fell. Dodd Wood is a rich habitat for wildlife - with routes to an Opsrey Viewing Station, and also Red Squirrel viewpoints. Unfortunately it wasn't the time of year for spotting Ospreys fishing in the lake, and I didn't see any Red Squirrels on my walk - but I did see a couple of Robins - which flew away just as I was about to press the shutter button on my camera.

Eventually I reached the clearing and hopped over the stile onto the mountain path up to Carl Side. About half way up I reached the feature known as 'White Stones'. Probably not surprisingly, named after a rocky outcrop of white stones - rich with quartz seams. From here I could stand on the rocks and look out over Keswick and across Derwentwater to the fells beyond. To my right, I could also make out the village of Braithwaite, and picked out our guest house.

After carrying on a while longer, I eventually reached the rather lacklustre summit of Carl Side (2,447 feet). It consisted of a 'barely-there' cairn, with the path going straight over on onwards to Skiddaw which loomed in the distance, cloud just hanging at its top.

As the temperature dropped with the altitude, I whipped on my insulated jacket and gloves, pulled up my hood, and headed up the path & onto Skiddaw.

About half way up the path steepened as it crossed the scree slopes, but I carefully plodded on as I headed up into the cloud. I stopped for a moment and could see silhouettes of other walkers fading off back along the path behind me.

I eventually made out a cairn further along the path - and this was the marker to join the main ridge-top path which led to the summit.

Not long after, the summit was reached. A concrete trig point marked the exact summit, but also on the top was a viewing stand, with a metal plaque showing the directions of various landmarks (not much use when your in the cloud, though), and a large stone wind shelter, behind which were a group of about four walkers all huddled together eating their lunch.

I made the decision that this wasn't really the best place to stop for lunch - as you lose heat rapidly once you've stopped moving. So I turned tail and headed back along the ridge to the marker cairn which was where I turned off back down the path to Carl Side.

Once again, about half way down I came out of the cloud layer & in to bright sunshine over the other fells & could clearly see the ridge walk I would do next - 'Long Side Edge'.

This time, I didn't head back to Carl Side summit, but instead followed the path which skirted round and onto the next summit, Long Side (2,405 feet). It was here that I stopped for lunch, and brewed a coffee in the sunshine overlooking Derwentwater & the surrounding fells... I even had my sunglasses on!

After lunch I packed up, and followed the connecting ridge path to Ullock Pike (2,230 feet) - the final summit for the day. To my left was a view of the full length of Bassenthwaite Lake and over to the Whinlatter fells (still on my to-do list), and to my right was the Southerndale valley with Skiddaw as its backdrop.

I followed the path over the undulating hill and along the ridge as it made its decent, and reached the junction for the path back to Dodd Wood, through part of the forest plantation called 'sand-banks', which I though was a bit of an odd name. Upon reaching the plantation though - the name choice was obvious. It was a densely packed pine tree forest, which was so dark it was like walking into a tunnel. There was no grass on the ground - instead thousands upon thousands of slowly decaying pine needles that had softened, broken down and turned a pale brown colour, and walking on them was like walking through - you've guessed it - sand!

After a mile or so of walking back through the various plantations, containing various deciduous & evergreen woodland, some less dense than others, I finally got back to my car just before 3:30pm.

I met back up with my parents at the Guest House, and we made arrangements for dinner - heading into Keswick. I had short-listed three pubs. The first was fully booked, so we headed to the second - The George Hotel - and, although the restaurant was full, the same menu was on offer in the bar area, so we found a table and had a wonderful pub lunch, served in huge portions, in the oldest coaching inn in Keswick - dating back to 1665!

Sunday

Over breakfast - where we had all opted for smaller portions instead of a full Cumbrian - my parents advised they would be heading down to Grasmere for the day - and stocking up on the famous Grasmere Gingerbread, as is our tradition every time we visit the Lakes.

There was no breath of wind this morning, just a very slight frost, and the air so crisp & clear. So I decided to head over the Newlands pass down to Buttermere, in the hope that the lack of wind would make for some fantastic reflections.

On arriving at Buttermere, for a change, I took the path and followed it for a mile or so along the southern shoreline of Crummock Water to a small outcrop called Low Ling Crag. This small, narrow outcrop, which also boasted two shingle beaches, was also a great little vantage point for looking back up the valley towards the unmistakable shape of Fleetwith Pike.

To get to the crag, there was a bit of bog-trotting involved. The path was quite saturated from the becks flowing down from the hills, as well as the melting morning frost. However, this also meant that there were also quite a few plants in bloom, including, by the waters edge some picturesque holly trees that were just too pretty not to photograph.

I followed the path back towards Buttermere, and back onto familiar ground. For the rest of the day I decided I would take a walk around the full shoreline of the lake. The lake itself was completely still - no breath of wind and the only ripples on there were being caused by a pair of Swans dipping their necks into the water to feed.

It's a lovely walk around Buttermere - and you definitely get the feeling of a mountain walk, without being up in the mountains. The majority of the paths are good gravel paths, but there are small sections over rocks - and even through a tunnel that has been mined through a rocky outcrop, which all adds character and a bit of excitement.

There was plenty of wildlife about in addition to the Swans. The Herdwick sheep were doing there usual lawn-mowing duties in the fields, and there were Ducks on the Lake.

I managed to grab a photo of a Robin which kindly stayed still long enough for me to take its picture whist it was sat on a fence post.

Other small birds weren't as obliging - a Chaffinch though it would be funny for me to have my finger on the shutter before flying off to the next bush. And just when I got ready to take its picture again, it fluttered onto another bush...another three it did this before I gave up!

There was also another small bird which I tried to take a picture of - although it was photo-shy and didn't want to face the camera, I did get a snap of it from the back - it had a blue head, wings & back with a black stripe running from its face. Its chest was an orange-red colour. After doing some searching online - the closest I can match it to is a Nuthatch.

Half way round I stopped for a quick bit to eat and dug out a pack of crisps and some chocolate biscuits I had stashed in my rucksack, and ate whilst taking in the views being reflected in the lake - with a duck keeping watch incase I had any left over scraps for him.

I continued my way along the path, and through the farmyard at Gatesgarth Farm - which also offers a car park (£4 all day - 'pay in the bucket'), and an ice-cream van in the summer. At this time of year though, apart from the cars there were just chickens clucking & crowing in the farm yard.

The path eventually heads down the southern shore & back towards Buttermere village - this section of the path I now know quite well, having traversed it on my way up Haystacks in May 2016, and back down again when I did the Red Pike to High Crag ridge in March 2017. The Highland cattle weren't roaming the open pastures on this side of the Lake this time, so I followed my feet back along the path & through the village, back to the car.

That evening, we stayed local for dinner, opting for the Royal Oak in the centre of Braithwaite, for what was yet again another enjoyable meal - washed down with a pint (or two) of Jenning's Brewery's own 'Sneck Lifter' ale - which was to bring the weekend to an end.

The weather deteriorated on Monday (it must have known we were heading home), but I managed to get a quick recce visit in to Castlerigg Stone Circle just a mile or so outside of Keswick. The clouds & rain didn't make this the best photography excursion - but that's another location for the to-do list next time I'm back up in Keswick - which hopefully shouldn't be that long of a wait!

Oh - my parent's also bought me a pack of Grasmere gingerbread, so I'm having a piece with a hot chocolate as I finish writing this & bringing back happy memories!

Mark