Braithwaite Weekend - Part 2

 Saturday 17th November

Today was my Dad's birthday, so I had no hikes planned for today - instead spending the day in Keswick with my parents. As the sun rose to the east, the remains of a temperature inversion could be seen towards Clough Head & Great Dodd. From checking social media later in the day, it turned out this was only the fringes of the inversion, which completed shrouded the Ullswater & Thirlmere valleys.

After a leisurely breakfast, we drove into Keswick, parking up at the rugby club, and went for a wander. The farmers market was on, and there were quite a few people about already. After exploring the market stalls, and the obligatory visit to Friar's sweet shop to get some Christmas shopping done, we headed out of town, popping in a few photography & artist studios, before making our way to the shores of Dewentwater.

It was a gorgeous day, bright sunshine, clear blue skies, but still holding the cool November temperatures, we made our way along the shoreline past the moorings & jetties for the Dewentwater Launch ferry, and followed the path to Friars Crag.

Not surprisingly, it was busy, and there were quite a few people crowding around the head of the crag, but my parents managed to grab some time on the bench overlooking the lake. I spent some time experimenting taking some photographs in the bright sunshine.

A number of trees were growing on the crag, their gnarly roots grasping on to & carpeting the rock. The bright sunlight highlighted the texture of the roots, and the bark on the tree trunks, which I thought gave some foreground interest.

Beyond the crag, the calm waters of the lake were reflecting the bright blue skies overhead. On the opposite side of the lake were the trees lining Copperheap Bay, and in the distance, the familiar outline of Causey Pike, with its distinctive summit 'knobbles'.

The peaceful scene was only disturbed twice. Once by a rowing boat passing by, and secondly by the Launch ferry passing on the far side of the lake, its ripples emanating across the waters.

We eventually moved on, and headed back along the shoreline, past Theatre On The Lake. For a change, I suggested we head back through Crow Park. There was a herd of Herdwicks grazing on the far-side of the park, but following the path there were quite a few dog walkers as well. This was my first time through Crow Park, and it had some lovely unhindered views down Derwentwater. It would be a fantastic location for a sunset photograph! We followed the path through the park, and it joined up to a road which then lead back to the rugby club, so a nice little shortcut.

We then had a drive down Derwentwater, returning to the restaurant I had taken my parents to the night before - The Mary Mount Hotel. I had stayed here during the summer, but visiting the night before didn't really show off the glorious vista of Catbells across the lake from the large windows. We called in for a brew, and watched the birds on the feeders just the other side of the windows!

That evening for my Father's birthday dinner, I drove them to the Kirkstile Inn at Loweswater. Due to the early nights, it was a hairy drive along narrow country lanes in the pitch dark night. Although we did manage to catch sight of a couple of Rabbits hopping along the side of the hedgerows.

Sunday 18th November

Time to don my walking boots once more. This time I was looking to bag the five Whinlatter fells. I was disappointed to hear that the Whinlatter Pass road which runs up behind Braithwaite was closed due to subsidence, which meant a five minute drive to the Forestry Commision Visitor Centre at the top of the pass instead involved a further 20 minute detour to reach the centre from the Lorton side.

It was a fantastic drive however, along the country lanes I had driven in the dark the night before - but thhis time the sun was shining once more, the hills were looking very inviting.

I parked up at the visitor centre, and picked up my route through the forest. Following wide, gravelled, and gradually graded forest tracks the route snaked through the forest.

Part of the route was on the Red Squirrel trail, so I was extra careful to be as quiet as possible on the off chance one should make an appearance.

There were a couple of, what I originally thought were bird-feeder boxes, on the trees, which were actually a source of food for the squirrels (although the birds took a fair share as well).

Unfortunately, no squirrels were spotted.

As the forest track moved deeper into the forest, and further away from the visitor centre, the track narrowed and became move overgrown as it headed into the Beckstones Plantation. This seemed an older, less frequented part of the forest. Through the trees ahead though, I could see the crags of my first fell of the day. The boundary of the plantation was marked with a fence, and I crossed at a stile, and traverse some stepping stones over Beckstones gill. The landscape was bare, the trees had been left behind - for now.

From this point, looking down to Bassenthwaite Lake below, I could see one of the landmarks of this fell - surprisingly this fell is not known for its summit - but more for a small 7 foot tall rock just under half the way up. Painted white, it is known as The Bishop. Local legend says this was the site where, in 1783, the Bishop of Derry died after falling off his horse in a drunken bet on how far up the fellside he could ride. This whitewashed stone can be seen from the main A66 road heading north from Keswick. The ascent up the fell via the Bishop however, is quite the challenge, and is a notorious call-out hot-spot for local Mountain Rescue teams.

From this point in Beckstones Gill however, a path clearly made its way up the side of Slape Crag to emerge on the summit of #160 - Barf - 1,536 ft. There were a handful of people on the small summit, taking in the stunning views over Skiddaw, Bassenthwaite Lake & to the south, Keswick, Dewerntwater and the fells beyond, bathed in stunning late-autumn sunshine.

My route then took me west. The next summit was only ¾ mile away. Dropping down off Barf's summit, the path crossed a large boggy depression, and I had to do some hop-skip and jumping to keep my feet dry. On the other side of the depression, the path began to climb again, becoming rockier and topped out at another busy summit - #161 - Lord's Seat - 1811 ft.

The summit was marked by an old rusted fence post. From here I could see the rest of today's fells, stretching out west in a long arm. As there was no direct path to make this a circular route, I would have to walk just shy of 2¼ miles to get the next couple of fells & then head all the way back to this summit. I made a start.

The route to the next fell was quite pleasant. After dropping down off Lord's Seat summit, the path was pretty flat for most of the route. I passed a number of runners carrying maps, to which I presumed they must be doing some orienteering race, ticking off checkpoints on a route. A final grassy slope was reached, at the top the summit plateau was reached. A drystone wall was just ahead, and after passing through the gate in the wall, was met by the large cairn marking the summit of Broom Fell (#162 - 1,670 ft).

The clear air meant from this westerly vantage point, there were views over the the Isle of Man in the west, and the coast of Dunfries & Galloway in Scotland to the north. With naked eye, I could have sworn I could see snow-capped mountains in Scotland, but on zooming in with my camera lens, it turned out to be white clouds covering the top of the Scottish hills.

After a brief break, I plucked up the courage to continue on. Graystone's was a bit of an outlier, 1¼ miles from my current spot on Broom Fell, the walk involved a 350 foot descent to cross the wide ridge of Widow Hause above the Darling How Forestry Plantation. Crossing the ridge, to the north I could see the fells of Ling Fell & Sale Fell which I had summited a couple of days earlier. To the south, a large swaithe of the slope of the Darling How Plantation was bare with deforested tree trunks, the planted slopes being a vibrant green contrast.

After crossing the ridge, I headed up the steep slope of Graystones & reached the top, marking the last fell on the ridge. There seemed to be three distinct high points, so I decided to head round to each one. I stopped at the first for a quick bite to eat. (#163 - Graystones - 1,476 ft).

I made my way round to each of the high points of the fell to make sure I got to the top (whichever of the three was the highest), before picking up the path and descending back to Widow Hause, and along the ridge back over Broom Fell and to Lord's Seat. It became tough going, especially on the final steep ascent back onto the summit of Lord's Seat, but I knew from here I would be heading back onto kinder tracks within the Whinlatter forest park.

Desending south from Lord's Seat and, after just a few yards, passing through the boundary fence, a gravelled path immediately appeared. The path headed through the sparser plantation skirting around Ullister Hill, and on turning a particular corner, was greeted with an amazing view into the distant fells, framed by conifers.

The path eventually became the more substantial forest road which I followed until reaching a large T-junction, no doubt a site for forestry trucks to turn around when carrying their loads of timber off the fell.

Instead of following any of the three forest roads, my path instead picked up a faint, narrow path which lead into the forest. The canopy of the pine trees meant it went quite dark, and the dead pine needles muted my footsteps on the ground.

After a few moments however, I reached the edge of the tree line, and was once again on open fell-side, Whinlatter Fell summit was in sight. The path followed the edge of the treeline south. Sunlight mustn't have touched the ground around here, as there was still frost on the grass. The path then turned west and up towards the summit. It was now a bit breezy on the tops. I reached Whinlatter top to make it fell number five for the day (#164 - Whinlatter - 1,696 ft). Sunset was still an hour or so off, but the sun was getting low in the sky. From the summit, I spotted an outcrop of almost equal height a few minutes walk west. This was heading away from the forest centre, but I picked up the pace to get to the subsidary summit of Brown How - which is actually slightly lower than Whinlatter top. Oh well.

I then backtracked over Whinlatter summit. Ahead in the distance was Keswick, basking in the late afternoon sunshine, once again bathed in a lovely orange light, with the northern edge of the Helvellyn range behind it. The path headed back into the forest, and rejoined the forest road I started on this morning, meaning it was then a short walk back to the car.

Monday 19th November

My final day of the trip. The weather had turned, and it was grey overhead. There were breaks in the cloud however, leading to some crepuscular 'god'-rays shining through.I had initially planned to do two high fells today - Lonscale Fell & Skiddaw Little Man, but decided to do one low fell instead - Dodd.

I enjoyed yet another lovely cooked breakfast at the guest house, afterwards packing my bags, checked out & said my farewells before setting off.

Driving on the A591 along the south eastern shore of Bassenthwaite Lake, I soon reached Dodd Wood, and pulled into the 'Old Sawmill' car park. After booting up & grabbing a pay & display ticket, I set off into the wood.

Initially following narrow path ways on the lower reaches of the hill, towering pine tree loomed overhead.

The path soon came out on one of the many forestry roads which entwine the fell - used by timber lorries to transport the felled lumber.

My route to the top turned right, following the road around the western aspect of the fell, overlooking Bassenthwaite, and on the opposite shoreline were the slopes of Whinlatter forest & the summit from a few days earlier - Barf.

Just further south was my village I had called home for the past few days, Braithwaite, nestled below the Whinlatter hills. I even spotted Hermiston Guest House where I had been staying!

After following the road for a short while, I turned off the road onto a narrow path deep into the depths of the wood. The path initially rose steeply, and was carpeted with bronze pine needles. The trees, thankfully provided some shelter from the wind which became stronger as altitude was gained. After the short, steep section, the path levelled out and again contoured around the hillside to the southern flank.

A break in the trees started to show the views south over Keswick, Derwentwater, and the fells to the south. I kept on moving until a clearing was reached.

The view was breath-taking. As if God was shining down on Keswick & the lake beyond. The town was basking in bright sunshine whilst all around, dark clouds crept overhead.

I begrudgingly had to turn away from the view to continue on, as the path now turned sharp north, towards the summit of the fell.

The trees began to thin out, replaced by ochre coloured bracken & soon I reached the top. (#165 - Dodd - 1,647 ft)

The summit is marked, not by a cairn or trig point, but by a small memorial - approximately 5 foot in height - dedicated to three gentlemen from the Seaton Scout Group.

A plaque on the opposite side of the memorial also quotes the height of the fell - which interestingly, at 1,612 feet is 35 foot shorter than the altitude quoted in Wainwright's book!

(It turns out this is the Ordnance Survey recorded 'spot height' of the fell, but instead of referring to the highest point, actually refers to a location 100 meters south of the true summit.

I retraced my steps southwards of the summit, but instead of heading back round the western flanks of the fell, I followed a path which turned east down to the col of Long Doors. I actually visited this col a year earlier as it was, from here, where I began my ascent of Carl Side on my way towards Skiddaw.

From Long Doors col, it was a simple matter of following the forest roads following Skill Beck down off the fell, back through the woodland & back to the car park.

And that was it, my last fell of 2018. Over the course of this year I had reached the summit of 84 new fells, and done 12 wild-camps. I'm now left with 49 fells to complete all 214 Wainwrights, dotted all over the Lake District, and I have a few big walks planned for 2019 in order to complete my goal. And who knows, I may even through in a few old favourites if I get chance!

Mark