Meall Buidhe & Stuc An Lochain

Loch an Daimh

Sunday, 28 July 2024

The weather had improved over the past week and it felt like summer. I had planned to go to Lochnagar and walk on Sunday and Monday taking in 7 Munros in a round from Loch Muick. My wall builder had thought he would finish the garden wall on Friday but another day was needed and he said he would come on Monday. I needed to find another outing for Sunday which was forecast to be a good day with excellent visibility with a breeze to keep the midges at bay. I thought that Glen Lyon might be a good alternative with Stuc an Lochain and Meall Buidhe as the objectives if I had the energy to attempt a couple of walks from the Giorra dam. I was then invited to a neighbour's for a drink on Saturday evening which expanded to a drinking session, something I have not done for several years. I had no time to prepare my walking gear for the next day. 

Sunday started dull and combined with the after-effects of the night before, I thought why bother. Eventually, my sense of purpose kicked in but it was 9:30am before I set off. The journey to Glen Lyon and then to the dam at Loch an Daimh took longer than expected so it was almost 11:30am before I began my first walk. I had decided to walk Meall Buidhe first, it would be slightly easier and I foolishly thought I would not be able to resist Stuc an Lochain as an aperitif. It was probably the right decision although the steep 300-metre staircase of loose scree would put me off any future ascent of Stuc an Lochain.

Summit of Meall Buidhe

Meall Buidhe

Ascent:         554 metres
Distance:      9 kilometres
Time:           2 hours 36 minutes

Meall Buidhe           932m.        1hr 29mins        

I set off up the track from the crowded parking below the dam, I had squeezed into the last space on a grassy bank before it fell away. The track climbs steeply and then runs westwards above the reservoir for about half a kilometre where a cairn of stones marks the start of a steep and boggy path, a party of three were hesitantly making their way down. The path improves as it enters the rockier domain and then eases as it follows a broad ridge before another section over peat bogs before the steeper climb to the 917m cairn that leads to a fine ridge walk of a kilometre to the summit of Meall Buidhe. 

The visibility was excellent and I had kept a reasonably steady pace all the way. It was just after 1pm so I stopped for some food and water and took a few photos of the wonderful panorama of mountains in all directions. The day had started cloudy but the blue skies were becoming dominant although Ben Nevis had its head in the clouds. As I was leaving, a group of four arrived and asked me to take some group photos of them. I thought they were three Filipino sisters with a boyfriend and muttered something about the sisters moving so I could get Ben Nevis in the background, it turned out that one of the sisters was the mother,  it made her day.

The descent was fairly, quick, I stopped briefly to tidy up the cairn at 917 metres and gave it my usual tower finish, I must have done this on over a hundred summits. Some survive, some don't, and cairns frequently change in shape as the weather and other walkers indulge their tidiness, wreckful intent or artistic ambitions. The views across to Stuc an Lochain were improving all the time and I observed the relentlessly steep path that climbs from Loch an Daimh, vaguely remembering that it was not one of the more pleasant ascents. On several recent walks, I had kept a tally of the walkers that I had passed on the hill. Today there were 10 females and 8 males along with 7 dogs. It seems to match other recent outings. I arrived back at the car and changed my shoes, the first pair were wet and doused in mud. 

Meall Buidhe ridge from the summit

KY cairn

Ben Lawers Range from 917m cairn

Stuc an Lochain from 917m cairn

Stuc an Lochain

Summit of Stuc an Lochain

Stuc an Lochain

Ascent:          731 metres
Distance:       12 kilometres

Time:             3 hours 31 minutes

Stuc an Lochain        960m.    1hr   56mins

SronChona Chorein  927m     2hrs  21mins

I started the second walk at 2:30pm after a brief break for a drink and to collect some more drink for the next walk, it was now a warm sunny afternoon, T-shirt time and I knew that the climb was going to be rough and tough. There is a bridge below the dam and then a climb up the track to the height of the Giorra Dam. I had seen the steep path climbing behind a boatshed about half a kilometre along Loch an Daimh so walked along to the boatshed and started looking for the start of the path. A mistake, the path started a lot closer to the dam and as I looked back a couple who had started behind me were climbing up the hill. I had to retreat and found the start of the path that looked ominous but that was the good section. It climbs on a less steep traverse for half a kilometre to a point above the boatshed then turns and makes a beeline for the ridge up what has become a rocky gulley filled with loose rock at a gradient that is on the steep side of steep and never-ending. 

Quite a few parties were descending, gripped with the fear of loose rocks and propelled downwards in the afternoon heat by the prospect of a drink at some nearby hostelry. I stopped for conversations on a couple of occasions, a relief from the climb. The path eventually begins to open out about 750 metres and climbs along a broad ridge to a top at 888 metres, There is then a longish dog leg over to the top at 926 metres and then to the summit at 960 metres. I was able to view Lochan an Cat that nestles in the northeast Corrie of Stuc an Lochain, the spelling of Locha(i)n is never the same even if the subject is the same. As I neared the summit, the couple who had taken the right path at the start were beginning their descent. 

I have strong memories of the summit, I had dragged my hill running partner over the summit adding about twenty minutes to our time in a Mountain Marathon when I was first bagging Munros. It was a mistake because we would have been amongst the leaders. The overnight camp was on the shores of Lochan an Cat on a night when it poured and we were already soaked. On another occasion, I had decided on a sunny evening to do an overnight camp starting at Meall Buidhe and camping near the summit before doing a round of Loch an Daimh including the twp Corbetts and approaching Stuc an Lochan from the west. I also discovered from my log that I had climbed the two Munros of today with Gregor when he was 10 including Stuc an Lochan in 2 hours 51 minutes and then on a rain-soaked day at the end of 2002 in 2 hours 39 minutes. Times are not what they used to be!

At the summit, it was approaching 5pm and the conditions were near perfect, it was still T-shirt weather and the views were exceptional. Over to Glencoe and the Mamores with Ben Nevis now in the buff and wonderful view back to Glen Lyon.  I was surprised at how low the water levels were in Loch na Daimh and on the way down I met a walker who had camped by the Lochside and said he could walk across the reservoir. He could only understand given the non-stop rainfall in the early summer how this could be if electricity generation had taken precedence over water supply. I made a short detour to the top on the descent before subjecting myself to the descent down the loose scree and trickle of water that doubles as a path. It was well past 6pm when I returned to the car. A gate has been installed on the access road to the dam to protect the Caledonian forest from deer. I coasted down the single-track empty road back to the Bridge of Balgay and over the top road between Tarmachan and Ben Lawers to get back to Killin. I had intended to stop for a pint but the outside tables were all full so I continued home, my Moretti was waiting in the fridge.

Giorra Dam and Stuc an Lochain

Start of Stuc an Lochain path

Meall Buidhe from the ascent of Stuc an Lochain

Glen Lyon from the ascent of Stuc an Lochain

Stuc an Lochain and Lochan nan Cat

Looking east from the summit of Stuc an Lochain

Loch an Daimh & Meall Buidhe from Stuc an Lochain

 

The King's Speech

Beefeaters searching for gunpowder

Wednesday, 17 July 2024

It was the King's Speech, time for Sir Keir Starmer's government to set out its legislation programme for the year ahead. There were 40 Bills covering much of what had been in the manifesto -"a mission-led approach" to delivering the changes that were needed to provide the growth that is essential to rectify the damage wreaked on public services by austerity, poor procurement, Brexit and Covid incompetence and 14 years of slogan rich but delivery light governments.

But first, we had to watch the charades at Westminster as hundreds of footmen, soldiers, titled lackeys, and the King and Queen, together with horses, coaches, swords, crowns and hats were dribbled through London. Meanwhile, the Yeoman of the Guards wearing royal red tunics and stockings, white ruffs and black Panama hats were searching the bowels of the Palace of Westminster for gunpowder. It must have made King Charles and Queen Camilla feel at home as they too were dolled up in their ancestors' old clothes, medals and jewels.

We then watched Black Rod lead 649 MPs from the Commons to the Lords and gain access by knocking on the door that had just been slammed in her face. The MPs went in two by two, hurrah, hurrah! They laughed and smiled, the election was over and even Sir Keir and Rishi looked like best mates, maybe realising that they were the last PMs still in the House after the demise of Theresa, Boris and mad Liz.

It was the longest Queen's or King's Speech since the one in 1945. Starmer's speech was delivered without a stammer. My main regret was that it held back from some of the more radical measures on matters like community care, housing, land ownership and digital identity, all of which could have turbocharged the well-being of citizens and communities.

As Lewis Carroll advised and Tony Blair admitted: "In the end ...We only regret the chances we didn’t take, the relationships we were afraid to have, and the decisions we waited too long to make.” Sage advice for the new government.

Callander Crags

Callander Crags Cairn

Monday15 July. 2024

I was due for an eye test in Callander. I have so far escaped the need to wear glasses but it is getting difficult to read the ingredients on food packaging or, in poor light, the small print of books and magazines. I was given eye drops to dilate the pupils and advised not to drive for a couple of hours. It was a warm summer's day so I decided to revisit Callander Crags. 

I had last visited Callander Crags at the end of the Covid lockdown and before that, it was in the New Year race in the 1990s when I was bitterly disappointed to come second. I had reached the summit first by about 30 seconds and I was uncertain which path to take on the descent, I waited for the next runner, a local geography teacher whom I knew, and followed him down believing that I could regain the lead once we reached the level path to the finish. I thought we still had a half mile to go when he surprised me by sprinting off and reaching the finish line around a bend as I was reeling him in.  My palmares would have been 25% better if I had not allowed Sir to win.

I had been advised after the drops to wear sunglasses by the optician as my pupils would be absorbing more light. It made me decide that this should be a leisurely walk as I tried to remember the path from the centre of the town to the wooded slopes of Callander Crags. It is a couple of kilometres to the summit along twisting trails through the native woodlands. Once the climbing began there was no one else on the trail. There were quite a few fallen trees and a symphony of birdsong in the woodland. The final steep stepped section reaches a splendid path that runs along the apex of the ridge to a tall cairn that was built twenty years ago. I had an apple and some water as I surveyed the views of the nearby hills - Ben Vorlich,  Stuc a' Chroin, and Ben Ledi. Loch Venachar looked enticing and the morphology of Callander was a good fit with the flood plain of the river Teith. 

A couple arrived with the statutory dog as I began the return along the same route. I was aware that by the time I got back to the car, which I had left at the leisure centre, my couple of hours would be up. As I walked back past McLaren High School, I noticed that there was a children's nursery in what had been the old swimming pool that I had been instrumental in closing in 1998 when the new Leisure Centre and Pool were opened. It seemed quiet so I entered and spoke to someone in the office. I explained that I had set up the Children's Service for the Council and had been active in recommending flexible community nurseries during my working days. She was the manager of the unit that catered for 90 children from 2 years upwards and after establishing my credentials she gave me a tour of the premises. 

The nursery encapsulated all the elements that we had proposed in the 1980s in a Strathclyde Regional Council Pre-Five Report. These ideas were adopted by Stirling Council through the creation of a Children's Committee and the appointment of an outstanding Head of Pre-Fives in 1996 and a couple of years later the amalgamation of Children and Family Social Work and Education into the first Children's Service in the UK. The manager introduced me to some of the enthusiastic staff and I listened intently to a reprise of all the activities and facilities that we had argued for with often intransigent nursery head teachers and social work managers who were reluctant to accept the integration of pre-school services. They were now not only operational but the philosophy was being expounded by someone with a commitment and belief that was quite inspiring. This was a far better result than the winning of the Callander Crags race would ever have been.

Stuc a' Chroin and Ben Vorlich

Callander and the Campsies from the Crags

The path along the Crags ridge

Loch Venachar from the Crags

New Government, time for new ideas

I wish

The scale of the new government's majority (170) is excessive but the scale of the conservative defeat is well deserved. The first days of the new Labour Government have been a tonic, things are moving and there is a discernable trend of establishing collaboration with the devolved nations, Europe, the Junior Doctors, Ukraine, and the business sector. Levels of optimism among the population and businesses have improved significantly according to polling and the pessimism of the past few years is evaporating.

There has been a cascade of statements from government ministers deploring the state of affairs that Rishi Sunak's government have bestowed on the new government. We knew that finances were in a mess but so were the prisons, the backlog of court hearings, probation service, NHS waiting times, community care, school estate, road network, rail finances, and water companies. The previous government had withdrawn measures to alleviate climate change and several reports, inquiries and pay review body recommendations with severe financial consequences had been deferred by the Chancellor. The IFS estimates that £20bn of expenditure is an unaccounted deficit left by the outgoing Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt following his decision to reduce national insurance payments. Perhaps this was the real reason for Rishi Sunak calling an unexpected general election.

It would appear from the Labour Party manifesto and early speeches by the Prime Minister and Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, that whilst there is an ambition to change, the financial circumstances are so dire that we will have to await the buds of growth before much investment can occur. It will create a vacuum in addressing the list of priorities listed above and settling pay awards. The logical and straightforward answer would be to restore national insurance levels but the Labour Party ruled that out, despite disagreeing with the decision. Unfunded policies by the previous government will have to be cut or scaled back instead. 

Additionally, several things could be addressed that have less costly upfront costs but could make a real difference in creating more effective public service delivery by both central and local government. They seem to have escaped the attention of the new government as they confront the legacy of a broken Britain.

Identity cards or digital identity was proposed by the last Labour Government but abandoned by the Tory/Lib Dem coalition of 2010. It is a no-brainer that could transform so many transactions that take place within the state both locally and nationally. They are common practice in most European countries and worldwide. The EU is also introducing an EU Digital Identity Wallet that can be used for any number of cases, for example:

• public services such as requesting birth certificates, medical certificates, reporting a change of address
• opening a bank account 
• filing tax returns
• applying for a university, at home or in another Member State
• storing a medical prescription that can be used anywhere in Europe 
• proving your age
• renting a car using a digital driving licence
• checking in to a hotel 

A UK digital identity would be a verification card for the above but also an entitlement card to gain access to local services and discounts or offers. A digital ID that could be held on phones like Apple Pay or Google Pay. The technology is there, the reason for not introducing it in 2010 was a reluctance to allow the use of personal information by the government but we all carry bank cards, driving licenses, club cards, and travel cards in bulging purses and wallets. Many of these are a far greater risk than the digital identity using biometrics that are now available. Think of all the occasions we have to produce a collection of electricity bills, council tax payments, and birth and marriage certificates to obtain some services. Digital identity would be proof when voting, buying cigarettes and for immigrants when applying for jobs or services. It could eliminate the discrimination that currently leads to illicit employment in some industries and speed up the processing of asylum seekers.

Land ownership is the missing link in the government's proposals to increase the supply of new housing but could also provide a mechanism to generate income for councils to provide more social housing and local infrastructure. The major housebuilders are gungho in favour of the reform to Planning but indifferent to the fact that they have banked hundreds of thousands of residential planning permissions to be developed when circumstances are favourable. This might be an upturn in house prices, a reduction in planning conditions such as fewer social houses in the development or payments to secure infrastructure and services like roads, paths, play areas or school extensions. 

If no development takes place within a specified time then councils should be given the right to acquire the sites at the existing use value paid by the housebuilders so that they can fast-track development including social housing and secure any uplift in land value for commercial developments. This could provide the infrastructure required for new developments that are often lacking in new housing developments. This is what the Land Commission was established to do in 1968 until it was quashed by the Heath Government in 1971.

The other initiative would be to fund the manufacture of pre-fabricated houses to enable rapid development, particularly for smaller housing units for the elderly, disabled, and young people. It should be possible to specify net zero standards and space standards appropriate for modern living. The technology is there and some government funding to kickstart the initiative could have a similar positive outcome to the prefabs constructed in the immediate post-war years that were genuinely liked by residents. They could be erected on the brownfield and greyfield sites that are already close to shops and services like GPs.

Business rates should be vested with councils, they collect the rate for the central government who then redistribute it as grant support but this has plummeted over the past decade. It would re-establish stronger partnerships between councils and their local businesses. They have common interests and have in previous generations been the drivers of local innovation and developed the infrastructure be it colleges, public health initiatives like water and sewerage, gasworks, electricity power stations, transport facilities and social housing by working hand in hand. This collaboration was much diminished when the government centralised business rating. It could be an important step in devolving the levers of growth to all levels of government in the way that exists in most European countries. Centralisation has been one of the key instruments of stagnation in the times we have recently endured.

40 years in Langdale

Home for 40 years - Cockley Beck

In May 1984, we spent a week at Grange in Borrowdale in the Lake District with our three children, all under four, Gregor was only two months old. It was a perfect location and the week was mainly sunny. I ran my second half-marathon around Derwentwater on Sunday, passing through Grange and the cottage we were staying at. The children cheered me on, and my parents came for the day. It was a perfect day with our young family, the sort of day that stays with you forever.

My uncle from Australia was a surprise visitor midweek, he had been an RAF pilot and had always enjoyed flying in without notice. He shared my father's love of the Lakes when growing up and after 22 years of building a successful business in Sydney, he was contemplating a move back to the UK. We took him for a cream tea at Watendlath, it convinced him and he bought a house in Formby. Seven years later his ashes were scattered from the bridge by the Langdale Hotel where my parents had spent their honeymoon during the demob days of rationing.

The two girls spent some time on most days paddling in the river at Grange and insisted on daily ice cream from the local shop.  We climbed Catbells and Castle Crag introducing Gregor to the hills strapped onto Aileen whilst I managed to convince the girls who were two and three years old that climbing hills was a magical adventure and kept them walking with occasional stops for flowers and drinks We visited the pencil factory in Keswick and bought them colour pencils, we caught the wooden launches around Derwentwater stopping at different jetties and taking walks to places illustrated in Beatrix Potter's books. We had a fair number of lunches in the Lakeland pubs that welcomed children. The children were smitten by the Lakes, as I had been twenty-five years earlier.

The only downside was the cottage. It was pretty and well-located but had the ambience of a saleroom. The beds and chairs were uncomfortable, the bedding grubby and the crockery and cutlery were unmatched, cracked and bent. This was not unusual, Airbnb was a distant online business in 1984, and holiday cottages were often in houses of deceased relatives, explaining the shoddy furniture and fittings. 

Towards the end of the week, the heavens opened and we drove to Langdale, a favourite haunt I had frequently visited as a child, walked as a teenager and climbed in my twenties. We were driving past a new development of timeshare lodges with a pub, two cafes and a leisure centre at Chapel Stile on the site of the old gunpowder workings. It was raining too hard to take the children for a walk so we dropped in to have a look. We were shown around by a friendly salesman. We were overawed at the quality and fittings in the lodges, they had comfortable beds and sofas, a Bang and Olofson hi-fi system, a dishwasher, matching crockery and cutlery, a sauna and there was a swimming pool for the children to learn to swim and a children's playground. We enquired about the availability of lodges for the first week of the Scottish school holidays and were given 4 or 5 options. They were not cheap but the prospect of having somewhere special in a superb location to visit and no longer having to risk the lottery of holiday lets were irrefutable selling points. 

We obtained a bank loan the following week from a friendly bank manager who was very taken by Aileen and the children as I explained the purpose of the loan. We began a lifetime of visits for the family three weeks later. Each year we packed and left early on the day after school summer holidays began. The drive down the M74 in the 1980s was chock-a-block with Scottish families heading on holiday to UK resorts, visiting families in England and camping holidays in France and beyond. We would reach the Lakes by lunchtime for a pub lunch at Bassenthwaite or Derwentwater, buy provisions in Keswick or Grasmere and make Langdale by 4pm for entry to the lodge, We would go for a swim and I would have a run before we drifted to the nearby Britannia Inn for drinks and food. It was a timeless routine that we all loved. My parents, brother, sister and family would visit on Sunday. The rest of the week was for walking, sailing on Coniston on the Langdale yacht called Vixen, swimming, outdoor activities and pub lunches.

As the years passed and the children left home, they would still come if they could.  The lodge had several refits, each to a lesser standard than before. The biggest change was when a new 5* Brimstone Hotel was built on-site with a dedicated spa facility. It took away the bar and restaurant by the pool which was always a favourite place to relax after a swim or the use of other leisure facilities. It brought in a wealthy clientele which seems to have prompted higher prices for the facilities on site meaning we have spent more time visiting other places in the lakes than during the early days.

We established favourite visits - Slater's Bridge and the Cathedral in Little Langdale, lunch at Mrs Tiggywinkle's Littletown farm in Newlands, where Mrs Tigglewinkle had taken in washing, Blackwell Arts and Craft House on Windermere, Fellinis Restaurant in Ambleside, Canoes on Derwentwater, a walk to Chesters at Skelwith Bridge for lunch and the Gingerbread shop and Ice Cream parlour in Grasmere. We climbed many of the fells as a family, although Aileen lost her love of hillwalking during our first visit when I insisted on taking three under fours up the Langdale Pikes with Gregor, a three-month-old, strapped to her front and me carrying one of the girls and hauling up another. 

Nevertheless, the family made regular walks up Catbells, Loughrigg Fell, Silver How, Lingmoor Fell and the Langdale Pikes as well as climbing the major peaks. I finished climbing the 214 Wainwright Hills in 2011 and  Gregor completed them last year, 2023. I intend to finish the Wainwright's again and I am 70% there. I have enjoyed short visits in the winter months this couple of years, staying at a youth hostel with John and Keith.  

The Lakes hold a lifetime of happy memories and provide some continuity in the timeline of life. There was an emptiness this year, although Gregor and I managed quite a few walks, watched the football and celebrated the dismissal of the worst government in my lifetime. But Langdale conjured many images of happy family days that made me melancholic. I have been spending too much time thinking back rather than planning forward. I need to recover my zest for life after the trauma of the last couple of years. 

Lodge Lounge

Windermere and Langdale Pikes

On the Great Langdale Beck

Ice Cream outside the Lodge

Elterwater walk back from Skelwith Bridge

Finishing the Wainwrights on Green Fell - 2011

Introducing the grandchildren to the Lakes

Gregor's Wainwright Finish, Bannerdale Knotts, 2023

Great Mell Fell

 Saturday, 6 July 2024

Ascent:       280 metres
Distance:    4 kilometres
Time:          54 minites

Great Mell Fell      537m     32mins

We have to leave before 10am on the last day at Langdale. It would give us the time for a final swim or run before breakfast and packing but this year we were away just after 9am. The forecast was for rain by 11am. I decided to climb Great Mell Fell which I had intended to climb on the arrival day but rain and the desire to watch the Euros had scuppered the plan. Gregor wanted a run so I dropped him at Scales so he had an 8-mile run via Walthwaite and Troutbeck whilst I drove onto Great Mell and parked by Brownrigg Farm. 

There were a dozen or so cars already parked by 10am. There is an initial quarter of a mile up a track before crossing a stile to the start of an obvious path that increases in steepness as it twists up the southeast ridge towards the gentler slopes and wooded area before reaching the summit. It was quite busy with two families walking their 2-year-olds up the hill. The flat summit is a good observation point with Blencathra, the Helvellyn and High Street ranges enticing the endorphins to more serious pursuits. Alas, the week was over but there are another 70 or so Wainwrights to complete before I can retire my collection of trail shoes.

I made a descent down a path not shown on the map, it was good going at first until it reached the lower slopes that involved a kilometre of bog trotting. This year the ground conditions have been the wettest I can remember in July and it will take a few days to dry out my two pairs of shoes that have perpetually immersed in mud and peat. Gregor had already arrived so we changed out of our footwear and began the journey back to the M6 and M74. It was relatively quiet and we were back in Glasgow by 1:15pm. It had been a strange year at Langdale, we spent the whole week dodging the bad weather for a few hours on the hills and watching football, tennis and cycling. 

Start of the path from Brownrigg Farm

Looking westwards on the ascent

Approaching the summit from the southeast

Blencathra from summit

Looking south from the summit

The Wood below the summit

 

Harter Fell and Green Crag

Harter Fell summit

Thursday, 4 July 2024

Ascent:          722 metres
Distance:       13 kilometres
Time:             3 hours 34 minutes

Harter Fell        653m     1hr  7mins
Green Crags     489m     2hrs 21mins         

General election day was laced with heavy rains and low clouds. We managed a walk to Skelwith Bridge alongside the surging River Brathay, slithering down the wet rocks to observe the Skelwith Force. After an early lunch at Chesters, we continued on Aileen's favourite walk to Colwith and back to Langdale in another heavy shower. In this crazy summer, there was lots to keep us occupied - the Tour de France, Wimbledon, and the General Election. By 5pm the rains had abated and we decided to seize the evening for a late foray into the hills.

I naively thought we could knock off Harter Fell and Green Crag in two and a half hours as we set off over Wrynose Pass and down the Duddon Valley to the car park by the Froth Pot. Neither of us had loaded the OS map onto our phones and it was a cellular dead zone so it took a while before we found the right car park, then by examining the forestry notices we figured out a possible route to Harter Fell. It was a kilometre along the track through the Dunnerdale forest. to a clearing at Birks and it was by happenchance that we spotted a post with an arrow at the start of a barely noticeable path that we assumed to be the way to Harter Fell summit. 

The path meandered through a boggy heather-lined undergrowth and then began to rise steeply up a stony gulley that doubled as a stream. After recent rains, there was no escape from wading up the water course. There was dense tree cover and little respite, so I was reduced to taking a rest after every 100 steps, the altimeter on my watch was showing that this was giving over 20 metres of ascent. Gregor had charged ahead after we agreed we should meet as he descended Green Crag as I ascended. He could collect the car key and change into his road running shoes if he decided to run back over Wrynose Pass.

I was relieved to arrive at a gate at the top of the wooded climb and the gradient became easier over a short grassy path that twisted towards the splendid summit of Harter Fell.  The Eskdale fells including the Scafells appeared and the coastal plain was visible towards Sellafield. There was also phone reception so that the OS map could be loaded. There was no path shown on the map to the edge of a forested area to the south-west but there was a path in that direction that I took and it did lead down to the edge of the forest from where a good but boggy path continued to Grassguards Gill and a gate leading to the wide water covered path towards Green Crag. 

I met Gregor who was on his way down, he had decided to run over Wrynose to the Three Shires Hotel. I had another 30 minutes climbing the ankle-deep bog to the summit of Green Crag. It was time for a drink and sit down as I surveyed the views. I took a slightly different descent route that had a good path initially but deteriorated into a bog on long grass. It was with some relief that I reached the Dunnerdale forest and a good track that skirted around Harter Fell for 3 kilometres and back to the car park over the River Duddon.

It was a twenty-minute drive over Wrynose to the Three Shires Inn in Little Langdale. Gregor had run it after a 13-kilometre hill walk over some really tough terrain and then managed to get the Strava Crown for the ascent of Wrynose. We got back to Langdale with just enough time for a shower and some food before the big reveal of the Exit Poll at 10pm. We would have a Labour government elected with a landslide majority. I normally stay up for election results but after an hour of listening to politicians spinning their tales of exhilaration and excuses, and having utmost trust in John Curtice, I turned in. I woke at 3am in time to watch the demise of Grant Shapps, Jacob Rees Mogg and Liz Truss. After that sleep was easy. 

Morning walk to Skelwith Force

The path up Harter Fell

Harter Fell summit looking west

Green Crag Summit towards Scafells and Harter Fell

Green Crags from the Dunnerdale approach

 

Far Eastern Fells

Knott summit

Tuesday, 2 July 202

Ascent:       1201 metres
Distance:    17 kilometres
Time:          4 hours 56 minutes

Rampsgill Head       792m      1hr  16mins
Kidsty Pike               780m     1hr  23mins
Knott                         739m     1hr   49mins
Rest Dodd                 696m     2hrs  17mins
The Nab                    576m     2hrs  51mins
Angletarn Pikes        567m     3hrs  57mins
Brock Crags              561m     4hrs  56mins

Tuesday was to be a good day until it wasn't, the Met Office was struggling to keep up with the pressure systems. I had planned to go to Wasdale and pay homage to Joss Naylor by climbing the fells in his backyard. It was low clouds and heavy showers there, so after a search for more clement conditions we headed to the far eastern fells. We started from Hartsop to tidy up some fells that I had missed a few years ago - Kidsty Pike and Rest Dodd. The day improved and after Rest Dodd, I decided to take in the Nab, one of the least inspiring hills which is a long and boggy trek out from Rest Dodd. 

The National Trust car park at the end of the road had some parking places and gave me the first payback of my National Trust membership since last year. There is a good track towards Hayeswater, where I had once camped during a Mountain Marathon and woken up to several inches of snow with another 30 kilometres to complete on day 2. I had to get across the raging beck at the outfall of the tarn so I grabbed my walking pole from the rucksack to help with the crossing and lost my drink bottle that was in the same pocket, it cascaded down the beck. The consolation was I kept my feet dry. 

It is a steep climb up to Knott, I passed a large party of French walkers who were on the  Coast to Coast walk.  I bypassed Knott and continued over Rampsgill Head to Kidsty Pike which overlooks Haweswater where the Lake District's only pair of eagles had hung out before the demise of golden eagles in England. There were a few other walkers there and I waited for Gregor who had been out to High Street and back.

He headed off to High Raise whilst I climbed Knott and then began the slog over to Rest Dodd. It seemed daft not to head out to the Nab, a hill that requires fortitude but is better done this way than leaving it for some uninspiring and unspecified date in the future. Following a steep descent from Rest Dodd, there was a long wade over to the Nab at the end of a ridge through what Wainwright described as "a most unpleasant morass of peat hags', he was not wrong". Unlike Wainwright who trespassed on what was the Martindale Deer Forest which was guarded by barbed wire, it is now open to hillwalkers and one of Wainwright's punishments for obdurate hillwalkers. 

Gregor had decided to run and passed me on his way back from the Nab. I returned the same way and veered westwards along a wall up to Satura Cragand. I reached the well-used path that circumnavigates Angle Tarn and cuts under Angltarn Pikes. They are a delight to climb with excellent views of Ullswater and across to the Helvellyn skyline. The sun had arrived along with a strong northerly wind as I began the return to Hartsop by cutting across to Brock Cragsl by a largely trackless route to the west of Angle Tarn that gave excellent views down to Brothers Water. Brock Crags was only a kilometre above Hartsop and I assumed it would be a doddle to get down.

The normal way down from Brock Fell to Hartop involves a long dog leg so I decided to take a more direct route. I found a sheep path that took me below the crags near the summit and then headed directly down the steep fellside through long grass interspersed with nettles. I eventually reached the track that headed down to a maze of walled sheep enclosures above Hartsop. They required quite a bit of wall climbing before reaching the trail to Hayeswater. It might have been quicker to take the path. It was just before 4pm. Gregor had arrived back having extended his run to Plaice Fell and we were in time to be back for the football.

Haweswater from Kidsty Pike

High Street

Helvellyn Range over Satura Crags

Angle Tarn

Brothers Water and Red Screes

Gray Crags and High Street

Hartsop Pens