Bleaberry Fell

Our next target for the day was Bleaberry Fell. This appears as a large, conical hump across a flattish, heathery moor. There is a good  track that leads to it across the moor and we headed off in its direction. In one of the pools that flowed over the track, we saw dozens of tadpoles. A perilous existence when an occasional walker passes by and doesn't notice them. Once over the moor, the path climbed steeply to the summit. On the top we found a stone shelter and a summit cairn. At least we thought it was a summit cairn, since as with many Wainwrights, other areas around the summit cairn seemed to be slightly higher.

I take a photo of Mo and Calse on every Wainwright summit. Last night Mo had been browsing through these and complained that my photos made his man boobs look too big. I told him that the camera never lies and he shouldn't blame the photographer. He said that he was going to get back to the gym to firm up his pecs when he got back home. I told him that he'd need more than 5 minutes in a gym to tame those puppies. As I was preparing to take their photo on Bleaberry's summit, I told him it might help if he pulled his shoulders back, and lifted and separated, as suggested in the Playtex bra advert. He tried it, but the photo still looked like he'd got a couple of space hoppers shoved under his shirt.

High Seat

Wainwright is rather dismissive of the area between Bleaberry Fell and High Seat. He uses terms such as 'extreme dreariness' and 'swampiness'. Decades later, it is still rather moist, but for most of the traverse there is a reasonably dry path. One or two areas still require detours on to drier ground, but it isn't anything serious. I'd recently been to the summit of High Seat on my Stairway To Raven walk, but I'd completed that walk on my own and so this ascent was a tick for Calse and Mo's Wainwright list.

From here, I'd intended taking the path across Ashness Fell, and then back to the car park at Great Wood, but we'd made good progress and the day was still young. 'More Wainwrights!', Calse and Mo pleaded. I decided we'd continue southwards to High Tove and then do an out-and-back to Armboth Fell. I'd done both of those Wainwrights too as part of Stairway To Raven, but I figured Calse and Mo would still have to do them at sometime. Better to do them now while we had already gained the height.

High Tove And Armboth Fell

I didn't find High Tove and Armboth Fell too inspiring the last time I summitted them and things didn't improve on this second excursion. On reflection, I think Wainwright was right; it is an area of extreme dreariness and swampiness. I have to confess I was on autopilot as we ticked these two Wainwrights. It had started to rain again and I was cocooned in the hood of my anorak, lost in my own thoughts. By the time we had returned to High Tove from the out-and-back to Armboth Fell, I wondered where the last hour had gone.

We continued straight through High Tove and down the other side of its flank to Watendlath.

Watendlath

Watendlath looked like a tranquil oasis as we descended towards it from High Tove. Looks can be deceptive though and the closer we got, the busier it seemed. The car park was full, the tea room was doing a roaring trade, and the surrounding area was a bustle of walkers, anglers and potterers. We went straight through and took the path that follows the Watendlath Beck down the valley. Within a few hundred yards of the tarn, we were back on our own again.

Watendlath Beck To Great Wood

The path alongside Wantendlath Beck is a delight. It was picturesque even on a damp squib of a day like today. It eventually descended into woodland where the birds were very vocal, but rather evasive. At Surprise View we looked down from its lofty crag on to a rainy Derwent Water. The cliff was so vertical, we felt we could have dived into the outdoor swimming pool of an hotel below us. We could see somebody in the pool; I suppose rain doesn't matter that much when swimming outdoors.

I had wanted to get the mandatory photo of Ashness Bridge but the rain was far too heavy to get my camera out of the rucksack. We pressed on, walking along a track that contoured along the hillside back to Great Wood. In good weather this is a cracking path. It's through woodland and undergrowth but it is open and high enough to provide superb views on to Derwent Water and the fells beyond. The path also goes below the very impressive Falcon Crag. 

As we reached the Great Wood car park, the sun came out. Our improvised walk had turned out to be an interesting mix of fell, woodland and valley walking. The views from Walla Crag and Surprise View were stunning.