Dropped Glove Saga

I was lucky enough to get the last free parking slot at Church Bridge near Troutbeck. We walked northwards along the  A592 and followed the signed footpath into the Limefitt Holiday Park. A couple of deer bound nervously across the grass in front of the river and then disappeared into some woodland. That was a good start to the walk. The Kapitan then found somebody's Visa card on the road into the holiday park. He handed into the site's office and they said that they knew the person named on the card. Good deed done for the day, we progressed through the rows of holiday homes. I Googled see how much one of them costs and was astounded to find one on sale for around £230,000. I checked to see if they'd put an extra '0' on the figure by mistake, but it did seem to be the going rate. Hmmm...a bit beyond my means. 

I missed the fingerpost pointing to the footpath to the fell and we ended up in the beer garden of the onsite pub, Haybarn Inn. We headed up some steps that seemed to lead to the public footpath, but then found our access blocked by a wooden fence. There was nothing for it but to retreat from the beer garden and work our way around to the footpath. 5 minutes later we stood on the footpath to the fell, on the other side of the wooden fence to the beer garden. 'Aren't those your gloves on the other side of the fence?' the Cabin  Boy asked me. Sure enough, to my dismay, my gloves were on the step leading up to the fence. I'd had a minor slip when we were in the beer garden and they must have fallen out of the webbed pocket of my rucksack. I extended my trekking pole to its full length and poked it through the fence slats to try and roll the gloves towards me. Unfortunately I couldn't get much traction on my gloves with the trekking pole. Not only that, I had to roll the gloves towards me up the slope of the step. It was a bit like one of those impossible mini-crane grab games that you get in amusement arcades. I almost got the gloves within arm-reaching distance and then my trekking pole slipped and my gloves rolled totally out of reach. Damn! The Cabin Boy and the Kapitan weren't any help and just stood there giggling. Despite a notice saying that  their was CCTV, and also an obvious CCTV camera in the beer garden, I tested the fence to see whether I could just climb over it. It was too shaky and I figured it would probably collapse if I tried. The Haybarn Inn owners might've got £250 for sending the video in to You've Been Framed though. There was nothing for it but I'd have to retrace my steps to the beer garden and then come back again. 10 minutes later I'd retrieved my gloves and was at last ready to make further progress on the walk. The Kapitan and the Cabin Boy had got bored waiting for me and had already started off up the fell.

Orrest Head

We climbed for a while and then made our way along the stone lane known as Dubbs Road. This led us to Dubbs Reservoir and provided a tick for our Lakeland Tarns Venture. From Moorhow Road we followed a footpath southwards across some fields. The grass was saturated from the recent rain. The bump of Orrest Head was now clearly visible and we could occasionally see figures on the top. Near The Causeway Farm we came across what looked like a tarn in a field. I checked the OS map, but it hadn't been plotted. It was obviously just a temporary lake formed by the rain.

As we climbed up to Orrest Head a slight drizzle started. I hoped the top would stay clear of mist so that we'd be able to admire the acclaimed view. We met a few people coming up and down, but it didn't really prepare us for the huge numbers at its summit. It was packed. Men, women, kids, babies dogs and hungry crows; they were all up there. The views though were terrific. It was probably the best view of Lake Windermere that I've encountered. As well as the lake, there was a panoramic view of the Coniston and Langdale fells. Unfortunately, the tops of the high peaks were in mist and there were even quite a few patches at lower levels. There was an information board which displayed a diagram of the peaks that you would be able to see on a clear day. There was plenty of seating provided at the summit to enable those adventurers from Windemere to rest their weary legs. We left the busy summit and made our way down the zig-zagged path on the Windermere side of the hill. I've never seen so many youngsters and babies making their way up to the top of a Lakeland hill...all escorted by their parents of course. Before entering the town, we contoured our way northwards along the hill's flank to High Hay Wood. At last, we had escaped the crowds.

Field Hopping

We were back into field hopping terrain again, trudging our way along muddy tracks. 'Get off the grass and on to the track!' A farmer was getting irate with four people who were walking about a hundred yards ahead of us. They'd wandered off the track used by the tractor, and on to the grass of the field where the going was marginally less muddy. We reached the farm at Far Orrest, but the farmer was nowhere to be seen. Just beyond the farm we carried out a small out and back to the top of a small peak, Allen Knott. Just as we reached the top, the mist rolled in and obscured our view. It then rolled out again as we started to descend and we could see Holehird Tarn below us. I decided that this sighting would be good enough for my Lakeland Tarns Venture, since in order to get any nearer to the tarn, we'd have had  to visit the gardens at Holehird.

A man followed about 40 yards behind us up Moorhowe Road, and he had the look of a farmer about him. He didn't look a happy chappy. I think he was expecting us to carry out some misdemeanour, but we turned off on to the Longmire Road track before he could catch us up. When we looked back, he'd climbed over the roadside stone wall and seemed to be mooching around on the north side of Allen Knott. I wondered if he'd seen us going up to the top of Allen Knott from the south, lost us in the mist, and expected us to be coming down the north side. We'd actually descended to the public footpath on the east side of the hill, and so if he was actually looking for us, then he was chasing ghosts. On the way back down to the carpark at Church Bridge, a light rain started. Our two week Lakeland campaign finished, as it started...with rain.

Despite there being a lot of field hopping on this walk, it did provide some interest. The highlight of course was Orrest Head and those amazing views of Lake Windermere and the surrounding Lakeland fells.