Lily Tarn

The river Rothay was well up as we crossed over the footbridge near the Ambleside rugby ground. It wasn't surprising given the amount of rain we'd had over the last couple of weeks. Walking along the pavement towards Clappersgate, we could see that the river had overflowed into the surrounding fields. At one point the sun tried to break through the clouds, but the appearance was so brief, that clouds had covered it again by the time I'd got my camera out. A large house called the Croft is on the road to Clappersgate, and has some very impressive chimneys. They look so large and heavy, I'm not sure I'd like to live in the room directly below them, for a fear that they might blow over and fall on to me.

At Clappersgate we headed off on to a footpath that led up Loughrigg's flank. After a while, we escaped the trees and had a tremendous view down Lake Windermere. There was even  a wooden bench (dedicated to Sid and Jammy Cross) where you could sit down and admire the view. The inscription on the bench said that Sid and Jammy were 'True Westmerians and Lovers Of Lakeland.' I'd not heard of the term 'Westmerian' before but Google says that it is the official term for the people from Westmoreland.

Apart from a solitary crow, we were the only visitors at Lily Tarn. There was a full bag of rubbish nearby, including food wrappers and beer bottles. It looked like the detritus of somebody's New Year Eve's party.

Rydal Water

Amazingly, despite the overcast conditions, we'd escaped the heavy rain at this point. We could see clouds of the stuff being blown along the valley, towards Fairfield. Of course, we headed off in that direction. Loughrigg is a myriad of tracks, hillocks and cloughs. Barbed stone walls are sometimes thrown into the mix too.  I tended to just follow tracks that headed in the general direction I wanted to go. Our destination was Rydal Water and by the time we reached a high point, about halfway across the fell, the waves of rain started to hit us. I struggled to get on my overtrousers in the strong wind. Task completed, I looked up to see a wet and bedraggled Cabin Boy and Under Cabin Boy. I tried to cheer them up by telling them that it was only in weather like this, that one actually felt truly alive. As Zeus threw another dozen buckets of water in our faces, I could see that they weren't as chipper as I hoped. We dropped down from the highpoint and started down the path to Rydal Water. At one point we passed a young couple who had obviously been debating whether to continue upwards. My guess is that they turned back towards Rydal Water. At last we reached the trail running alongside Rydal Water; we'd completed Loughrigg's low level traverse and the route back to Ambleside would be plain sailing now. There was actually quite a lot of people walking on the lower trails. Without exception, everybody looked soaked.

Back Road To Rothay Park

At Pelter Bridge the River Rothay ran underneath it like a torrent. It was shifting a huge volume of water down towards Windermere. The ducks were playing it safe by swimming about in the newly created ponds in the nearby fields. Not surprisingly the stepping stones were not in service across the river. In fact, the river was so deep, it wasn't even possible to identify their actual location. Just over a year ago, we'd walked along this single track road after storm Arwen (see Wansfell Troutbeck Arwen Aftermath) and the place was a scene of devastation. Massive trees had fallen down, blocking the road, and one had toppled over on to the side of a house. There was still some evidence of the storm, with some fallen trees still visible, but gradually the area is looking a little more 'normal'.  In Rothay Park the Stock Ghyll stream looked like an Olympic white-water canoeing course. The  football pitch in the park, looked rather soggy; you'd have needed wellies, rather than football boots, to play on that pitch.

Another wave of rain had started hitting as we got back to the house. It didn't really matter, since we were soaked anyway. As we stepped into the house, and out of the storm, The Cabin Boy and Under Cabin Boy gave me a look as if to say that they'd have much preferred spending the last 3 hours sat on the settee watching Bargain Hunt, than traipsing around fells in a tsunami. Later on tonight, once they'd had time to calm down and reflect, I'd give them a talk on how walking in stormy weather is character building.