Allcock Tarn and Nab Scar - a Lake District National Park guided walk - 3 July 2015

Hi there dear blog reader.  Thanks for taking the time to read my blog - It's been a while since I put pen to paper, metaphorically speaking, but I'm raring to go again.  

The reason for the absence is due to losing my camera while on a walk the day after this one but as you can probably guess, the camera has turned up. This is great because it means I now have the photographs I'd taken and can get on and show you them.  It's not so great because I'd already splashed out on a new camera which couldn't be returned as I'd used it, but hey ho, you can never have too many cameras and it means the Hubster can take one with him when he's at work in Suriname and hopefully be a guest poster on here sometime.  

Notice the jaunty angle of my hat! 

This was a guided walk led by voluntary Lake District National Park rangers and I'd highly recommend them as the leaders generally have a good knowledge of the local history and are very informative. They're ideal for lone walkers, visitors to the area or if you're not an accomplished map reader.  Some walks are free and some you have to pay £5. The only problem, in my opinion, is that sometimes there can be a lot of people on the walks and if you're like me and don't like walking in big groups then they might not be for you.  This walk had around 15 people on it so wasn't too bad but I have heard of walks with over 30 people attending.

Howtown to Glenridding - another nice low level walk, or was it??? - 12 June 2015

Back over in Cumbria for the weekend again, we decided to walk along the Ullswater lakeside path from Howtown to Glenridding, the opposite direction from our last lakeside walk here (Howtown to Pooley Bridge).

We were originally going to park in Glenridding but the parking costs are higher there than in Patterdale so we drove there and parked opposite the Patterdale Hotel where it was only £4.50 for the day - if we'd got there a bit earlier there is a small area of free parking in front of a little hall but as usual we were no early birds so didn't catch the worm!  

This section of the path is quite different to the walk towards Pooley Bridge - it's much rockier and although not steep, is quite undulating and uneven and at times it was a bit hard on the old knees! 

Just off the ferry and starting our bimble along the lakeside

A different approach to Nethermost Pike and Dollywagon Pike - 7 June 2015

The Motley Crew - L to R Dave, Barbara, One Girl, The Hubster, Lisa, Graham

Doggy Crew - L to R One Girl's Dog (Heidi), Alfie and Izzy

Our caravan neighbours, Lisa and Graham, are very keen and experienced walkers and have already done all the "Wainwrights".  They have decided that they want to do a lot of them again but approaching them by a different route than is usually taken so when they asked us if we wanted to join them on a walk that Sunday up Nethermost Pike - 891 m (2920 ft) and Dollywagon Pike - 858 m (2810 ft)  we naturally said yes.  

Howtown to Pooley Bridge - a nice low level walk - 5 June 2015

As the Hubster had only been home a week and hadn't done any kind of exercise in the last 9 weeks (due to working on a very small boat with no exercise faciltiies), we decided our first walk should be a short, easy one to ease him back into walking gently, so we chose a walk from Howtown to Pooley Bridge which I had done previously with my friend Carol.

Rannerdale Knotts and a million Bluebells - Sunday 24 May 2015

This late May bank holiday weekend was a particularly good one for me walking wise.  On the Saturday I'd taken part in a guided walk up Ullock Pike which was lead by voluntary Lake District National Park rangers.  It was the most fantastic ridge walk but quite strenuous and to say I was stiff when I woke up on the Sunday was an understatement, but I'd already arranged to meet friends Caroline and Susan with their wonderful trailhounds, Zach and Pandy, to go on a nice, easy walk at Buttermere so I had no excuse to sit around and feel sorry for myself.  

A Fantastic Ridge Walk - Ullock Pike, Long Side, Carl Side and Dodd

View from Dodd towards Derwentwater - spectacular! 

Another bank holiday had arrived and I was meant to be coming over to our lovely holiday home at Whitegate Caravan Park, with my sister Pat, but due to a flare up with a back problem she was unable to come (plus she nearly sliced her thumb end off with a new vegetable slicing contraption on Thursday night!!!).  So, i decided to check out the Lake District National Park events calendar to see if anything was going on as I knew they had a great programme of events scheduled.  There were two things listed for the Saturday and the walk that took my fancy was up Ullock Pike and was in an area that I have never walked before so thought it sounded like a good one to go on. It turned out to be a fantastic ridge walk with the most spectacular views. 

The Coledale Horseshoe - well, a variation on a theme! - 9 May 2015

I'd hummed and hahhed about whether I was fit enough to do a walk of this magnitude and when I got up on the Saturday morning and checked out the weather forecast decided I wasn't going to do it!  

My BFF (Brenda) and her family were staying in Mountain Cottage in Stair in the Newlands Valley so I would be driving there from our lovely static caravan at Whitegate Caravan Park near Appleby to walk the Coledlale Horseshoe with them starting at the cottage. I texted Brenda to say I wouldn't be doing it because I thought a) the weather would be too bad and 2) I wasn't fit enough to do 9 miles up these big mountains.  So, miserably I sat and had my breakfast and after feeling sorry for myself, gave myself a good talking to and told myself not to be such a defeatist and text her back to say I'd changed my mind but would we be able to cut it a little but shorter to say 7 ish miles and she replied saying yes as there were plenty of "escape routes" along the way. So, without further ado I packed my rucky, loaded  the Heidster in the car and off we jolly well went.  

We started the walk from Mountain Cottage and picked up the right path easily and from then on it was up, up, up and up!  The first summit we would reach would be Causey Pike 637 m (2090 ft).  As we started off it was very cloudy and a bit drizzly so we put waterproofs on because, according to the BBC weather app, it was going to be light rain most of the morning with heavy rain at 12 o'clock.  I'm happy to report that the BBC got it wrong and the early light drizzle stopped almost straight away and the clouds parted and the sun started to shine, making it a very very nice day to walk.

Short bimble along the road from Stair to the start of the walk

The path up was easily distinguishable and as you can imagine, the higher we went the better the views became.  We ascended steadily across the northern slopes of Rowling End reaching the rocky summit of Causey Pike

Newlands Horseshoe - 16 August 2010

My BFF, Brenda, and her partner Paul meet up every year for a week's walking with old school friends of Paul.  In August 2010 they were meeting in and around Keswick and we got an invite too which we accepted although we could only stay a few days.  This was before the days of having Heidi so you'll notice no dogs on the photos.

We had never met any of the group before and on the Saturday we all met in a pub in Keswick to plan the following week's walks and they soon made me and the Hubster feel very welcome, as if we'd known them for years. 

The first walk we did on the Sunday was a nice short one up Latrigg, just to get the limbs moving a bit and on the Monday we were to meet at small parking area near a bridge just past Little Town to do the Newlands Horseshoe.  Brenda found the walk in one of our walking books and apart from missing out one Wainright (Hindscarth) we followed the instructions and had the most fantastic walk we'd ever been on. 

Our first "stop to look at the view" break haha