The Lakes with Walking Group R

In October 2021 twelve members of Walking Group R headed for the Lake District. Eleven of us booked into the same B&B, Sunnyside in Keswick, and the twelfth was nearby and able to join us for everything but the actual B&B.

The previous week in the Lakes had been extremely wet so we were lucky to have a dry and occasionally sunny week.

Watendlath

On the first day we set off on a walk from Rosthwaite, heading up past Puddingstone Bank towards Watendlath. The walk then followed Watendlath Beck and returned to the road via an exciting waterfall. The descent to the road featured one of our number nearly being hit by an out-of-control and off piste mountain cyclist. He did not stop or apologise! We were then going to head for the Cumbrian Way via a boardwalk but the previous rain meant this was flooded. We did try but without waders would have got very wet. Hence we walked along the road to Grange, where we got intermingled with a wedding party! From there we followed the Cumbrian Way back to the carpark. See details of our walk here.

Newlands Round

The next day, we woke up to sunny weather so decided to attempt a Newlands round starting at Little Town. Our car’s navigation system did not show Little Town so we used Google Maps. Unfortunately the system did not seem able to recover from a wrong turning and we ended up arriving at the starting point consderably later than intended – not helped by a traffic jam involving a car and a bus trying to pass one another on a one track road. From there, however, we had a superb walk up to Hause Gate and along the ridge to High Spy. As we approached Dalehead Tarn it became clear that we had not time to do the complete round via Dale Head so we took the path descending into Newlands Valley. The path was quite tricky and rocky in places but the waterfalls on Newlands Beck and the views to either side were stunning. See details of our walk here.

Low Rigg and High Rigg

We were all needing a slightly easier walk today and Paul, our B&B host, suggested that we walk from the door to Low Rigg, with an optional extension to High Rigg and with a slight detour to view the Castle Rigg standing stones. This proved to be an excellent suggestion. Details of our walk can be found here.

Cat Bells

A visit to Keswick would not be complete without an ascent of Cat Bells. We found we could take the ferry to Hawse End and do the walk form there. We set off happily, thinking that it was a straightforward walk. Unfortunately some of the Group inadvertantly followed a path leading them into a somewhat tricky scramble! They all got up – and those behind seeing their error found a more straightforward route. Coffee was taken at the top where we met a Group from Warrington u3a. We all enjoyed the walk through Manesty back to Hawse End where we just missed a ferry. We had hoped to take a ferry that would continue round the lake rather than heading straight back but, having missed the earlier one, we took the first ferry that came about an hour later. Details of our walk can be found here.

Haystacks

Several us wanted to climb Haystacks and visit Innominate Tarn, where Wainwright’s ashes were scattered. We went up from Buttermere following a well-made path up to Scarth Gap. We had lunch and then set off to do the necessary scramble to the top. There were no real difficulties though it was a definite scramble and we found the top despite the mist – having a gps showing we were at the top was a help! We had lunch at the tarn and headed for the descent via Warnscale Beck. There were two possible routes, a path and a bridle path. We were originally going to take the bridle path but Camilla spotted it crossing a patch of scree and was a bit unsure about it. As the path was reached first and looked ok at the top, we descended that way. It was, however, distinctly rocky and slippy and several of us took a tumble. Fortunately no-one was seriously hurt. Details of the walk can be found here.

Walla Crag

Those who didn’t go up Haystacks were led on a walk, from the B&B, to Walla Crag by Chris Barker. This was much enjoyed, particularly their lunch spot at Ashness Bridge.

Blencathra

Our last day was forecast to be quite windy. However, we decided to ascend Blencathra, using the very clear and straightforward path from the Blencathra centre up the ridge to to its highest point, Hallsfell Top. The wind did not trouble us much until we reached the top itself, where we stayed for a very short time to avoid being blown over. There was intermittent cloud on the high fells but the views were all the more exciting and atmospheric. We descended the way we had gone up. Details of the walk can be found here.

All in all we had an excellent week that was enjoyed by all.