The Lakes, days 8 and 9 – Hindscarth and Ullswater

Monday 22nd July 2002

After the excellent walk that I did the day before I now had a couple of days of poor weather that left me in despair and thinking that the good walking days were over. It had started raining with no sign of it ending before the end of the week, but I reflected that I had been fortunate with the weather over the weekend and during the previous week. My second ever week in the Lake District started with wet and windy weather on a day when I had planned on travelling half way across the national park. Rather than walking all the way from Buttermere to Patterdale, which would have been a ridiculously long walk, even if I’d attempted it now, I had planned to walk along the ridges around Dale Head to Keswick where I would catch a bus to Patterdale. As I set off the weather forecast predicted that it would improve later in the day so I climbed the path out of Borrowdale hopeful that the rain wouldn’t last long and I’d be able to complete the walk as planned.

After climbing up to High Snockrigg I crossed the exceptionally wet Buttermere Moss. I have since crossed this gently sloping plain several times and found it not to be particularly boggy, but with all the rain that had fallen recently the fell was like a quagmire that I, due to my inexperience, blundered across and succeeded in getting my feet very wet. At one point I stepped into a deep bog that went half way up my leg so I was relieved to finally reach the foot of Robinson where the terrain started to steepen and a short climb brought me up to the wind-swept summit of Robinson. The weather at the top was so bad I didn’t linger but made my way south to a fence at the top of Robinson Crag where I made my way along the ridge to Hindscarth. By now the wind was so strong and the was rain so heavy I decided I had to get off the fell as quickly as possible with conditions that were worse than I'd ever known on a walk. Up to this point I’d never really been at the top of a hill when the weather was throwing its full works of wind and rain at me; it was quite a scary experience, so it was a good idea to descend even though the rain stopped before I got to the bottom.

As I came down the excellent path at the top of High Crags I dropped below the clouds to the stunning view of the Newlands valley below, but I was already soaked. My cagoule wasn't particularly waterproof and my t-shirt underneath was soaked, which made me feel very cold. I knew even then that if I’d had a better cagoule, such as I use now, I would have been able to continue along the ridge in that weather. I have never subsequently done the walk that I planned to do that day, which involved walking from Buttermere to Keswick via Dale Head, but I’m sure it would have been possible in that weather, maybe even exciting, if I was wearing the right clothing. Once down in the valley I passed through the village of Little Town and skirted the side of Cat Bells on my way to Keswick. From Hawse End, for the first time I walked along a path that I have taken many times since, past Lingholm and through Fawe Park. On this occasion (and only on this occasion) I turned right as I approached Fawe Park and took the track around Fawe Park past Nichol End. All subsequent occasions I have gone straight on over the low wooded hill, which is a far superior route.

After passing through Portinscale and over the small suspension bridge over the River Derwent I reached Keswick where I had an hour to wait until the bus to Patterdale. I spent most of the hour just wandering around and exploring this delightful town that I have subsequently visited many times, and of all the towns in the Lake District this is my favourite. The towns around Windermere seem tourist-ridden but Keswick, despite the tourists, seems to have retained a charm all of its own. Eventually I left Keswick for another day and caught the bus to Patterdale.

Tuesday 23rd July 2002

This was another wet day so my wet weather plan was once again put into action. I walked along an excellent path beside the shore of Ullswater at the foot of Place Fell and Hallin Fell all the way to Howtown where I caught the steamer back to Glenridding. This was a nice walk, but it only took me half the day so in the afternoon I did a walk along Grisedale as far as Nethermostcove Beck and back. I had started to walk from Glenridding with an idea of going up to Helvellyn but soon abandoned the idea. I lost the path up the ridge and found myself passing Lanty’s Tarn into Grisedale so I consoled myself with the walk along Grisedale, but I wasn’t really in favour of anything else while it refused to stop raining. I was not enjoying walking in the rain while wearing a cagoule that didn't seem to have heard of the concept of "Breathability". I was missing the good walks that I’d done the previous week when the weather was better. Once again I was learning that I needed to improve my gear if I was going to do any proper walking when the weather is bad.