A WHERE-ARE-WE HIKE

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 2:  Mostly Pictures

In the Guardian a month ago was an article called “Ten of the best walks in the Lake District.”  Number one is Borger Dair, Borrowdale.  Famed fellwalker Alfred Wainwright wrote that Borger Dair is the “finest square mile in Lakeland” where we can climb Castle Crag, the site of a hill fort some 2,000 years ago.  Although small in stature, it “offers some of the finest views you will ever see."  

Further, it reads:  "Take a moment to pause at Peace How, a small summit bought for the benefit of the nation in 1917 as a place where soldiers returning from the front line could find some tranquility.”

When I download specific descriptions and a map from the National Trust, it says the walk is moderate in difficulty, about four  miles long, will take three hours, is dog friendly, and begins in Grange.

Driving to Grange means going through Grasmere, Great How, Naddle, Dale Bottom, Dale Head and Legbarthwaite.  Love those names!

If it weren’t for a woman who happened to be near the old church, we would never know we were in Grange.  “We are looking for Maggie’s Bridge.”  

“Well, dear, I’ve been living here for 66 years and never heard of that.  Let me see your paper.  Hmmm.  They call it a geology walk.  Never heard of that either, dear.”  

She says we should go that way toward the cafe and then do something or other at a sign about eggs for sale.  At the cafe a guy in tall boots says we should pass the egg sign.  When he reads my Georgia hat he asks, "Have you walked the A.T.?"  

"Well small bits," I answer.    

Finally we seem to be on the trail but never find Peace How.  We do see a bright red phone booth near a hotel.

 Several large black slugs are hanging about.  And a purple flower I later find out about from a Irish Wildflower FB posting:  Devil's-bit Scabious / Succisa pratensis. It is also the sole foodplant of the Marsh Fritillary.  

We are trying so very hard to follow the directions but have run amuck in short order.  We meet a couple with an ordnance map who tells us to turn around and then turn right.  Eileen left us an ordnance map but it was supposed to rain and I did not have a plastic holder to put it in.

We go to a farm, passing through it.  Now where are we supposed to turn right?  Should we double back?  Maybe not yet.  Oh, there it is!

To cross the beck, Sally crosses a narrow bridge like the type I’ve seen in the Smokies.

  We pass a bit of woods on our way to Dalt Quarry, then a ferny path.  A very shiny rock almost glows on the path.  

Abandoned Quarry

Sally is up ahead.  Can you see her?

 
“Turning away from the Quarry, take the smaller track to the right.  This joins a larger track near a small bridge.  Ascend the larger track, shortly leaving the wood and climbing by the stream of Broadslack Gill.  Further up, below the steep crags on the left, a smaller but still clear path branches to the left.  Take a breather and a moment to listen to your surroundings.”  HA HA!  We are standing there breathing heavily, barely able to hear the water.

View Looking Back

Very Lumpy Trail

Looking Back

 “If time, weather and inclination permit, the short steep climb to the summit of Castle Crag is recommended.  Ascend steeply to a ladder and stile.  [Where is that?]  Cross these and follow the fence to another ladder site.  [Is that the other ladder?]  Turn left and keep going up.  Now comes the juicy bit.  Go up the spoil heaps on a path that is not as hard as it looks.  A great view awaits you at the top.”

OK then, which ladder?  Which stile?  Not that one.  This one?  Here are some people who might know something.  We have to go back?  Then what?  “Follow us.”
 

Is this the correct ladder?

Is this the correct stile?

NOT the correct way to Castle Crag

 
 Yikes!  The pathway up looks very scary.  If necessary, we will come down on our butts.  This woman did not want to go up.  Her husband runs down like a mountain goat.  Show off!  This loose shale is what we are supposed to walk on.

Beauty in every direction.  

 
And there are pretty things on the ground up there as well.  And a war memorial.

Now it is time to descend.   We climb down standing on our feet as small children about six years old come up with their parents.  We can’t come down on our butts while young people are watching us.  But we are very proud of ourselves.  Can’t have courage without fear, right?

And look what’s up here with us!

Sally took this charming photo.

 “Carefully reverse the route of ascent to the lower ladder stile.  [Which lower one?]  Cross this and follow a grassy track.”  This is grassy, but soggy.  Is this it?  None of the remaining directions seems to describe where we are but we do not know which way to go.  When my sneakers are one inch in mud I realize this is a bog and see a cottony plant I remember from Ireland!  And a bog orchid.  Whoopee, it is worth getting lost!  

 We head toward a very stony path and see a biker.  A biker on THIS?!.  We turn onto that path and see two other women hikers.  They are from Denmark and have an ordnance map.  They tell us we are going in the wrong direction to get back to Grange.  Bless them.

Finally, we are returning on the correct path and recognize it. I find more flowers going in the opposite direction.

The supposed three hour walk takes us five, from 10:15 AM - 3:15 PM.  Getting “lost” about 15 times apparently takes two hours.

We are starving so we head for Keswick.  At Jennings Pub I have the most marvelous lamb dish I ever have had:  Lakeland Lamb and Mint Pie.  Main Street is pedestrian-only.  Naturally, we have gelato for dessert.  

Descriptions of Walks

 One of the charity statues honors Herdwick Sheep, the very best breed to live on the fells.

When we return “home.”  Eileen and Richard take us to a beautiful view to end our evening.

If you would like to make comments, you may write them below or email me at rwoodel.woodel@gmail.com.  I just love knowing you are enjoying this vicarious hike.

CATS EYES REMOVED and other new signs and words

TUESDAY AUGUST 30

We drive North toward the Lake District mostly on main roads.  “Don’t you dare pass that truck until I get my camera,” I say loudly and with excitement to Sally.  Fortunately she laughs.  A PIEROGI truck!  Poles and Ukrainians love that stuff.  I grew up on pierogi!

Next to the numerous road works are signs saying “Free Recovery.  Await Rescue.”  In the bathroom at a large, and quite nice, highway stop is a sign asking for toilet twins.  

 We arrive in the beautiful Lake District with relief.  In Kendal, some colorful locals direct us toward the restaurant.  A truck promises I can have my cake and drink it.  We walk past Blind Beck.  A “beck” is a stream.

 After a mighty fine spiced lamb and apricot tagine, we head to our home-away-from-home in Windermere.  Judy’s friends, Eileen and Richard, will return from their travels Friday but meanwhile we are enjoying their three large Maine coon cats, beautiful home and outstanding landscape.

 

 WEDNESDAY 

We scout out Windermere town center and walk all the way down to the lake where the community is called variously Bonus and Bone Ass, but spelled Bowness.  We spend a few hours on the patio of Macdonald Old English Hotel, watching boats and clouds cross over Lake Windermere.   I finally eat sticky toffee pudding which I’d seen everywhere in Ireland but learn it was invented up here.  Full of dates and spicy flavor and gooey.   

Shop on the Main Road to the Lake

Lake Windermere As We Eat Lunch

 When we walk “home” we see many painted sheep, including this one in St. Mary’s Church lawn.  We’ve got loads of bulldogs in Athens, created by artists and sold for charity.  I prefer the sheep.   Before dusk I walk by the beck behind "our" house.

 

 THURSDAY SEPT 1

We join a group of international tourists on a Mountain Goat tour.  Folks from Israel, Japan, Australia and the United States.   Stopping at Grasmere, we see Wordsworth’s old stomping grounds including his burial ground.  And stop in at the gingerbread shop owned and baked by the same folks for over 30 years.  Jane tells us that only 10% of the Lake District are permanent residents and that over 50% of the economy is based on tourism. 

We see all ten lakes in the Lake District (800 square miles) on this day-long Mountain Goat tour.  Jane is a real pro, negotiating skinny mountain roads with barely enough space for oncoming traffic.  We see signs such as “Badger Crossing” and “Red Squirrel Crossing.”  Red squirrels were almost extinct in the U.K. but thanks to some serious conservation efforts, they are coming back.  The red guys are much less assertive than the gray ones.

The fells (mountains) have purple heather on their tops but the bottoms are so very green because there is a great deal of rain.  Sometimes nature goes nuts and the floods are highly damaging to waterways, bridges, and houses.  Two years ago it was such a mess that some areas are just now being rebuilt.  Today we are very lucky because it is mostly sunny.

Repairing the Two-Year Old Damage to the Beck and Bridge Area

Dry stone walls are common.  They are centuries old but farmers have learned to repair them when needed.  They are actually two walls built back-to-back on top of very large stones which have been laid first in a trench.  Several layers of stones are carefully placed strategically upon each other, interspersed with some flat stones which bridge the gap between the two walls, strengthening the finished product.  


Before a one-hour boat trip on Derwentwater, Jane warns:  “Do not get off the boat until you come back to this dock.  If you get off I cannot come for you.”  Tempting, though, as we see many hikers get off/on to walk the island trails.  But we comply and return, especially because it is time for lunch in Keswick. 

About Six Dogs Take the Boat Trip

Heather Topped Hills in the Back

Gulls Await Our Return

Every third person has a dog, which they bring into pubs and just about anywhere else.  Every third store is for hikers, boaters, swimmers and every other outdoor sport. 

At Surprise View (owned by the National Trust), we avoid the sudden drop-off.  Wildflowers are nearby.  Microstegia (we’ve got it in Georgia also) is becoming a real pest but worse yet is bracken -- a fern -- which is taking over everything.  Jane is unaware of any effort to remove it.  Rhododendron can also be a pest.

We see lots of hikers walking on cement paths and many even on the actual narrow road.  Hair-raising, and it reminds me of my death-defying walk in Letterfrack.  Presumably many more hikers are somewhere on the hillsides and woods.  Bikers cycle on these same narrow roads with two-way traffic!
 

I just love the sheep.  Can’t see enough of them.  Jane tells us the Herdwick sheep start off all black, become brown and mixed, and then white as they age but they always have white faces.   They are especially hardy for difficult winters up in the snowy, craggy fells.   Beatrix Potter was a leading force in preventing them from becoming extinct by buying up working sheep farms for the National Trust.  She insisted that the farmers would continue to own their land and take care of the sheep.   (There are now about 300 farming families.)

Why were the Herwick sheep nearly extinct?  Because they normally have only one lamb whereas another type of local sheep have twins.  We see sheep on hillsides and along the street, nibbling away.  Jane explains that sheep are “hefted” so they can roam free on the fells.  Hefting means mother sheep teach their lambs for generations which land is “theirs” so fences are not needed.

 We see yet another lake and a waterfall in an extremely deep valley.  Landscape drama is everywhere!

 At Castlerigg (Rigg = ridge) we see a stone circle built by a prehistoric farming community 4,500 years ago.  No one knows the meaning of this construction.

The lichen is probably not 4,500 years old.

This little guy is escaping to the meadow.

 Jane stops to see why cars are parked along the highway looking into a valley.  It is a test in preparation for a sheep dog contest.  Owners with binoculars are watching their dogs.   Some roads are so very narrow that oncoming vehicles have to back up so our van can pass.  

See the Dogs Way Down There?

 Outside Windermere we see an unbelievably grotesque sign:  Cats Eyes Removed.  Jane explains that there are median indicators on the roads which reflect headlights at night and look like cats’ eyes.  In this bit of roadway, they’ve been removed.  Still, I can’t stop seeing eye-less cats.

Tomorrow Sally and I will go on the Number One hike of the “Ten Best Hikes in the Lake District” so we go to bed early.

Hope you will post a comment below or, if you are unable to do so, please comment to my email at rwoodel.woodel@gmail.  It is so nice hearing from you while I am on the road.