Tue 6 October 2020
The day before we did the walk in the Brant Rake post, we decided to take a mosey up to the Devoke Water Hills proper (Outlying Wainwrights) – the great thing about staying at Boot in Eskdale is that this is one of the many hillwalks you can do right from the hotel door. Even though the Devoke Water hills were the aim of the walk, of course I had my eye on others – I never tell Richard this though in case of a revolt…
Gate & Hartley Crags from Boot village
Wed 7 Oct 2020
One of the few trips Richard and I had last year between all the lockdowns and Tiers was to Eskdale – one of my favourite Lakeland valleys. I’d had my eye on an interesting zig-zag path up the fellside leaving Eskdale in the direction of Devoke Water for years now – I’d looked on the map and seen this was ‘Brant Rake’. As I’d broken my toe in the hotel room the night before, we needed something easy so I decided this was the day… Read the rest of this entry »
Sat 22 Aug & Sun 20 Sep 20
I’ve always subscribed to the view that the Northern Fells (‘back o’ Skidda’) are completely safe and non-scary and with no drama or excitement whatsoever. So, with perfect confidence, I set off to tackle one of the gills which looked interesting – it had a spectacular waterfall near the start but I was sure I could get up it… Read the rest of this entry »
Wed 9 September 2020
Another gill I’d been eyeing up for quite some time – Brandy Gill which rises from Carrock Mines and goes between Carrock Fell & High Pike. This is how NOT to do it! Read the rest of this entry »
Thu 27 Aug 2020
The second day of our Borrowdale trip. Richard was having knee problems and was walking quite slowly so we decided to set out up Grains Gill and decide at the top whether to do Esk Pike or just to do Seathwaite Fell. Either way, we were coming back down via Styhead and Taylorgill… Read the rest of this entry »
Wed 26 Aug 2020
Richard and my first trip away this year I think – certainly the first since the Covid crisis started anyway. We didn’t go far – just to one of our favourite hotels down Borrowdale.
It might seem silly for me to go to stay down Borrowdale now I’m a ‘northern Cumbrian’ but it actually makes sense really. For a start, the hoteliers are friends of ours and also it meant we could just leave the car at the hotel for the whole visit and just do walks from there. With the current parking and visitor chaos in the Lake District, that was a very good thing! Read the rest of this entry »
Tue 7 April 2020
This was during lockdown but, as I’d had to travel to Keswick anyway, I did the walk on my way back. I knew all the Whinlatter Forest carparks were shut (and so the Forestry people thought that Whinlatter Forest was also shut) but I also knew there was roadside parking. There were a couple of other cars there and I bumped into one girl just coming back from the hill (although, of course, at a 6 foot social-distance!)… Read the rest of this entry »
Sat 11 July 20
Well it was record time for me anyway… this was after work – I was feeling very fit and wanted to be back down in time for my tea at the Scales pub! I was up and back in exactly 2.5 hours… Read the rest of this entry »
Sat 9 May 20 (and repeatedly since)
A couple of weeks before, I’d walked Knott and Great Calva via Trusmador and Burn Tod Beck and discovered Hause Gill on my descent – it was superb! Read the rest of this entry »
Sun 22 Mar 20
This was at the start of the superb weather spell we had this year. I’ve also got a feeling it may have been the first day of lockdown or perhaps the day before. There were hundreds of people around down Buttermere though and, just to show there was no problem with walkers, everyone was already keeping a very safe distance between their family groups etc. Read the rest of this entry »
