We enjoyed a few pleasant and easy walks with friends in the lakes at the
weekend, although at times it was bitterly cold when the wind caught us. That
said despite the snow in the lee of any shelter it was quite warm - not quite
T-shirt weather, but not far off. Lots of folk about but it was easy to find a
bit of solitude and take in the views.
To start with we headed off from
Castlerigg Farm and headed up to Walla Crag. The sun was high by the time we got
there so it was a bit of a challenge getting correctly exposed images. Sometimes
the exposure metering was spot on but where there were large areas of snow I had
to dial in up to + 1.5 compensation to balance the snow and shadows which made
blown highlights a problem.
Great views of Clough Head and the
Dodds from Walla Crag
Walla Crag and the view west across Derwent Water towards Grisedale
Pike
Bleaberry Fell. This is the shoulder just before
the summit
Bleaberry Fell summit 590m with Skiddaw
behind
Next we headed off across increasingly soft snow to High
Seat. It was bitterly cold in the strong wind but wonderful in the shelter of
the summit crags. The views were cracking.
The summit trig on High Seat 608m and the view
east towards Helvellyn
The view northwest towards Grisedale Pike,
Bassenthwaite Lake and beyond into Scotland where we could clearly see the snow
capped Galloway Mountains
We then descended to Ashness Bridge before
making our way back over to Walla crag and then down to our start point. Its
nice to feel the sun.
Text/images copyright David Forster
That's interesting, David. I've often considered walking to High Seat from that direction but I've never done it. On the map it looks flat and featureless, which just goes to show how wrong you can be. Great pictures. It looks cold, mind.
ReplyDeleteAlen
It does look pretty featureless doesn't it, but he flattish moorland approach means that once you get onto the rocky tops you have a greater sense of space than their modest heights would suggest. It does get pretty busy mind, but it is easy to find a bit of solitude. You can do it direct from the Castlerigg Farm Campsite which is handy. http://www.castleriggfarm.com/
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