Saturday 6 April 2013

Lake District - Bleaberry Fell and High Seat

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.



06D-3454 Hill Walker on Walla Crag Looking East Towards the Mountains of Clough Head and Calfhow Pike Lake District Cumbria UK
Great views of Clough Head and the Dodds from Walla Crag



06D-3514 The View West from Walla Crag Over Derwent Water Towards the Mountains of Grisedale Pike, Hopegill Head, Sand Hill, Causey Pike, Crag Hill and Cat Bells, Lake District Cumbria UK.
Walla Crag and the view west across Derwent Water towards Grisedale Pike



06D-3560 The View North from Bleaberry Fell Over Derwent Water Towards Bassenthwaite Lake and Skiddaw Lake District Cumbria UK
Bleaberry Fell. This is the shoulder just before the summit



06D-3637 Skiddaw from the Summit of Bleaberry Fell in Winter Lake District Cumbria UK
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.


06D-3750 The Summit Trig of High Seat and the View East Towards the Helvellyn Mountain Range in Winter Lake District Cumbria
The summit trig on High Seat 608m and the view east towards Helvellyn



06D-3770 The Summit Trig Point of High Seat and the View North West Towards Grisdale Pike Lake District Cumbria UK.
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

2 comments:

  1. 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.
    Alen

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    1. 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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