Theme Park or National Park?

In among all the anger and doom and gloom surrounding the steady but relentless limiting of access to the hills for the less well off, and of course the drive to turn our National Parks into cash generating theme parks, I learnt a new word today after sharing these images on Twitter and highlighting how wonderful the woods where I live smelled in the rain. The person commenting said “Petrichor is a wonderful thing”.  Petrichor incidentally is the pleasant smell that frequently accompanies the first rain after a long spell of dry weather.  

That morning while standing in the pouring rain, the sights, sounds, and smells of those woods were indeed a wonderful thing. I don’t have a single word to describe those feelings, but they are with me now as I look at the images. They remind me how lucky I am to be able to enjoy the outdoors without needing to be enticed out there.

Do you feel anything?

Perhaps a bit deep for some, but enjoying the outdoors is so much more than just looking at the view. If you don’t immerse yourself in the landscape and feel it with all your senses, you are merely an observer.  If you don’t have any spiritual connection to the landscape and it’s not a part of your very soul, then you may never understand how much it means to enjoy the outdoors regardless of how well off you are.  Perhaps it is that lack of empathy that explains in part why some folk only see the monetary value in such places and have no problem with theme park developments, or  the notion of paying for access.

Sadly for some people the choice is now becoming head to the hills, or spend money in local businesses.  Certainly for my own well-being the choice must be the hills…. at least it will be until I am priced out too.  I would prefer it otherwise but there you go.

Talking of the olfactory senses, after all those years of hard won protections and freedoms to enjoy our landscapes, over in the Lake District we now have the repulsive stench of corporate greed to contend with. Its pervasive odour, often disguised as promoting and even conserving the landscape has now found its way onto the boards of our National Parks.  Perhaps it has always been there and people like me have been naive in thinking otherwise.  In the Lake District the battle lines have been drawn yet again and after the fight to save the area around Thirlmere, we now face another to fight, this time the cable car plans which threaten to overwhelm the quaint village of Braithwaite. 

Theme Park, or National Park, that’s the choice now, so if you are sitting on the fence it really is time to wake up and decide which you prefer.  

The hills above Braithwaite.  Is it just a view to you, or does it run deeper?

More Wainwright Bagging – Bowscale Fell, Bannerdale Crags and Souther Fell.

Due to an enforced layoff from mountains due to re-occurring problems with plantar fasciitis, Moira and I were keen to get back to the Lakes again and enjoy a few more Wainwright’s.

We needed something that wasn’t too taxing and the area to the west of Mungrisdale looked like it would fit the bill as there were a couple of hills there, namely Bowscale Fell (702m) and Souther Fell (522m) we had not climbed. Set between these two hills was Bannerdale Crags (683m), a hill we had previously climbed back in 1999.  It would certainly be no hardship to do this again and after a look at the map we soon came up with a pleasant route that would take them all in. 

An 8.00am start saw us making our way out of the village of Mungrisdale to take the track beside the river Glendermackin up to a flood damaged area by a bridge. Here the path splits with one bearing left to follow the river and the other continuing along the southerly flank of the Tongue.    Taking the right hand path we had good views of the east ridge of Bannerdale Crags.  

Bannerdale Crags and its east ridge.

At this point we had a bit of a "wish we had chosen the east ridge moment", as the rocky nature of the upper section looked like it would make a nice scramble towards the top.  Unfortunately it would mean a long down and up from here, so we mentally added it to our ever increasing list of routes to do and plodded on.

It’s a bit of a long pull up to the col between Bowscale Fell and Bannerdale Crags, but in the cool of the morning it was no hardship, especially so given the great views back down the valley.  Once at the broad grassy col we headed north to the summit of Bowscale Fell. 

A welcome cup of coffee in the summit shelter

We couldn't leave without a quick detour to the north top of Bowscale Fell

Backtracking to the coll we then headed up to Bannerdale Crags.  Staying close to the craggy escarpment gave us good views down into Bannerdale and beyond to the North Pennines where Cross Fell and the Dun Fells could be seen despite some haze.

Bannerdale and the view out towards the Pennines

The summit Cairn of Bannerdale Crags

From the summit we headed northwest to the col between Blencathra and Bannerdale Crags itself.  This led us along the upper reaches of the River Glendermackin on an easy path that gave cracking views of Blencathra - particularly Sharp Edge.  It looked busy over there and even from down here we could see lots of little stick like figures making their way along the ridge.

Sharp Edge from the north

Looking back to sharp edge from the south

At the point where the river swung in a loop around the southerly nose of Bannerdale Crags, marked White Horse Bent on the map, we crossed over the river via a footbridge and then made our way up onto Souther Fell.  

Souther Fell (left)

Easy walking took us to the cairn Wainwright sketched for his books.  

Bannerdale Crags with Blencathra behind from Souther Fell

This is not the summit however, and after a quick photo we wandered over several high points until we reached the true summit at the northern end.  

With no sign of the ghostly “Spectral Army of Souter Fell” that is said to walk this ridge on certain days.  Click here for an account of the tale we made a steady decent down course grassy slopes to a point where the path skirts rightwards. Here the path led us through chest deep bracken to bring us out on the road above the in-bye land.  A short walk down the road brought us to our start point.  A nice pint in the Mill Inn rounded off a great days walking.

Distance 14k

96 to go.

© David Forster

Parking Charges at Arrochar – The Outdoor Access Tax

There has quite rightly been outrage at the 800% rise in parking fees at Arrochar announced by Argyll and Bute council.  Such charges are nothing new if you live in the Lake District of course.  Here high charges are the norm and you won’t get much change from a tenner in the popular places.  Such charges in reality are nothing more than an access tax.

A few places in the Lakes still exist where parking is free but it only a matter of time before these too succumb to high parking charges. 

Paying such high fees to access the hills if you arrive by car is bad enough, but what has shocked me just as much is the gullibility of some outdoor users, either in accepting, or indeed supporting such charges. 

A common thread seems to be, it’s only fair we pay to access the hills to cover such things as the car parks themselves, path repairs, or make up the funding shortfall for councils and the national parks etc.  A few even seem happy with the notion of high prices reducing the number of people heading to the hills!

Reality Check

But hang on let’s just take a step back here.  Why on earth do some people think it is acceptable to pay a tax to park when we are already paying taxes?  Ahh I hear you say, what about funding cuts by the Government, the shortfall should be made up by outdoor users, it’s only fair surely?  After all there is no magic money tree, at least not according to the likes of Theresa May.

Well in short it seems to be down to priorities and the outdoors and the environment are sitting somewhere near the bottom of the list when it comes to government providing money.  At the other end of the spectrum of course, such places are top of the list when it comes to money making opportunities. 

Loads a Money.

Don’t be conned into thinking there isn’t enough money because this really does come down to priorities.  After all there was more than enough money to pay the DUP £1.5 billion to side with the Tories after the last election.  There is more than enough money to pay large subsidies to farmers and the renewables industry for example.  And, we certainly seem to be able to find plenty of money to fund wars and drop bombs on people.  When it comes to politicians themselves, many of which are among the richest people in our country, they have no problem in asking tax payers to fork out some £3.7 million for food and drink subsidies within the House of Commons.  These examples are just a tiny proportion compared to the Billions given to big businesses in the form of tax breaks of course.

Pulling the Conservation Trump Card

When it comes to arguments about why people should pay to park, the trump card seems to be the environment. Interestingly people conveniently forget about industries such as grouse shooting and renewables that really do cause some serious damage to our upland areas.  In fact it could be argued that grouse shooting and the renewables industry between them have a much greater impact than our boots will ever have.  Add in the fact that there are several groups using donations to repair footpaths all over the country and the argument for taxes to cover these costs seems much less compelling as well.

So let’s be blunt here, what governments really mean when they make cuts to national parks and local councils - is the environment is not a priority, what is a priority however is making money from the people who value it.

Given how important the outdoors is to the health and well-being of millions of people, surely instead of rolling over and paying, we should, along with the organisation that represent us, be lobbying governments harder to give more money to the National Parks and councils who provide parking.  One thing for certain we should not be picking up the shortfall willingly. 

© David Forster

Far Eastern Fells - Hartsop Area - Brock Crags (561m)

A Plan B Day

It was incredibly windy this morning and after a disturbed night it was a right grumpy camper who looked out over the sea of billowing tents and rocking campervans.  Only a couple of pitches away a heavy framed gazebo had damaged two vehicles when it blew away during the night, so I was surprised to see a bloke gamely set up his table outside.  Seconds later it blew away straight into the side of the vehicle in front of us.

 

Now I accept I am well into grumpy old bloke territory, but I couldn't help ranting at the stupidity of some people.  The final straw however, was watching the bloke opposite me allow his dog to wander over and take a piss on my pitch and then observe as it wandered over to the next pitch to pee all over their electric cable.

This was at least tempered with the satisfaction of some instant karma when the dog owner's back was turned and the dog pissed up his tent and all over his unlit BBQ.

Ranting aside, this wind was way stronger than yesterday and our planned route over Dove Crag to bag High Hartsop Dodd did not really appeal.  Perhaps a more sensible choice was to come up with a plan involving lower hills.

Brock Crags at 561m fitted the bill, so a little later than planned we found ourselves wandering alongside Brothers Water and then up through Hartsop again.  

Brothers Water with our plan A route beyond.

Just before the parking area we headed leftwards out of the village to pick up a path leading from Calf Close.  This led along the southern slopes of Brock Crags and gave good views of yesterdays route over Gray Crag and Hartsop Dodd. 

Hartsop Dodd

The going was easy and despite some strong gusts we soon bagged the Wainwright top, along with all of the surrounding high points just for the hell of it.  

Brock Crags Cairn and the view towards Angle Tarn

Brothers Water

Summit and tops achieved we had a gentle wander over to Angle Tarn and then on to Boredale Hause.  From here we headed down and back along the valley to the Sykeside.

An easy day leaving us 98 Wainwright's to go.

Lake District - Far Eastern Fells - Gray Crag (699m) and Hartsop Dodd (618m)

I knew we had climbed quite a few of the hills that are accessible from the Sykeside campsite near Brothers Water before we started ticking of the Wainwright's.  After checking it turned out that we only had four left to do. Namely High Hartsop Dodd, Brock Crags, Gray Crag and Hartsop Dodd. 

Two of these - Gray Crag and Hartsop Dodd looked like they would make a good round.  With this in mind we found ourselves, along with friends Graham and Sandra, on the Sykeside campsite during a very busy Whit Bank Holiday weekend.

G&S had already done Gray Crag, but as that was on a cold wet miserable day with no views, and today was warm with cloud free tops, they were happy to make a repeat visit.

From the campsite it was a pleasant wander along the sunny shores of Brothers Water and up to the pretty hamlet of Hartsop.  From Hartsop we took the Hayswater track up past a rather photogenic old barn until the in-bye land came to an end.

Old Barn with Hartsop Dodd behind

At a large boulder stained maroon by the red dyed flanks of itchy sheep we headed steeply up the northern slopes of Gray Crag.  This gave us some nice views of Hayeswater and the northern fells, above which the spaceship forms of wind born Lenticular clouds were beginning to take shape.  As height was gained the strength of the wind also increased and in between periods of flat calm, severe gusts strong enough to lift us off our feet would race across the hill without warning. 

Hayswater with The Knott 

The view North over Brock Crags towards Place Fell

On reaching the northern summit we could barely stand up, so we only paused for a quick photo before staggering on to try and find some shelter for lunch.

One of the two summit cairns at the northern end

It would have been nice to say we had a leisurely break in the sunshine, but even in the relative shelter of some rocks near a wall the wind managed to seek us out.  At one point it even lifted the coffee out of Moira's cup and blew it into her face!

Moving on over Gray Crags 710m southern top, G&S headed off to climb Thornthwaite Crag.  Having already been up there several times, Moira and I traversed across to Threshthwaite mouth instead and had a break out of the wind while we waited for them.  On the way we had a quick look to see if we could see any evidence of the Hawker Hind aircraft, that crashed here on 5th June 1937, sadly killing Pilot Sgt Joseph Mitchell and mechanic/passenger LAC Gerald Murray.  Link: http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/lakes/k6614.html

Despite having a grid reference we did not see any signs of it and with the wind gusting so hard we deemed it too risky to look further down the craggy slope where much of the wreckage is said to have ended up.

G&S returning from Thornthwaite Crag

After meeting up at the col we made our way up the steep rocky slopes and onto Stony Cove Pike. 

Here we headed northwards along the broad grassy ridge towards Hartsop Dodd.  It should have been a pleasant wander in the sun, but instead we were harried the whole way by the wind.

Leaning into the wind as we approached the cairn

At the summit cairn even remaining standing was a challenge and as the wall running over the summit offered little in the way of protection, we only stopped long enough to grab a few pics before heading down steep slopes to meet with our outward route in Hartsop.

Graham using Sandra as a windbreak while Moira develops Donald Trump hair

Highest point a few meters away from the summit cairn

View over Hartsop village towards Ullswater with Brothers Water lower left

Hartsop Dodd from Hartsop village

Despite the wind we had a good day and having bagged 2 more Wainwright's we now only have 99 Wainwright's left to do.  That said it may well be a bit of a slow haul at times as a fair number of those are single tops.  

Graystones to Whinlatter Circular.

To the north of Thornthwaite Forest above the Whinlatter pass there are five Wainwright's, four of which can be easily linked together to give a grand days outing.  The extra top of Whinlatter can also be added, but involves a detour through forestry via Tarbarrel Moss.

Our plan was to bag Graystones (456m), Broom Fell (511m), Lords Seat (552m) and Barf (468m).  This would, with only a little backtracking to take in Barf, give us our four Wainwright's. If time and energy allowed then Whinlatter (Brown How) would also be included.

Parking just before Darling How Farm we made our way up through Darling How plantation.  This involved a rather circuitous route, but it did at least bring us out of the forest not too far from the summit of Graystones. 

Moira just above the forest and not far from the summit of Graystones

Once out of the forest it was a very steep pull alongside an old wall before the ground flattened out just before the summit area.

The summit area has 2 high points but this one was the better viewpoint.

We took in both tops before dropping down to Widow Hause.  Here we had a quick break before heading up onto the summit of Broom Fell. 

The summit of Broom Fell.  There is also a shelter wall just to the left of the cairn

After another quick break we made our way over easy if rather boggy ground onto Lords Seat. 

Once on top we had good views over to Whinlatter and Brown How (525m) on the opposite side of the valley.  From here we thought we could work out a possible high route across to it via Tarbarrel Moss.  We have numerous single Wainwright's left to do, so grabbing Whinlatter today would save us a single hill outing.  Plus it looked like it would create a great circular route, providing of course we could find a way through the trees.

The view south over towards Whinlatter and Brown How with Grisedale Pike and Ladyside Pike beyond.  We thought we could see a break in the trees running onto the Moss just left of centre.

Convinced we could see a way through, we now turned our backs to our planned route and instead headed in the opposite direction to bag Barf. 

Barf (lower right) and the Skiddaw Range from the summit of Lords Top

Looking back towards Lords Seat from Barf

On the summit of Barf a heavy hail shower caught us unawares by sneakily using Skiddaw for cover.  

Skiddaw and Bassenthwaite Lake from the Summit of Barf

As a result we didn't hang around for long before the hail chased us back over to Lords Seat, where we avoided the worst of it by heading into the trees. 

The going after this became a little confused when we found signs that told us we could not use the Tarbarrel Moss path.  Unsure of where we could go we dropped down into the forest to meet with the main forestry road.  Here signs told us we could go no further.  Fortunately, next to a mountain bikes only track, Moira spotted a vague path heading through the trees.  I was far from convinced, but after a steep uphill section we broke out of the trees onto Tarbarrel Moss itself.  From here we could see a vague path heading across the moss to meet with the main path leading onto Whinlatter. 

In the Lakes the word Moss on a map tends to mean bog, so by the time we reached the main path leading up from the Whinlatter visitor centre I had wet feet. I really must get some new boots.

The view south from Whinlatter Top.  The weather by now was rather dull with frequent rain and hail showers.

Next we continued along the ridge to Brown How.  This is a great viewpoint, but due to its forested lower slopes it was difficult to work out how we could get down.

Brown How Summit.  

After a false start we descended diagonally over some very rough and pathless steep ground towards Willybrag Gill.  Here we followed the forest edge east to reach the boundary wall coming down from Whinlatter Top. This was then followed down more steep ground until we hit the main forest road through Aiken Plantation.  After this it was a straightforward walk back to our start point.

That's 113 Wainwright's completed now.  Hopefully the next trip should take us below the hundred to do mark.

Distance: 15.6K, 1000m ascent

Wainwright's Buttermere Area - Red Pike (755m), High Stile (806m) and High Crag (744m)

I have walked the ridge between Red Pike and High Stile several times, but we weren't sure if Moira had, so we headed over on what was to be the hottest day of the year so far.

An early start from home saw us wandering along the shore of Buttermere just before 8.00am.  Despite the blue skies it was still cool and the fields around the lake were white with frost. 

By the time we reached the end of the lake and the path leading up to Red Pike the sun had cleared Fleetwith Pike at the head of the valley and the ground gently steamed in the heat. 

It was a steep pull up through the wood and onto the fell proper making it hot work.  

Buttermere with the mountains of Whiteless Pike of Grasmoor beyond

We had a short break to cool off next to Blaeberry Tarn before heading up onto the Dodd (641m) just to the north east of Red Pike.  

Bleaberry Tarn with Red Pike ahead.

While not a Wainwright its situation provided good views along the valley over Crummock Water and out to the coast.  It was also perfect for a quiet break, as everyone else seemed to be heading directly up to Red Pike.

Crummock Water from Dodd.  From here we could clearly see the Solway Firth and the hills of Dumfries and Galloway on the horizon

Eventually we dragged ourselves away and made our way onto Red Pike.  It's quite a steep pull onto the summit, but on the way we met up with a young couple from Germany and Holland and spent so much time chatting we hardly noticed the steepness. 

The view from Red Pike over Crummock Water 

A fairly gentle wander over close cropped turf and then up a rocky path onto High Stile was next.  Below we could see out route of Ascent via Bleaberry Tarn.

Bleaberry Tarn and Buttermere village below.

The view back towards Red Pike from the start of the ascent onto High Stile

Here we had another break and spent a pleasant 15 minutes or so chatting to another couple, this time from Argentina.  The arrival of another group with eastern European accents gave the walk something of an international flavour. 

Great views from near the top of High Stile

By the time we reached High Crag we were really feeling the heat.  Hardly surprising given the fact the temperature was in the 20's C I suppose.  

High Crag Summit

This was the busiest summit of the walk with people sitting on rocks, eating, chatting, photographing and generally enjoying sun.   Wandering around looking for good photo viewpoints I even spotted one couple laid out fast a sleep.  I prefer my summits a lot quieter than this, but as such great weather days are fairly rare, we made the best of it and had another leisurely break ourselves.  In some ways it was a bad idea because we felt really tired and stiff once we set off again.  The sun had also given me a headache.

The thought of an ice cream down at Gatesgarth Farm, however spurred us on. 

The track down and the anticipation of an ice cream from the farm below

So that's 3 more Wainwright's completed, taking out total up to 108.

Distance 13.5 K