Rannerdale Knotts and the pub

That morning I drove half way back to Birmingham to pick up Grace, who had be playing hockey the day before and her grandparents had been ferrying her around.  It was a beautiful morning, completely clear skies, and it felt terrible to be missing out.  Caroline went for a walk around Buttermere and it rained.  So maybe I wasn't missing out on much...  Isabelle was working all day, so in the afternoon we took everyone else out for a quick stroll up to Rannerdale Knotts.  I didn't take my phone for the walk, so these pictures are from Caroline's camera - much the superior...

Difficulty: 3

Walkers: Tim, Caroline, Grace (14), Evie (10), Poppy (8)

14:19, 0.0km 0h00 0m, Start (139)

15:19, 2.9km 0h59 248m, Rannerdale Knotts (355, Wainwright)

18:04, 9.8km 3h45 535m, End (135)

From the house we walked to Buttermere and then up Mill Beck before turning up the ridge.

Poppy and me leading the way.

First to the top of Rannerdale Knotts.

Caroline, having joined us at the top and let me take some photos.

Evie, slightly bored.

Grace, trying out some of her new walking kit, bought for her school trip to the Lakes in December.

Having descended off the end, we took the option of walking back on the north side of the ridge.

Finally coming back out above Buttermere village, to see the sun getting low over Crummock Water.  We then went to the pub before the short walk home.  See - we can do relaxed walking!

Red Pike & the Boggy Valley

It was likely tomorrow was a day off, as we had to pick Grace up, so we opted for a longer walk despite the forecast heavier rain.  It was set to clear in the afternoon, but rather than go higher at the end of the walk to try and get a better view, we decided to stick to the plan and head high early to avoid walking down the steep route between Buttermere and Red Pike.

Difficulty: 6

Walkers: Tim, Caroline, Isabelle (16), Evie (10), Poppy (8)

9:55, 0.0km 0h00 0m, Start (134)

12:39, 5.8km 2h43 672m, Red Pike (Buttermere) (755, Wainwright, Hewitt)

13:37, 8.1km 3h41 750m, Starling Dodd (633, Hewitt, Wainwright)

14:24, 10.2km 4h29 865m, Great Borne (616, Wainwright, Hewitt)

17:41, 19.5km 7h46 984m, End (135)

We started and finished from the house, going up high to start with and then heading back through the boggy valley.  We set off around 50 behind the 'safe schedule to get back by sunset' point, lost a bit of time through an early diversion, but made up time on the second half of the walk to get home a few minutes inside the target.

We could see some of Red Pike from the house to start with, but not much.

View of the famous tree at the end of Buttermere.  Trying to explain to the girls why it was famous wasn't easy.  We passed two people who were staking out the tree (presumably all day) to get the perfect shot...

The bridge we were aiming for was out (due to be replaced, work starting June 2019), so we had to head back around and go over Scale Bridge and back to the start of the climb up Red Pike.

Going through the trees up to Red Pike.

The last(ish) view of Buttermere before we went too high into the clouds.

It was raining pretty constantly and pretty hard all morning.  Everyone got a bit cold and a bit wet.

Finally made it to the top of Red Pike, Evie not very impressed to have been made to climb all that way. 

From Red Pike we kept on going, so effectively turning right away from Buttermere.  Here is cloud lifted occasionally on the way to Starling Dodd.

At Starling Dodd, more sweets from Evie's bag, and the misty route forward to Great Borne.

Evie demanded her photo be taken on this rock.  It wasn't that special a rock, in my opinion.

Poppy at the top of Great Borne.

The steep but grassy way down the hillside.  We got to the bottom, found the toilets, had some chocolate.  Had some more chocolate.  And then Caroline got to the bottom.

Walking back down the boggy valley towards Crummock Water.  The last time we were here we'd managed to drop Poppy in a stream when trying to cross it.  This time we did try and avoid the stream, but turned back after reaching a fence with no style, but did manage to get everyone safely across. 

Looking towards Crummock Water.

At Scale Force, looking downstream (and avoiding the keen camera people staking out the falls).

Finally getting some patches of sun, looking at Crummock Water & Buttermere, with the village and our house inbetween.

At Scale Bridge, towards Crummock Water.

Scale Bridge, looking towards Buttermere.

Finally back to the house, looking back the way we had finished the walk.

Our first Ennerdale fells

First day after driving up the previous evening and getting to the house around midnight, and then getting up at 7 for the food delivery, so not a huge amount of sleep.  Forecast was drizzle and fog all day, so we picked the shortest & lowest route planned for the week, starting off with a 30-40min drive from the house.

Difficulty: 4

Walkers: Tim, Caroline, Isabelle (16), Evie (10), Poppy (8)

11:20, 0.0km 0h00 0m, Start (224)

12:18, 2.9km 0h58 257m, Grike (488, Wainwright)

12:48, 4.3km 1h28 323m, Crag Fell (523, Wainwright)

14:40, 8.7km 3h20 562m, Lank Rigg (541, Wainwright)

16:27, 14.3km 5h07 626m, End (224)

Parked by the side of the road, as it turned out around 500m before a small off road space for 4 or so cars.  We were the only ones there in the morning, by the end another couple of cars had parked in the same stretch.  From the car we headed over the fellside to the wooded plantation area, with Grike as the first target.

Started off in drizzle, with the predicted fog at the top.  This is Grike, Isabelle immediately headed for the shelter of the large cairn.  Poppy lay down on the outside of the cairn (on the windward side) and asked if there was a way in.  One of the these girls will go far.

On the way to Crag Fell, it was quite wet.  Evie was wearing two rain coats and two pairs of waterproof trousers, and was evidently still quite wet.

Top of Crag Fell, Poppy had navigated us to this point, and was learning the joy of marked fences to find the route, although she did get a bit bored after this point and gave me the map back.

Having restored my role as navigator, I then swiftly took us on two wrong paths.  I assert that the skill in the navigator can only be assessed by how well you recover from taking the wrong direction (which on a flat fell in fog is quite easy), rather than never making any mistakes.  Still, soon after the cloud started to lift.

The rain stopped, we had a late lunch.

And made it to the top of Lank Rigg.

The important task of the peak was handing out haribo rations, and getting the reminder from Evie that we'd bought the wrong flavours, since the gummy bears were gingerbread flavour which didn't meet with Evie's approval.

Isabelle, witnessing the negotiation skills of her two youngest sisters over haribo.

The last sting in the tail (no photos here to protect the innocent) was crossing the stream coming down from Buck Hole was quite tricky - I carried Poppy across, Isabelle jumped keeping dry boots, Evie tried to jump but slipped, got a wet foot, starting crying, and I had to persuade her to let me carry her across, and Caroline got across after I stood in the middle of the stream and held her hand.  Thanks to decent boots and gaiters I only got a slightly damp right sock after my half a dozen trips wading through foot deep water...  Isabelle certainly gets the award for the least drama!

Snowdon

We'd set off to walk up Snowdon, having seen this was a possible day trip from where we were staying on Holy Island in Anglesey.  However the weather turned worse the closer we got to the start point of the walk, and (surprisingly for us, and mainly my fault) we were under-prepared - I'd forgotten to pack Caroline's walking boots, and people were missing waterproof trousers, all sorts.  So having arrived at the start point of the walk, with the rain now fairly continuous, we decided to drive to the nearest outdoor walking gear shop, which I think was in Porthmadog, stocked up on essentials, then drove back to the parking spot.  This made for a fairly late start time, and predictable late time home for dinner, but just enough time to get soaking wet climbing a mountain.

Difficulty: 5
Walkers: Tim, Caroline, Isabelle (16), Grace (13), Poppy (7)
13:41, 0.0km 0h00 0m, Start (179)
16:12, 6.3km 2h31 891m, Snowdon-Yr Wyddfa (1085, Hewitt)
19:31, 13.4km 5h50 915m, End (179)

We parked at Rhyd-Ddu on the street, just up from the railway station.  We took the Rhyd-Ddu path up, and then (mainly through inattention to route finding) the slightly longer way back...

The way up was pretty mirky, nothing really to see.  We'd left Evie with Caroline's parents, so there was noticeably less complaining on the way up...  I didn't get any photos of the fairly narrow ridge to the top, quite impressive but I was clearly too busy enjoying the path to take photos.

At the top!  Really not much to see here, just lots of wet people.  At least we got to go inside, warm up a bit, and have a drink & some food.

And the way back down - starting to see a little further now, with the rain stopping and the cloud starting to clear.

And the views just got better...

...and more striking...

Until we could pretty much see everything.