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.

Harter Fell from Hardknott Castle

After packing up and leaving the house, we over-ruled some objections from the children to fit in another walk.  We picked an isolated peak that we hadn't climbed before, that had a suitable length walk.  According to Evie a suitable length walk would have been far shorter, so for the majority of this walk I led the way with Poppy, and Evie trailed as far back as we would let her be.

Difficulty: 3
Walkers: Tim, Caroline, Grace (13), Evie (10), Poppy (7)
11:19, 0.0km 0h00 0m, Start (242)
12:49, 4.1km 1h30 525m, Harter Fell (Eskdale) (654, Wainwright)
13:07, 4.2km 1h47 527m, Harter Fell (Eskdale) (654, Hewitt)
15:00, 8.9km 3h40 590m, End (243)

We parked at Hardknott Castle, crossing the road and walking downhill straight away until we picked up the path which skirted around the far side of Harter Fell, before making our way up to the top.

Crossing the river shortly after leaving the road and starting to regain the height we'd lost from the car park.

Most of the way to the top, looking back south west towards Green Crag.

Poppy at the Wainwright peak.

We then moved onto the Hewitt, looking back towards the Wainwright with Grace catching us up.

From the Hewitt, looking north towards Hardknott  and beyond that the Langdale peaks.

Caroline and Evie catch up and have some lunch on the rocks below the peak.

The long grassy descent.

Finally back to Hardknott Castle for wander around before getting back in the car and heading south, homeward bound.

Helm Crag to Steel Fell

Another walk that Caroline and myself had done before, we knew could be really rewarding with the views, and that covered a couple of Wainwrights that the girls hadn't done before.

Difficulty: 5

Walkers: Tim, Caroline, Grace (13), Evie (10), Poppy (7)

10:29, 0.0km 0h00 0m, Start (68)

12:00, 3.6km 1h30 347m, Helm Crag (405, Wainwright)

12:47, 5.1km 2h17 435m, Gibson Knott (420, Wainwright)

14:03, 7.2km 3h33 600m, Calf Crag (537, Wainwright)

15:08, 9.8km 4h38 701m, Steel Fell (553, Wainwright)

17:04, 15.6km 6h34 739m, End (68)

We drove the fairly short distance from Elterwater via the back of Grasmere, then walked from the car park through the village and up Helm Crag.

The top of the climb up, looking back towards Ambleside.  Today was not going to be the rewarding views...

Helm Crag.

The view onwards towards Gibson Knott, and then back on the ridge to the right from Steel Feel, which is just in the clouds.  The A591 winds its way north on the right hand of the picture.

Gibson Knott, Poppy very proud to get to the top, after we failed to make it far enough along the ridge last time we came here with kids.

Evie, slightly less awed by the top of Gibson Knott.

Caroline, enjoying more atmospheric photo opportunities.

Moving around towards Calf Crag and we got a view down the valley towards Grasmere, before we started going back up into the clouds. 

Grace at Calf Crag, more intrepid walkers approach in the distance.

Now we walked down the other ridge towards Steel Feel.

At the top of Steel Fell, looking pretty similar to when Caroline and I were up here.

Sometime later, the rest of the party emerges out of the mist on their final ascent.  Shortly after this we start our descent, and usefully head off in the wrong direction for a while before I twig that we shouldn't be going down next to a fence and do a rapid course correction.

Finally, half way down, the view reappears, Helm Crag in the centre, and Grasmere/Ambleside beyond.  Well, okay, it's not that good a view...

Loughrigg from Elterwater

Time for a walk from the house and a trip to Chesters, which I managed to fit in with ticking off a Wainwright that Poppy hadn't done, all in all a great route!

Difficulty: 4

Walkers: Tim, Caroline, Grace (13), Evie (10), Poppy (7)

10:16, 0.0km 0h00 0m, Start (74)

12:54, 5.7km 2h38 431m, Loughrigg Fell (335, Wainwright)

16:38, 12.9km 6h22 549m, End (67)

 The house in Elterwater led up to Grasmere, then round to the caves.

Looking back to Elerwater and the house.

Typical view of our walking party. Poppy is lost, presumed dead, Grace leading and avoiding photos, Dave checking email/satnav, Lily staying close but not alongside parents, Jo and Caroline being social, Evie trying to lose us. 

Grasmere. 

Most of the time there was little view, to be honest.

Caves!

Climbing up for lunch.  We had multiple requests to stop earlier and do less climbing before calories.

Poppy at Loughrigg Fell. 

Caroline trying to take some serious photos with her serious camera, girls not being serious. 

We stopped at Chesters and had cake (Grace had hot chocolate with large marshmallows), before returning back to Elterwater and to the pub.  Evie does like J2O, I think she was unimpressed by the photo.