LAKE DISTRICT - SEPTEMBER 2017

So it took some time to find somewhere to stay, one of the longest times it's taken us to find a cottage. As tradition in September, we were heading up with Mr & Mrs S for our Wedding Anniversaries, so needed 2 double bedrooms and needed the location to be in a good place. Looking at our aerial map, we still had quite a bit to do in the Far Eastern Fells as well as a few dotted here and there, so needed somewhere with good access to those ones. After hours that turned into days of looking, Mrs F finally found one that had 3 double bedrooms! It looked like a nice good sized cottage out on it's own on what looked like a working farm. Mrs F tried to book it using her card but found out her account was hacked by someone in the United Arab Emirates, so Mrs S booked it to ensure we had it!

Mr & Mrs S went up the day before we were due to arrive at the cottage to spend a couple of days with Mrs S's sister, who was also staying in the Lakes. We also headed up North to spend the night with Mrs F's Dad in Blackburn as we now usually do. We headed up as soon as Mrs F got home from work on the Friday night (always fraught with danger) but we made really good time, getting there in just 4 hours!

The next day Mrs F was grumpy with Mr F for keeping her awake with his usual heavy breathing! We walked up to the the hospital where Mrs F's Dad's other half works and had a cooked breakfast which was rather splendid. We then walked back to the house where the boys had the football on...all morning and the first part of the afternoon! In fairness, West Ham were playing Tottenham so Mrs F was watching it too...

We left Blackburn around 2:30pm as we weren't able to check in to tour cottage until 4pm. We arrived around 3:45pm but was able to get into our really lovely cottage...

Dinning Table

Downstairs Shower & Toilet Room

Spare Room

Mr & Mrs S's Room

Upstairs Bathroom

Mr & Mrs F's Room

Games Room!

They had a games room with a sofa bed and bean bags and a wii and games! Mr F took one of the bean bags downstairs to use as an extra seat as it was a bit of a tight snug with all of us on the small seating area..

Looking Down Over The Bannister 

Mr F already checking out the map on the garden furniture just out the front...

Mr F saw the owner who lived right next door and got chatting to him. He was saying that he had lived in and about the area for years and finally bought this place and spent quite a bit of time converting the end part of it into a cottage home and he put a new drive in leading up to the main road because the old one was too much of a tight swing...very impressive to see how much work had gone into it. He also showed us how much land he had that came with the house - all of the front part (which his friend used for his sheep!) and he showed us over the back how far his land goes over the back that he rents out to farmers!

Once Mr & Mrs S arrived, the boys went out to the local pub just a 5 minute walk up the road and the girls stayed in and watched Strictly Come Dancing! Mrs F done fish, chips and peas for dinner, which everyone was saying was in small portions! We established which rooms we were staying in and got unpacked and had our rucksacks ready for the start of our week of ticking off yet more Wainwrights the next day. Mrs S found giant dominoes which she used to try and build a tall block, which in turn became a bit of a competition between herself, Mr F and Mrs F who could build the tallest block. Mr F won...Mr S didn't get involved! 😃

DAY 1: CAULDALE MOOR - 2502ft

              HARTSOP DODD - 2018ft

              5 HOURS TREKKING -

The cottage was great in terms of it being situated out of the way from the more populated areas and had lovely views, but we had a bit of a drive to get to where we would be trekking each day, which wasn't too bad and we quite liked the car ride in the morning with stunning views around. It was our 6 Year Wedding Anniversary and so we opened up our cards to each other and family/friends in our room. 💗 Mrs F got Mr F a Wainwright Coast to Coast walk book as he was planning to do the walk shortly after getting back from this trip. Mr F got Mrs nothing! Although he was planning on taking her to Hampton Court Palace when we got back but he ended up going on the Coast to Coast walk that weekend!

We needed to head over to the Kirkstone Pass where we parked before to do Red Screes (see 2014, March entry) but this time we were heading over the other side of the pass towards Cauldale Moor and Hartsop Dodd. It was fairly straight up approach but we just took it slow and steady. Mrs S had been struggling with various ling problems  for a while, so we took it nice and steady...

Looking back at our Red Screes day...

As we got further up we had a very small grade nothing scramble up some rocks, which levelled out again once we had gained our height...

Can You Spot Mr F Pocking His Head Out From Around The Corner??

It didn't take too much time or effort before we made it to our first summit, Cauldale Moor and the weather was pretty good, so we didn't have the battle of bad weather to contend with, thank God. The walk from Cauldale Moor to Hartsop Dodd was fairly straight forward as we following a wall most of the way. Unfortunately though it was an out and back job that couldn't be avoided. The walk out was fine as it was mostly downward...however, coming back this meant that it was mostly upwards!

Uncle Cairn Showing The Way

The Wall That Eventually Lead Us Out To Hartsop Dodd

Our First Conquered Summit Of The Day, Cauldale Moor! 

As per usual and expected, the boys got their bearings to see where we should head off to next towards Hartsop Dodd, which Mrs F always loves to get a photo of their manly moment of map reading. Mrs F learned how to map read and took the lead on one of the days...keep reading to find out how that went!

Direction established, we set off to do our 'out n back' march to Hartsop Dodd...which we never took a summit photo of for some reason!

Heading Out To Hartsop Dodd

For quite some time now, Mr F had been wanting to the Kentmere Horseshoe, which is ticking off 8 Wainwrights but a very long day. Mrs F had a bad experience with horseshoes since the very hot and humid Fairfield Horseshoe day (see ??? entry) But was also up for doing the Kentmere as it does tick off quite a few in one foul swoop. As we were heading out to Hartsop Dodd, we could see part of the Kentmere Horseshoe over the other side of the valley...

The Start Of The Kentmere Horseshoe Beast Day!

Heading Back The Way We Came & Back To The Car

Very Quick Pit Stop By The Wall

Looking Happy On Our Anniversay

Another Shot Of Kentmere Horshoe

The Way Up and Over Back

We stopped for lunch and hot drinks from our flasks as we were heading down. There were some wind turbines on the opposite side of the road from where we were parked and on the same side where our trek started. None of us had been over this side of the Kirkstone Pass before. There were some signs saying that the turbines were under CCTV, which indicates that rocks had been thrown at the propellers or some sort of vandalism had happened to them in the past. We could see a couple of fairly big rocks which indicated that 'youth' must have got bored and played a target game with them!

Once we were down, we headed into the pub which was right by the start of our trek and directly opposite the car park. Mrs F & Mrs S was hoping for a taste of the local cider, but it was out of stock and so Mr F bought us a standard bottle of Kopparburg mixed fruit cider, which tasted like a halls soother...not quite the local drink we were hoping for! We sat on the bench whilst we drank our drinks, the boys having their's too and watched a couple of paraglider's up by Red Screes...they seemed to be the attraction for most of the people that were by the car park and there were quite a few...

        

That night, Mr F cooked a blinding meal of steak pie, new potatoes, carrots and peas...and it was proper lush! Mrs F normally leaves her crusts from the pie but even she eat all of it! A good first day all in all...

DAY 2: SOUR HOWES-1568ft
              SALLOW-1691ft
              3 HOURS TREKKING

So today was a rain day, hence not many photos. The start of our trek was straight up through a forest area and eventually - but not too long after - we were out in the open and headed straight up! Thankfully there were some trodden steps that acted as stairs which made it somewhat easier on the calves. Mr F always says that these trodden in steps are from where people kick in the snow, therefore kicking into the ground creating these steps...Mrs F is not so convinced! But it worked for us however they got until they disappeared as we got further up...

We reached a stile that we needed to use to get over the wall to carry on the other side. It has red tape on it to indicate that it shouldn't be used...however we took it as 'proceed with care!' It was never going to stop people from using it,more of a point to stop anyone claiming if they used it and injured themselves then they can say they put tape there to warn people. So we used it anyway and all it was, was a couple of loose steps and some not there, but we manged to get over ok. We carried on up and came across another stile that was a straight up as a ladder and at the top, was a gate to to open almost like a door!

Can You Spot Mrs S Who Went Over First??

Mr F Just Through The Very Neat Gate By The Stile

We had yet more up-ness once through the gate and although it was raining, it was actually quite warm, so some of us de-layered...then layered...then de-layered...

Heading Up The Calf Killer Route

Mrs F Taking Off Her Coat

Mr F had gone and bought himself a Norwegian wind and waterproof fleece. Naturally you wonder how a fleece could ever be waterproof, as we were slightly mocking him for that very thing! However, as the day went on and Mr F persisted to keep wearing his fleece as it was keeping him warm, at the end of our trek he was still dry! Not bad for £20 from TK Maxx!! In Mr F's words, it was keeping him toasty warm!

Mr F Looking Smug In His Cheap But Very Effective Fleece!

One Of Mr S's Many Wardrobe Change Stops!

The route was fairly obvious, if we followed the compass and map. Mrs F was shown how to put Fred in the Shed and Mr S told her which direction we needed to go in and Mrs F navigated us splendidly on the way down, finding a path we needed to take that we would have walked past. But before that, there was the small matter of two Wainwrights Fells...

Making Our Way Through The Fog & Bog

There was a tiny little bit of scrambling up onto the ridge where Sour Hows is. We didn't hang around too long before heading off to Sallows and then picked a spot to have a very quick lunch out of the wind and rain before heading back down towards Garburn Road, which was a gravel path that took us all the way back to the broken stile...

Sour Howes Summit Photo...Could Be Anywhere Really!

Sallows Summit Photo...Again, Just Take Our Word For It!

Garburn Road Found Skillfully By Mrs F

From being back at the car, we then headed into Windermere to meet up with Mrs S's sister and her husband. They were staying in our good old trusty B&B, Hawksmoor. We drove to the B&B looking for them as we previously suggested to go to Grasmere, but we decided that Windermere would be closer for them. Trevor came out and spoke to us for quite some time (as Trevor does!) and it was good to see him after a couple of years. We walked from the B&B in to Bowness-on-Windermere for a stroll and tea and cake/croissants. Then we strolled back to the B&B, stopping to buy some miniature bottles of much needed whiskey for our big day on Kentmere Horseshoe. Mrs S chose Baileys whilst Mr S & Mrs F went for the good ol' whiskey - Jameson for Mr S and Bells for Mrs F...Mrs F said he would share Mrs F's. Once we were back at the cottage there was mass drying going on! We fully utilised most of the rads to dry out or gear ready for the next day. Mrs F made her famous and delicious lasange, chips and salad. She just cut in into four pieces this time as we all eat our share! It was good to be in a warm cottage after a day in the rain. At night, as we chilled out in front of the tele, we could see bats flying around outside. Around midnight, Mrs F couldn't sleep and so got up and went downstairs only to find Mrs S in the kitchen making toast and milk as she couldn't sleep either! We both sat up for about 15 minutes and finally managed to go back to our beds and off to sleep. There is an added pressure to make sure we get a good nights sleep the night before we climb, but the extra pressure came from knowing that we were doing the Kentmere Horseshoe the next day!

DAY 3: KENTMERE HORSESHOE:

              YOKE-2309ft

              ILL BELL-2476ft

              FROSWICK-2359ft

              THORNTHWAITE CRAG-2569ft

              MARDALE ILL BELL-2496ft

              HARTER FELL-2539ft

              KENTMERE PIKE-2397ft

              SHIPMAN'S KNOTT-1926ft

              8 HOURS TREKKING

Soooo....the Kentmere Horseshoe! Also Mr & Mrs S's 8 year wedding anniversary.💗 We had to up, fed, watered and out fairly early as we had a long and big day ahead of us with not much daylight to play with this time of year. The lunches were made the night before so the rucksacks were ready to go. There was a stunning sunrise to welcome us...

We parked by a small village church in the top end Kentmere. We were a little unsure about weather or not we could park there but the signs said no overnight parking, so we figured we we good to park there. We put our gaiters on as the ground was sure to be boggy from all of yesterdays rain and headed up towards a gravel path that lead us on a long upward journey...

It was another warm day only when we were moving, but as soon as we stopped we could feel just how cold it actually was. Your arms really feel the cold and are cold to the touch, but as it's quite arduous making our way up, we were quite warm with our blood pumping...

Eventually the path lead us onto to open fell tops, but we still had a little way to go before we would even make it to our first Wainwright on this Horseshoe...Yoke. Once we got there, we quite appropriately had our eggs and left  our egg shells scattered around! The cottage had provided us with little sachets of salt, which were very handy to take out for our eggs. We always normally just take a little pot and keep it in a sandwich bag, but inevitably always spills out! Last time we came Mrs S had a side pocket full of salt in her rucksack and pretty sure Mr F has had a salt spillage in the hood of his rucksack before now! So the sachets were definitely the way forward!

Yoke Dead Ahead

Mr F Pointing To The Other Side Of The Horseshoe

Summit Number 1...Yoke!

The good thing about this walk is it was mainly on a well trodden path or easy negotiable rocks. We were starting to get cold standing around we layered up and looking ahead looked like we were heading into the cold cloud and got a move on...

Kentmere resevoir

All Sorted On he Way & Off To Ill Bell

The Way Up To Ill Bell

Ill Bell summit has 3 big cairns, we chose the biggest to have a summit photo and carried on to Froswick. Unfortunately there was a lot of up and down and Mr S was conscious of time and lead out in front most of the way with Mrs S, so we ended up being on a bit of a mission route march, but we were also conscious of getting around without taking it all in at the same time...it can quite easily lose the beauty of the walk doing it this way if you're not too careful...

Ill Bell Summit

Heading Down Before Having To Head Back Up Again

Heading Towards Froswick

Looking Back From Where We Just were By Ill Bell

Looking Ahead With Mr & Mrs S Upfront

There were some places where the nice easy gravel and rock paths turned into a a well trodden grass path that was quite wet underfoot, having to dodge big puddles that looked like you could quite easily disappear into one! We couldn't see the summit cairn of the next fell, Thornthwaite Crag, as it was al under fog and cloud, but mighty impressive when we did eventually see it! We chose a spot to sit down and eat which was right in the wind! We could hear voices nearby and could only see the people when they were close enough to see due to the poor visibility. It was surprising to see as many people as there was up there int his weather...but they must not be fare weather walkers like us! 😉

The Impressive Summit Cairn Of Thornthwaite Crag

Muggles & Buggles With Their One & Only Summit Photo Of The Trip

We headed on in a downward manner over and through a rocky path until it levelled out right in the centre and top of the bend of the horseshoe. We were able to look back and see our progress so far and also see Thornthwaite Crag now the cloud had cleared... 

Heading Downward...Mr S Looking Like He's feeling The Burn!!

Mr S Really Looks Like He's Feeling The Burn Here!!

Making Our Way Through The Middle With A View Of Kentmere Resevoir

Thornthwaite Crag Summit Cairn In The Distance

Looking Back At Our Progress So Far

Love This Photo Of Us 💕

As Mr S was quite conscious of time and possibly Mrs S's poorly chest, we did end up shooting around quite quick, but also forgetting to check the map at the same time! We therefore ended up overshooting our turnoff from the main path and up to Mardale Ill Bell. Mr F just so happened to check the map to see that we needed to go back and up on ourselves from the path to the summit just a few hundreds yards away, so thankfully not too far out of our way but still a bit annoying! Once Mardale Ill Bell and been conquered and ticked off, we headed back down to the path and headed over towards Harter Fell, which was the highest of the Kentmere Horseshoe, which meant that once we had reached that point, it was down all the way... 

Harter Fell Ahead & Up!

We came across the wind shelter that was on the OS map and was quite nice to have an actual seat to some standard to plonk our backsides for a short while. We could see a rather attractive looking ridge walk up to High Street coming up from the valley floor directly in front of us, which Mr S quite fancied doing. But first, there was the matter of a Horseshoe to complete...

Mr F's Bag Strap Got Caught Which Meant He Was Stuck In The Wall! 😆

The Boys Making Sure We Don't Go Wrong Again...

Girls First Selfie Of The Trip...

Heading Off From Harter Fell Towards Kentmere Pike

The way towards Kentmere Pike and Shipman's Knott was a boggy route and had to negotiate our way around deep ponds and puddles, which most of the time we managed to get across and over without having a boot dip...most of the time! This meant that sometimes we took the traverse route clinging fingernails to the wall!

Mr S Traversing Around The Water Feature!

Looking Back...

...Looking Ahead

Once we had reached Kentmere Pike and Shipman's Knott, it was a straight down route through a very clear path, but was quite steep at points and we ended up just picking our own best ways to get down. With all the hard work of up & down over the Horseshoe fells and now a skillful navigating way down, we thought it only too right to find an appropriate place to plonk and whip out the whiskeys and ginger cake!  

Mrs S Said Her Bailey's & Ginger Cake Was Like Christmas!

Once all alcohol and ginger cake was delightfully consumed, we headed down to the valley floor where we had a short walk back to the car. On our way, we could see the whole of the Kentmere Horseshoe and all it's glory...our successful day and what we achieved was something to be marvelled...

Kentmere Horseshoe

In All Its' Glory....Conquered!

When we got back to the car, there was an old man that seemed like he was almost waiting for us to return to our car so he could let us know that there were cones and signs out to say we weren't to park there. We told him however, there were no cones out when we parked, to which the man admitted he only put them there after we had parked! He did explain that the villagers were getting fed up with all the cars that come and park over here, most likely from walkers wanting to do the Kentmere Horseshoe or other nearby fells. We had a little chat with him and another guy who parked his van there who had a cute Alsatian pup, before finally getting in the car (which is always a great feeling after a long day on the mountains) and headed to the pub just around the corner from the cottage. We sat and very much so enjoyed the view over the top of our cottage and into the distance, just reflecting on the day. Mr S was on dinner duty that night with a very welcomed and very beautiful steak and chips. Mrs S also brought a few DVD's to watch and after we all decided that Hot Fuzz would be the film to wathc, Mr S made a joke of the disc not actually being in the case...he shouldn't have joked because it was actually true!! We watched Minory Report until we couldn't stay awake anymore and watched the rest of the the following night when we weren't all knackered! A great day all in all on the stunning, beloved fells...

DAY 4: HIGH STREET-2718ft

              RAMPSGILL HEAD-2581ft

              HIGH RAISE-2634ft

              KIDSTY PIKE-2560ft

              6 HOURS TREKKING

So today we decided to do the attractive looking ridge walk up to High Street that Mr S was eyeing up from the wind shelter the day before. We were going to go to Lakeland Radio studio just up the road in Kendal, to pick up our 'Squishy Thing' that we won on the radio back in June! But as it was good weather, we emailed the studio letting Yakkers know we were going on Friday instead...we had more mountains to climb! The drive out to Haweswater was about an hour and a very pretty hour of driving it was too and well worth the drive. Our starting point by Hawsewater Reservoir reminded and us of Rivendell from Lord of the Rings, really quite secluded but stunning. We had to walk around the bottom of the reservoir to get to the bottom of the ridge on the other side to where our car was parked. There was an honesty box that Mr F put a very honourable £3. Under Hawsewater Reservoir lays the remains of the old village, Mardale, that was purposely flooded to create the reservoir. Apparently when the water is low during a drought, you can see some of the old village... 

             

The Start Of Our Ridge Walk Up

Looking Over Towards High Street

Once we walked through a field of a lot of sheep and then along the path that ran along the bottom of the ridge, we were ready to climb on and up. The route wasn't a scramble but not a level grass route either. There were some parts where we needed to climb up rocks, others parts had a bit of gravelly path and other parts that were just a gradual upness! A good variety... 

Looking Up At The Start Of Our Ridge Climb

Poor Mrs S Getting Our Her Enhaler

Looking Back How Far We'd Got So Far...

...Looking Ahead and Straight Up!

Mr F Sitting Like A Little Cute Garden gnome Contemplating Life!

Mr S Loving His Chosen Route For The Day

Our planned route will lead us on a mini horseshoe and we were able to see where we would eventually end up on the other side by Kidsty Pike...

Looking Over At Our Final Fell Of The Day, Kidsty Pike

Looking Over Where Our Wind Shelter Was From The Day Before

Short 'Scramble' Up

We Came Across a Mini Tarn...Or a Big Puddle/Pond Along The Ridge!

Mr F Pointing To Where We Were heading For...

Once we reached the mini tarn, it was like a false summit - we knew we still had a fair amount to go before we reached the top of the ridge,  but looking at how far we still had to go from the little tarn seemed a mighty long way!

There were a few boggy areas to negotiate around but nothing we couldn't handle!

Looking Down At

One Of Mrs F's Dodgy Selfie's In His Hoody!

Looking Back At Where We Were By The Mini Tarn

Boys Enjoying Their Climb Up Together...

The 'Upness' Was starting to increase at this point too...

Happy Girls Together 💖

We finally reached the top of the ridge and had an all round well deserved high 5 moment! We could see High Street cairn in the near distance and made our way over. We didn't hang around too long as the cloud was low and could really feel just how cold it actually was when we weren't moving. Mr S had a wardrobe change (one of many!) and we set off for Rampsgill Head.

Again, we had a bit of a march on the go heading up to Rampsgill Head. The path leading the way was an obvious gravel path that made a nice difference from our variety of terrain on the ridge and over by High Street. However, once Mr F checked his Satmap, he realised that we had once again overshot our dive off the path, up the grassy verge and onto Ramsgill Head summit! So we had to double back on ourselves slightly, which meant heading up the grass verge diagonally towards the summit further back. t was a case of walking over the back to tick it off and then coming back down onto the path, which then lead us up to High Raise...

Mr S Happy On High Street

A Few Attempts At a Group Photo

Looking Over At Kidsty Pike

Our Path That Lead Us To Rampsgill Head and High Raise

A Beautiful Backdrop Photo Over By Rampsgill Head

We eventually needed to make a sharp right turn off our path and up towards High Raise. We were approaching a group of people who looked like they were tending to someone who was hurt, but as we passed them she was just plastering up her feet from blisters.....the importance of wearing good socks and footwear in one picture! 😂

Heading Up To High Raise

We decided to have lunch on the summit of High Raise. Mr S had another wardrobe change before copping-a-squat to sit and enjoy lunch with a hot drink...bliss! We then headed in a downward direction and over to Kidsty Pike, which is the one that has a bit of a sticky out point to it and our final Wainwright of the day on our mini horseshoe...

Looking Back At High Raise

A Panoramic View Of Our Little Horseshoe So Far...

Starting At The Bottom Of The Ridge Leading Up To High Street

The Mini Tarn In The Middle Of The Ridge

Up Over By High Street

Just From High Raise Before Chipping Off To Kidsty Pike

A Look Down At The Valley Floor

Where We'd Just Come From

Heading Over To Kidsty Pike

The Summit!

Kidsty Pike was pretty much on the way down anyway, so we didn't have to steer off to get to the summit, we practically passed it on the way!

Heading Back Down To Hawswater Reservoir

As we worked our way down, we came across a few technical challenges with some Rocky areas and steep path/grass verges. It was basically pick your best route that suits you and go for it!

Mr & Mrs S On Their Chosen Route

We all got out of the Rocky terrain and on a good gravel path that took us right to the reservoir. As we neared to the bottom, Mrs S got really quite emotional and teary and none of us knew why. It was because she looked over at the ridge we had just climbed and was completely overwhelmed with joy that she was able to do it. Since our last trip in February, which was the coldest we had experienced in the Lakes (see 2017 March entry) she had been suffering with several chest infections and various other lung problems.  She was worried about how she would cope climbing when she could barely climb stairs without being out of breath. But thanks be to God, she was able to get around no problem. Mrs F felt it was the right time to give thanks to God for giving Suzanne the physical strength she needed and for being with us all each and every time we've come and enjoyed His wonderful creation. We huddled together and had a wonderful time of praising our Lord 😇 Philippians 4:13

Panaramic views of our horseshoe for the day...

A Group Photo On The Bridge At The Bottom

We walked along and around the side of the reservoir that eventually lead us back to the path that we started on. We walked through the gate and field with all the sheep and eventually made it back to the car. We still had our slices of ginger cake left over from lunch, so after taking all rucksacks and gaiters off, we sat and enjoyed the blissful view with ginger cake in hand...

We all piled into the car ready for the long one hour journey back to the cottage, but stopped to take a great view of our accomplished horseshoe for the day...

Our View In One Beautiful Shot Of Our Accomplished Day

We passed a church in Shap that was selling homemade marmalade's, jam's and relishes with an honesty box. We were tempted at the prospect but had driven too far to turn around. We carried on to the cottage where we were all quickly showered and settled for the night. Mrs S was on dinner duty with jacket spuds, Maggi chicken, roasted peppers and carrots and we finished watching Minority Report. All in all a great day ☺

DAY 5: TROUTBECK TONGUE-1191ft

              2 AND HALF HOURS TREKKING

              GRANGE-OVER-SANDS

So we decided that today would be an easy day with a trip to Grange-over-Sands over by Morcambe Bay. We didn't get up and out straight away like we had been doing. We're always up against the daylight when we climb in September, so it's always a challenge to get up, out and up & down the mountains before the night draws in. However, today was a chilled out day and an absolutely gorgeous morning. Mrs F sat outside in her pyjamas and was actually too warm to wear her dressing gown! But she was so content sitting out with her cup of tea, reading her bible with the frehs sun shinning...what more can you want from a Lake District morning ☺☼

Mrs F View From Her Alfresco Breakfast

As today was only a short trek, we didn't feel the need for rucksacks or lunch, as we were heading into Grange-over-Sands afterwards. We did however take our bottles of water and a few snacks. Mrs S brought a bottle of coke and some plastic cups from the cottage. We parked up at the back of a pub car park and after checking to see if there were any signs saying 'Patrons Only', we were happy to leave the car there are head over the road to the start of our trek. The day carried on as beautiful as it started out and we were quite warn walking along the very long farmers road to get to the foot of Troutbeck Tongue. We were walking for a good half hour before we could even see Troutbeck Tongue clearly. 

We were accompanied by a sheep who had obviously got out of one of the many sheep fields that we were walking past, but he was too scared to go back past us. So he walked with us for quite some time. Eventually we decided to try and get him back into a field as he was so far from where he had came from. Two ladies who were walking behind up caught up and said they had come from further up the hill and he was walking in front of them even then! So we decided to help the little fella out. We came across a gate in to a field that wasn't locked, so Mr F jumped over the wall and back onto the path just past the sheep, hoping it would make him run back towards us. Mrs S was waiting with the gate open and Mrs F, Mr S and the two ladies were standing on the path to make sure he didn't run past. Thankfully he figured it out to go through the gate and into the field...mission accomplished! Although we did notice that the various fields of sheep were grouped into breeds and this sheep clearly didn't belong tho this breed of sheep....but the girls certainly looked happy to see him and instantly came to say hello! We did wonder if we may have possibly set the farmer up for some mixed-breed sheep!? There were some odd looking sheep on the other side of the field that looked like a cross between sheep and lamas....we decided not to make him go in there!

The Fields Of Sheep

Walking Along The Long Path With Our Sheep Up Ahead!

Mrs F On The Other Side Of The Wall...The Mission Begins!

Coaxing The Sheep Through The Gate & Into The Field

The Girls Looking Happy...One Of Looks Like She's Smiling At Us!

So we finally came to the end of our path and dive off over a grass area towards a gate on the other side, that took us through to the bottom of Troutbeck Tongue. There was a very pointless stile that was also a sign post...

Mr S Stepping Over The Pointless Stile

The gate we had to walk through was surrounded by wet mud and Mrs F dropped both her water bottle and camera (luckily still in the case!) Once through the gate, we were faced with a decision of the best way up, as there was  no clear path. We wandered around the bottom for a while and decided to just go for it through what looked like tick city! We put our coats back on and make our way through the tall fern...Mrs S was not a fan of this decision! We could see a man up on a rock who was calling out and waving his hands. At first we thought he must be the local nutter, but then we realised that he was part of a group of farmer who were out rounding their sheep up! We came across another gate we had to go through once we were out of the fern, but were caught up in the middle of a dog chasing a sheep! So we asked the farmer (who looked quite young) where he wanted us to go. He asked which way were heading and said he was rounding the sheep up to go over the other side of the valley. So we waited for the sheep dog to bring the sheep back past us before we set off for the top, which wasn't far up at all...

Tick Central!

Group Photo Just Before We Met The Farmer

Looking Back Where We Came From 

The Summit Just Up Ahead

There was a lone sheep out on a rock that was crying out. We said he has probably dodged the dogs and farmer and now calling to see where all his mates had gone! 😄

Little Lone Sheep

The weather continued to be a Beautiful day and was looking forward to sitting n the summit, looking out with our snacks and enjoying the gorgeous sun beating down on us. However...as soon as we go there the clouds rolled in and it went from feeling quite warn to feeling quite cold again! I think that's called Sods Law!

On The Summit Of Troutbeck Tongue

Once we had all had our snacks and had enough of sitting around in the cold, we put our coats back on and headed for what looked like an obvious path down. It took us right the way around to the left side of the fell, which in fairness we would have never gone that way coming up, because we would have never walked that far around looking for a path.

We could see the sheep being rounded up on the other side. The farmer was trying to get them to go over the stream which lead them into a field with cows. But sheep being sheep, none of them wanted to go, until it took one of them to make the first move and then they all following suit! By the tone of the farmer, he was getting a little frustrated should we say!

Once we were on the bottom and walking around the bottom and heading back to the long path, Mrs S realised that she didn't have her sunglasses on her head. She slipped on her way down and thinks they fell off then. So the boys being the nice, kind boys they are, went back to look for them. The girls waiting for their return. Mr F found them, hung them on his shirt and then he fell himself and dropped them again!

The Field Where The Farmer Wanted Them To GO

The Sheep All Waiting To Move Over The Stream

Off Of The Fell & Back On The Path 

Once we made it back to the car, we all had a drink of the coke that Mrs  brought and made our way to Grange-over-Sands. The sun was back out and shinning which made a pleasant afternoon by the seaside 😊☼

We parked up in a car park just by the seafront, which had a lovely little cafe where we all had afternoon teas and Mr & Mrs F had ice creams too! There were quite a lot of dog walkers as well as runners and a popular place to stop for refreshments. After our lunch, we walked along the coast towards where we could see Blackpool Tower in the very far distance. There was also a giant Bop-It which Mrs F just had to have a go on! We also passed a disused lido, which was quite sad to see as they had photos from the early 1900's of it being full with children and families. There were also some little flower gardens that had some lovely little butterflies.

On our way back to the car, we heard a siren that we guessed must have been to warn people that the tide was coming in. Morcambe Bay is quite notorious for catching people out who are on the beach at the time the tide rolls in, because of how fast it comes in! A few years back a load of cockle pickers were killed from the fast approaching waves. We were quite far away from where the tide was rolling in, but we could see just how fast it was coming in...

Views From Our Afternoon Tea Spot

Beautiful Butterflies On The Beautiful Flowers

Blackpool Tower...Can You See It?? 😊

The Fast Tide Rolling In

We stopped off at a little local shop and got more jacket spuds to go with the rest of our fish. It was 3 boxes for £5 so we had a fair amount to get through! Plus we always had a mish-mash of everything on our last night of cooking to use up whatever food we have left! As it was our final night of being able to head out for a drink, we drive straight to our little pub just around the corner and chilled out with some cold ones. We even had some entertainment value of an articulated lorry that had made a wrong turn and had a very small space to turn around. We were all quite impressed with how he did it, after each all giving our best commentary on how he should best do it of course! Mrs F fancied the 5 minute walk back whilst the other jumped in the car and we settled down for the evening.

Mr F holding one of the many walking sticks available to buy in the pub!

Mr F Chilling With A Cold One To Hand...Looking Happy!

So as we had use of a Nintendo Wii and a few games, we had been threatening to play with it all week. So the girls decided to go up to the play room and have a game of Mario Cart, which was all good harmless fun. Then Mr F decided to join in and all manner of harmless fun went out the window! Mrs S decided to leave us to it as it was getting quite competitive with Mr F being what you call a 'bad winner' In the meantime Mr S was playing his guitar quietly  to himself downstairs and Mrs S was quietly browsing the net...Mr & Mrs F were being loudly competitive upstairs!



DAY 6: GRASMERE

So for the first time ever, we decided to have a complete rest day and be tourists in Grasmere, since Mr & Mrs S have never been. But first there was a little matter of collecting our prize from Lakeland Radio that we won back in June! We arranged to get up and head over to Kendal just 8 miles down the road to the studios and collect our mysterious 'Squishy Thing' We left Mr & Mrs S in bed and headed to the studio where we finally met 'Yakkers' who is the breakfast show DJ. Mrs F is a loyal listener and regularly gets involved with various things and always gets a mention on the radio 😊

Mrs F had a hug and a photo with Yakkers and Mr F shook his hand and tried to catch him out by asking what the mystery sound was! 

We headed straight back to the cottage and had the taste for a bacon and egg sandwich for breakfast. As we opened the door to the cottage, we were instantly greeted with the waft of bacon - seems that Mr & Mrs S had the same idea! Sandwiches eaten, we got ready to head to Grasmere. As we had been before, we knew of a little parking space just by a bridge on the very outskirts of the village, which meant we didn't have to pay. We found this when we came to do Silver How (See 2015, July entry) Parked up, we walked straight to the Grasmere Gingerbread place. The queue was quite big as it usually is, so we decided to go in St Oswald's Church. It had a lot of scaffolding around it, as they were renovating the outside walls to a more sturdy material, but in keeping with the original look. We walked around the church grounds where they had the stones on the floor with peoples names and where they are from engraved on them. We wanted to get one done with our names but the ground were full of people who had already requested it. We went back to buy Gingerbread and fudge and continued to wander around before having lunch in a really lovely little cafe called 'Potted Out' that had an outside area right by the river. It was a bit too cold to sit outside, so we enjoyed a very delicious lunch inside. Mrs F had carrot and lentil soup with a warm crusty roll, Mrs & Mrs S shared a panini and chilli soup and Mr F had a rather large slice of carrot cake!

We wandered around for just a little bit longer before heading back to the car and back to the cottage to make a start packing up all our gear ready to head back to London the next day. Once we had sorted out the majority of our stuff, we headed out to our faithful The Ship Inn over by Bowness-on-Windermere for our final meal together. Mrs F had a lovely puff pastry pie with veg, Mr F had fish n chips, Mrs S had a chicken salad and Mr S had a chicken curry...which looked quite ropey and he said tasted how it looked! 😝 We headed back to the cottage to load what we could in the car and had our final night in the cottage.

We were up bright and early the next morning ready to get on the road back to London. We gathered in the kitchen and sat and prayed together before we headed off. We all seemed to be at crossroads point in our lives. Mr F felt that the Lord was telling him to give up his job because He had something else for him to do. Mrs F wasn't sure whether she should stay at her job due to the same reason of God calling her to something else. Mr & Mrs S were also wondering about the next chapters of their lives and weather or not it involved ministry and where they will live etc. But it was lovely to pray together to give God thanks for our week and ask for guidance for the coming days, weeks and years. We said our goodbyes and headed on the long journey back to London...roll on February!

We woke up to a pheasant in the back garden which we could see from the kitchen window...

VERDICT OF THE LAKE DISTRICT IN SEPTEMBER 2017

Mr F: A much better September than in previous years with only some rain rather than alot!! Massive cottage for a bargain price found by the wife with a pub next door...Kentmere Horeshoe has been something i have wanted to do for years and although the weather could have been better it was a great day....want to do it again in the Sunshine. Loved the remoteness of the Haweswater area the views and the surroundings are amazing. We have a few more to do in the area so have to return (Shame). Not back again until February sadly BUT February means snow and we love our snowy days...Thanks be to God for blessing us with great friends and some amazing memories...BRING ON THE SNOW...

Mrs F: It was one of the best Septembers we've had in terms of weather. Apart from one rainy day on our first day, we were very blessed with good weather and fine views. The Kentmere Horseshoe is something we have been wanting to do for quite some time as it ticks off 9 Wainwright in one foul swoop and it was a really good day in terms of the walk, how long we were out for, the weather...all in all a great day. It was my best day out on my beloved fells, closely followed by our day spent over by Haweswater. I loved the remoteness of Haweswater and it reminded me of  Rivendell from Lord of the Rings. The cottage was a great find - lots of room, very cosy with good kitchen cookware and utensils to use, remote but not too far out of the way with a great little pub within walking distance. Although all our 'big boy' mountains are ticked off, we still have the lower ones dotted all around, so the challenge now isn't as much the distance and height as it is now a strategic game of planning our days so we can do a few in one day, even if it means driving from fell to fell, which we have done before. (See 2016 June entry) I know I always say it in my verdicts of the Lakes, but it still to this day holds such a special place in both our hearts. It's a place where we can come away from the stresses of everyday life and be in the most stunning remote mountains that are right on our doorstep. It's a wonderful place to meet with God, be with each other and our best friends...what more can you possibly want?! 😊 By next year, please God, we will have completed what we set out to do 4 years ago and complete all 214 Wainwrights...Roll on February for the snow climbing!