Hay Stacks

Weather: Dry and chilly. Low cloud till mid afternoon. Very occasional sunshine

We made and early start for this walk as the days are still short and we had a long drive to Buttermere. We made excellent time to Keswick arriving around 9.40. We needn't have bothered. Firstly we did the cafe breakfast, and then Susan decided to buy some new boots, with my money!!

Eventually we set off for Buttermere, arriving at 11.30 and by the time we had got ready it was near noon when we set forth. As we approached Gatesgarth Farm we saw the white cross on the path up Fleetwith Pike erected in memory of Fanny Mercer who died in an accident descending the fell in 1887 (120 years ago).

It's been over 4 months since we have walked seriously and once we started the climb to Scarth Gap we knew it had been a while. As we approached the col we stopped and had lunch. Pam took a very large stainless steel flask out of her rucksack, and when Paul saw it, he asked if it had been converted from an old artillary shell!

We then made our way to the summit and the sun came out for the first time. We had intended to go to Fleetwith Pike and descend by its ridge, however, after having a nice hot chocolate from Pams naval shell in Dubs hut we decided it would be safer to descend by the path alongside Warnscale Beck.

Finally we arrived back and after loading the rucksacks in the car we decided we would drive to The Kirkstile Inn at Loweswaterwhere we had a superb meal and superb beer. Then we set off on the 100 mile+ journey home.

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The cafe in Keswick - this is when we started to lose time

The view of the Moot Hall from the cafe

Lovely new boots

Pathetically dirty boots - the boots on the left were new here

As we set off, this is the view of Fleetwith Pike's ridge we got

...and this is the view we got of Hay Stacks

This is Buttermere with the rugged Hay Stacks beyond

Another lovely view of lake and mountain

Fanny Mercer's memorial cross

Buttermere, from Peggy's Bridge

Pam and Susan on the ascent to Scarth Gap

Pam looks right, Paul looks left, Susan looks up, and Hay Stacks awaits us

Looking down the trod to Buttermere

Lunchtime. Paul with ludicrous hat, gets his sandwiches out. Meanwhile Susan has quickly removed what she calls her muff, from over her face. She is paranoid about appearing in "The Lost Sheep" again. I should explain that her muff can be worn as a neckerchief or a hat.

The view from our lunch spot

Ahhh!! Here is the flask that Paul said was converted from an artillery shell

Happy times. By the way, Paul doesn't have a wooden leg - thats the handle of my walking pole!

Mention should also be made to Paul's colour co-ordination skills, very few people can pull off wearing hoops, tartan, stripes, diaganol stripes and red gloves. Unfortunately Paul isn't one of them either!! Still - he's happy!