| Location | Great Broughton |
| Those Present | Jerry, Mark and myself |
| Dates | October 12th - October 17th |
The three of us all went in my car. I had just had new tyres fitted and
the rear wheels obviously hadn't been balanced properly. The Sierra seems
particularly sensitive to rear wheel balance, probably because it has independent rear suspension. Anyway, it meant either 50 or 95 on the motorway. We arrived quite early!
The area round here is very depressed and we didn't fancy the local pubs. They all looked a bit seedy, and seemed to only sell Jennings, which isn't our favourite beer, so we went into Cockermouth. There was excellent Theakstons and a superb steak pie in the Black Bull.
"Tell me who made this", said Jerry, "I want to marry them".
"I don't think you do", replied the landlord, "It was the local butcher!"
The weather wasn't good, so we drove over to Buttermere and just had a walk round the lake, followed by several pint of Theakstons in the Bridge Hotel.
Having said 'just a walk round the lake', I should point out that I am in no way being dismissive of Buttermere; it is arguably the most picturesque lake side walk. (picture)
We parked at Buttermere and walked back up the Newlands Hause road for a few yards before turning off for High Snockrigg. (picture)
We picked our way across Buttermere Moss and began the steeper ascent to the
summit of Robinson. At the top a couple appeared brandishing a map and asking where they were. They were part of a group doing doing something like the Buttermere round, and their instructions said 'avoid the summit of Robinson' !!
We made our way down alongside Hassness How Beck and back to the Bridge Hotel for guess what.
That evening we went to Cockermouth for some more steak pie. (picture)
At last we made it! The previous attempt in 1988 was aborted on Red Pike because we had spent far too long at Scale Force. This time we used the well constructed path which zig-zags easily up alongside Sour Milk Gill. (picture) (picture)
I fell in with party of elderly walkers, whose pace was more to my liking. The two women talked non stop about home decoration, completely ignoring the magnificent views.
The final pull up to Red Pike was much more eroded than I remembered from previous visits, and towards the top it was virtually impossible to gain any purchase in the loose, red soil.
The remainder of the walk was excellent along the ridge, with great views into Buttermere (picture) and Ennerdale (picture) , but the descent from High Crag (picture) to Scarth Gap was very eroded.
(P.S. I understand that this path has now been repaired).
Back at the Bridge Hotel we took suitable refreshment.
We woke to an awful morning, with gale force winds and driving rain. We drove half way up Whinlatter to Scawgill Bridge and then walked through the
forest to open fell side.
In the forest we had been sheltered from the weather, but in the open we could hardly walk against the wind, and abandoned our original target of Lords Seat. We managed to reach the summit of Broom Fell and then turned back and headed for Greystones.
The descent to the car was on a very steep, wet grass slope, and we found it impossible to keep our feet. We decided the easiest way down was to sit on our over trousers and slide. (If you adopt this method of descent please be sure that there are no sharp rocks lurking in the grass!)
Back to Cockermouth in the evening for another helping of steak pie.
In view of the atrocious weather we decided to go home early. There was a covering of snow on Blencathra as we dove past.
Which reminds me - Blencathra seems to be the gateway to the Lake District
for us. Excitement mounts as we drive beneath its forbidding facade, and
on the return journey we look behind us for a last glimpse as we say
goodbye for another six months.