On Saturday we got off the bus at The Swirls bus stop. We were walking along the forest road to Armboth Road End then we were going up onto the Wythburn Fells for the night. We thought the forest roads would shelter us from the forecasted showers. We didn't have that much rain though and it wasn't a bad day.
In Highpark Wood
A peep of the Wythburn Fells
Squeaky enjoying the forest road
There are a few ups and downs on the forest roads so it isn't as easy as you might think.
The view looking northward along Thirlmere
I'd not had time to think of where we were going this week and meant to plan a route on the bus from Carlisle but I'd discovered I had brought the wrong map. I'd brought the SW Lake District. Even funnier is I had meant to bring the NW map but this walk is actually in the NE map
I thought of this walk on the bus without a map (except the one in my head) but I couldn't remember how many miles it was along the forest road. Beefy had viewranger on his phone but I find it isn't very good to measure distances or plan a route, I prefer to use paper maps.
The view looking to the south along Thirlmere
It looked a long way to go the end of the lake.
The becks were very full with all the rain we have had
A memorial bench next to the beck
It is in memory of Christian and Niggy Townend who were 29 and 21 when they died
I googled this when I got home. They sadly died cycling along the A595 near Cockermouth and were hit by a coach. There is a cycling event held every year for them, see
http://teamtownend.org/Still heading south on the forest road
Birkside Gill
We had our lunch near this waterfall. It started to rain but not for long. The promised showers were hardly anything.
The path is diverted from the normal forest road into this field, photo taken looking back
We'd thought we might have to walk to Dunmail Raise so we were pleased to see the diversion was just past the gill before returning to the forest road again.
Looking toward Thirlmere from the ascent to Wythburn Fells
We'd started the ascent on the footpath at Stenkin.
Squeaky on the zig zag path
Seat Sandal in view
Looking for a pitch
Bracken, boggy areas and wind made finding a pitch a time consuming affair.
The tall stile and a new gate
A gate has now been installed here after mistakenly being just fenced a while ago. Use the gate and not the stile if you want to go to Harrop tarn. We weren't going there today we headed south to find a pitch. We hoped to find somewhere dry and out of the wind. It was forecast to be quite strong at any height.
The MSR on the Wythburn Fells
After an hour we found some where out of the wind, dry and flat. Not a bad view.
We got some water from Ullscarf Gill. It was a bit peaty. We had our tea and a rest, pleased we had got in the tent dry. It was too cloudy for a sunset view but we wouldn't have got a good view of it from where we were. A pretty good camp for a dull, windy day, it was good to back out camping. Our route was Swirls - Birkside Gill - Steel End - Stenkin - Wythburn Fells pitch. 9.25m with 350m ascent.
It rained a bit overnight and the wind battered the tent now and again. We were lucky to get the tent down during a lull in the rain.
On the way to Harrop Tarn
Looking back at The Beacon on Wythburn Fells
At Harrop Tarn I missed the turn off for the Dob Gill car park so we just continued on the forest road on the yellow marked trail that led down to the road near Hause Point.
Thirlmere seen in a break in the trees
The rain got heavier and more continuous.
On the Armboth Road
We were quite wet by now and we had a soggy brew and food stop near Armboth Car Park sheltering under the tent footprint.
Japanese anemones in Hope Park
There is always some thing new to see in Hope Park. These anemones were lovely. We were very wet when we got on the bus to Keswick and we got wetter walking into Hope Park and back to kill time before our bus home. Day 2 was Wythburn Fell pitch - Harrop Tarn - Armboth Road - Dam Road End. Then Keswick bus station - Hope Park and back. 10km with 75m ascent. Despite the soaking on Sunday, we had really enjoyed Saturday. Roll on next weekend and the weather looks pretty good for a bank holiday.