We got the bus to Whinlatter after a walk to Hope Park and back from the bus station to give Squeaky a rest from buses. The weather was very hot, humid and hardly any wind. The views were very hazy so not a good day for photos.
Leaving the forest for the Whinlatter ridge
Grisedale Pike from Whinlatter
On Whinlatter East top
It seemed to take ages to get here the heat was stifling and our packs seemed to be double the weight they normally are.
On Brown How the AW Whinlatter top
We had run out of water and the nearest water would be Willybrag Gill but it meant descending to the Aiken Plantation. We had planned to retrace our steps to the Whinlatter Forest to ascend Barf but the water source there was further away. So we descended to the Aiken Plantation. It was a mistake because the descent took ages, the ground is rough and if only we had remembered we had put this descent on the never again list last time
On the forest road toward Ullister Hill
We stopped to top up our water at Willybrag Gill and we also stopped for lunch. We were feeling pretty tired with the heat, we decided to miss Barf out and go up Lords Seat next. It started raining a little but it didn't last for long.
Beefy and Squeaky on Lord's Seat
A hazy Skiddaw seen behind.
Broom Fell is our next fell
On Broom Fell
If we had found any water we would have found a place to pitch here. We were really tired but we carried on to Graystones which was the fell we had planned to pitch on.
On the AW Graystones top
We had to find a pitch out of the wind that was set to increase later and also on high ground. Heavy rain was forecast too.
The MSR on Graystones
We found a pitch and we'd spotted water in Sware Gill that we had used the last time we had camped here. However we had to drop down quite a way to get running water and we had a steep climb back up. We were cream crackered, we had walked further than planned with dropping down to Aiken earlier. We had our tea and we had no hope of a sunset. The cloud had built up even more and it started raining very heavily. We had some wine and were falling asleep before the sun was due to set. Our route was Whinlatter Centre - Whinlatter east top - Brown How - Aiken Plantation - Ullister Hill - Lord's Seat - Broom Fell - Graystones - pitch 600m ascent, 14.5km.
It was really windy next morning and we struggled to put the tent away without it being blown away. We'd sacked doing Ling Fell and Sale Fell, we were too tired after yesterday. The high pollen also was making us feel ill too.
On the way down to Tom Rudd Beck
Orchid
There were lots of these on the long grass. I await pleb telling me these aren't orchids
Looking back at our descent route
We ended up in long grass and lost the trod we had been on. Luckily the ground was quite dry although there were a few boggy areas. It was hard going and time consuming.
Bracken and more long grass to contend with now
Looking back again at our route
We were pleased to be on the track and it was all to be easy walking to Dubwath.
On Green Lonning
Wythop Mill
This is a really lovely little hamlet
Baby Swallows, Swifts or House Martins
These were near Dubwath, the adults were too fast for us to see what they were. Our route was Graystones - Tom Rudd Beck - Green Lonning - Wythop Mill - Routenbeck - Dubwath. 8.9km with 150m ascent. A tiring but very nice night out. We got back to Keswick and we had time to go to Mrs F's for coffee and cake, I had vegan apple cake and I managed not to break anything this time