Day 1
I still had the routes numbered from the week before and Beefy choose number 5. That meant we were going back to Cow Bridge but this time ascending Dovedale. We wanted to try the Stand Crags route we had thought about doing last weekend. We were heading for Dove Crag and ending up below Heron Pike somewhere for the night.
Heading up into Dovedale
The lumpy Stand Crags area
We were going to be walking on top of those lumps. It was very hot, sunshine, blue skies and little wind. We topped up our water from Dovedale Beck on the way up. The waterfall didnt have a lot of water in it, the lack of rain is really starting to deplete the becks.
Bracken infested slopes up onto Stangs
We kept on the normal path to Dove Crag until we reached the footbridge. We didn't go over it we kept on the left side of the beck hoping the bracken would disappear so we could start going up Stangs. We stopped for our lunch first under a tree that gave us some shade from the sun. It wasn't very comfortable as the tree was on a bit of a slope but we needed to get out of the sun. We had a bit of a problem with our remote canister stove, the threads on the stove were slightly bent and if Beefy hadn't managed to screw it onto the canister it would have meant us having to retrace our steps and going to Glenridding to buy a new stove. Once Beefy had got the stove screwed on to the canister we left it like that for the rest of the weekend, we would look for a new stove when we got home. There was a break in the bracken near where we'd stopped for lunch and we started the pathless climb onto Stangs, very steeply up and it was hard work in the heat. We did see a faint path that followed an old fence but this didn't go up onto Stangs or Stand Crags, we wanted to go up onto the tops
Dove Crag from the climb up Stangs
Looking down at Dovedale Beck and the tree where we'd sheltered from the sun
Stand Crags from Stangs
Stand Crags
Dove Crag again
Looking back along the route we'd taken over the tops
The ground looked like it would normally be a bit wet here but it was dry. It was hard work in the heat with all the ups and downs. There were a few trods here and there and we followed one over the top of Stand Crags
A look back at Stand Crags
When we were on the trod on the grass over the top of it you wouldn't know there was such a sheer drop, unless you had looked at your map. We had kept well away from the edge!
We joined the path by the old fence that we'd seen earlier on that started in the valley
We had enjoyed the route over Stangs and Stand Crags, nice to do a new route for a change.
Looking back at Stand Crags
The fence stopped at Hogget Gill at a pretty big drop in the ravine. Our original plan had been to cross Hogget Gill to get onto High Bakestones but looking at the terrain we thought it would be quicker and easier to ascend beside the middle branch of Hogget Gill up toward the ridge path below Dove Crag instead.
Our route following Hogget Gill
Again we thought the ground here would normally be quite boggy, dry at the moment.
Looking back to Stand Crags and Brotherswater
We picked up some water from Hogget Gill, it would be the last until we found water below Heron Pike later
Beefy on the way up to Dove Crag
Crinkles, Scafells and Gables from Dove Crag
Beefy on Hart Crag
Cofa Pike and Helvellyn
Beefy on Fairfield
I never know which cairn is the highest on the top.
On the way to Great Rigg
Beefy on Great Rigg
Beefy on Heron Pike
We were feeling pretty tired by this time, it was after 5.45 and the heat and sun had been unrelenting all day. There had been a bit of a breeze once we'd got onto Dove Crag thankfully.
We dropped down off the summit wanting to find a flat shelf of grass near to the unnamed beck seen on the map that feeds Alcock Tarn. We found a pitch at about 550m, the grass was quite long but it was a decent flat spot that was dry. We were exhausted and we got the tent up, we would get the water afterward.
Grasmere from our pitch
We got to the water source marked on the map and it was totally dry. We were fed up, we were cream crackered but we had to get water, not just to drink but for our tea, the noodles, packet soup and cous cous all need water to rehydrate it. We thought Rowantree beck might be dry too, with it being on the same side. So instead we had to slog up over the ridge and down on the eastern side below Lord Cove to see if the water there was still running. We did find water in the beck but it was hard to get as there wasn't that much water in it. We need some rain! The walk to and from the water source added an extra 1.2 miles and 140m of ascent and descent to the days tally.
The MSR below Heron Pike
It was 7.30 when we got back to the tent, we got the water on to filter then had some tea. We sat outside and it was breezy enough to keep the midges away. We were just about to pour some wine at 8.30 when Beefy said he couldn't find his iPhone, it wasn't in his shirt pocket. He thought it might have dropped out when we went for the water. We really didn't want to have to go back to look for it. I tried ringing it but Beefy said he had it on silent
We were so pleased that it was found just outside the tent hidden in the long grass. We drank the first glass of wine very quickly to calm our shattered nerves! We enjoyed more wine, relaxing and enjoying the camp and waiting for the sun to set. There were 3 tents down at Alcock Tarn, we never heard them or the traffic on the A591, we thought we might have.
The sun going down behind Grisedale Pike
Another shot of the sun going down
Lenticular cloud
What a very good but exhausting day. We finished our wine and fell asleep straight away. Day 1 was Cow Bridge - Dove Falls - Stangs - Stand Crags - Hogget Gill - Dove Crag - Hart Crag - Fairfield - Great Rigg - Heron Pike - pitch below Heron Pike (western slopes) - water source below Lord Cove - pitch below Heron Pike. 16.9km with 1190m ascent and 788m descent.