Day 1
The weather forecast wasn't great for Sat and Sun. Heavy rain and strong winds. We hopped on the Honister Rambler at 9.30 in Keswick to avoid some of the rain and did the whole circuit and ended up back at Keswick at 11.15. We cobbled together a plan of where we were going to go when we were on the bus, we'd struggled to think of where to pitch later. There were some Chinese tourists on the bus and they were oohing and ahhing at the views
I always feel happy when people who have travelled such long distances are rewarded. Despite the rain the cloud was high and the views were pretty good. These two touristy type lads got off at Honister, one with jeans on, no waterproof trousers only one tiny rucksack between them and they'd asked someone where the path was. A woman must have given them directions up Dale Head because they started climbing it as the bus left for Gatesgarth. We hoped they would be ok, it was forecast very strong winds up there, 40mph plus and lots of rain. In Keswick we got on the X4 to Woodend Brow, we would walk through Wythop Woods then have a look on Sale Fell and see if we could find a pitch up there.
Beefy on the forest path from Woodend Brow
It was now after 12noon. It rained on and off but we were sheltered from the worst of it in the trees, the reason we'd thought of this route.
Ullock Pike and Long Side from Beck Wythop
A sign at Beck Wythop
Our hearts sank but when we read the notice it was advance warning, the path wouldn't be closed until 10 Aug.
The paths marked in red will be closed
With it only being the 28th July we were surprised to see a path closed sign higher up into the woods. There was nobody working and we saw someone had been preparing a wider forest road. Perfectly safe to cross the forest road, why was the path closed sign up? Nobody there! We ignored the path closed sign, walked across the forest road and higher into the woods on the path.
Sale Fell
We were out of the woods now and the wind hit us and the rain was being blasted into our faces for a while.
Ling Fell
We were pleased to turn off right toward Chapel Woods. The rain was behind us for a while.
On the path to Kelswick
I didn't take many photos, any that were taken were when the rain stopped for a while.
The remains of the old Church near Kelswick
Beefy on the way to Kelswick
We turned right at Kelswick up beside the wall onto the slopes of Sale Fell. We were being blown up the fell by the wind and the rain was on and off again. We didn't go up onto the summit, the wind was really strong when we got to the path leading to the summit at the highest point of the wall. We rounded the fell looking for a pitch. We tried the quarry on the northern slopes, no flat spots. We had an uncomfortable traverse of the fellside near the quarry and a steep climb up over rough ground trying to find a flat pitch out of the wind. I was ready to go home, I didn't think we would find anywhere suitable. We'd descended to about 130m and climbed back up again, if we'd gone over the summit it would have been quicker and easier
The houses at Routenbeck seen below Sale Fell
We eventually found a spot below the summit, about 310m, sheltered from the worst of the wind. Low down for us but the wind was too strong to pitch a tent higher up.
The MSR below Sale Fell summit
Beefy went down for some water from the beck. It started tipping it down after he had got back and the tent was buffeted by strong gusts of wind too. We'd got in the tent relatively dry, that was the main thing. We had a brew and some food and enjoyed the tent time. We had it zipped up, it was cold, wet, blustery outside, we were nice and warm inside. We opened the wine listening to the tent being battered.
The MSR with Binsey in view
There was no sunset, we finished our wine and went to sleep at 9.30. Day 1 was Woodend Brow - Beck Wythop - Wythop Woods - Kelswick - Sale Fell (not the summit) 7.6km with 506m ascent.
Day 2
We awoke to more rain. Beefy said there had been thunder and lightning and torrential rain during the night, I'd slept through it. I did see some flashes of lightning in the distance in Scotland when I popped out for a pee at 2.30am. We decided to just go home and not do a walk, we were sick of rain. We do need rain, we just don't want to walk in it, well not two days in a row.
On the way down off Sale Fell
Beefy on the way to Routenbeck
Sale Fell from the Dubwath bus stop
We got the bus to Keswick and saw the two lads from yesterday who had been on the way up Dale Head. We were on the 554 and we waved at them, they had survived
Day 2 was Sale Fell - Routenbeck - Dubwath 3.2km with not much ascent. A bit of a waste of a day but getting soaked didn't appeal to us. We were happy we'd got out for the night, it had been doubtful we would be able to find somewhere.
We got home at 1.25pm and made a korma, yum yum
The weather looks better for this weekend and we've had a fair bit of rain in the last few days. Roll on Friday at 5, I'm ready for the next one but it won't be the Lake District