Remember: Press F11 for a full screen view of this page.

Date & start time: Sunday 28th December 2008. 1.15 pm start.

Location of Event : Greendale Hamlet, Wasdale, Cumbria, Uk ( NY 144 056 )

Places visited : Greendale, Middle Fell, Greendale Tarn, Jos Naylor's Cairn, Buckbarrow (crags and summit) and a Tongue Gill descent back to the car.

Walk details : 4.8 ml, 1900 ft of ascent, 4 hours 30 mins.

Highest point : Middle Fell 1,908ft (582m)

Walked with : Gareth, Ann and the dogs, Harry and Bethan.

Weather : Beautiful winter weather again. Warm and sunny.

The anticipation of a good day's walk as we reach Wasdale

 

Chance to climb Middle Fell today and show Ann's favourite view to Gareth.

The TV viewers chose Wasdale with Great Gable, today's side on view across Wasdale from Middle Fell will show the Scafells in their best light

and the light was certainly good today.

We parked just beyond the outdoor centre at Greendale and the camera was out from the start !

The road leads on to the lake and then up the valley to Lingmell and Scafell Pike.

Buckbarrow Crags towering above the Greendale houses.

The eye is continually drawn across to the Scafells, resplendent with their blue sky background.

The climb begins up Middle Fell
Bright sunshine contrasts with dark shadows across the lake
   
"Not that way today" so the dogs quickly retrace their steps.
We're taking the direct ascent path.

We chose not to take the path that follows close to the Greendale Beck and so keep right where the path splits.

We climb nearer the the front of the fell, directly up towards the summit.

Sometimes the path was not the best place to walk !

Make your own caption for this one !

Your captions :

I knew we should have brought the pooper scooper ! ! - Geraldine Scott

Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot ... I think I'm beginning to get the idea of this walking Dad ! - Martin Scott
" Next time can you try a little less sherry in the trifle , Mum " - Ian Sager
"Strictly Come Walking .. yeah right !" - Paul Gowan
"Could I have stood in for John Sargeant ? " ( perhaps a bit cruel !) - Paul Gowan

Sellafield on the west coast with a very hazy Isle of Man beyond.

The first view of distant high fells is always a delight.

This was Great Gable sporting it's own personal wisp of cloud, seen above the crags near to Middle Fell summit.

Why is it that Scafell often looks higher than Scafell Pike ? . . . it's all a matter of distance and perspective I suppose.

All is not clear to the south as the Coniston Fells gather a little cloud too.

Shall we look at the view or shall we stop for lunch ?

How about doing both.

A cold looking Wasdale and the high peaks.
Great Gable and Kirk Fell showing over the Yewbarrow crags.

The best lunchtime view in ages.

Click here or on the photo above for a larger panorama.

Onward now across the rest of Middle Fell with Haycock up ahead.

Harry overlooking Greendale Tarn.

We plan to follow the path along the opposite side of the tarn, then go across to Buckbarrow.

The dogs lead the way up a minor crag. The larger fell behind is Middle Fell's neighbour, Seatallan.

A wider shot now as the sun reflects off the Ravenglass Estuary.

Making our way down to the tarn. The different colours are due to the partially frozen surface.

Gareth at the lakeside with reflections on the non-iced up centre of the tarn.

Optical illusion . . . it looks like Greendale Tarn exists on two levels.

The more I look, the less I can believe.

The southern end is completely frozen over but the ice is too thin for the dogs to walk on.

We make our way over to " Jos Naylor's cairn " two thirds of the way across the fell side from the tarn to Buckbarrow.

Black Combe from the cairn as the afternoon draws to a close . . . it's 3.30 pm and sunset's about 4 ish.

The warm, yellow sunlight catches a few of the crags on the Screes

but shines quite strongly on the ascent ridge to Middle Fell that we climbed earlier.

The sunset seen across Buckbarrow Crags.

Looking the other way as the yellow light takes on a pink hue.

A short climb from the crag edge takes us up onto Buckbarrow's summit

where Ann took this photo of Bethan and the setting sun.

As the sun sets we notice that there's a gap in the clouds

and our delayed departure from the summit is rewarded by these extra views.

A west coast Solway sunset.

With the clear skies the light holds long enough for us to return to the cairn

and make our way down Tongue Gill towards Greendale Beck.

The sun has set fully and we are left with just the afterglow.

Greendale silhouette back at the car . . . a well timed walk.

As I walked round to clear a slight frost off the windscreen I noticed this reflection across the car bonnet before leaving.

Another fine walk completed.

- - - o o o - - -

 

Technical note: Pictures taken with with my Cannon G7 or Ann's Ixus 75 Digital cameras.

Resized in Photoshop, and built up on a Dreamweaver web builder.

This site best viewed with . . . a shiny car bonnet (pity about the rest of the car)

Go to Top

© RmH.2008 # Email me direct # My Guest book (front page)

Previous walk - 27th December 2008 Ling Fell with Gareth

A previous time up here - 19th Feb 2008 An afternoon on Middle Fell