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Date & start time . . . walk one : Tuesday 17th March 2009. 10.50 am start.

Location of Start : Cinderdale car park, Loweswater , Cumbria, Uk ( NY 163 193 )

Places visited : Red Gill, Cinderdale Beck, (almost) Lad Hows and back.

Walk details : 1.25 ml, 950 ft of ascent, 1 hours 15 mins.

Highest point : Almost Lad Hows 1225 ft ( 376m )

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

Weather : Sunny and blue skies, clear as a bell.

Parking at Cinderdale . . . it's a great day to be out

 

Two walks, on either side of Crummock water on subsequent days, serve to highlight the ever changing weather in the Lakes.

Day one was sunshine and blue skies, day two the high pressure had kicked in and a deep haze filled the valley.

The sun was out and it was a day to wear shorts on the fells, but the visibility was the total opposite of the day before.

Low Fell and Darling Fell from Cinderdale.

Clear blue skies and maximum visibility as we start our short walk.

Click here or on the photo for a larger annotated view.

An artist formerly known as "Prance"
The Pheasant's head on the side of Carling Knott

Rannerdale Knotts and looking over the lake to Red Pike and the High Stile Ridge.

Just the odd cornice of snow still holds in the shadow of the ridge.

As we climb directly up from the car park our view expands to include the rich blue of Loweswater.

We have been following Red Gill up the fell side but it fades to nothing just above this point.

We'll follow the route all the way to the top one of these days.

Unfortunately a lunch appointment today will shorten our walk

so we turned and made our way along the fell side towards Lad Hows.

Rich greens of the lowland fields contrast beautifully with the rich reflected blues of the lake.

The white ones and the black ones down there are sheep. The smaller, noisy grey ones are Canada Geese.

Looking down on Cinderdale Beck . . .
. . . which we cross just above the ravine.

Green Gable and Great Gable are in fact at the head of the next valley, Ennerdale.

Here they are seen over Low Bank on Rannerdale and Green Crag and Black Beck on the ascent of Haystacks.

Red Pike forms a wonderful dome on the skyline, seen here across the summit of Rannerdale Knotts.

Time to turn for home.

Bethan and Harry stop to admire the view back down to Cinderdale car park.

Our descent was accompanied by the gentle sound of Cinderdale Beck as it cascades down the fell side.

- - - o o o - - -

Date & start time . . . walk two: Wednesday 18th March 2009. 2.05 pm start.

Location of Start : The red phone box, Loweswater , Cumbria, Uk ( NY 143 211 )

Places visited : Kirkgate Farm, Mellbreak North top, the Pinnacles, Mellbreak South top and then the traversing path down into Mosedale and home.

Walk details : 4.6 ml, 1725 ft of ascent, 2 hours 40 mins.

Highest point : Mellbreak 1,676ft ( 512m)

Walked with : Keith Burton and the dogs, Harry and Bethan.

Weather : Sunny and blue skies, but extremely hazy

Keith and the dogs on Mellbreak

Keith phoned and asked for a local walk

so we matched the time available to a suitable fell and came up with our local favourite.

This would be his first time up Mellbreak and there's no better first ascent than straight up the front !

Blue skies and sunshine again . . . but where has the visibility gone ?

Grasmoor across Crummock Water, a reverse of yesterday's photo, both in direction and clarity.

The white dot on the right is more or less Cinderdale car park !

One for the record . . . the northern summit cairn with Loweswater behind.

No sign of the Solway coast today.

Harry sits quietly at the summit.

Beyond is the southern and true summit, higher by just ten feet, or three metres.

We diverted over to the eastern edge to get a view of Mellbreak Pinnacles.

There is a route down but it is exposed to start and has a long scree descent down to the lake below.

The southern summit cairn . . . much changed in appearance in just twelve days.

[ Hold your cursor over the picture to see the difference.]

Hen Comb looks dramatic in this study of light and shade.

[ Hold your cursor over the picture again to see the difference in the seasons this time, just twelve days on.]

Keith on our return route, the traversing path off the western side of the fell.

This would take us down into Mosedale, back along the lane past Kirkhead Farm and the pub,

and back home for a period of light refreshment, courtesy of Ann and some fine home cooking.

- - - o o o - - -

 

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

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

This site best viewed with . . . tea and scones at Oak Cottage.

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Previous walk - 15th March 2009 Souther Fell from the south

A previous time up here - 6th March 2009 Mellbreak Inukshuk - 12 days and a whole season ago !