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Date & start time: Sunday 28th June 2009. 12.20 pm start.

Location of Start : End of the metalled road, Threlkeld, Cumbria, Uk. ( NY 302 256 )

Places visited : Skiddaw House track, Roughten Gill, Sinen Gill, Mungrisdale Common, at 2nd cairn on the map for lunch, The Cloven Stone and back via the Skiddaw House track again.

Walk details : 5.8 mls, 1475 ft, 4 hrs 5 mins.

Highest point : Mungrisdale Common 2076 ft ( 633 m )

Walked with : Jo, Ann and the dogs, Jodie, Amber, Harry and Bethan.

Weather : Hot and humid but with blue skies and interesting clouds.

[Click on the drop down menu bar for your choice of Google map or photo display ]

 Mighty Mungrisdale Common

Map created by EveryTrail: with Google Maps

 

Mid-summer heat is still with us but it is disguised by a partially cloudy sky.

But those clouds are thundery and we get damp from sweat to start with and wet from rain at the end.

Still, it's a hot day and we don't care.

Leaving the car we set off on the Skiddaw House track, north up the Glenderaterra Valley.

It's a nice day and we get reasonable visibility over towards Derwent Water and the Catbells / Maiden Moor ridge.

The bracken has grown tremendously in the last month smothering all beneath it

and attempting to smother the newly planted trees on the fells just below us.

I test the waterproof-ness of my boots but the dogs know they are waterproof without the need of such extras.

It's hot and Harry is enjoying the chance to cool down.

Roughten Gill and the slate slab bridge across the beck.

Here again there have been trees planted on the fell side in order to encourage bio-diversity and provide habitat for birds and other smaller species.

These two of the species find a home in the beck again as the temperature is really starting to get to them.

You can lead a dog to water . . .

. . . but you can't make her swim !

A local landmark, this sheep fold marks our departure point from the track

as we set off up the grassy slopes towards Mungrisdale Common.

On the opposite side of the valley, the crags that go by the delightful name of Burnt Horse.

Walking is hard going here as there is no defined path.

At one point there was a whole area of Cuckoo Spit.

Other areas were covered in these delightful yellow flowers.

Climbing now, we get views across to Skiddaw House (hostel) in the trees opposite.

And further up again . . .

with a wide panorama of Lonscale, Skiddaw Little Man, Skiddaw itself and Bakestall to the right.

Burnt Horse is the crag in the centre.

A Stonechat . . . often heard . . . less often seen, but they sometimes prefer prominent positions like rock.

Their "call" is like banging two medium size stones together, hence the name.

An unidentified cairn overlooking Sinen Gill.

From here we can look back down the valley towards the central fells, which seem to be gathering a covering of cloud.

Around us the other clouds were a delight . . .
. . . summer clouds but with a look of thunder about some of them.

The wide open expanse that was Mungrisdale Common.

This picture fails to show the hot, humid conditions which were really trying hard to sap the energy today.

The Common is one of the anachronisms of Wainwright's list of 214 fells. No crags, no major climbs, in fact it is a summit you can almost walk down too, especially if approaching from the Blencathra side. Somewhere up here is a small pile of stones in a puddle and we are trying to find it !

Help rebuild the cairn ... repeat as required.

There seem to be more stones than last time we were here . . . but where do they all come from . . . there's not a crag in sight ?

[ Hold your cursor over the photo . . . to help me build the cairn back up ]

Job done . . . the two dogs sit like book ends against the re-erected summit cairn.

Note: if the cairn falls over again and you are looking for it on a misty day, the stones appear to be about a hundred yards west of the spot height on the map.

It was a little too damp to sit at the summit so we walked a short way down till we reached the second cairn shown on the map

where we sat and enjoyed our sandwich lunch in renewed sunshine.

Onward and downward across the gentle grass slope, we soon reach the Cloven Stone.

This is a natural rock feature now adopted as a boundary marker on the fell side due to it's distinctive appearance.

The name Cloven Stone is due to the shape of the rock.

It has the appearance of the foot of a cloven (split) hoofed animal like a cows or sheep.

This was also a day to enjoy the clouds . . .

though it seems they were growing in intensity and blackness over some of the distant fells.

A wisp of cloud drifts over Skiddaw Little Man.

Back down now at the sheepfold we left earlier, and we rejoin the track back towards Threlkeld.

Sunny St John's in the Vale ?

John always insists that the sun is always shining there . . . now we know different.

Now we can feel the difference too as the rain reaches us.
No need for coats today though . . .

After a very hot and humid walk, we were refreshed by the rain drops which cooled us delightfully.

No need to panic about getting cold either as we were just a few minutes from the end of the walk and a dry car awaits.

- - - o o o - - -

 

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

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

This site best viewed with . . . a hat perhaps . . . to protect the hair styles !

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Previous walk - Saturday 27th June 2009 Kirk Fell with Jo

A previous time up here - 28th August 2006 Great Calva and mighty Mungrisedale Common

Next walk - Thursday 2nd July 2009 Four go for a Swim