" Walla Crag and Bleaberry Fell "

Date & start time: Saturday 2nd June 2012, 3 pm start.

Location of Start : The car park in Great Wood, Keswick, Cumbria, Uk ( NY 272 212 )

Places visited : Cat Gill, Walla Crag, Brown Knotts and Bleaberry Fell.

Walk details : 4.25 mls, 1680 ft of ascent, 3 hrs 30 mins.

Highest point : Bleaberry Fell  1932 ft - 590 m.

Walked with : Ian, Jo, John, Ann and the dogs, Jodie, Amber, Polly, Keera, Harry and Bethan.

Weather : Warm but overcast, a slight breeze but that was warm too.

It was the first Saturday in June . . . Jo was over for the weekend and Ian was up from Bedfordshire for a few days too 

(the rest of us live here) so it was five setting off from Great Wood for today's walk.

With the addition of John's new companion Keera, the dogs out-number the people today.

Look out . . . "Crufts on Tour" hits the fells !

A quick photo call as we start out from Great Wood.

The predominant colour seems to be woodland green. . . summer has arrived.

Jo climbs the steps of Cat Gill, Amber giving her a helping hand.	When the path reaches the gate it turns for Walla Crag.

The clearing allows us a view across Derwent Water to the North Western fells.

Catbells is the nearest, slightly green fell with the woodland at its base.

Causey Pike, Sail, Ill Crags and Ard Crags fade away into the distance.

The party splits, half want to try a different path to the summit . . . pick which side of the wall to walk . . . that's the only difference.

I ask Ian and Ann to wave goodbye to the others for photographic effect . . . Ian's got the idea at least !

A short while further the two paths re-join at the stile.

Back on one path this time . . . but people seem to be heading in different directions again.

The classic view . . . man looking over Keswick and Derwent Water from Walla Crag.

Zooming in  on Derwent Isle and Friar's Crag this side of it.

The lake level is low due to the fine weather here in Cumbria and the lagoon in front of Friars Crag is almost empty.

The water is so low that we've gained a couple of islands in the last few days.

The shallows off St Herbert's Island are dry which is unusual to say the least.

The Sun photographer has arrived . . . but unfortunately he's forgotten to bring the sun.

The summit of Walla Crag is set back slightly from the edge

and from this point we can look across at the rest of our walk . . . across the moorland and up Bleaberry fell from the right hand side.

The upper reaches of Cat Gill include this small waterfall, but there was hardly any water running off Low Moss today.

This area must have an underlying, subtle change of geology as it is a natural spring line and is always wet.

We left Ian at Brown Knotts at his request and continued on up towards the summit of Bleaberry Fell

He would relax and explore the humps and bumps of the Knott and we'd join up with him on the way back down.

Am I the only one who thinks a path like this is as bad if not worse than the eroded path it replaced.

The National Park say it will blend in in time but it's been six years at least and it is still a 'motorway scar' on the landscape.

It is far too wide and destroys the wilderness aspect of the moorland fells.

[ Hold your cursor over the photo to look back six years . . . click on the photo to take yourselves back to the full 2006 walk report. ]

In contrast the pitched-path section has blended reasonably well.	Ann and Jo reach the last cairn before the summit.

This one's the real top but it is set well back.  The previous cairn is the one that catches the eye on the ascent.

Beyond  the path continues to High Seat and fades into the gloom of some low cloud over the higher fells.

We turn and re-trace our steps . . . stopping briefly at the shelter for a brief snack as we pass.

By the look of the strange coloured black and cream coloured stones, I'd say Bethan and Keera are in there looking for left-overs.

Back to the motorway.

With the aid of modern optics I zoom in on Brown Knotts and spot Ian by the summit cairn.

The water behind is Bassenthwaite Lake.

Surprise . . . a friendly wave from the passing auto-gyro.	Leaving the fell far behind we retrace our steps to Cat Gill.

Everything that goes up must come down . . . Harry waits for the back-markers.

- - - o o o - - -

Safely back down we reach the Great Wood car park and prepare to leave for home.

Before we go, a tree on the edge of the car park catches our eye . . .

It is covered in cobwebs . . .	. . . and I mean covered.

John identifies the offenders - Ermine Moth caterpillars	Impressive . . . but scary.

The colony has probably killed the host-tree as they have eaten every leaf and most of the bark.

It would probably be impossible for the plant to survive such a comprehensive attack.

We'll try and remember to check it out when we are over there next time.

- - - o o o - - -

Technical note: Pictures taken with either Ann's Canon Sureshot SX220, my Canon G10 Digital camera..

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

This site best viewed with . . . some green paint to hide the path ?

Go to Top . . . © RmH . . . Email me here

Previous event - 30th May 2012 Loweswater Farmers Day Out 2012

A previous time up here - 8th February 2006 Walla Crag and Bleaberry Fell after the rain

Next walk - 4th June 2012 Whoap and Lank Rigg