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" Scale Hill and Visitors "

Date & start time:    2nd and 4th of May, 2019. 

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

Places visited :         The Peel at Crummock and a longer walk around Scale Hill.

Walk details :             1.75 miles, 400 feet of ascent, 1 hour 20 mins.

Highest point :           Scale Hill (Brackenthwaite Hows) 650 ft - 208 m.

Walked with :             Sandra and Jackie, then Ann and our dogs for the Scale Hill walk.

Weather :                    Overcast and dry, occasional sunny periods.

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After walk to the lake with Sandra and Jackie and a visit from Peter, we are home alone once more. 

However the dogs still need a daily walk so we try to think of an unusual route we haven't done for a while

... and find ourselves submersed in purple once again.

Who's this dapper fella that racked up at the door this week ?

None other than our fell walking friend Peter who arrived in non-walking, non-gardening attire.

He's popped in to see how his part of the garden is growing after all the hard work he undertook earlier in the season.

Almost didn't recognise him !

- - - o o o - - -

As you may have noticed on the Rannerdale pictures, we have friends staying for a couple of days.

When they arrived we all took a stroll down to the lake in the calm of the late afternoon.

Dougal, Dylan and their dog Rufus enjoy games on the pebble beach.

Jackie waits while she's caught on camera by Ann !

Is she complaining at having two pictures taken ?

These two never seem to complain.

The problem came with the second photo this time, in that they hear the shutter click and jumped off the stone thinking its all over.

- - - o o o - - -

Once we had visited the bluebells at Rannerdale with Sandra and Jackie

their visit was over as they had an event in Elterwater to get to on the following morning and had to say goodbye in time to get there.

The dogs still need a daily walk and we racked our brains to try and find an interesting local walk that we hadn't done for a while . . .

Inspiration came in the form of a walk up the far side of Scale Hill.
A short road walk and a stile took us into the woods.

We haven't been on this footpath since they cleared some trees here and planted new trees on the summit.

This was a clearing in the centre of what the map calls Tindle Woods . . . and guess what . . . there are bluebells about.

These are in a more wooded environment . . .
. . . and are again accompanied by Greater Stitchwort flowers.

We walk on through the woods to a stile set in the top wall . . . and emerge into a carpet of purple.

Looking down the Lorton Valley over the Pickett How residence.

An old tree has seen better days but saplings have been planted in the tubes to grow into new trees.

Ann delighted with the choice of route today.

Grasmoor with a foreground of Scale Hill bluebells.

There are more on the side of this small fell and they can be seen well from the Buttermere Road below.

The geese flying overhead have a pretty good view too.

In fact these six Greylag Geese flew low around us several times as if checking us out . . .

. . . before they settled on the ground just a short distance away

The south facing slope seems to have less flowers, not that they are any less beautiful.

Last year's bracken and this year's new growth seem to be higher than that at Rannerdale so the ones on this side of the fell are more hidden.

In places they are large enough to nearly block the paths.
An ancient Hawthorn tree is flowering at the same time.

Summit-baggers . . . Dougal and Dylan.

Heading back down now, passing more blooms.

Presumably over time many of these stands of flowers will become woodland based which may give them more protection.

At least a basic tree cover will deter the bracken slightly . . . time will tell.

Close up on a marginal flower group . . .
. . . and fresh leaves on an Oak sapling in one of the tubes.
   

Down to the old oak at the deer fence that now surrounds the fell.

A short walk back through the usual Lanthwaite Woods trees.

. . . and we find ourselves back at the Scale Hill car park.

When they planted trees around the summit a few years back we thought it would spoil the views of the flowers

but perhaps it will be okay once the plastic tubes are removed, as today's walk has found.

- - - o o o - - -

Technical note: Pictures taken with either Ann's Panasonic Lumix TZ60, or my Panasonic Lumix Gx8 Camera.

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

This site best viewed with . . . another walk on which to take friends in the future.

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Previous walk - 3rd May - The Rannerdale Bluebells 2019

A previous time up here - 14th February 2011 Scale Hill and Snowdrops

Next walk10 - 25th May - Outer Hebrides 2019