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" Angle Tarn Pikes and Brock Crags " Date & start time: Wednesday 15th July 2015, 12.50 pm start. Location of Start : The red phone box, Patterdale , Cumbria, Uk ( NY 395 159 ) Places visited : Boredale Hause, Angle Tarn, Brock Crags and Angle Tarn Pikes Walk details : 6.9 mls, 2400 feet of ascent, 5 hour 20 mins. Highest point : Angle Tarn Pikes 1,857ft - 567m Walked with : Ann and Jo and our dogs, Amber, Harry and Dylan. Weather : Sunshine and summer skies. |
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Summer may have arrived today as the sun shone and the temperatures rose. Jo is in the Lakes on holiday this week and today we joined up with her to walk above Patterdale on a circumnavigation of Angle Tarn, Brock Crags and Angle Tarn Pikes.
A wider appreciation of the valley as seen from the bridge over to the hamlet of Rooking, the group of houses at the foot of the climb to Boredale Hause. The scene is very green today. The July weather, though not brilliant, has been warm and moist enough for everything to grow. The flowers are out, the farmers have started gathering a hay crop in places, but the green hills are a sign of that invasive bracken which our politicians here and in Brussels don't seem to want to do anything about. The houses in Rooking are picturesque and attractive. This one has unusual stained glass in the four outer window sections. Sadly many appear to be holiday homes which must reduce the vibrancy of Rooking as a village community. Still the ones that are lived in are showing their best to the world. This is Cherry How . . . it could equally well have been called Rose Cottage from the fine display in the garden. The old Victorian seat soon after the start of the climb towards the hause. The path up naturally leads you onto the upper of the two tracks, we'll use the lower one on the way back. Climbs usually mean expanding views . . . and today was no exception. The village of Patterdale with its hotels and ferry boats comes into view again as we rise above the trees. Our calendar for June showed lovely foxgloves at Foulsyke House here in Loweswater, but this year the foxgloves are a few weeks later I think. Only now are they in full bloom right across the Lakes. Boredale Hause leads over to the Boredale Valley and Howtown on the downward side. We head off past the old sheepfold, taking the path up towards Angle Tarn. I've never really worked out what the apparent spoil heap is . . . maybe it is something to do with the old Hayeswater pipeline over the hause. The natural water course serves a different purpose today . . . that of cooling down Harry after the warm climb. Looking back at Place Fell as the girls stop to admire the view. I've grumbled enough today . . . won't mention the unnatural machine made path up the fellside opposite ! The addition of the large cap stone on he cairn makes it seems almost like a Tibetan Chorten Hold your cursor over the picture to transport yourself to the land of the Himalayas. Brothers Water with Red Screes behind. Why did Wainwright include Middle Dodd, the slight bump on this side, as a separate fell ? Sheep's eye view of the upper Patterdale Valley. Rather than head straight for the highest point we indulged in a little deferred gratification by taking the lower terraced path around towards the lake. The views down were lovely today so no great hardship. Click here or on the photo above for a larger Loweswatercam annotated panorama Around the corner now and Angle Tarn comes into view for the first time today.
Colourful mosses filled all the level grassy areas. Time for lunch . . . but we won't find a dry place to sit until we move away from this type of vegetation. This looks like a good place to stop . . . a rock outcrop next to the lake with a lovely view across to the crags and down over the small side inlet of the tarn. - - - o o o - - - It's a hot day so a good place for a swim and cool down before lunch.
The breeze over the lake was sufficient to ripple the surface out there in the centre of the tarn. The ducks that were swimming around the island over lunchtime were conspicuous by their absence when I came to press the shutter. All good things come to an end. The kitchen roll at the bottom of the lunch box has been used to wipe our fingers, the lunch time drink sachet is empty, the dogs have been fed and the swimming shorts packed away . . . time to move on. I climb a minor summit as the girls continue on up the indistinct path, heading upward towards our first summit of the day, Brock Crags. From my slightly elevated position there's a good view of the Helvellyn massif. The low ridge from right to left takes you to the summit via Striding Edge . . . The other edge, Swirral, is slightly hidden by the higher outline of Helvellyn Lower Man just behind it. Our eyes were often drawn back to the lake. Each time the viewing angle had changed and it looked visually interesting, almost a new shape, compared to the time before. Sometimes I sit and think, sometimes I just sit . . . and enjoy the view. A pile of rock on the highest point means we have reached the top of Brock Crags. This was the view to the north west. To the south west we return to the view of Brothers Water and Hartsop above How. Looking down to Hayeswater from Brock Crags summit. Zooming in on one of the Hartsop Swaledale ewes. Heavy red sheep marks and a damp summer often turns these sheep pink as the colour spreads across their backs.
From the top we skirt around the summit pools and head across the open fell in order to find the main footpath again. Before we reached the path we were spotted by Loweswatercam viewer David Mann and his walking companion Angela. We chatted for a short while and we managed a group photo courtesy of Jo's index finger on the camera shutter. David and Angela head through the old gate, heading down to Hartsop Village via the old footpath which makes its way down the southern flanks of Brock Crags. They can just be seen away to the right in this photo. A group of D.of E. challengers had been slowly making their way around the tarn and up the path to High Street. They pass us as we start to make our way back down to the lake, our first downward section of the walk.
This area is famous for its deer herds, so I start to look around. It takes the zoom lens to identify the lovely animals clearly.
Nearly three quarters of the way around the tarn. Now the light is coming from the left, the sun being partially obscured which causes shadows to fall on us and on the fells this side. Sparkling water. A last view back to the lake as we climb the second summit of the day . . . Angle Tarn Pikes. The lovely weather has allowed us good visibility and great views all day. The view this side is quite good too . . . that's Ullswater behind Jo ! My rucksack adds a dash of colour to the summit, in this world of summer-mountain-green. Click here or on the photo above for a Loweswatercam 360 degree annotated panorama. No easy descent to the sheepfold so we follow the diagonal path back down to the outward route we used this morning. We're back at that Tibetan looking cairn. Boredale Hause once again as we retrace our steps. There's another school group taking a short break as we walk down. On the way up we used the upper path. On the way down the junction is such that we drifted naturally onto the lower path for the descent. Back to the valley and the landmark pub, the White Lion. It's nearly seven o'clock and time to decide what to do about supper.
- - - o o o - - - Don't panic . . . we've just walked to the car to change our boots and drop off the rucksacks. A fish and chip meal at the White Lion is too good to miss. Tempura battered haddock served with chunky chips and mushy peas. Served on newspaper! - - - o o o - - - |
Technical note: Pictures taken with either Ann's Canon Sureshot SX220, or my Canon 1100D Digital SLR. Resized in Photoshop, and built up on a Dreamweaver web builder. This site best viewed with . . . the latest edition of The Daily Catch. Go to Top . . . © RmH . . . Email me here Previous walk - 11th July 2015 - Seafarer's 24 Peaks Challenge 2015 A previous time up here - 4th May 2004 Angle Tarn Pikes in Patterdale - 2004 Next walk - 19th July 2015 - George Fisher's Summer Outing 2015
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