Harter Fell and Green Cragg

Following on from Saturday's ascent of the Old Man we decided to stay in the Duddon Valley.  I have this silly idea of walking all the Wainwrights, the hills Alf detailed in his pictorial guides.  This is a slow burning ambition and, to date, I've completed nearly 100 in about 15 years, however, there have been many repeat ascents and I'm in no real rush.

We drove up to Birks Bridge and began the direct ascent of Harter Fell which was reached surprisingly quickly although a little steep at times.  Kiki disgraced herself on the way up.  I assume she was chasing deer in the woods although, thankfully, I managed to catch Heidi before she could join in.

Looking back towards Dow Crag and yesterday's walk.

The gap between Harter Fell and Green Cragg was a little on the soggy side with only a very indistinct path.  There were also a couple of sheep lurking which we noticed before the girls but the final drag to the summit was pleasantly quick.

A lovely walk which was noticeably quieter than yesterday, I think we only saw about half a dozen people all day compared with a steady stream up the Old Man.  We retired to the Newfield for the usual post walk pint.

This had turned out to be one of those fantastic weekends in the Lakes.  The cottage was lovely and warm in temperatures that didn't move much above freezing all weekend.  Maybe I'm getting old but the thought of sleeping in a tent with two wet dogs didn't really appeal.  The Newfield was as I remembered and the isolation is a welcome change from London, you could even see stars.

The Old Man of Coniston

Well, that's been a lot longer than I imagined.  Sorry, life has got in the way.  We've still been going on walks but I haven't found time to document them.  There is some catch up to do if I ever get the chance but we were lucky enough to manage a weekend in the Lakes recently.

The original plan had been to camp but, following several weeks of rather wet weather, enquiries to various campsite suggested that they were mostly underwater, we managed to find a cottage, at very short notice, in Hall Dunnerdale that would accept two dogs.  This fitted in rather nicely with the original plan of camping at Turner Hall, somewhere I'd not been for around ten years.  It also meant that the Newfield Inn would be our local, somewhere I was looking forward to revisiting having fond memories of the previous trip.

The journey up was uneventful with a brief detour to Sunbury to collect Neil and a slightly longer one to Crewe for Glyn.  We made reasonable time and were able to stop off for a quick pint in The Prince of Wales in Foxfield.  The pub looks rather decrepit from the outside but was a real find and I would happily recommend a visit.  We were expecting it to be deserted, however, there was standing room only inside.

The following morning we drove over to Coniston with the intention of walking up the Old Man, a first for Neil although both Glyn and myself had climbed it on separate occasions in the past.  The day was beautiful and clear although there appeared to be plenty of snow on the higher ground.  We parked in the town and walked up the Walna Scar road before turning right to Low Water and then onto the summit.

 

We returned via Goats Water and back into Coniston for a quick pint in the Sun.  A fantastic day out although the wind was a little strong towards the summit.  Both girls behaved themselves, thankfully most of the sheep are down in the intake fields at this time of year although there's always one or two lurking so you have to keep an eye out.  Heidi particularly enjoyed the summit where a lot of people were having lunch and she was more than pleased to assist if they were struggling.

The journey home over Wrynose Pass was interesting in the ice, the conversation dropped noticeably at some point but we made it home for an enjoyable evening in the Newfield Inn.