Westmorland Way

WW10: Howtown to Patterdale

Wednesday 30th June 2010

Perfect timing. We arrived at the Ullswater Steamer car park at Glenridding ten minutes before the one o'clock ferry was due. But there was nowhere to park. Hurriedly, I drove up to the village car park, found the ticket machine, found it was not working, found another ticket machine, found the £6.50 it demanded (£6.50 ?? !!!!!!), dashed back to the car, put on my boots and set off with just five minutes to go. Margaret had sensibly left sooner and I could see her in the distance actually running! I caught her up and we reached the pay booth just in time to be told that there was no rush as the captain hadn't arrived yet!

From the landing stage we had a fine view of Place Fell, walking around which we would spend much of the afternoon on the Wway.

Place Fell from the Glenridding Landing Stage

Back on the boat, for the second day running, on the Lake District's second largest lake (after Windermere) and in my view the Lake District's second loveliest (after Derwent Water), and backs to the funnel. We both agreed that this is the best place to sit. Centrally, with the nice warm funnel as a back rest to sooth aching muscles. This boat proved faster than yesterday's with a top speed of 12.5 miles per hour.

Head of Ullswater from the steamer

We alighted at Howtown where we let a huge school party go past us before resuming our mission to explore the Westmorland Way. We chose the coastal route around Hallin Fell and took full advantage of a conveniently placed bench to enjoy our lunch- this time we had brought sandwiches.

Howtown Pier

Team Picture- Ullswater

Foot of Ullswater from the Hallin Fell lakeside path

The Wway undulates considerably as it meanders along the lakeside. Every so often we would se e a ferry pass by and, conicidentally, one going the other way. It occurred to me that it could make an interesting challenge in elementary algebra to plot our location by the intersection of ferries!

Ships that pass in the day

3x-2y= the number you first thought of!

As we made our way round Sandwick, Margaret observed that the absence of washing on this and the last section was, in part at least, due to the preponderance of holiday or second homes. She decided instead that the focus of her artistic attentions should be foxgloves, of which there were plenty.

Cottage at Shandwick

~~Washing~~ Foxgloves

Eventually, on reaching Silver Crag we had a high road / low road decision to make. Sometimes low roads present problems. I well remember when Stan and I were on the Italian side of the border with France near the Riviera we were faced with the decision of going up and over by the Pas de la Corne back into France or to stay low on the Italian side and follow the paths down to the coast (see BB0930). We chose the latter. The problem was that, unlike in France, the paths on the ground did not resemble the paths on the map. Indeed the Italian paths on the ground didn't resemble paths at all, more like heavily brambled torture fields.

So I gave Margaret the choice and I was not surprised that she chose the low road. I am not saying it was the wrong choice; indeed I think it probably was the correct decision but I know she was influenced by the steep climb that presented itself for the high road. Yet I suspect that in the end there was little difference between the two in height climbed. It's just that the low road is sneaky. Just when you thought it was nice and gentle it would throw in a little tester of a climb. The word I used was "cruel". To my amazement, the word Margaret used was "interesting". I think she has been listening to Bryan too much!

Place Fell peeps over the col

An Ullswater gnome

As we reached the top end of the lake our theory about washing was shattered. There, hanging between a tent and a Land Rover was a fine display!

It was not the only thing we saw hanging. Crossing over to Patterdale, we came across a copse with several plastic bags hanging from trees. Round where we live, plastic bags hanging from trees usually means that someone has picked up their dog poo and left it there on display- a revolting (and doubly illegal) habit but on the increase. These, however, were too big. On closer examination it was clear that they had been planted up with flowers and, as it was in the grounds of a school, presumably it was some sort of experiment. I am not convinced by its aesthetic appeal but it is certainly better than dog poo.

Ullswater washing!

Glenridding Hotel

Better than dog poo. Probably.

The last stretch along the road back to Glenridding was a bit dull but on arriving at the village we renewed our acquaintance with the Glenridding Hotel, where we spent the first night of our honeymoon nearly thirty nine years before, and celebrated with an English Lakes Ice Cream.

This had been another stunning section of the Wway with exceptional views and in much better weather than we had anticipated.

A little gem.

Don, 30th June 2010

PS Here's a bonus picture of Crinkle Crags, Bowfell and the Langdales (complete with foxglove in the larger version opened when clicked!) as seen on the way to Glenridding.