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BB0729
Pikeawassa and the Fusedale Round
Wednesday
26th September 2007
With
Autumn officially only a few days old and the leaves
just starting to turn, it seemed, first thing this morning,
as if Summer and Winter had both arrived at the same
time to try and take over. It was a beautiful
day although bitterly cold.
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As
we drove up Shap, heading for Pooley Bridge and another
excursion on the Ullswater Launch, we thought we were
in for one of those glorious outings of which we have
known few this year.
We
took a short cut through Lowther Park, past the ghostly
ruined castle to the delightful village of Askham where
Stan wondered what property prices were like and got
the predictable reply.
At
the Pooley Bridge pier there was a man filming for the
Ullswater Steamers web site so you might, one day soon,
be able to see us in the movies.
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Lowther
Castle
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Ullswater
from Pooley Bridge Pier
Sadly,
Summer was starting to lose the battle with Winter.
The clouds were forming and a bitter North Wind
was blowing. Not so strong however that the Captain
of the Launch needed to use his hands to steer. Feet
sufficed! We landed at Howtown and made our rather
cold way up the nose of Steel Knotts, along to its summit,
the wonderfully named Pikeawassa where Wainwright challenges
the walker actually to stand on it highest point.
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Look!
No Hands!
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Meeting
AW's challenge on Pikeawassa
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As
we continued south along the ridge, with Fusedale on
our left hand side, Stan suddenly shot off. When
Tony stopped to put on more clothes, I decided to catch
him up.
The
Steel Knotts Ridge with Fusedale to the left, Martindale
to the right
It took quite an effort but in the end
I managed it and asked why he had set off so fast. He
explained that it was now past noon and he did not want
to have to listen to Tony twining on about needing to
stop for lunch.
The
drawback of a trip that starts with the Ullswater Launch
is that inevitably we are late getting onto the fells,
in this case it was around 11:20 before we started walking
so it was inevitable that a late lunch stop would be
involved and that Tony’s needs would be severely challenged.
When
we reached the High Street motorway on Wether Hill,
we stopped to wait for Tony and Bryan to catch up. To
our surprise, Bryan confirmed that Tony had been as
good as gold and had not mentioned lunch once.
That
was soon to change. On the top of Wether Hill
and despite a wind chill effect of considerable extent,
I thought for a moment Tony was going to emulate a Burmese
Monk and stage a one man protest sit down. However
he was encouraged to carry on to the col that was in
the lee of Loadpot Hill where we managed to find a peat
embankment behind which we could get down out of the
wind and refuel.
Having
had his pit stop, Tony was anxious to carry on so he
hurried us to recommence our progress up to the top
of Loadpot Hill. Here was definitely not the place
for lingering so we continued on towards Bonscale Pike,
trying, en route, to find the stone circle that is mentioned
on the maps but we could not see it.
Ullswater
from Bonscale Pike
The
view from Bonscale Pike is quite spectacular down the
lake to Fairfield and the Helvellyns and east to Skiddaw
and Blencathra.
Stan had another attempt to find
the stone circle but soon gave up and rejoined us on
the way to Arthur’s Pike.
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Team
picture at Bonscale Pike
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Skiddaw
and Blencathra from Arthur's Pike
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From
here it was a fairly
gentle descent to Aik Beck and then down to Park Foot
which is quite a complex of cottages, caravans, pony
trekking and the largest gent’s loo and shower block
I have seen since I left school. On discovering
a huge campsite, it finally dawned on us for whom it
was there.
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Park
Foot Wash Basins
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Late
afternoon at Pooley Bridge
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Once
we reached the road, Summer started a bit of a fight
back and pushed Winter aside. The drive back was
almost as pleasant as the outward journey. We
stopped for a few minutes to explore the Lonsdale family’s
churchyard and admired the extensive model village of
estate worker’s cottages.
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The
Lonsdale Mausoleum and Church
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Estate
Cottages
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If
only Summer had made that effort earlier on, this would
have been a magnificent outing. As it was, it
was still a good walk with tremendous views but oh so
cold!
Don,
Wednesday 26th September 2007
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Earl
of Lonsdale
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Detail
from Mausoleum
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Distance: 10.5 miles (Harveys
/ Anquet and Garmin / Memory Map)
Height
climbed: 2,543feet.
Wainwrights:
Steel Knottsl, Wether Hill, Loadpot Hill, Bonscale
Pike, Arthur's Pike
For the latest totals
of the mileages, heights and Lakeland Fell Book Wainwrights see: Wainwrights.
If anyone wants to claim other peaks, please let
me know and I will submit them to the adjudication committee!
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BOOT
boys
Home
Page
BB04
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Archive
Click on the photos for an enlargement or related large
picture.
Wainwrights
Bryan
has kindly produced a log of which Wainwrights have
been done by which Bootboy
in the "modern" era, i.e. since the advent
of Bootboys.
To
download the Excel file click on Wainwrights.
If
anyone wants to claim other peaks, please let me know
and I will submit them to the adjudication committee!
BOOT
boys
This page describes a 2007 adventure of BOOTboys, a loose group of friends of mature
years who enjoy defying the aging process by getting out into the hills as
often as possible!
As most live in South Lakeland, it is no surprise that
our focus is on the Lakeland fells and the Yorkshire Dales.
As for the name, BOOTboys, it does not primarily derive from an
item of footwear but is in memory of Big
Josie, the erstwhile landlady of
the erstwhile Burnmoor Inn at Boot in Eskdale, who enlivened Saint Patrick's Day
1973 and other odd evenings many years ago!
If you want to contact us, click on
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