Date: 02-May-2010
Map: Landranger 90, OL7
Weather: Overcast, with sunny spells.
From the car park at Glen Mary Bridge up
to Holme Fell, down to the old quarry and around High Oxen
Fell, across the road to High Arnside and up to Black Fell.
Down to Tarn Hows and turn down the valley back to the start :
a very easy 7.7 miles as measured on Satmap.
Hmmm Bank
Holiday Sunday in the Lake District - where to go without
meeting masses of people. Easy I just picked out a couple of Wainwrights of lesser stature than the usual ones. To be
honest the traffic on the way up from Manchester was not too
bad and I'd expected much worse - it was even OK through
Windermere and Ambleside which was even more surprising. I
drove down to Tom Gill where there is a small car park at
£5.40 for the day. Opposite was a farm which used to do
teas, but alas no more - a shame as it would have been a
perfect end to the day. We crossed the busy A-road and had
to wait for a stream of old Austin Heeleys to vroom by and
roar their way up to Ambleside.
the former tea rooms at the start
we skirted around the base of the fell
the gully that led us up to the open land
the Langdales in the distance
close to the top of Holme Fell, looking over to Coniston
Water
Wetherlam, with the Pike of Blisco on the right background
The first big hill in view
today was the back of Wetherlam towering over the valley,
making Holme Fell look tiny by comparison. We turned north
along the flank of the hill to follow a well worn stony
route that ascends gradually through cow pasture and Harry
Guards Wood to a small valley at Uskdale Gap. It got a
little steeper and as we ascended we met another couple with
an old dog, and commented on how quiet it was. He said 'come
on old man', so I replied 'I'm trying' which raised a
snigger or two. We didn't actually meet many people until
the end of the walk at Tarn Hows, The path wound up the
valley and came out to open ground and open views as we
crested the rise. Ahead was a great vista of the Langdale
Pikes, the Helvellyn range, Kentmere, the Howgills and
further away Ingleborough. To the left was the Pike of
Blisco, the Crinkle Crags, Bowfell, Lingmoor and Loughrigg -
to name but a few, and I guess that's why Wainwright chose
these type of smaller fells. Although Holme Fell is not very
high it has a couple of cairns and we could see a few people
wondering if they were on the correct one.
looking down to the route off Holme Fell
Belted Galloways and the Langdale Pikes
A belted Galloway
the route around to the quarry
Down below the
summit was a small herd of Banded Galloways - a small
strange looking cattle with black front and back end and
white in the middle - all marked out neatly for the butcher.
The route took us down steeply off the summit to pass by a
small tarn, veering off to the left to walk down to the old
quarry at Hodge Close. There was a big car park on the other
side of the quarry from us, so to avoid the crowds we found
a nice grassy knoll overlooking the quarry with views up
towards the Langdale Pikes. A nice little picnic with
apple\cheese sarnies - very refreshing. The quarry had deep
green water and interesting looking tunnels running off it -
but there was some dodgy looking ladders and ropes dangling
around the place, but it was the type of place that begs
further investigation. Refreshed again the path followed a
wall around through dappled sunshine in old woods to meet a
4x4 track. This old farm track runs up to Oxen Fell with
lovely views of the higher fells across the sheep pasture -
there were plenty of new born late lambs bouncing around,
the sound of Cuckoo's echoing around the valleys, and the
odd drum of the woodpecker - a sure sign of warmer times
ahead.
the quarry - it's a steep drop so beware
More Langdale Pikes from our lunch spot
a very mossy wall
the view from High Oxen Fell
looking back to Wetherlam
the view over to the Helvellyn Range
But not today though as it was on/off all day with
the fleece and gloves, and a definite necessity on the fell
tops. We dropped back down to the road and wandered up the
lane to High Arnside farm - I'm not sure if we should have
gone through the farm, but we did and nothing got broken or
misplaced by us. At the back of the farm we could see
plenty of routes up to Black Crag on the open access land,
and also plenty of bikes zooming along. I found out later
that this is a part of the Cumbria Way and very nice too -
maybe I'll do that later in the year. It was a loose
stony
path and eventually we cut back towards Black Crag along a
clear grassy route across rough pasture. It wasn't long
before the top appeared and the trig point. Of the two
Wainwrights today this one had the better views, and you can
spy 5 lakes from the top - Windermere, Coniston Water,
Thirlmere and Esthwaite Water. There were far reaching views
over to the horrible Howgills and Ingleborough as well.
Lingmoor Fell
the route past Arnside Intake
the way up to Black Fell
plenty of paths to take your pick
the view over to Lingmoor Fell and the Langdales beyond
the view from the trig point on Black Crag
a great vista
looking over to Windermere
Lingmoor Fell all lit up
a biker zooms over the Cumbrian Way
on the way to Tarn Hows
they aren't very big
Tarn Hows
a car park money tree
not much water in Tom Gill
the view from my chair
There were plenty of routes down to Tarn Hows, and across
the valley Holme Fell looked a bit insignificant with
Wetherlam and the Old Man looking down on him. As we walked
down towards the tarn another biker whizzed by and there
were more people walking along the motorway path designed
for wheelchairs and children. - there's always an
incongruous mix where hiker meets day trippers, but everyone
was enjoying the surrounds. It was an easy trot around the
path and then at the end of Tarn Hows we turned down Tom
Gill, which would normally have had a good flow of water but
today was running very dry at the top. There were a couple
of falls lower down but neither was very impressive. After a
peaceful descent down steps and the path we finally returned
to the car. A very nice simple walk with great views - well
done Alf - a good choice.
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