(N.B. Hover your mouse over the pictures for captions)
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I was grateful for our decision to split this day into two: rather than going to Patterdale, as Wainwright suggests, we were travelling only as far as Grasmere. |
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After the usual early morning rain, we set of in fine weather and climbed up Greenup Gill. |
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Again the scenery was wonderful, the beck with its waterfalls, and Eagle Crag towering above. |
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In the distance you can see Lining Crag as you go up. At first I thought it might be one of the peaks to the side of the path up Greenup Edge, but oh no, you have to climb it! Eventually, we got up to the foot of Lining Crag, and there is a steep ascent up to the left. Plenty of time was taken to admire the view on the way up! After a short rest, we carried on up Greenup Edge, it being a little boggy in places, but not too bad. Eventually we reached the turn for Far Easdale Head. I can understand people getting lost here. The GPS told us to turn left - this didn't look correct. We spent a few minutes consulting map, compass and GPS coordinates, and did turn left. This was the right thing to do, and with confidence in the GPS restored we arrived at Far Easdale Head for a lunch stop. |
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After lunch, we started along the ridge walk via Calf Crag, Gibson Knott and Helm Crag. Although I had done this walk before, I was surprised at how hard it was, with unclear paths, rough ground and lots of little ups and downs. I slightly pulled a muscle in my thigh at one point - this was to bother me for the next few days. |
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Eventually we arrived at Helm Crag, and did the steep descent to Easdale and Grasmere. |
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We sat on a bench in Grasmere for a while, and met a young couple who were giving up the walk. They were backpacking (although staying in B&B) and had terrible blisters. They had lost a cagoule, and got lost on Greenup Edge (where we were unsure of the route earlier). To cap it all, their B&B for the night was at Patterdale, another 8 miles away, and so they had taken the hard decision to go home. What a shame. We were glad that our luggage was being carried for us by the Packhorse van. |
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We walked up the road to Fairy Glen, our guest house for the night. My blisters were no better, so we tried the nearby Swan Inn for a meal. This seemed very expensive and didn't have the right atmosphere, so we walked back into the village and had the wonderful filled Yorkshire puddings in the pub there. |
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