Our last full day in the Lakes today and the weather was so much better ! It was sunny and there was blue sky ! We got going a bit earlier today and drove round to Keswick again and round Derwent Water to Ashness Bridge.
The bridge itself was really small and lovely and ran over Ashness Gill. The car park was an NT one and was small, but very nice adn right opposite the start of the footpath up the Gill. The weather really couldn't have been better today - sunshine and blue skies. We started following the path up by the side of Ashness Gill and really quickly gained height and some fantastic views of Derwent Water, Brassenthwaite and the wind farm in the distance, all the way to Scotland.
We followed the gill for some way, up a ravine. It was a lovely walk, but the path was much wetter and muddier here than any others we'd found earlier in the week. It was quite clear to follow though. It took us up onto a crag, with more fantastic views at which point, I think we deviated slightly, only because it was an obvious path... We got there eventually ! We followed a path across the rather wet and boggy plateau before a final scramble up to the summit of High Seat, where it was a bit windy and chilly.
There were some stunning views from here though - all the way from Keswick in the north round over Helvellyn, south towards Grasmere, east to the Borrowdale Valley, Honister Pass and everything inbetween. It really was an amazing view. There were several others up here too, all stopping for lunch as we did !
After lunch we headed north towards Bleaberry Fell. we started following a path alongside a fence across even more wet and boggy ground ! It involved having to jump over several very wet areas... Wainwright did say in his book that it wasn't a recommended walk ! As we approached Bleaberry Fell itself, we spotted a much nicer, firmer path heading to the summit, which we joined. At the summit, again there were amazing views of Keswick and surrounding areas. This is the only reason Wainwright could see to walk up Bleaberry and I think I agree. The summit itself wasn't much of anything otherwise.
From the top, we could clearly see the path down, again still heading northeast. The start of it was fairly steep, but someone had taken time to put loads of stones in like steps. It was a lovely path down, past a sheepfold with changing views all the way. We turned to the south when we met another path running north/south and followed this round back towards the car park across the side of the fell. It really was a lovely walk, I don't think I'd want to do it the other way round though !
When back at the car, we looked at the map to try and find parking and hopefully a tea room in Keswick. We headed for the parking near Derwent Water as we figured there would probably be a cafe there somewhere. There was a quite large car park, a theatre with a cafe and the Lakeside Tea Rooms, which is where we went. As we walked in, I noticed a piano in the corner which was playing itself... it was like an old tea room where people used to go for afternoon tea and music. It was kind of ironic in some ways finding that on what would have been Dad's birthday.
We had tea/coffee and cakes today sitting outside in the sunshine, which was nice, then went for a wander along the edge of Derwent Water. It was quite busy down here - people in canoes on the lake, people in launches cruising the lake, people walking... We took some lovely photos of the surrounding fells, Mike's getting quite arty with some of the photos he took !
About quarter to six, we then headed back into Keswick itself for the WCOC evening Street Sprint O...