Catbells, Maiden Moor, High Spy
2 January 2015
Yesterday's weather forecast said of walking on the
fells that "any movement will be tortuous", so we stayed at low level,
but today it was to be merely "arduous" and the wind chill a mere minus
17.
A departure from the house in the dark saw us arrive at Chapel Bridge at
Little Town in Newlands soon after nine o'clock for what proved to be a
very windy walk. Here's a view up the valley of Newlands Beck along
which we will return later, but for now let's turn round and head for
Catbells.
Heading for the col that lies between Catbells (on the left) and Maiden
Moor (on the right).
As we gained height, the wind got stronger. Note the water blowing
upwards.
From near the summit of Catbells, a view up Borrowdale
Across Derwentwater past Keswick to the sun on Latrigg
It was very windy on the ridge, and I contemplated descending again
after Catbells, but for all that the contours crowd together on the map,
on the ground there is room to be blown around. Here we gain height on
Maiden Moor and look back over Catbells, with Derwentwater on the right,
Bassenthwaite Lake in the distance, and the Skiddaw massif looming over
Keswick.
The head of Derwentwater merges with flooded fields of Borrowdale
A windswept Lottie and George on the summit of High Spy. Progress to get
here from Maiden Moor was very difficult - the weather forecast had said
that movement would be "arduous" and they were right. The dogs weren't
too troubled, being near the ground, but I struggled at times to make
any progress at all.
Time to descend, and from the somewhat complex area of land between High
Spy and Dale Head we head down along the infant Newlands Beck
The path was fairly rough and slower than expected, with the winds still
strong and accompanied by hail showers, but we gradually returned to
calmer conditions in the bottom of the valley.
A hard walk in the weather conditions, but in fabulous country with wonderful
views near and far. A great time had by all except in the hail showers.
Total distance 12.4 km and 806 metres of ascent in 4 hours 49 mins
Lake District, New Year 2014/15
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