This has to be one of my more memorable days of walking in the autumn! After a previous day's soaking in the rain, we were totally inspired by the beautiful route we had planned from the Buttermere youth hostel. So excited about it that I even made the effort to get up specially at 4.00am just so we could be out the hostel and onto the route by 5.00am. That's dedication I can tell you. Anyway, when we left the youth hostel it was pretty chilly, but fortunately the sky was almost crystal clear. The hike up through Burtness wood and following Sour Milk Gill in the dark wasn't my fondest memories of the day, but since we'd been looking forward to seeing a sunrise from the top of Red Pike, it simply had to be done. Unfortunately though, all our efforts weren't rewarded with the amazing sunrise we'd hoped for because it got cloudy before we reached the summit. We dithered around at the top until about 7.30, just to put on some clothes mostly - but after that we pushed on in a southeasterly direction along the ridge towards High Stile. By surprise though, the clouds scattered the sunlight quite beautifully and the sky appeared like it was almost on fire above the Ennerdale valley. So actually, we did after all enjoy a sunrise, which was by now appearing from between Great Gable and Green Gable. A diverse palette of autumnal colours was now emerging from the Buttermere fells, and we enjoyed breakfast number two while sat by a sunlit Innominate Tarn. All by ourselves and having not encountered another walker yet, it was a perfect day already. From there we took the usual path across Fleetwith and over to Honister Hause before making a climb up to Dale Head. By this time though it was already around midday, so there was more company out on the fells, and it was really great to see other people enjoying the fresh air with us too. After a quick stop at the top of Dale Head, we descended down to the small tarn at the southern end of the Newlands valley and ascended up to High Spy, which was to be the last fell before continuing across Maiden Moor and dropping down into the Newlands valley. I'd not used the path that goes down the west side of Maiden Moor before, but I was really pleased by the views you get, looking over to Causey Pike and the Coledale fells, and further south towards the nice swooping ridges of Robinson and Hindscarth. The only problem we encountered trying to get back to Braithwaite was that one of the tracks we had planned to take had been closed off as the result of floods in the previous winter, so we had to find an alternative route. But anyway, in conclusion; we'd had a super super day of walking amongst some of Lakeland's best fells - not necessarily the most remote ones, but definitely the most varied in views. Linear routes are great!
User comments