Walk: 12 noon to 5pm - 7.5 miles
Off subject a little , but what I found interesting today when reviewing my GPS when we stopped for lunch was the amount of time spent moving and stationary. I looked at the GPS as we were packing up our rucksacks after eating, and noticed that it was 2hrs 40 minutes since we left the car, and that exactly 50% of that time had been spent not moving. A few stops for a drink, obviously our lunch, short stops to wait for my wife when I was shooting off in front, and the obligatory photo stops – surprising how much of the walk is spent not moving!
Anyway, back to the walk. As we had failed yesterday in our walk to Devoke Water we decided to have another go, but this time take the left turn that we ignored yesterday as it didn’t match with what was on the map. We parked up, set off up the hill and as we approached the turn we noticed cattle beyond the gate – and lots of young. Butterflies started in my stomach as I’m not good around cows, but I crossed the boundary. However, after about 2 minutes and my wife having told me that around the corner that was a Bull – and you couldn’t half hear it, I was back though the gate like a shot! So, another aborted walk.
Back at the car we decided to head back up the coast and then inland and try a walk around Ennerdale, and what a great walk it turned out to be. We parked in the car-park near Bleach Green Cottages and headed anti-clockwise around the lake. The views were absolutely stunning, and with the weather so good we knew it would be a great walk.
Heading around in this direction means that you get the only ‘difficult’ bit of the walk out of the way early – a section of walk around Anglers Crag where the path is narrow and exposed, however it’s only a section of around 200m and the drop is probably no more than 30m or so, and it’s soon over. The rest of the path is low-level, however much of it until you get to the far end is rocky so you spend more time watching the path in front of you than you do the views. We stopped at the far end for lunch, and of course the boots came off and we dipped our feet in the cool water...very relaxing.
Setting off back along the far bank, the path was a wide flat track and easy walking, however you spent more time in the shade as you head through the bottom of the woodland. The only ‘messy’ bit of the walk along the route back is the section of narrow path along the side of the lake around Bowness Point when the path takes you through Fern and a few Gorse bushes, not difficult just a little frustrating – it is however a section of only 1/3 mile or so.
We arrived back to the car at exactly 5pm, then set off back through the winding roads to the main coast road getting back to the cottage around 5:45pm. A quick shower, a meal at the Bridge Inn at Santon Bridge and then a couple of drinks in the bar at Irton Hall. A great way to finish a great week.
More photos can be found here
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