August 12

August

Joint Winner Walk of the Year

Route

	Walk leader		Michelle
	Route		Little Town - High Snab – Scope Beck – Robinson – Littledale Edge – Hindscarth Edge – Dale Head – Dalehead Tavern – Newlands Beck – LittleTown.
	Weather		Warm and sunny, chill gusty wind on top of the hills.
	Walkers		Michelle, Michael, Sandy, Ron, George and Evelyn.
	Excuses		Bernie - beginning a holiday with family in the Lakes. Ashley - at the Olympics. Carol - busy. Olwen - in Wales.
	Comments		Another proper walk over 9.5 miles of rough, punishing terrain, resulting in a late finish. We managed to park together in a nice walled, square lay-by, although we annoyed a family who wanted to get in ahead of Michelle. We subsequently met them twice en route and were treated to unfriendly glares. The walk started with a relatively gentle climb up past some uprooted trees, the whitewashed village church with a tearoom extension, some attractive holiday cottages and a busy border collie, to a small dammed reservoir where we had lunch. Evelyn left us here and returned to Little Town by the same route. The rest of us started a long slow climb (500m in 1.6 miles) up through very boggy ground towards Robinson. On attaining the ridge we had to climb up a very steep slope to the first cairn. We were disappointed to find that this was not the summit and that we had to pass several more false ones until we reached the true summit. Luckily the ridge was fairly level past the first cairn. We took our second break at the summit, where we had a good view of Buttermere and Crummock Water, before descending to a saddle, and climbed up to Dale Head. Our third break was at the summit cairn where we took a photo of Michael and Michelle on the same spot of a similar picture many years ago. Here we had a panoramic view of much of the Lake District, including Keswick, Blencathra, Skiddaw and the Honister Pass. Sitting on top of Dalehead, all felt a sense of achievement on having reached the summit on the toughest walk for a while. The descent back to the car via Dalehead Tarn is the longest sustained descent in the Lake District. It took over two hours to work our way down a rocky and twisty path. The path down from Dalehead Tarn was alongside a deep gorge with a spectacular waterfall. Michael and Sandy met a lovely black Labradoodle. As we got down to level ground, a farmer on a quad bike appeared, which caused the sheep to get very excited. Heads suddenly appeared out of the bracken and the sheep began to run towards the quad bike. There were looks and 'meehs' of disappointment when there was no food. We met a dog on a mission as we returned to Little Town. There weren't many people out and about for this time of year. Wildlife/Flora/Animals: Birds: stonechat, wheatear, swallows, meadowpipit, rooks. Butterflies/insects: 'all terrain mountain' spider. Plants/Trees: bluebells, harebells and thyme. Bush that looked like a chicken. Hawthorn trees in the scree and a conifer growing the middle of a rock landslide. Mammals/others: lots of shorn sheep with a red, pinky or orange coat. Dalmation sheep and several black Herdwick lambs. Nice black horse.
	Meal
	Meal		Meal of the Year Swinside Inn, by Portinscale: excellent pub food with good, fast service. Annoyed by a persistent fly.
	Photo Gallery		Cars