9/9/2023
This was a last minute planned hike that we decided to do, but we wanted to get it done early, one because it was my brothers birthday and two because the heat was going to hit later on. It was already a warm start at 5am, overnight had just felt warm and muggy. We knew we were in for a long warm day and lots of water was needed!
We parked on Dam road, that had around 5 parking spaces at the side of the road and headed around part of Thirlmere before coming off path and heading up to our first hill of the day! Originally it was supposed to be Armboth Fell but due to the wet weather we have had recently, parts were boggy and you couldn't see the path to follow. This meant we headed up to High Tove first. Getting up to High Tove was a big of a slog, with many steps and plenty of midges trying to bite us. With a quick stop to put on some midge spray we were off again! As we were getting to the top we started to hit the middle of the low cloud we had been seeing. This meant it was still muggy but now also wet! As we hit High Tove the sun came out for a brief for minutes, enough for us to get a photo of the trig point and put on some sun cream.
Going over to Armboth Fell the way we did it meant we were going to have to come back over High Tove. Luckily it was not a massive up to get back to the top. Heading over to Armboth Fell was just in the middle of the cloud the whole way. It was very boggy and not great but we managed it. We did work out the day before though that there are two parts to Armboth Fell, there is a false fell and Wainwrights actual fell, so we went and did both just in case. Because you know it is better to be safe than sorry when it comes to collecting Wainwrights.
We enjoyed a little scramble up to the fake summit before we headed over to the real summit. Before reaching the top, we came across a small river that had to be jumped over.....there and back! We managed it without falling in or getting wet so that was a nice surprise. We reached the top, got our Wainwright and headed back down! We had to recross the river, reclimb the other fell and head back over to High Tove, so pretty much the same way we had come originally.
Getting back to the top of High Tove, we hit the cloud again, this time there were people at the top of the hill but they were unable to see a thing other than themselves. The views were just not there! I suppose that is the problem with starting early isn't it!
Heading over to High Seat, we had a long trail that Tom thought was going to be a lot of bog! But the best news in the world, we came across a conservation area this meant there was a stone path! What a lovely sight that was to see! We came to the end of the path and had a tiny bit of bog, but someone had made a little bridge for you to walk over, so that made the day a bit easier. As you can see the from the pictures below, the clouds were starting to burn off a little by the time we were reaching High Seat.
We took the short walk up to High Seat and enjoyed the lovely view of cloud!
We didn't hang around too long due to the cloud....Which we later regretted as once we had got down, the sun came out for the rest of the day and it was completely clear on the summit and everywhere else! But we didn't have time to hang about as we needed to get back home! So we headed down and over the hills and bog, bog we didn't really need to hit as some how we kept coming off the path by like a few inches. We did come across a lovely couple, where the girl started telling us about the bog she fell in and nearly lost her shoe, her partner had to help her get out. She had so much love about her story, the expressions, the reply, she had us both laughing!
At this point Tom nearly had us following a non existing path into a mass load of bog! I stood there saying is it not over that stile, while he is saying no it is through that bog and water. Another girl walked past saying she had just come down from Bleaberry which was our next Wainwright.....I knew I was right all along :P It was over the stile!
So we headed over the stile and towards Bleaberry. Honestly getting up to Bleaberry I don't really remember much, but I do remember the views and the decent down! That decent started as steps and turned into gravel, it was steep and not nice on the knees! But we took it slowly and eventually reached a flat ish path down. This took us nicely across to Walla Crag, which only had a small accent up to the top. This felt like the easiest part of the hike stunning walking around and down Walla Crag. There are a couple of spots you can stop at to get beautiful pictures and even a place to stop and have a dip if you wanted to! We stopped to put our feet in the water and put some water on our faces which felt amazing!
By the time we were at the water, it felt like we were near the end. O how I could not of been more wrong! I could of cried at this point....Well the tears very nearly came further on! From here the walk just became less enjoyable. The photos stopped as the unhappiness kicked in!
We headed down towards a field that we were seeing signs for saying do not feed the horses. Horses that were hanging over the gate. We decided to try and find a different way. We found a cafe and stopped for an ice lolly at the end of the road before we went for an attempt a different way. We then attempted a 2nd way around the horses....This meant going through a caravan site....which we did, and it took us to a private field. So again, here we had to turn around!
We ended up having to follow the road for a while. The road was fast but did have a path for 90% of the way. The last 10% was scary but I wish we had carried on down it, we would of been back about an hour to an hour and a half earlier! We came off and took a field which soon turned into bracken and overgrown everything! We had about 2 miles or so through this, it was horrible. it wasn't flat, we were trying to walk the side of a hill, while not being able to see the path below us due to all the overgrown plants, there were spiders everywhere which as we know by now....I do not like! There were midges and all sorts of other insects and rocks hidden. I was very unhappy and struggling and hating this section!
We found a lovely place to wash our faces in as it was so hot by this point. We were covered in scratches and just ready to get out of this section! Eventually we were out and I had never been so happy! We found a bridge we were meant to cross and onto a path finally with massive deer gates that were bigger than me!
We followed this path round, eventually after nearly getting lost again, we found the stile we were to go over into a field. While we stood there for a minute trying to work out if there were cows in the field, we decided to risk it. We headed through the old buildings and luckily did not come across any cows, only sheep, before heading through the farm and onto the road! The road that took us back to the car! We had never been so happy to get back to the car, we were tired, sore, cut to pieces, late for my brothers birthday and just fed up and happy to be back.
That is one part of the hike I would never recommend while overgrown! But overall an fantastic day out and more Wainwrights ticked off!
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