Three Little Ones

Part of my recent trip to the Lake District was walking some new Wainwrights. I travelled up to Keswick for a week. I’m hoping to get back there later this year for some serious ridge walks and possibly ticking off another ten or so of the categorised mountains.

Derwentwater from the Ashness Bridge
Derwentwater from the Ashness Bridge

Just look at the gorgeous views you get from even half way up to high. This is the view from just above the Ashness Bridge.

Watendlath Tarn
Watendlath Tarn

If you keep driving or walking up the road from Ashness you get to Watendlath, a tiny hamlet high up in a hidden valley. It’s an amazing space and the tarn is lovely. This is just the sort of space you can imagine walking around a mini peak and finding people having sex, you know, the usual.

Hills and mountains can’t be everything and so it’s also important to see aircraft. I went to the Dumfries and Galloway Air Museum at the old RAF Dumfries. It was a curious place with planes looking rather dishevelled and in good need of a paint job.

Fairey Gannet
Fairey Gannet

This one along with the Lightning was the best looking plane. There was a Saab Draken, a JP and a Westland Wessex, but they didn’t look great. The Dassault Mystere was doing OK.

Dassault Mystere
Dassault Mystere

There needs to be a list of hills walked and their placing in the Wainwright list so here you are:

  • High Rigg [209 with a height of 354m]
  • Great Mell Fell [155 with a height of 536m]
  • Loughrigg Fell [211 with a height of 336m]
View From High Rigg
View From High Rigg

I did also walk Latrigg but this is about the fifth time I’ve done that one and so it shouldn’t really get a mention here. I did some rowing on two of the Lakes while I was there, Derwentwater and Grasmere.

Exploring Islands in Derwentwater
Exploring Islands in Derwentwater

Keswick is a lovely place I think, maybe very slightly less so during Convention time because it makes it so busy and full of people, but still such a wonderful place to visit.

Grasmere from Loughrigg
Grasmere from Loughrigg

Next time I’m up here in the summer I think I would like to go swimming in the Lakes. It looked very inviting and paddling wasn’t that satisfying. I’d rather be out there adventuring. I think my swimming is good enough. I’m not fast but can keep a steady pace going, much like my running. I can’t wait to get back up to the north west again.

Dodd

This is another in the occasional series of mountains conquered. On a Sunday morning I awoke and headed out from Keswick to Dodd Woods to the east of Bassenthwaite Lake. This peak is a western foothill of Skiddaw range and not too high at 1612 feet or 491 metres which makes it number 174 of the Wainwrights.

This peak had a very clear footpath all the way and was a nice little walk. It is one of the last strongholds of the red squirrel and a good vantage point to see ospreys of the feathered kind when they are in this country.

View from near the summit of Dodd with Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite Lake
View from near the summit of Dodd with Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite Lake

There’s a monument at the top of Dodd to two scout leaders.

Memorial on Dodd and Bassenthwaite Lake
Memorial on Dodd and Bassenthwaite Lake