Well, an unexpected bonus as Theo and I were back in the lakes in the first weekend in January. We were staying at The Castle Inn at the top of Bassenthwaite and planned a couple of fells for the weekend.
I was conscious that the weather outlook was cloudy with a 50% chance of rain but on the Saturday we set off for Grange fell. We parked at Watendlath in the National Trust car park (free to members). It is a beautiful spot in the lakes and a place I'd never visited before.
From the car park you cross a lovely little bridge over the outflow from Watendlath
and then head for the obvious path on the picture below.
The path being so obvious that both Theo and I missed it initially! Anyway no matter. This path is pretty gentle and straight-ish so no chance of getting lost even in poor conditions.
It heads to Rosthwaite eventually but to get to Grange Fell you follow the path (called Puddingstone bank rather pleasantly) to a wall and gate. Just before the wall you turn off to the right and head uphill. Again not very steep but a little boggy in places.
Crossing the wall at the stile (or in style as Theo and I always say!) you head up the other side on a decent path although there is some further, slightly boggy terrain in places.
And there you are, the top of Grange Fell. Or are you? We got to what looked like the highest bit but there is no cairn to mark it or any other form of confirmation so we said "it looks the highest bit and that'll do for us".
Theo and Dad at the top of another fell. As you can see from the background to the picture there wasn't much of a view to be had with the mist in the area, sadly. I'm told it's lovely though!
Don't I just look like the fantastic mountaineer!
Anyway from Grange Fell top we headed back down to Puddingstone Bank and straight across the track to start the crossing to Great Crag. Being January and with low cloud we made decent progress and crossed the wall which was around half a mile from Great Crag top. However, the cloud was coming down again and the top was in mist and rain had started to fall so we both decided that one would have o do for today. The right mountaineering decision as David Powell-Thompson would have advised us!
On the Sunday we had hoped to try Souther Fell in the Northern Lakes are but, again, the mist drove us away, sadly. Still we headed home with another fell under our belt. Theo, proudly, realised he was now a third of the way through the Wainwrights. 2020 has started very well indeed.
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