David and Jacinta's Walks- 2023

A Stroll Around Great Langdale Another scorching day and, as we'd had plenty of great walks, we thought that we'd take it a little easy today. We plotted a woodland walk and then a return beside a stream, Great Langdale Beck. From The Piggery, we walked down to Chapel Stile and followed the signs to Great Langdale. After a short climb, we arrived at the path through the working slate quarry- a very impressive hole in the ground. Slate quarry above Chapel Stile Once out of the woodlands, the fields contained the occasional tree- this one caught David's eye. Blasted tree  The herdies were even more loth to move today- this mother and her offspring couldn't be bothered to move away from the path. Nothing to see here- move along, please The few ( Belted Galloway ?) cows on Basebrown Farm were all gathered under a single tree. Cows enjoying the shade On the start of our return, it felt as if we could have been in The Dolomites, albeit with the Langdale Pikes in the backgroun...

Elterwater We decided to take the "low route" today and embark on a circuit from Elterwater around to Slater Bridge and back to Chapel Stile. We started by walking the half mile from The Piggery (our Airbnb) to Elterwater, a pleasant stroll, and then striking out into the hills above the village. As we came to the top of our first track, there appeared the welcome sight of an informal "trackside café" offering tea, coffee and homemade cakes. One of the party treated herself to a coffee, while the other chose a chunk of lovely lemon drizzle cake. After our minor pitstop and admiring the farm's fluffy chickens, we took the pleasant route down to Little Langdale. Fluffy chickens From Little Langdale we walked on to the wonderful Slater Bridge which was a wonder to behold. Slater Bridge  The route then took us up to Stand End Farm and into the woods which eventually led to Colwith Force. It was a great spot to stop, have lunch, and admire the view of the waterfall- ...

Silver Howe We had a little guidance from Wainwright's "The Central Fells", which offered a nice route up Silver How from Chapel Stile, so it was nice not to have to use the car for a change. We started up through the bracken, soon gaining height and views which were lovely in the bright sunlight. Bracken and bright sunlight It was pretty hot and a ewe and her lamb were preferred to stay in the shade rather than run away from us- we passed within a metre of them. Unperturbed ewe and her lamb Sunlit uplands The walk to the top of Silver How was steady but interesting with undulating slopes and we made our way to the top without difficulty, notwithstanding not quite the route suggested by Wainwright. Almost dolomitic path After a break at the top we took a different route down which was quite steep to take us to a point between Grasmere and Dale End. We (inadvertently) followed a Corpse Road, stopping in a lovely spot with a view of the lake and opposite a (Victorian?) benc...