Amanda's Ambling: March 2015

You know how they say 'pride comes before a fall'?... well they are right. In this instance, we must have completed about three-quarters of the circuit around the lake, and I was trundling along thinking about how quiet Crummock Water is, and therefore how dull this blog entry would be, without any tales of folk we encountered to pep it up. My subconscious must have decided this Was Not On, and without further ado, I dropped my left leg knee-deep into a muddy bog, let out a bit of a yodel, and 'saved' myself by falling onto my derriere and my right arm.
The walk from that point onwards became a little more squelchy, and I must have looked a treat with a soggy bottom, and my right sleeve rolled up.

So now that's over with, I'll describe the rest of the walk, and you can read about it and view the pictures in the warmth of your own home, sat there in your *dry* clothes. Harrumph.

I used walk number 19 from my book (pictured, as evidence): "Crummock Water and Rannerdale Knotts".

Note how it says LOW level and lake walks? With the 'Low' standing out from the rest of the text?
Well, Vivienne Crow (or 'that book woman' as I took to referring to her, henceforth referred to as TBW) is a big ol' liar. This was not 'low level' in any sense of the word. Her version of 'gorgeous grassy ridge' and 'little Rannerdale Knotts' is obviously different to mine. I climbed a bloomin' mountain. The view was nice an' all, but I shall be paying very careful attention to the contours on the map for future walks.

Back to the start: John, Usko and I walked round Crummock Water on Saturday 14th March. The weather was cloudy, with a bit of wind occasionally, but no rain, and *sometimes* a bit of blue sky could be glimpsed.

We parked in the village of Buttermere, and set off through some woodland which began our ascent of the "little" ridge.

John and Usko next to Mill Beck

Making our way through the wood

We had no children with us, but I didn't need them: I had managed to propagate a wonky-eyed headache by the time the walk had started anyway :-( When faced with the 'gorgeous grassy ridge' I must admit to falling apart a little. What with the prospect of climbing an emotional mountain by having to get through mother's day the following day, the added physical mountain (coupled with a thumping head) meant I had a little sob on John's shoulder for a minute, whilst waiting for the paracetamol to kick in. Fortunately TBW had got it right about there being "fewer walkers attempting this circuit", and I was grateful for the fact there was no-one around to see me having a moment.

The self-pity couldn't last long with Usko around, being on land used to graze sheep. Usko loves sheep: Any poor blighters who came into his vision soon knew he was there, trying to chase them, and doing his best to bark through his head collar. And when there were no sheep to get excited about, there was always sheep poo to investigate. Easily pleased is our darling pooch.

View of Crummock Water and one of its custodians.

Admiring the view. AKA Pausing to catch one's breath

Said View: Buttermere village, and Buttermere (the lake)

There was certainly fine scenery to behold on the way up to the Knotts, and when we had scrambled over rocky crags (which TBW seemed to have forgotten to mention) we found a spot to sit down and eat our sarnies.

Said Rocky Crags. Of course Usko bounded up them without any bother.

Sandwiches provided by my mother-in-law, and very gratefully received.

As we all know, what goes up must come down. And we took a fairly steep descent down to the road (which can just be seen on the right of the picture above).

Before long, we were at the water's edge, and all was well with my world again :-)

We then followed the lake round, through some beautiful woods, and gorse-laden areas. After we reached the western end of the lake, TBW's lies became apparent. She mentions there are "some damp paths to negotiate". I think that roughly translates as "streams to walk along, or through; with various points where you will have to stand for a few minutes and try and work out in which direction the quagmire is likely to be least damaging to you".

See that small pond? that's the path that is

A common sight along our walk: frogspawn

The mountain would have been mesmerising had we not had to keep our eyes firmly groundwards.

This is where my meeting with nature happened. And the walk became more of a trudge. Because we'd spent time going up Rannerdale Knotts, we didn't get back to Buttermere in time for a cream tea. Terrible Planning. This is a mistake I plan never to repeat. Instead we drove back to the in-laws' to a very welcome hot shower and meal, and then managed to get out for a drink in the evening, so things worked out ok :-)

I will leave you with some more photos of what were very beautiful surroundings. If there had been less cloud, the views would have been phenomenal. We did throw the idea out there that it would be better to return after a warm and (more importantly) dry spell in the summer; that's if my boots have dried out by then...