Amanda's Ambling

I saw in my arrival to a new decade by circumnavigating Ennerdale Water in the company of my husband and my dog. The oldest boy had offered to babysit the other two free of charge in honour of it being such a special day, so John and I took this offer and stretched it as far as we could, and managed about 12 hours away from home.

We'd already decided that over the course of the Easter weekend, the Saturday would be the best day for a walk due to a) the weather being predicted to be nice, and b) there being no church celebration to attend that day. Once that was decided upon, I sat on the BBC weather website comparing the forecast for various lakes. It seemed the further west the better, and so Ennerdale Water won out. Hence we were out for such a long time: Ennerdale is about 2 and a quarter hours away from us. Not that the journey felt that long at all; we had beautiful scenery to gaze at, and C.S.Lewis' 'The Last Battle' on audiobook to keep us further entertained.

We arrived at the car park at 10am, and were one of a handful there.

Anything we'd read prior to arrival suggested that this was going to be a really very quiet day, with barely a soul to be met. I have come to the conclusion that the people who write the internet have not been to Ennerdale on a sunny Easter Saturday. Certainly the morning was quiet enough, but as we got to the western end of the lake, random groups of people started appearing to enjoy a day by the water. How rude. They obviously hadn't got the memo that with it being such a significant birthday, I was in charge (this is definitely true because my youngest boy told me so. I'm not sure who he thinks is usually in charge, but we'll let that one slide); and therefore they were not supposed to get in the way of me with my new birthday present:

John had bought me a Canon Powershot G7X as my birthday present. Yes I did just have to look that up on the box.

So we started out at the eastern end, and stopped to take some pictures of the beautiful view. Usko was keen to assert his ownership of Ennerdale Water, and did a wee up the leg of a bench. It was a bench bearing the inscription: "Ian Forsyth and Prince: Lake District Search and Rescue Dogs Association". I like to think it's what Prince would have wanted.

We did the trickier side of the lake first. Mr. Ordnance Survey had given us no indication that it would be tricky: the dotted line of the path has no extra marks to show that you have to Slide Down Some Nearly Vertical Rock Faces. But hey ho.

Rucksack to left of picture for scale. John came down the drop on the right, then realised there was a slightly less sheer route on the left. So he scrambled up a bit (to where the rucksack is) and told me to pass the doggy on the left hand side. I did so and then scrambled down to join them both. Apologies (only mild ones though) if you now have Musical Youth stuck in your head.

I think I'll let the photos show you the journey for a while

First view of Ennerdale Water was over the weir

I promise I didn't do this walk on my knees...

Dog on a rock

Dodgy Man hanging about by a gate again. Angling for a kiss. (See what I did there?!)

I'd said to John that on my birthday walk, I really wanted to see a blue sky reflected in a lake.
And I got to :-)

Where we had a little smackerel of something for our elevenses...

...and enjoyed this view whilst we did so.

John's favourite gnarly tree

A favourite nesting spot, it would seem

Imaginative Title Award goes to....

The end of the lake; from which point onwards People regularly appeared.

View as we ate our sarnies

Managed to snap this sunbathing Peacock. Not brilliant I know, but still pleased with myself for achieving it!

Back to the weir again.

We arrived back at the car park to find it full to over-flowing, and some skilled negotiation was required to exit safely. Although never warm enough to wear less than a jumper, John and I both managed to get ourselves slightly sun-kissed noses and cheeks. Or, to put it less glamourously, inverted panda eyes from our shades.

And although I jest about the other people appearing in my view, I can only imagine that the more tourist-favoured places on the Lakes will have been absolutely heaving. So I'm glad that Ennerdale was quiet and serene for the most part: it was a day of mixed emotions due to being my first birthday without a card from either parent :-( But I spent the evening in the company of my menfolk, with a movie to watch and cards and presents to open; deciding to make sure that my life does begin at 40 :-D

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...