The temperature in Grasmere at 8am this morning was 0C, pretty chilly! It soon started to warm up and as the weather forecast was even better than yesterday and we were about to have an epic walk upwards, shorts were worn - on October 1st!
We don't see monkey puzzle trees very often and I really like them, this one was in a garden in Grasmere.
We climbed up to Easedale Tarn, having passed three large groups of geography students of various ages, learning about glaciation etc.
Before the climb begins.
Young herdwick sheep ...... had to be taken!
And these lovelies of course!
Sour Milk Gill (another stopping off point for the students)
It was sweaty going on the way up - can't complain about the sun though.
Easedale Tarn.
We sat overlooking the tarn for a while, contemplating our next route, until the school parties began to arrive then we made a move ..... upwards a bit more!
It was so calm and still, with not a breath of wind so there were amazing reflections on the water.
As we left the tarn the footpath deteriorated, and from here on it was rock scrambling and stealthing through ferns.
Getting higher, looking down on Easedale Tarn - a nice spot for lunch.
A local lady stopped for a chat as she passed whilst we were eating our lunch and told us that this week has been the best week of the summer weather wise (and it's now October) - how lucky are we?
An unnamed tarn.
I have to say that things went downhill a bit at this stage of the walk, it was difficult to find paths that corresponded with the GPS, there were maps on that, that weren't there and paths on the ground that weren't on the GPS. My husband is a whizz with maps and navigation but today it all went pear shaped for a while and it was then that I really wanted a cup of tea, to be walking downhill instead of up and down and for the walk to be at an end! Unfortunately we ended up scrabbling across rocks on a narrow path above a steep drop - not the best place to be. I can thoroughly understand how walkers get disorientated and lost on these fells, especially as we were having trouble in the sunshine, goodness knows what it would be like if the mist came down?
On the plus side, there were lots of sheep wandering about on the crags, with their happy smiley herdwick faces.
Great Langdale.
Lake Windermere in the distance.
At least our unplanned detour took in a few more views! We got back on track and found our way back down to Grasmere having walked just over 7 miles, definitely a walk to remember for all different reasons!
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