Friday 17th April saw us setting off for Upper Eskdale from the Wha House car park in a fierce headwind.
After a couple of miles, as the headwind started to get its act together a bit more, I began to form the opinion that if it was like this at 250 metres, what would it be like at 900 metres, and I decided it might not be such good fun.
So, using our skill and judgement, we bailed out of a Scafell Pike thingy and drove around to Dunnerdale for a jaunt up the substantially lower Harter Fell.
Once out of the car for the second time, and well on the way to the foot of the hill, a lady backpacker saw me looking at the map and decided I was lost. She interrogated me as to my intentions and gave me directions of two or three possible routes up Harter Fell. I thanked her politely. Very helpful, I must say. Whatever would we have done without that. We might have been wandering around Coniston Old Man asking directions for the Pennine Way…..
After a couple of miles, as the headwind started to get its act together a bit more, I began to form the opinion that if it was like this at 250 metres, what would it be like at 900 metres, and I decided it might not be such good fun.
So, using our skill and judgement, we bailed out of a Scafell Pike thingy and drove around to Dunnerdale for a jaunt up the substantially lower Harter Fell.
Once out of the car for the second time, and well on the way to the foot of the hill, a lady backpacker saw me looking at the map and decided I was lost. She interrogated me as to my intentions and gave me directions of two or three possible routes up Harter Fell. I thanked her politely. Very helpful, I must say. Whatever would we have done without that. We might have been wandering around Coniston Old Man asking directions for the Pennine Way…..
Anyway, it’s a short, sharp, steep thrutch up to the top of Harter Fell from Dunnerdale. The wind was…er….windy in an extremely breezy sort of way – just enough to unbalance a person every now and then , and just enough to make the little scramble to the summit rock a bit exciting. A few other visitors visited, but the place could be described as "quiet"
We traversed the hill Northwards, bagging all the little rocky knolls in the way, and ending up at the top of Hard Knott Pass. A scruffy bridleway through cleared forest brought us back.
Just the two pints of shandy later that evening (that’s more than enough shandy) and a disappointing pint of bitter in the boozah.
Total walking for todays two walks: about 9 miles and 1700 feet (very approximately) of uphill.
Fab views of the roman fort by the way…
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