Dave was organising this one and had booked us some pitches at the Fisherground campsite in Eskdale, Lake District. The weather forecast wasn’t looking brilliant but that didn’t put off a small select bunch from heading away for a weekend adventure in mid July.
Simon, Carmen and Dave were sorted and heading to the pub when the second car arrived, and tents were hurriedly put up trying to beat the rain which was on its way. Unfortunately the rain arrived quickly, so the waterproofs were on and dinner cooked and hurredly eaten. We then headed to the pub to join the others, warm up and plan the next day, which was ‘on paper’ the better weather although there was some talk of forecasts having changed.
Saturday started bright and promising, so keen to make the most of it, Peter, Aoife, Marianna, Andrew, Russ and Becky headed off to hike up Scafell Pike from the East side, parking just up Eskdale at Wha House. The path up to the ‘Great Moss’ was quiet and it felt good to be exploring a new part of the Lakes we hadn’t visited before.
Beginning to gain height up the path by Cam Spout it was clear the weather was closing in, and by the time we reached the mountain rescue box definitely time for waterproofs, hats and gloves. We then joined the busy tourist path (overdressed compared to most!) to the summit, stopping for a quick photo before dropping down towards Broad crag to try and get out of the cold wind.
A unanimous decision to drop straight back down again was followed by a bit of searching for the correct path in the cloud to avoid some craggy ground. Then a straightforward march back the way we came, all cold, wet and thinking of the pub dinner that evening.
Simon and Carmen meanwhile had headed west towards the coast, and managed to avoid the weather and enjoy some sunshine with a long circular walk over muncaster fell and back along the Esk valley.
The campsite drying room was definitely getting good use that evening and after a welcome warm shower we headed to the pub to compare notes from the day.
Sunday was brighter so after packing up camp, Peter, Aoife, Dave and Marianna headed to Ravenglass and took the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway (La’al Ratty) back up to the end of the line at Dalegarth Station.
Picking up ice creams from the station before beginning a pleasant walk back to Ravenglass, over Muncaster fell and stopping for lunch at Muncaster tarn which had some great waterlillies in flower. The afternoon took us through the grounds of muncaster castle and bird of prey centre (and more ice cream!) before checking out the roman bath house ruins on the outskirts of Ravenglass. Simon and Carmen also had a great day, tackling a ’Maprun’ orienteering course near Staveley.
