Sun 22 Jun 2014
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| Mirror calm on Thirmere |
Arriving at the lay-by near the north end of Thirlmere, and entranced by the view above, it was tempting to just sit and relax and absorb the beautiful scene for the rest of the day. But all things change, and knowing that the light and any breeze might present this scene as less entrancing as the day wore on, we pulled on our boots and marched down to the Armboth car park. There it seemed an Indian family celebration of some kind was unfolding.
We set off up the path in the break of the forest for our intended destination. It was very warm and there was good visibility looking back over the lake to the Helvellyn range. The climb from the road was steep, but as we got on to the grassy areas above the trees the going was easier. Seen from the ridge above, Armboth Fell appears to be nothing more than a few hummocks and it's difficult to see it as a separate height; but today, from below, the summit was easier to locate.
We then moved on to High Tove, in sunshine.
We set off up the path in the break of the forest for our intended destination. It was very warm and there was good visibility looking back over the lake to the Helvellyn range. The climb from the road was steep, but as we got on to the grassy areas above the trees the going was easier. Seen from the ridge above, Armboth Fell appears to be nothing more than a few hummocks and it's difficult to see it as a separate height; but today, from below, the summit was easier to locate.
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| Summit of Armboth Fell |
We then moved on to High Tove, in sunshine.
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| High Tove, with High Seat beyond |
High Seat was next by following the fence and avoiding wet ground.
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| Summit of High Seat |
From there it appeared to be a dreary sunless way to Bleaberry Fell
but it didn’t take long.
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| Andrew does his Banzai on Bleaberry Fell |
We had to drop down to the cairn on the north ridge for the lovely extensive views to the north. It was a little drab without the sunshine but well worth the effort getting there.
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| Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite Lake |
We made a quick return by omitting High Tove. On the final section by the path down to the lake is an enormous balanced boulder. Hopefully it will
stay where it is: the car park is directly below!
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| No caption necessary |
Down by Thirlmere we noticed some very strange growths of
what looked like tightly woven silk on some of the trees in the wood along the
shore. Some trees were totally covered, and the branches and twigs appeared to
be made of aluminium!
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I reported the
phenomenon to United Utilities, and eventually received information from the
Forestry Commission. The silky covering had been caused by Bird Cherry Ermine Moth .
On the beach there
was another scene of interest. Someone had taken great pains to set a few
stones on top of one another as a fascinating form of sculpture.
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| A bit smaller than the balanced rock above! |
All in all, an unusual and pleasant day, Andrew adding four more summits to his list, to boot.
To see a description of the Bird Cherry Ermine Moth Click here
