I drove up to Mungrisdale with Andrew and parked by the village hall. A man with a young boy were also going walking. I had decided to take Andrew's suggestion and ascend by the East Ridge so that there was no long walk before a climb.
We set off up the rather steep track by Raven Crags and the quarry that was now hidden under thick gorse and bracken. It was much steeper than expected, the contour lines on AW's map being deceptively wide apart. I had to adopt an all-fours position and almost decided to turn back from the loose eroded path. After crawling for what seemed an age I was able to stand and balance to make my way on foot alone.
Eventually reaching an easier gradient we made it to the East Ridge of the fell, even though on Chris Jesty's map the lack of a path is repeated as in AW's original guide.
It was with great relief that we reached the summit and we stopped for a short rest.
Then we set off to the depression before the ascent to Bannerdale Crags, but I decided, as we planned to descend by the bridle path on The Tongue, to give it a miss and I sat to wait for Andrew as he made the round trip.
The guy and the boy whom we had seen earlier came along from Bannerdale Crags, and stopped for a chat. It was the lad's first fell walk; they had used Stuart Marshall’s book and made a circuit starting with Souther Fell, taking in Sharp Edge, Blencathra, Mungrisdale Common, Bannerdale Crags, and Bowscale Fell, 10.5 miles and 3,500 feet of ascent!! I hope the boy continues to enjoy walking.
When Andrew returned, we headed for the bridle path, me experiencing some problems with its being near the edge of a terrace as I had first done above Bowscale Tarn on my one previous visit on 26 April 2007. The descent was not comfortable because there is a deep rut hidden by long grass in the middle of the path caused by running water and which could result in a twisted or broken ankle if care were not taken. Lower down, the wide path was less eroded and it would have made a much pleasanter way of ascent than the one we had chosen.
On reaching the river we came across a flood-scoured area, which bore no resemblance to the image in my mind of the lovely walk in sunshine by the Glenderamackin that I had followed twelve years earlier.
This had been a short walk of about five miles and a mere 1,550 feet of ascent but the unnerving start had rather spoilt it for me. The snag is, even low-level walking isn't the pleasure that it used to be.
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