Hold right for Eskdale

Today I shadowed another national park guided walk in an area I had previously never heard of let alone walked in, Miterdale. The river Mite flows into the sea near Ravensglass and is the next valley north from Eskdale. Starting from Eskdale Green we  headed up towards the head of Miterdale before climbing out of the valley, crossing White Moss and then descending into Eskdale.  The blip shows an old direction sign in the Cumbrian dialect "HOD REET FUR ESHDEL" - Hold right for Eskdale. Other points of interest included some excellent stone circles, a shepherd's hut, a peat hut and some old iron ore mine workings. Miterdale is a very remote valley with only a single farm so you got a real sense of being in true wilderness. The views across to Great Gable and Scafell Pike were superb.

All the walks have detailed descriptions indicating length and vertical gain. One lady either hadn't read it or massively over-estimated her own capability. She did make it round despite struggling on every slight incline, being some way off the back of the group for most of the way round and monopolising the services of one of the two walk leaders the entire day. I am all for getting people out walking on the fells but you would hope that they would have the sense to choose a walk within their capabilities.