Mardale

It was drizzling this morning as we left the car park at Mardale Head. We went around the head of the lake and picked up the path up Rough Crag. This is the start of a wonderful ridge walk which ascends for over two miles, steeply at times, to High Street. Once above Riggingdale Crag we were shrouded in cloud for the next couple of hours with only very brief gaps. From High Street we continued in a circuit high above Blea Water and Small Water ticking off Mardale Ill Bell and Harter Fell. We dropped down to the Gatescarth Passwhich we crossed to start the ascent of Branstree. It was incredibly wet underfoot with swamp like conditions at the start of the climb. Once on the summit the adventure began. The path, as explained by my Wainwrights guide was incredibly hard to find - in fact it was non-existent. Walking on a bearing we ploughed through heather, tussocks and bog. The final descent was extremely steep and ended with a six foot drop from the path to the gate! Needless to say this part of the walk will not feature when I lead the U3A walk - we will head down the Gatescarth track for a more sedate finish.

Blip shows the view from the decent looking back over Haweswater and showing Rough Crag as it ascend to the cloud covered High Street.