Friday, April 19, 2013

Footpath Patrols Around Buttermere

Today we have been over to Buttermere where we were able to walk around the lake and do a patrol at the same time.

We haven’t had much rain at home but there has obviously been more over here as Buttermere Dubs has burst its banks.

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The route took us on a slightly higher path than we would normally use on the south side of the lake, here they have recently cleared a large area of treesIMG_0414

Back down lower & reflections in the lake, Fleetwith Pike to the right

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Robinson reflects in the lake

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Looking up at High Stile

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Looking towards Buttermere village

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Karen’s lunch spot photo with Red Pike behind

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We are really enjoying doing these patrols as they are getting us to new places or in the case of Buttermere places we haven’t visited for a while.

Monday, April 15, 2013

Crag Meets The Blencathra Hounds

Today we were patrolling some footpaths near Threlkeld, just the one video when we approached the kennels where the hounds are kept.  It’s noisy!!!

Thursday, April 04, 2013

Footbridge Surveys in Eskdale

Today we were surveying two bridges in Eskdale.  We parked at the bottom of the Hardknott Pass where there was a considerable amount of snow piled up by the side of the road.IMG_0376

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Not surprisingly the pass was closedIMG_0378

Brotherilkeld Farm with Bowfell in the distanceIMG_0379

At the first kissing gate it was apparent that there was going to be some snow today…

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But it was very localised just where it had drifted

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What was strange was just how much was on the river

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Ling Cove bridge our first of the dayIMG_0384

Snow on the river, Crag thinks it doesn’t get much better than this

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That water must be cold as you can see the snow under the water

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We have surveyed these two bridges for a number of years in April & have never been able to cross The River Esk here & have had to retrace our steps to a bridge near the bottom.  Today however the water was low enough to reasonably easily cross.

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Impressive icicles hanging from the river bank

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The snow almost totally covers the river hereIMG_0390

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A short video of our surroundings, did I mention it was rather windy today? (check your volume is down low)

We reach our next bridge & the waterfalls aren’t that impressive today

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But the icicles are

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Scale Bridge, most of the footprints here are sheep

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Who we come across further down (they are all watching Crag here)

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Our (probable) farewell to the snow until the end of the year, we’ve had some fun in it this winter & spring

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Wednesday, April 03, 2013

Footpath Patrols Around Wallthwaite

Today as the sun was shinning brightly again we set off to do a patrol in the north east of The Park.  We parked in the hamlet of Wallthwaite.
Looking up at the snow on Blencathra
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And across the field to Clough Head
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Soon we come to some snow drifts in a fieldIMG_0353
We then cross an impressive bridge
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It crosses the dismantled railway from Keswick to Penrith.  We have walked the section from Keswick to Threlkeld but surprisingly this section is not a public right of way, it would be perfect
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Looking in the other direction
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Another patch of snow with Clough Head in the background
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Great Dodd to the left of Clough Head has far more snow on it
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Walking down a farm track with Blencathra in the distance
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Nothing on google for this gentleman, perhaps he was a local farmer?
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Crag disappears off in the distance in this virgin snow
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And returns
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And if it’s not the snow it’s a river he is playing in
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Andy admiring this log stack in a field, wondering how we could get all of this in the car!
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“I am having sooooo much fun”
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More good weather forecast tomorrow so we are off to Eskdale to survey some bridges

Monday, April 01, 2013

Footpath Patrols in The Lorton Valley

On Saturday we travelled to The Lorton Valley to complete two footpath patrols.  We have had these for a few weeks but with the road closures & then last weeks snow we haven’t been able to get over to them.
The roads were clear but we soon came across this rather snowy track.  Crag has to roll in any snow he finds!IMG_0336
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It has drifted into a strange wave shape hereIMG_0338
Do we report this as an obstruction to this gate?IMG_0339
This tree is your classically shaped tree, but when you look closer it has been severely uprooted some time ago but managed to continue growing uprightIMG_0341
Many fields have newborns in them
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We then started to get very closely followed by some sheep which considering we had Crag with us was strange as the sheep normally run away from him.  We figured these fields aren’t walked much & the only humans these sheep see is the farmer with food.
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We then walk past Stanger Spa, it is one of the few saline spa’s in the UK, bit cold today for us.IMG_0348
Despite the lack of rain there is a lot of water in this field, Grasmoor in the background.
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A very enjoyable walk & a nice play in the snow