Oak Cottage - Loweswater

Retreat to the quiet of the Western Lakes

The Cottage, and  the view up the Buttermere Valley
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Time and place : 16th February 2004

Melbreak Fell, Loweswater, Cumbria Uk.

Occasion : A walk with Jo, Ann and the dogs.

Walk details : Up the northern end of Melbreak, over to Scale Force and back via the lakeside.

About 6 miles, 1900 ft of ascent and back by teatime

Weather : Overcast to start but damp to end.

Signpost to everywhere and nowhere.

Our start was from the cottage at Loweswater, near to Wainwright's famous signpost

The weather was overcast but fine to start as we made our way past the pub

and up the road to Kirkhead towards the base of Melbreak itself.

Climbing fast we zig-zagged so as to avoid the screes.

This view is looking down at the pub and cottage, and down the length of Lorton Valley.

As we climbed, to our left was the bottom end of Crummock Water

and behind it the peaks of Whiteside, Hopegill Head and Grasmoor.

We met up with a gentleman called Norman who was testing out a new set of National Health knee ligaments.

Full marks for this his first "up" after his recent op.

The surprise view on Melbreak with Jo, Ann and the dogs.

Far below are Crummock Water and Buttermere with Fleetwith Pike in the misty distance.

By the time we reached the north summit the weather was not exactly photogenic.

By the time we reached the southern summit the steady drizzle had pushed us into waterproofs.

Lunch with a view.

A panorama from below the summit. Click here or on the photo for a full size image.

Across the valley to Scale Force waterfall.

Less impressive from a distance because it is tucked into a cleft in the valley side . . .

.

Close up though it reveals its magic - the highest single drop of all Lakeland Falls.

If you carefully climb the rock you can get up to the base of the main fall and its full beauty is revealed.

 

Down hill all the way now, past the old walls of an old forgotten homestead.

This side of the valley was actively farmed in the middle ages. Now it is no more than abandoned bracken and marshland.

Low Ling Crag

This band of hard rock intrusion pushes out into the lake, forming a raised beach between it and the shore.

The same rock forms High Ling Crag on this side,

and Hawes End and Rannerdale Knotts on the other side of the lake.

The recent rains has fuelled the muddy path between here and the bottom end of the lake

but by taking the higher path , and aiming for High and Low Park farms we avoided the worst and got home dry shod.

 

Technical note: Pictures taken with a Canon IXUS 400 Digital camera.

Resized in Photoshop, and built up on a Dreamweaver web builder.

This site best viewed . . . with a pint of Grasmoor Bitter. (did I tell you they've started a second brew)

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