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Date & Time: Sunday 5th October 2008. 1.40 pm start.

Location of Event : The red phone box, Brotherilkeld, Cumbria, Uk ( NY 213 011 )

Places visited : Eskdale waterfalls, Tongue Pot, Lingcove Bridge, Lincove Beck onto Hardknott Fell from the north. Back via the Roman Fort to Jubilee Bridge.

Walk details : 5.75 ml, 1650 ft of ascent, 4 hours 45 mins incl lunch.

Highest point : Hard Knott Fell 1,803ft ( 549 m)

Walked with : Ann and the dogs, Harry and Bethan.

Weather : Blue skies and sunshine all the way. Great visibility too.

Brotherilkeld Farm, and the start of Upper Eskdale

 

It's a beautiful day but my diary says work, so I drive to Keswick only to realise that I had arranged to swop days and wasn't needed !

A quick phone call and I'm back home, packing a rucksack with lunch, ready to drive over to Eskdale.

The rather sad looking phone box at the start of the road climb to Hardknott Pass.

Hopefully this is one of the Lake District "heritage protected" phone boxes and will receive some restoration back to good health soon.

Fellwalking is only one of the areas outdoor options.

Theses guys are off to canoe down the River Esk from here to The King George Pub at Eskdale Green.

Meanwhile we are going to walk up the valley past Brotherilkeld Farm in the direction of Bowfell.

Border End top, the southern end of Hard Knott Fell . . . our return route possibly.

Down at the river, the two guys have set off, taking advantage of the good water levels in the river today.

Myself walking ahead up the riverside path.

Birk Dub and Scale Bridge, with an alternative path to Upper Eskdale.
Yesterdays heavy rain is flooding off the fields.

As we walk up the valley the Eskdale Needle came into view high above us.

 

Kail Pot waterfall.

One of several small but powerful waterfalls here in the valley.

It was the heavy rain of yesterday and the known delights of this fine stretch

of river that pursuaded us that this would be a good walk for today.

 

The volume of water flowing over these falls was larger than normal

and the roar of water was equally impressive.

 

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The river under Heron Crags as the valley starts to narrow.

In the distance, our first view of Crinkle Crags to the right of Bowfell.

More falls a little higher up the river.
Tongue Pot, a fine swimming pool for warmer days.

Down at water level . . .

. . . the dogs enjoy a swim. !

The top pool and first view of Lingcove Bridge.
The upper Esk Falls to the left of the bridge.

This is one of the classic Lakeland pack horse bridges

characterised by the high arch to clear the river and the very low side walls to allow pack horses with side loads to cross easily.

The view from above, with the narrow top . . .
. . . and from below, with the fast flowing beck.

Ann relaxes at this delightful spot.

Lunch was calling so we find a seat close at hand.

Bethan has never tried mushrooms . . . and she's not going to try them today either !

Climbing up, following the Lingcove Beck.
More waterfalls, this one about twenty feet high.

The water rushes down, through a narrow cleft in the rocks.

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Climbing steadily, the dogs stop briefly in front of the wonderfully named Throstle Garth rocks on the fell side opposite.

We leave the roaring waters now and start on the fell section of the walk.

As we climb, the distant Scafells start to appear.

Almost a full view . . .

from Slight Side on the left, to Scafell, Broad Stand, Scafell Pike, with Broad and Ill Crag on the right.

From the top of the falls we start ascending the northern slope of Hard Knott Fell.

This is Bowfell at the head of the Lingcove Beck valley.

The electric fence and stile shown on the map as a boundary line only.

The fence was erected after the 2001 Foot and Mouth epedemic in order to show the replenished sheep flocks the boundary of their fells.

Once "hefted" in this way, they should stay within their own area and not stray onto the grazing areas of other farm. The fences were supposed to be removed after five years but it hasn't happened yet.

The widening panorama

now includes Esk Pike and Crinkle Crags.

 

Our first minor fell top cairn

Scafell Pike is starting to gather lengthening shadows from it's neighbour Scafell.

Following the fence line, we climb towards Hard Knott summit.

Clear views today encourage us to keep looking at the fells all around.

The summit reached.

The top of Hard Knott has a smaller cairn but is easily found from this side.

Beyond are the Coniston Fells from Great Carrs round to Coniston Old Man, Dow Crag and White Pike.

Ann looking down the Duddon Valley towards the coast.

 

Despite its smaller size,

Hard Knott Fell has wonderful views.

With all these well known names surroundng it

the view is bound to be good on a day like today.

 

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Click here or on the photo above for a 360 degree annotated panorama.

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The photo to the left is myself enjoying a biscuit while we stopped.

I feel I should be adding a speech bubble to this one !

 

A last look back at the Scafells as we cross the top of Hard Knott.

We'll pass on Border End this time as we started late and the sun is getting low.

Duddon Valley as we cut round the eastern side of the fell and make for the road at the top of Hard Knott Pass.

A short walk down the steep hill and we pass these cyclists trying to ride up.

Once they stopped for a breather, they had difficulty starting again due to the gradient and the narrow width of the road.

Rather than walk down the road, we cut off at the big corner and made our way over to the Parade Ground (the flattish yellow grass patch)

and down to the Roman Fort, almost hidden in the brightness of the late afternoon sun.

The golden glow of sunset on the southern gate of the fort.

The Roman walls of the fort catching the light as we look across at the high fells again.

Two layers of cloud, with the sun behind the lower one, make for a fine sunset.

Above the reflection of the sun on the sea, the distant outline of the Isle of Man could be seen.

This Swaledale Ewe was enjoying the sun

or was she just keeping an eye out on the dogs ?

Golden colours makes for a photographers paradise.

As the sun sinks slowly in the west we leave the hills to the sheep . . .

. . . and make our way down to the car.

This walk was planned with yesterday's weather in mind. The waterfalls had been superb but the fells were holding a lot of water.

This final shot shows the sunset reflected in a stream of water as it made its way down the steep tarmac slopes of Hard Knott Pass.

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Technical note: Pictures taken with with my Cannon G7 or Ann's Ixus 75 Digital cameras.

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

This site best viewed with . . . video to capture the sound and rush of the water.

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