Glaramara and Bessy Boot

Date & start time: Wednesday 18th August 2010, 11.45 am start.

Location of Start :The farm lane up from Mountain View, Borrowdale, Cumbria, Uk ( NY 249 135 )

Places visited : Thornthwaite Fell, Combe Head, Glaramara, Combe Door, Rosthwaite Cam, Tarn at Leaves, Bessyboot and back via Combe Gill.

Walk details : 6.5 mls, 2575 ft, 6 hrs 25 mins including lunch.

Highest point : Glaramara 2567 ft - 783 m.

Walked with : Josie, Dave, Jo, John, Ann and the dogs, Jodie, Polly, Harry and Bethan.

Weather : Fine to start, but a poor forecast for the high ground after lunchtime.

We try our luck again and head into the central fells where the forecast was poorer than if we walked locally.

If we stay in we would get lots of jobs done . . . but we would miss out a sociable and hopefully interesting day in the fells.

So . . . 11.30 found us meeting up near Mountain View in Borrowdale,

an off road parking area on the track to the farm.

Mountain View houses used to be slate faced

but the fronts of all of them were rendered and painted white a few years back.

Presumably it helps keep the prevailing winds and rain out. It certainly makes them brighter to look at.

We took the track from the gate near the parking area and climbed up towards Rosthwaite Fell.

By the time we reached the Combe Gill Valley (almost tautology there as combe implies a valley)

the path had done a 180 degree turn and the Glaramara's lower summit was now clearly in view.

The steady climb was improving the view behind us too.

The three local summits are Castle Crag, Kings How (that we climbed recently) and Brund Fell, the highest point of Grange Fell.

A real hanging valley with steep walls carved out by pre-historic ice, in the valley moraine deposits

and a waterfall cascading out of it into the main Borrowdale Valley

We continued the climb up the right hand side spur

and started to see the surrounding high fells . . . that steep sided crag is unmistakably Honister !

Dave looks back at a rain shower passing between us and Derwent Water.

" Ooh Betty . . . we nearly got a wetting ! "

Sorry Dave . . . you didn't really say that . . . but I couldn't resist the caption !

With the sun behind us and the rain ahead we were well placed to enjoy a really strong rainbow.

I love how the area below the arc is always lighter than that immediately above.

It's all to do with refraction of the light . . . if my school boy physics is recalled correctly.

This cairn was more to do with " art in the environment " than the " throw a stone on it " brigade.

In less stringent times may even have qualified for an Arts Council grant.

The forecast was coming true . . . there's more sunshine over Loweswater than over the central fells.

The middle peak is Mellbreak, which overlooks our valley.

The cloud which has started to spread over Base Brown and Brandreth has already covered Great Gable to the left.

It is also spreading from the west over Great End.

( above: ) No matter for now as we are still enjoying a period of sunshine as we make our way up the gentler slopes at the top of the ridge.   - - - o o o - - -   The main path continues on but I divert slightly to catch a photo from the top of Combe Head. The others stay with the regular path.

The sunlight and the clouds are intriguing, throwing successive areas into light and shade.

As yet there's no sign of the prolonged showers that have been forecasted.

Combe Gill Valley, looking a bit like the Newlands Valley from the top of Dale Head.

Looking north east across several ridges to the high ground of the Helvellyn range.

Into Langdale, with Pike o'Stickle to the left and Pike o'Blisco the pointed fell right of centre.

This is what we would have missed had we followed the forecast and stayed at home.

That grey cloud has passed over and it's a nice day again.

Time to run and catch up with the group . . . can you spot the others ?

You can walk around that final crag . . .	. . . or you can take a direct approach as Ann does.

The panorama from our lofty viewpoint almost at the top of Glaramara was delightful.

Click here or on the photo above for a Loweswatercam larger annotated photo.

A view from the Glaramara summit as more cloud rolls by.

The view from the top . . . with everyone looking at the camera . . . amazing.

Sunshine and blue skies were being replaced yet again by clouds, blowing in on the strong breeze.

This would be the last of the sun for a while.

This silver lining has a deep layer of grey underneath.

We finished our lunch in the shelter of the summit rocks

but soon put on full waterproofs as we watched the rain moving across in our direction.

A single raised slab points skyward in heavy rain, as we walk down from the summit.

This was almost a wintery shower . . . it was quite cold, it was very wet and there was plenty of it !

I'm glad we had our back to it.

Easing now as we make our way around the eastern side of the summit crags

and head off down towards Combe Door and Rosthwaite Fell.

Ahh . . . another delightful rainbow

as the rain passes and the sunlight returns.

You'd swear that it had never ever rained . . . apart from the wet coats and the slippery rocks.

This was the view from Combe Door.

. . . and this from the twin pools on the flat ground at the back of the rock portal.

The path follows a number of hanging boulders which seem to feature along the way.

That'll be Fairfield and Great Rigg in sunshine in the distance.

Glaramara geology has left it with a very rugged appearance with few paths and some quite rough ground.

For no apparent reason someone has built a small dry stone wall between two small crags at this point (and apparently nowhere else).

Sunshine again as we view Rosthwaite Cam, the minor rocky summit on the left of the ridge ahead.

Hey you two . . . this way . . . we're going down here next.

[ Move your cursor over the photo to get the dogs attention and see if they move for you ! ]

Dave in contemplative mood . . . with Combe Head behind

Combe Door is at the top of the prominent gully which climbs diagonally up and left below the summit.

More artwork on the summit of Rosthwaite Cam.

Can you see a dog's head or perhaps a Dutch clog ?

I waited just that extra minute to catch Bessyboot summit in the sunshine.

This is the Wainwright top on the lower slopes of Rosthwaite Fell.

Bessyboot and Tarn at Leaves . . .	. . . or should we say a tarn with leaves

Zooming in from the far end of the lake . . . featuring Pike o'Stickle in the distance.

The rugged slopes of Glaramara highlighted by the low angle of the sunshine.

Another group shot on the summit of Bessyboot, another new fell for Dave and Josie.

John had to get back home so we parted company a short while back and consequently he is missing from the photo.

We followed him down into the valley after our summit excursion.

A helping hand from a kind gentleman . . .

Take advantage . . . there's not a lot of us about !

We cross paths with this delightful frog

on the return track that curved back to the lane where we had parked the cars.

- - - o o o - - - Re-hydration at the Climbers Bar in the Scafell Hotel. We adjourned after a very pleasant and enjoyable six hours on the fells which included the whole spectrum of weather. Now there's just time to relax before we part company.   - - - o o o - - -   A pint of best 'Thirst Run' Keswick Brewery Ale. (Voted best beer at the Keswick Beer Festival 2006) [ Move your cursor over the photo to see relaxation at work. ] - - - o o o - - -

- - - o o o - - -

Technical note: Pictures taken with either Ann's Canon 75 or my Canon G10 digital camera.

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

This site best viewed with . . . a slight re-hydration moment at the end of the walk.

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