" Hopegill Valley with Amber " at EveryTrail
 

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A shorter walk to match the fitness of one of the 'older' members of our group today. 

Amber, Harry's older sister is nearly fifteen years old, a good age for a retriever, and she is naturally looking for shorter walks nowadays. 

This one is always a favourite for us as it is about an hour or so and has a gentle ascent to the quiet end of the Hopegill valley.

Oh yes . . . Dee and John are on the walk too !

Looking down Lorton Valley to the Solway Plain and distant hills of Scotland.

[ I sincerely hope we won't need a passport to visit them next year.]

Apart from a little smoke from a garden bonfire, the visibility was superb.

The Hope Beck makes its short way up the Hopegill Valley towards the table-like summit of Hopegill Head.

All very confusing as the 'beck' changes its name to a 'gill' (both names for a small stream) by the time it reaches the top.

The Lakeland change of seasons are a delight as colours and vegetation alters.

Here a lovely patch of pink heather starts to colour the fell side.

Near the top is a lovely rounded stone which makes a great seat.

From here you can contemplate the world.

Amber has walked far enough today but Dylan is still bouncing as you would expect.

I take our two dogs a little further up the valley . . . leaving the others to sit and enjoy the surroundings.

The old sheepfold at the head of the valley.

We climbed Hopegill head from here many years back and it was even steeper than it looks.

The summer season is the start of the bilberry crop.

They taste like blueberries but these are a little more full of flavour and slightly sharper to the taste buds.

When gathered (in olden days) they used a box with a comb-like leading edge to pull them from the plants and then catch the fruit in the container.

Otherwise collecting enough for a meal would take all day !

The clouds were rolling away and before we left the sky above Hopegill Head changed from white to blue.

Big summer skies as we make our way back  down to the others.

Time to reverse our upward route . . . taking the path slowly back down at an older dogs pace.

Back down near the car after a very pleasant and leisurely walk.

With the summer comes the unwelcome bracken and the paths at this time of year are sometimes less easy to find.

Can anyone invent a sheep that thrives on eating bracken please.

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By the way . . . just had to add this one :-

" Tables Turned "

Normally it is Dylan that uses Harry as a soft pillow . . . but tonight for the first time we find Harry enjoying a change of fortune.

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