We Straddled a Wainwright

An hours car drive away took us past Penrith and into the Lake District. The lake below is Ullswater.

We arrived at the national trust carpark at about 10.00. Membership saved us a £9 parking fee.

The weather was by and large good with a few sharp showers.

As with all these things once you start to walk a bit you leave the crowds behind. The paths were well maintained. They had we think been using helicopters to fly in the gravel for the top bits. We know they do this in Scotland for some of the most remote paths. There were big bags deposited along the route. Can't imagine how they could get them there otherwise.

We scrambled to the top at times the edges were a little precarious. The wind picked up as we reached the top of the Wainwright. Munroes are mountain s mostly in Scotland of over 3000 feet. The lower hills are called Wainwights as documented by an 18 century walker of that name. This one was over 1000 ft so one of the smaller ones in the Lakes. However it did afford us great views and at the top the wind was forceful.

The return journey took us down the canyon with waterfalls and cascades .

As we descended it became busier and busier.

Most people make it to the first waterfall before returning to their cars.

Apparently there are red squirrels about but we never got to see any. Unfortunately there seems to be an outbreak of Squirrel pox carried by greys who are largely immune and is fatal to the reds. This is thought to contribute to the decline of the red squirrel 😞.

The walk was a great mixture of waterfalls and panoramic views. We stopped in Penrith on the way back a very pretty market town.

Our next door neighbour in the carpark is 87 years old. He and his Mrs sold their home 27 years ago and have been touring England and Europe ever since. Mind his motor home is about twice the size of ours. He said that if he had stayed in his house he would have died years ago. So there hope for us all.

Tomorrow we are off down the Motorway towards Kendall the south end of the Lakes. We are treating ourselves to 3 nights in a cheap and cheerful site . Showers etc and days out before we make the final trip back on Saturday.

As I write we are being buffeted by big winds hopefully they will ease before we st off tomorrow.

So far we have been very lucky, we've seen some of the images of the flooding in Scotland. The site we were living on was very badly affected.