02/11/14 - Loughrigg Actually

Distance - 6 Miles
Geocaches - 5
Walk from - Country Walking Magazine November 1997  
Last Night
I determined the answer to the question - what happens to a man if you eat a Suet Pudding the size of your head and then drink 6 pints of Yorkshire Bitter.  You start to expand from the inside to the point that you cannot move.  After visiting the Lion, 13 Bar, Royal Oak and the Talbot, we were forced to retire for a lie down and Match of the Day.  As the Albion were the penultimate game, the inevitable happened and I succumbed to sleep.  Sonia nudged me to turn the TV off.

Today's Walk
So, some serious effort needs to be exerted to walk off this feast, and the full Yorkshire breakfast consumed this morning.

We will knock off a Wainwright.  A nice simple one - Loughrigg Fell - to avoid upsetting Sonia.  After completion, she still complains that I promised her a low level walk.

Park up at the end of Rydal Water.  They have new parking schemes here - where your registration number is photographed on the way in and you settle up on the way out.  Its in our interests to power march this walk.

Car park complexities over, we head out west along the rapids that connect Rydal Water to Grasmere.  Canoeing competition in full flight.  Then its a zig zag path up to Heather Terrace, quickly gaining height.

Rydal Connects to Grasmere where the canoes play

The views are stunning, but always of Grasmere.  So plenty of photos all of the same things.  On the pull to the Trig Point, Sonia adopts a 100 steps and a rest policy.

Breather 1

100 More Steps - Breather 2

She then has the nerve to tag herself on facebook at the summit saying "She Won".  I only went off to find the cache.

Ladies First

Selfie Stick discarded due to last blog comments

Mountaineering photos taken, we then make our way down with the hoards of other walkers.  All ages, races and sizes want to bag these wainwrights.

The OS map tells us that we are in Black Mire, but its far prettier than its name suggests.  Eventually, we work our way down to the road at Fox Ghyll, grabbing the three other caches.

Back on the Road

The River Bothay leads us to the shore of Rydal Water and a couple more caches.  Fond memories of the views from the last time I was in these parts and completed the Fairfield Horseshoe.

Rydal Water

Into Ambleside for post walk refreshments.  Who would have thought a Vegetarian Cafe would have had such delightful meals.  Even if I did insult them by asking if their Chilli had meat in it.

Check in to the Salutation in Ambleside - and the true post walk wind down can begin in the Hot Tub and the Steam Room.

Now to find something light to eat for Tea.