February 11th, 2010
I’d seen there had been people skiing recently at an elevation of 600 metre on Blencathra (KesMail February 2010). What I hadn’t anticipated to find last week was a 300m long ‘blue run’ on a wide gully below Blaeberry Fell (See Photo opposite), about two miles beyond Keswick and at a height of only 370 m.
It wasn’t up to the snow conditions in Italy’s Sauze d’Oulx where we were recently with the Ski Club of Manchester, but with a pair of skis there would have been a good run down. This is one of the great things about winter walking – finding the unexpected in the unknown known.
Having the right kit is the key thing for taking to the hills in winter in safety – though I wouldn’t take skis every time I saw snow! I’ll get a list of my favourite equipment for safe winter walking in my next post. In the meantime the photos below give an impression of some of the visual delights that came from a late lunch to dusk walk with the snow and ice last week.
Tags: "Lake District walks", Derwentwater
Posted in Environment, Local news, Walking | No Comments »
October 4th, 2009
Comments about people’s stay here are already included in our Guestbook, but we’re always keen for more contributions from guests and from visitors to the website.
We’ve also had this last summer holiday period interesting comments on the blog section and some eye-catching drawings and a photo. The small line drawing (top picture) shows The Larches from the south with the fellside and trees behind and was sent by the Reavley and Atkinson families visiting in August.
The second sketch by Nina Birnbaum is a small section of a larger colour acrylic painting showing Skiddaw mountain from the Breakfast Terrace. To see the full picture with a flower pot in the foreground see the Home section.
The third contribution from John Brookman is a photo (below) of the half-frozen rim of Bassenthwaite just beyond St Bega’s Church. This will form part of the photo gallery for this low level walk in the Walks section.
Many thanks to our contributors who’ve shown how User generated content (UGC) can enhance the lakelandbelvedere.com site! Please keep the contributions flowing as well as ideas of what else we should include on the website – just send an email to ian@lakelandbelvedere.com.
Tags: "Lake District walks", Lake District cottage, Skiddaw, Thornthwaite
Posted in The Larches, Walking | No Comments »
September 23rd, 2009
This last weekend’s been a memorable day for Keswick and Cumbria as the town has been host for the first Commonwealth Mountain and Ultra Distance Championships. It’s a fitting place to kick off the push to include fell running in World athletics and the Olympics as the world’s first organised fell race took place in Grasmere in 1850.
The town was host to many new faces and Latrigg, high above the town, the best place to watch the unfolding excitement. Runners raced out of Fitz Park, crossed the bridge over the A66 and then climbed the steep routes over Latrigg and – for the uphill only events – took the long path up to Skiddaw (931 metres).
Fell running is a great sport and exacting too! Full details of the runners and times can be found on the Commonwealth Championships website, with KW Chemweno from Kenya winning both the Skiddaw uphill only and Latrigg up and down races in the fantastic times of 50.42 minutes and 47.55 minutes respectively. There are excellent pictures of the participants on the Woodentops website; and more details of the event in the Keswick Reminder (18 September 2009).
Not to be outdone we will be including a new section on the website with details of easy fell running routes from The Larches. These will include the Figure of 8 run up Comb Beck (3.9 km and 212 metres ascent), the Marshes circular via Braithwaite (7 km and 100 metres ascent) and the Barrow circular (4.15 km and 332 metres ascent). Watch out for details for an easy introduction to fell running!
Tags: "Lake District walks", Lake District cottage, Lake District walks Latrigg, Thornthwaite
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September 3rd, 2009
It’s not Keswick’s highest peak but for convenience and fantastic views Latrigg takes some beating; and it’s a top that is almost always visible from our Belvedere (See the right hand fell in photo taken from The Larches).
Last week after a day’s work I took the easy route to the top heading SW at first from the parking area. Approaching from the Keswick side last winter, we’d decided to leave the top section because ice and frozen snow had made conditions so slippery. It’s not always a doddle this walk.
What I hadn’t known was that the route (No 38) I was now on had been developed as part of the Lake District Planning Board’s Miles without Stiles new scheme to promote walking for those with limited mobility. It’s a great project and needs more publicity as it helps to put many of the Lake District tops, lakes and fells within the grasp of those using wheelchairs or pushchairs and people with visual impairment.
Just hours later I found the Keswick Reminder’s ‘Chinese Bridge Ready on time’ story (21 August 2009) about the walk round Derwentwater. So here was another favourite, (Route No 34) which is also part of this same scheme – and it’s fun for children too! More details are on the Things to do section of the Planning Board’s website.
Tags: "Lake District walks", Lake District cottage, Lake District walks Derwentwater, Lake District walks Latrigg, Thornthwaite
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August 3rd, 2009
I’ve been reading The unfortunate tourist of Helvellyn and his faithful dog, which recounts the death of Charles Gough from a fall in the mist in 1805 and the many accounts over the years of the dog who remained at his side till the body was discovered three months later. The spot was close to the top of Helvellyn, where I was walking with an old friend last April (See photo opposite) and where a monument to the dog’s ‘heroic vigil’ was built in 1892.
Why has there been such an obsessional interest in this story from painters and poets including Wordsworth ever since? After all walking in mountains always entails dangers and deaths occur all too frequently. I’m reminded of a similar accident in the heat of August two years ago in Crete involving a brother and sister from a group of Polish tourists, which I described in SOS – Tourism, Technology and the Samaria Gorge.
There were errors, negligence, a massive search and slow dehydration and hallucinations for the young couple, before their bodies were found on this wild mountain. Yet this tragic story – with only a human witness and no dog – has now sunk without trace.
The moral of this for hill walkers in these days of mass tourism? Forget the dog and remember to take a map, compass and first aid kit. This way it’s much less likely you’ll have to rely on help from the excellent Keswick Mountain Rescue Team to get you out of trouble.
POSTCRIPT: The Keswick Mountain Rescue Team is one of the local charities which we will be supporting as part of our Green charter for The Larches.
Tags: "Lake District walks Helvellyn", "Lake District walks", Thornthwaite
Posted in Walking | No Comments »
I’d seen there had been people skiing recently at an elevation of 600 metre on Blencathra (KesMail February 2010). What I hadn’t anticipated to find last week was a 300m long ‘blue run’ on a wide gully below Blaeberry Fell (See Photo opposite), about two miles beyond Keswick and at a height of only 370 m.
