For our final walk of the holiday
we chose the Fairfield Horseshoe, a circular walk starting and finishing
in Ambleside.
The bad news was that, yet again, the cloud was very low and we
had hardly started ascending before we were in cloud. |
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Low Sweden Bridge |
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Walking towards Low Pike |
The good news was that all the
way to Dove Crag all we had to do was follow a wall. The going was
very muddy, and we had to pick our steps very carefully without
losing sight of the wall.
But the visibility was absolutely terrible, and
we did not even attempt to take any photos until we reached Dove
Crag, where the conditions were very grim. |
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David near Dove Crag |
| At the summit of Dove Crag, we were
in near blizzard conditions. |
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David at the summit of Dove Crag |
| We did not hang around but made our
way onto Hart Crag, where conditions were no better. |
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David at the summit of hart Crag |
From here we made our way towards
Fairfield, with the path still covered in snow in places.
At last we reached the broad summit of Fairfield.
The general conditions were better here, though the visibility was
still very poor.
We sat down and had a drink and something to
eat. In the guide books it said to be careful of Fairfield in mist,
so we made sure we checked our compass to avoid taking the wrong
route when heading off to Great Rigg.
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David at the summit of fairfield |
| While we sat at the summit, at first
the view was virtually non-existent. |
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"View" from Fairfield |
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lack of view from fairfield |
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Still no View from Fairfield |
| But soon the mist started clearing a little, and we
could begin to see a few of the surrounding fells. |
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Windermere from Fairfield |
| We decided to wait a little longer
to see if the mist would clear any more, and gradually the visibility
improved. |
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Easedale Tarn from Fairfield |
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Great Rigg from Fairfield |
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The path is now visible to Great Rigg |
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Seat Sandal |
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Looking back towards Hart Crag |
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Helm Crag to the right with Easedale Tarn behind across
the vale of Grasmere from Fairfield |
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grisedale tarn is now visible from fairfield with
dollywaggon pike behind |
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view towards Windermere from fairfield, with rydal
beck in the valley |
| Most importantly, our route to Great Rigg became visible,
confirming the bearings we had taken. |
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Hart Crag from the path to Great Rigg |
| We set off towards Great Rigg whilst
the visibility was still reasonable and made our way to Great Rigg
Man. |
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David by Great Rigg man |
By now the views all round were
much clearer.
We could even see where we were going..... |
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Windermere and Heron Pike from Great Rigg |
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Grasmere from Great Rigg |
| .....and where we had been. |
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Great Rigg and Fairfield |
| By now, it was mostly downhill walking
and we soon made our way to Heron Pike. |
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David on Heron Pike |
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Easedale Tarn and Helm Crag with the central fells
behind from Heron Pike |
After Heron Pike, the final fell
of the day was little Nab Scar.
Here we were joined by Mallards on a little tarn. |
| |
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Mallards on Nab Scar |
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David on Nab Scar |
| The view of Rydal from Nab Scar was
spectacular. |
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Rydal Water from Nab Scar with windermere behind |
And even with the cloud, the views were quite extensive
in all directions.
Nab Scar seemed quite popular with tourists,
who were making their way up the steep zigzag path as were coming
down to Rydal Mount.
From here, we took the footpath through Rydal
Park to the road back to Ambleside. |
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Ambleside |
