Lake District weekend away at Rydal hall
23rd January 2010
This was a medium walk, just to prove to the sceptics that I can actually plan them. We started out from Elterwater, spurning the "sell your grannie for medical research to pay the charges" car park in the village in favour of a free one just up the hill. We passed through the highly scenic Burlington slate quarry, before heading up Great Langdale for the Cumbria Way. The weather was glorious, there was snow on the tops but none where we were walking and all was right with the world. So right, in fact, that I actually let people have a break to admire the scenery and take a few pictures.
Every silver lining has a cloud though, and ours came in the form of a sharpish pull up to the pass between Great and Little Langdale and then a short but very steep climb onto Lingmoor Fell. We decided to reward ourselves with lunch on the top. Setting off again, we were rewarded with a staggering view across the lower fells to the sea, the valleys filled with mist. Unfortunately, the cloud fell and the sun packed up and went home but as we were leaving the fell for Little Langdale, we weren't too worried. It did start to spit with rain, but James donned the ceremonial waterproofs, which immediately made it stop. We had a quick road walk to cross the Slater's Bridge, which was not strictly necessary to the route but is so lovely I couldn't resist including it.
We wandered down the dale, pausing at Colwith Force for more photos, to Skelwith Bridge, where we picked up the track back past the perfectly still Elterwater, and on to the village. We had a brief pause at the Wainwright's Inn in Chapel Stile for a well deserved pint before we headed for Rydal and dinner. 9.5 miles, 300m of ascent and as a perfect a day's walking as you could hope for.
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