Jaclyn's Rambles: Carrock Fell

This morning I'd decided to meet up with my walking buddy Richard to try and conquer some of the Northern Fells. It's an area that I've not done much walking in and Richard had a couple of Wainwrights there to bag for his second round. We'd arranged for me to pick him up from Threlkeld at 8.00am so we could grab a coffee from the Horse and Farrier Inn. After a caffeine boost and a catch up we drove to Mungrisdale and parked the car at the parking spot next to River Glenderamakin. We crossed the road to cut through a field to join the road again further along. Just up the road, he pointed out St Kentigern's Church which is a lovely little gem and it looked especially delightful on a sunny day like today. I spent some time practising my photography with a little help from Richard as he's the expert in that field and we also decided to have a look inside.

After taking plenty of photographs we moved onwards up the road through Bowscale to another little village called Mosedale. It's the kind of place where I can imagine myself living when I eventually move up here. It's just so lovely and peaceful and surrounded by hills.

It was quite a long road walk before we eventually came across Stone Ends farm and the start of the steep path up to Carrock Fell, our first objective.

I couldn't believe my eyes this morning as there were cloud inversions all over the place. I've never seen one before so It was really something special. I've yet to see one from a summit.

Before we started our ascent we decided to have a rest from the heat of the morning as it was already quite warm and we'd not even started yet. The heat from the sun surprised us both as the forecast for today was cloud.

Shortly after we started our ascent we discovered a sheepfold as mentioned in the Wainwright books.

Our ascent started off as a steady grassy path before eventually reaching a short scree section and then a narrow path which was lovely although quite steep, which on a day like today proved quite tiring for both of us. As we got about halfway up the steep section Richard decided to grab some water from the nearby beck ready for a cup of coffee or two later. As we reached the top of our ascent the views were amazing, especially being surrounded by cloud inversions.

The heather is looking gorgeous in all its purple glory but it looks like it's starting to die off in certain places now.

Looking towards Blencathra

Getting nearer to the summit now

The summit is now in sight, you can just see the cairn in the distance. That's the worst of the ascent dealt with.

The cloud inversions are still hanging around

We finally made it up to the summit of Carrock Fell, the first Wainwright of the day. Now at the top, we decided it was time for a well-earned rest, some lunch and a coffee. I also got another photography lesson up here. As it was so warm and it took us until lunch time to get to the first summit, we decided not to attempt the other three Wainwrights and pick a slightly different route instead, so we decided to take our time up here and just enjoy the moment.

From Carrock Fell, we descended down towards Round Knott and decided to bag a few easy Birketts instead of the Wainwrights we'd originally planned. From Round Knott, we made our way to Miton Hill and then onwards to Hare Stones.

Looking back towards Carrock fell from Round Knott

Looking towards High Pike from Round Knott

Hare Stones

From Hare Stones, we joined the Cumbria Way path and walked towards Great Lingy Hill where we discovered Lingy Hut and decided to have another rest stop before descending back down the valley.

Our descent down the valley back towards Mosedale seemed quite long when we looked at the OS map but it was a very quick easy descent and was also lovely with the sunshine and the Purple heather all around.