Linear Western Wainwrights

From my Wainwright list

four hills from two ‘groups’ of fells,

Burnbank and Blake,

Great Borne and Starling Dodd

lingered over in the west.

Two days?  Two half days?

Surely they could be combined?

So a linear walk was plotted, with Gavel Fell thrown in for good measure.  Meeting in Buttermere, one car was left by the church before heading off along Loweswater to then park on the Lamplugh road (NY105225).

There was even sunshine  and some pretty good views over to Fell Barrow.

On Burnbank the wind began to increase just a little.  But the clouds were scurrying over and it was only Starling Dodd which had it’s head in the mist.

There was little ‘down’ between Burnbank and Blake, just a gradual slope up after an interesting game of bog hopscotch.

Even the slight height gain had increased the wind velocity to to a point where it would blast you lunch away, so we scrunched down in the shelter to eat.

The sun broke through for a while adding a bit of brightness and deepening  the colours.

 Leaving the relative comfort of the shelter more sphagnum moss and bog was to be negotiated on the way to Gavel, at which point the horizon abruptly fell away

and I realised it may be quite a hike up to the last two hills.

But it was still bright, and though Hen Comb looked quite attractive in the sunlight, it was even better in last years snow.

More peat bog and up the steepest track of the day.

By now the wind had increased to such a strength I did wonder whether the next gust of wind would send me through  the wire fence to form perfect human chips!

Suffice to say we didn’t linger on the top but yomped across the remaining fell to the sculpted detritus on top of Starling Dodd

Mission complete it really was time to exit stage left and get out of the wind as quickly as possible.  We left the hill via Scale Beck, adding Ghyll Scrambling to the day’s achievements.

The recent wind and rain had taken its toll on the path and there was little distinction between river bed and trail at times, but at least we had dropped down and had shelter from the ‘considerable buffeting’.  Though it did start to rain.  That incessant drizzle which only graces mountains.  By the time we arrived at the ‘Fish’ pub in Buttermere I felt aptly soaked.

Strangely I really enjoyed the day and  can highly recommend the route. All 9.37 miles, but you might want to wait until the summer.

The 214 is now down to 17!