Considerable Buffeting
…. was the forecast from MWIS for Friday. Having been blown off my feet earlier this year I was in no rush to repeat the experience, so opted to ‘stay low’. The area near Crook with was somewhere I had never walked, but had always revelled in the scenery when driving though, brought that long gone A level geography to life with the undulating rocky outcrops glacial detritus.
We began by ‘new’ St. Catherine’s Church at Crook, SD 452 950 and the circular route wound over low fell and plantation. The grey slate walls dividing the brilliant green into what I am sure, are not the haphazard shapes they appeared to be. Some more adept at corralling sheep than others.
and the gates were little better….
The buffeting winds meant constantly changing sky. One moment deep dark grey and horizontal rain, the next blue sky and and brilliant sunshine.
Once on Lords Lot Lyth Valley spread out and it was just about possible to see the coast.
A lesson on keeping an eye on the map was learned. You will just about see in the picture above, a convenient swathe cut in the bracken. It was, even more conveniently in the direction we were going, towards the top of Lords Lot, what a considerate farmer we thought, denying us a trudge through waist high bracken. By the time reached the top of the hill we were beginning to doubt this generosity of spirit as we hit an almost impenetrable wall of gorse, as high as my diminutive self. The existence of one way tracks into the gorse indicated we were not the only ones to be hoodwinked. After ten minutes or so dithering about wondering if we were going to get through we pulled out the map and compass and figured we were a few meters too far west and a little higher than the contours of the path we were hoping for.
So back down the hill and we found the path… and it did trudge though waste high bracken! In case you decide to walk this route, the bracken deception starts SD 439 925.
Once round the offending gorse it was sort of satisfying to see there really was no way we could have made it through as the natural barricade was reinforced with a wire fence.
Back on track we reached the top of ‘Lord’s Lot’ and were rewarded with views over the Kent valley towards Longsleddle and the Kentmere Hills, and the rain held off for a few minute. Soggy sandwiches are never quite the same.
The rest of the way we managed to complete without any diversions, unintended or otherwise. Maybe, for a while, we stopped talking 
More pictures and reasons to walk here.
Map
The route can be found in Short Walks in the Lake District, available here.
and don’t forget the map
OS Explorer Sheet OL31 OS Landranger Sheet 91 here
