Linger in the Langdales


A chilly but lovely sunny morning again!  We are doing so well this year.  After a little searching out free car parking spaces we set off at a brisk pace along the Langdale valley beside Elterwater.  Sunday in Langdale is never a quiet one and there were plenty of people about today.  The climb up to Lingmoor Fell was round the back of the hill so we did have the paths to the Col to ourselves. 

Ice was still aparent on the paths on the way up, and we didn't hang around too long at the summit.  Coffee was a quick but nice stop half way down with a bird's eye view over Blea Tarn and the Langdale Pikes. Then we were down beside the tarn with the tourists, and heading down the lovely contouring path to Little Langdale road.  The beck here is held back by stone walls built with stones from the beck - very attractive.  We then picked up the tourist route down to Hodge Close Quarry where we were able to observe others at play abseiling.  Rather them than me!  And lunch was at Bob's favourite picnic site beside Holme Fell Tarn.  Dave's dog Wallace (Wally for short) was keen to prove he was no fool by jumping in and out of the water for sticks then coming over to shake the water over our butties.  Nice! 

And thus restored we climbed Holme Fell and then down to tackle more tourists on the path up to Tarn Howes.  A quick stop for coffee and we were on to our last Wainwright of the day - Black Cragg.  The day had warmed up a lot by now and one or two preferred to sunbathe rather than climb.  We then picked up the Cumbria Way back to the cars, and more importantly the pub, at Skelwith.

This was one of our series of Wainwright Wander walks which we will be doing as a group for years to come - join us sometime to help notch up your hills.