20s & 30s New Year's trip to the Lake District
On Sunday the 30th of December 2007, a group of four from Eden drove to the Lake District for a few days of walking around the hills and seeing the New Year in.
Day One - Ambleside
We arrived at Ambleside Youth Hostel in the early afternoon, and decided to go for a short walk up above Ambleside before we lost the light.
On the way up, there was a tree trunk over a ravine that Rick couldn't resist crossing.
The rest of us took the bridge.
We made our way up to Jenkin's Crag, which gave a view over Windermere.
Day Two - Helvellyn
On Monday morning, we set off up Helvellyn, from the West (Thirlmere) side.
Helvellyn is quite a tall mountain, but the route we took was very straightforward, straight up the side.
We did see a bit of snow - it was piled up against the shelter at the top of the mountain.
We then wandered along the ridge to Nethermost Pike, where we found another shelter, full of snow, which we cleared out a little.
The following three nights we stayed at Derwent Water youth hostel.
Monday was New Year's Eve, so there was a quiz on at the youth hostel after supper, which we won by a hair.
Then we went down to the lake shore to watch the fireworks of Keswick and other places around the lake.
Day Four
Okay, I have missed a day.
I don't want to talk about it.
Suffice to say that the weather was really bad, and I didn't get any pictures, but we got to the top of Scafell Pike, and (accidentally) Lingmell, and got back fairly late.
On Wednesday, we had a light day (to recover from New Year's day).
First, we went shopping in Keswick, then we went to the Bowder Stone, which must be one of the most photographed rocks around.
Then we visited the village of Grange, which has a nice double bridge over a river.
In the afternoon, we climbed up the back of the youth hostel to the Surprise Viewpoint.
On the way through the hostel grounds, we saw this waterfall.
And then the Surprise Viewpoint - a very good name, and a very good view.
Day Five - Dale Head
On Thursday, we drove home, but first we went up Dale Head.
We drove to Honister pass, where there is a slate mine (which was closed for the winter), and then walked straight up Dale Head.
It was pretty steep, and completely frozen.
It must have been very cold overnight, because the previous day there was no ice or snow around, but this day the ground was solid.
Little icicles had been formed pushing up from the ground when the ground had frozen, which was rather pretty.
The icicles had pushed up the top layer of gravel on the paths, which made walking interesting, as the pressure of your foot would crush the path down an inch or two as the icicles broke.
Just before we started driving home, it started to snow.
