Michelle

Grasmere - Allan Bank - Silver How - Lang How - Castle How - Blea Rigg - Easdale Tarn - Goody Bridge - Grasmere.

Sunny, hot and humid, only occasional breeze. Some cloud around which did little to ameliorate the heat.

Michelle, Michael, George.

Ashley - got as far as Ovington where he did his back in tying his shoelace and had to go back home.

Bernie - school work because it's term time.

Evelyn - attending novelists' conference in Sheffield.

Lance and Julie - holidaying in Kandersteg in Switzerland.

Sandy and Ron - holidaying in Tenerife.

Comments

We did a long, hot ascent up to Silver How for lunch. There was some difficulty finding the turn off to Silver How, not helped by the fact that the batteries on George's GPS were flat.

From the lunch spot, we had good views in all directions. North: Fairfield, Helvellyn. South: Windermere and Loughrigg Tarn. East: Rydal Water. West: Langdales.

After lunch, we crossed an expanse of moorland broken up by rocky outcrops and several small tarns, most of which had a good covering of bog cotton. One tarn had some strange looking plants sticking out of the water. There were good views of Jack's Rake.

Our second tea break was on the descent overlooking Codale Tarn and Easdale Tarn in the distance. We sat in between a black lamb and its mother. There were even better views of Easdale Tarn as we completed our descent to Easdale Gill. We watched a runner coming down the side of the burn. At first the path towards Easdale Tarn was easy, but then we came to a steep rocky stetch where we had to pick our own way down. Michelle sustained a knee injury here but managed to get back to Goody Bridge while the kind men went to fetch the car. Easdale Tarn was busy with day trippers, who had had to climb up the steep rocky stretch that we had descended. We passed several late starters heading for the hills.

Wildlife/Flora/Animals:

Insects: Lots of dragonflies of various colours around. Also orange butterflies.

Birds: Several wheatears. Duck which flew off from a tarn then landed back in it with a splash. Several swallows flitting around near Easedale. Heard a member of the crow family calling out..

Swan Hotel, Grasmere. Whilst slaking our thirsts with beer shandies, we decided to eat in the hotel garden and enjoy the evening sun and the view of the hill that we had just walked over. We had hot chicken curries and monster chips with the haddock.

Panorama from Silver Howe

Lunch stop

Looking towards Windermere

The Langdales from Silver Howe

Easdale Tarn