Friday 10 June 2011

Greenup Gap.




Up early to take the open top bus along Derwent Water from Keswick down to Rosthwaite to pick up the path Eleanor and I had to abort on our last visit in February, when the snow began to fall. We set off along the familiar path up the side of Greenup Gill towards Lining Crag and apart from a short squall of a shower made good progress in bright sunshine to the top.

Unlike the varied terrain of the first couple of legs of the Coast to Coast today's adventure was a fairly straight forward up and down affair taking the walker through the Greenup Gap one of the few passing places in an intimidating line of hill fells that run from north to south, barring a direct eastbound journey.

We stopped for a well earned breather at the summit and looked back down into the beautiful Borrowdale valley from where we'd come before turning and trudging on a further half a mile to overtop the edge and catch a first glimpse of Grasmere peering out from behind Gibson Knott and Helm Crag. Rather than continue on a ridge walk over these fells we decided to descend into the valley and follow the sparkling run of Far Easedale Gill as it gurgled and bounced its way towards the village.

Feeling satisfied with the day's walk we checked ourselves into the busy youth hostel at Butharlyp Howe and, after a brief detour to the pub, settled in for the night. It quickly became apparent how amateur we are in the grand scheme of fell walking as scores of walkers descended throughout the evening each with a more hearty tale to tell than the last. The most impressive was a chap in his fifties who was determined to do seventy miles in three days and seemed slightly disappointed having conquered everything between Penrith and here in one day, that he hadn't set himself a more vigorous challenge. Shy in the face of such endurance I made my excuses and tucked myself in for the night.
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