Sunday, March 16, 2008

Not your normal High Street


















This last week I have been up in England's Lake District in the county of Cumbria. Cumbria , situated in the north west is England's most mountainous county filled
with wonderful peaks with names suchas Haystacks, Pillar and Hellvelyn to mention but a few, They are not mountains on the scale of the Himalaya's or Southern Alps but non the less in my opinion they are just as beautiful,if not more so. There is so much history to be found in these English mountains from shepherds and their flocks to slate miners. This week I went to climb a mountain known simply as 'High Street' in the vicinity of Haweswater. The name High Street does not imply that you will find a butchers or bakers on the summit rather it takes you back to the day when it's summit was a high up Roman road linking their garrisons at Ambleside and Brougham and on the south side of the mountain lies the Troutbeck slopes where Scotch invaders were repulsed by the shepherds, dalesmen and farmers whom made the summit their playground and feasting place during their annual horse racing meets. I made my ascent via Rough Crag which at first is a pleasant climb with the odd scramble thrown in to get your hands dirty however the English weather was quite bad at the time with high winds from the Atlantic buffeting us as we ventured into exposed area's. We made it into the snow about half way up Long Stile which is around 100 yards from the top but due to the severe winds in this unsheltered area we decided to come back down via Blea tarn. No sooner had we turned back when the summit became a white out with a snow storm coming in from the south. The climb down via Blea Tarn leads one to a lovely body of water with a small dam surrounded by the mountain, and a gentle walk down to Haweswater following Blea Water Beck through gorgeous coloured fells with a number of waterfalls thrown in to impress. If your interested in this part of England may I recomend the books of A Wainwright or the DVD's of Wainwright's walks presented by Julia Bradbury.




5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Brill!

Keep the outdoor show going! Enjoying watching from the warmth indoors :-)

Tommy said...

Thanks Sandra :-)
Eurovision next year I think.

Anonymous said...

Too good for Eurovision me thinks!

Anonymous said...

Interesting to know.

Tommy said...

Thanks Ariza :-)