Wednesday 30 October 2013

Loughrigg Fell

We met up with Skipper a fellow Border Terrier and his Mum and Dad and went for a hike from Ambleside to Grasmere over Loughrigg. Before we met them though we had to get there.

Bella was keen to get a bird's eye view of the action from the front of the bus.  Prior to getting the bus she had spotted a cat across the road so perhaps this perch was chosen by her in case another one came along.


At the front of the 555
But she was out of luck, no cats were espied again until we returned to Keswick.

We did enjoy a good hike over Loughrigg though and found a child's glove on the way which had obviously been lovingly knitted by a Mum out there, so picked it up and low and behold we came across her and returned it. Having done our good turn for the day we found a cosy spot and the dogs sniffed out the home made chicken liver treats.  Bella is still keeping her eye on the rucksack with the treats in it here.

A simple stop for tea and liver treats for Skipper and Bella


We hiked over the fell and then made our way down the slippery steps, taking our time as we were in no rush and the day was still fine with no sign of the impending rain.


Put me down Dad I can walk from here.
Easy does it down the very slippery stones.
Skippers 2nd ever fell walk, he is only 9 months old.
Skipper was hiking like a real professional and it was clear he was going to be really good at this.  Mind you his Mum knew a thing or two and was very experienced.

We headed down Red Bank avoiding all the cars which were going up and down (half term motorists) and strode into the Lamb bar at the Red Lion Hotel, in Grasmere.  Once we had ordered our beer and cheese and onion crisps we could see that the weather outside had changed from the mundane to depressing.....So we took our time because we knew what was coming when we left.

Sunday 20 October 2013

Wales hiking

We went to Wales recently to have a look at some 3000' mountains we fancied doing, but also found that we both enjoyed looking at the narrow gauge railways over there.

Once we had played with the trains for a few days we eventually went up a hill Y Garn...

The summit cairn
On the way up the cloud came down and it was difficult to take a photo, but here are Pete and Bella on the top.

We navigated in mist across from here both using our compasses because we wanted to avoid a knife edge ridge and came to the top of the Devil's Kitchen. This we descended very carefully because it was slippery and wet.


Starting the descent of Devil's Kitchen
The view down the steep descent
Just as we finished the hike the cloud lifted on Y Garn
We were almost back at the café at the bottom by the Youth Hostel when we noticed we could at last see the top of the mountain, so we took this shot, moments later the cloud descended on the summit and obscured it again.

And so as not to disappoint those of you who like a 'bit of steam'; may I present Linda...

A new addition to the Ffestiniog fleet!