Monday 29 July 2013

A Horseshoe Holiday Part Three: The Coledale Horseshoe. . .

. . . and then the good weather ran out.

Almost next door to the Newlands is the Coledale Horseshoe.  The day's weather was calling for rain around noon, but we started early and hoped for the best.  Visibility was good for the first climb of the day - Grisedale Pike.  Whew, this was a painful ascent.  Though it does flatten out partway up, the last bit is very, very steep.



Views from the top:




On Sandhill which is near the head of the horseshoe, you can see over to the other side and just glimpse Crummock Water.


And then the cloud and mist came down for most of the rest of the walk.  I can tell you we did go up Crag Hill with minimal visibility of the path and definitely nothing of the views, hence this will be a short blog post.  I was a bit worried about the descent in these conditions, but perhaps due to erosion, there's a brand new zigzag path that has been created (it's not on the ordinance map, but once you get on it, trust it - it will take you safely and gradually down and is very easy on the feet).  

You then follow this valley and the last easy climb is Barrow which you can see in the distance.  It's a very gentle descent from there.


I was happy to have done the walk safely, but I don't really feel like I've done it.  It stays on the bucket list anticipating a sunnier day.  Yes, even if I have to go up Grisedale again. . . 

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