Recollections of last year's Lakes trip, before this year's Lakes trip

25 March to 1 April 2023

Trip with Ray to the Lakes in 2023.

Where we stayed

Loughrigg Brow, a large 19th-century house on Under Loughrigg, a narrow winding road that runs alongside the river Rothay to the north of Ambleside. We stayed in the Windermere Suite, one of the second floor flats. The whole house is divided into flats, a number of which are probably holiday rentals. The house contains a lift, for use by the flat owners only. There was a note in the flat about the lift, to the effect that it's proved a complete money pit, breaks down constantly and that basically no one should use it.

We booked the property through Heart of the Lakes, which appears now to be trading as Lakelovers, with whom we have booked our upcoming stay in Ambleside starting tomorrow.

It was a very pleasant flat with a lovely sitting room. The only downside of the flat was the pervasive smell of drains in the ensuite to the twin bedroom, which persisted for the whole week despite my repeatedly chucking boiling water down the bathroom sink as per the instructions in the flat. I had generously persuaded Ray to have the king size bedroom, mainly because the ensuite to that had a bath and he doesn’t have a bath on his boat, and I know he enjoys a bath.

It was an excellent location – Ambleside was a pleasant walk down through the grounds and across Rothay Park; the only downside was the steep walk back up the drive on the way back.

Anticipation!

Loughrigg Brow

First evening

On arrival, we had a poke about the grounds and initially noted that some tree-felling appeared to have been done, before it dawned on us that an awful lot of tree-felling had been done and that the trees appeared to be lying in a more haphazard manner than might be expected had they been deliberately felled. On returning to the flat, I discovered a handwritten note from the owners that we hadn’t spotted initially, noting that the grounds had been devastated by Storm Arwen in late 2021. I didn’t remember the online entry for the property pointing this out – not saying it would necessarily have put me off booking but I had noted the 10 acres of grounds as a plus point, and in practice strolls around the grounds were restricted by the need to constantly shimmy over large tree trunks.

We also lugged our Sainsburys delivery up two flights of stairs. Not to be recommended.

The grounds

Fallen trees

We did walks on all the days except Day 3, which was very wet – though we also got pretty soaked on Day 4. At this time I was still using MapMyWalk to track walks – have now switched to using Strava via my Garmin Forerunner – and couldn’t figure out how to get MMW not to put the annoying mile markers on the map, and also never figured out why it would show part of the route in black. I’ve shared the stats from MMW at the top of each day’s entry.

Day 1: Rothay Circuit out of Buttle

A lovely circuit of Rydal Water and Grasmere. Route taken from Paul Buttle’s 15 Walks from Ambleside and Grasmere, which we found in the flat.

Setting off on the path that leads to Rydal Hall

Rydal Water from the Coffin Route

Grasmere from our lunch viewpoint

The route

Day 2: Wansfell Pike and Troutbeck

This was the sunniest day of the week. The ascent of Wansfell Pike from Ambleside is quite steep but not scrambly, so I was determined to nail it in an assertive fashion.

On the way up. In typical fashion, Ray had got chatting to someone

Me atop Wansfell Pike

Wainwright does point out that the ‘rocky bluff’ of Wansfell Pike is not actually the true summit of Wansfell. The true summit is a bit of an extra walk away to the NE. At 1597 to W. Pike’s 1581, we weren’t sufficiently bothered about the extra sixteen feet of height to bother walking over to it; plus it looked a bit underwhelming, whereas the views from the Pike are great. (Wainwright does indeed note that the lower Wansfell Pike is a better viewpoint.)

After reaching the summit of Wansfell, we descended its other side down into Troutbeck, where I think we sat on a bench for a bit having something from a café there.

Roadside well in Troutbeck

We walked back from Troutbeck to Ambleside via Robin Lane and later Skelghyll Woods.

Following the path to High Skelghyll Farm

Mossy wall in Skelghyll Woods

These gates again. They intrigue me. Can't find any existing house called Skelgarth.

Back in Ambleside we went for a cream tea at the Apple Pie Café.

Our route:

Day 3: Stock Ghyll Force and Ambleside

It was raining and looked set in for the day. We walked up to Stock Ghyll Force, a waterfall just up behind Ambleside, and then had lunch in a large pub near the main car park. I forget its name but I daresay we might go there again on the upcoming trip.

Looking a bit damp

Rain drove us inside

Day 4: bus to Coniston and circular walk

Extremely wet walk, we got lost at one point and almost missed the bus back due to waiting on the wrong side of the road.

Sticking in a purist fashion to our resolve not to drive in the Lakes once we were there, we took the Stagecoach 505 bus service that goes from the Ambleside bus interchange to the Crown at Coniston. I can’t remember how long the journey took, probably 40 minutes or so what with that stopping thing that buses do.

The Crown at Coniston

As the photos suggest, this was a grey day. On arrival we headed for the lake shore and walked along the lake southwards for a bit, passing Torver jetty where I think we stopped for a snack. We then headed inland across Torver Common to the road. Close to the road we passed the old trackbed of the Coniston Railway, which excited Ray mightily.

Coniston shore

Torver jetty

The old railway trackbed

We probably would have been better to follow the ‘Coniston Avoiding Road’ path back to Coniston village, but instead, to make it a longer walk, we crossed the road and headed up a footpath leading on to higher ground. This involved some very muddy paths and generally boggy ground. We ate our picnic near Torver Beck, which was looking pretty lively, and set out to walk back in the direction of Coniston – which we did eventually manage to do, but had quite a bit of difficulty discerning anything that could be called a path. Just as I was deciding I didn't relish the thought of being out there after dark, Ray decided on a direction and tramped off determinedly, and it did turn out to be the one we needed as we eventually did join a more discernible path.

Muddy path

Torver Beck

Bit lost at this point

Shortly after this wet wall picture, I seem to remember my phone decided it was too wet to continue, hence no further pictures. That probably also explains the straight section on the route map.

The horrible "stile"

We did, thankfully manage to catch the bus back to Ambleside. Our route below:

Day 5: Loughrigg Fell including summit of Loughrigg

This was a walk out of the useful little ‘Low Fells’ book that I’d purchased on our previous Lakes visit in 2020 and, annoyingly, can't now find - reaching the conclusion that I must have left it at Loughrigg Brow. This walk started by walking north along Under Loughrigg towards the A591, then taking the path that leads alongside Rydal Water and ascends towards Loughrigg Terrace. From Loughrigg Terrace you ascend onto the top of the fell.

Walking up Under Loughrigg towards Pelter Bridge

Grasmere from Loughrigg Terrace

A Wainwright book in the flat referred to Loughrigg Fell as “a sprawling, ill-shaped wedge” and as “having a bulk out of all proportion to its modest altitude”. It’s enough to give it body dysmorphia. I wouldn’t quite agree that “no ascent” is involved, but I agree it’s not much in the grand scheme of things. In fairness, Wainwright does concede further down the page that “Everybody likes Loughrigg”.

Heading up onto Loughrigg

The summit

On top of the fell

I can’t remember too much about the latter stages of this walk – the loop in the bottom right of the map below is reminding me that I think we went slightly off route at one point, before getting back on track, no doubt helped by this helpful sign in the wall at one point.

Old golf course possibly around here somewhere

On the way back down we passed a posh-looking house called Pine Rigg. Interestingly, this seems to have been built on the site of a former golf clubhouse.

Wainwright's map showing the road down off Loughrigg

Coming down the lane back to Loughrigg Brow (centre of picture)

Our route:

Day 6: bus to Elterwater and walk back

We took a bus to the village of Elterwater and walked past the lake and along the river Brathay to Skelwith Bridge. From there we followed a path up through a lodge park up onto Loughrigg Fell again and ate lunch by Loughrigg Tarn. Then across the fell and back to Ambleside. Ray had a bit more of a hunt around for the old golf course.

River Brathay above Skelwith Force

Ray down on the viewing platform at Skelwith Force

Loughrigg Tarn

Following a bridleway across Loughrigg Fell

Maybe a tee for the old golf course?

Route of the walk:

We went out in the evening for dinner at the Jintana Thai restaurant in Ambleside.

Last night dinner

Postscript

This was a lovely week. All the days except the Wansfell day were varying shades of grey and dampness, but it didn’t dampen my enjoyment much. The pic below was taken from the sitting room of the Windermere Suite. We had another quick circuit of the grounds and inspection of the tree carnage before setting off home.

Ambleside with Wansfell behind

“Midgham Meander” with the Berkshire Weekend Walkers, 10 miles

Saturday 31 August

The Berkshire Weekend Walkers are a local Ramblers group. BWW’s average age seems to be younger than the other Ramblers groups I’ve been out with – probably around my own. They do note on their website that their group is primarily for people of working age and therefore focuses on weekend walks, in contrast to at least one of the other groups I've walked with who have a preponderance of older walkers and have their main walk of the week on a weekday.

This walk started from Midgham station car park (the station, as pedantically noted before, is in Woolhampton not Midgham, though the walk did take in Midgham village). I had pondered taking the train, before discovering they only run once an hour on Saturdays and I didn’t fancy potentially sitting on the station for up to an hour after having tramped for 10 miles. I decided against driving as Midgham station car park is not very big (it was indeed more or less full by the time I arrived) so got the excellent Reading Buses’ “jet black” number 1 service that runs twice an hour between Reading and Newbury.

The walk was well attended – around 14 people turned out for it – and led by a woman called Ruth with whom I had exchanged texts a couple of days before. We started out by walking along the A4 for a short way eastwards and, a bit bafflingly, turned into a garage forecourt. Turns out there’s a footpath leading off from the rear of this up a hill – it’s clear enough from the OS map but not at all obvious on the ground; I'm guessing Ruth must have done a bit of scrambling around to find it while checking out the route. She said that on the recce the path had been very overgrown and she had contacted West Berkshire Council about it – kudos to them as it had been cleared by the time of our walk. In this Street View image, the path heads off to the left of the white van in the back of the picture. In the snip below it from OS Explorer 159, the path can be seen going up between the 'h' and the 'a' of the Woolhampton village label.

The path’s a pleasanter (now that it’s been cleared) alternative to walking up Woolhampton Hill, which turns in off the A4 by the former Falmouth Arms. The path comes out onto the road alongside the grounds of Elstree School. At the top of the hill, the road comes to a T-junction by the former Douai School. We headed up the footpath to the right of the school and walked through Greyfield Wood to come out at Chapel Row. Here there's a pub - the Bladebone - and a café, the Blackbird Café, which someone said was nice. From some Google research it looks as though it’s occupying the former village shop. We walked along the road for a bit before turning in to some woods at a sign to Scotland Corner.

Ramblers crossing a field

Ramblers approaching Bucklebury

After the woods we crossed some countryside and then in to Bucklebury. We walked through part of Bucklebury Farm where there was much cooing over goats, alpacas etc. Just past this, we walked up a hill where Ruth suggested pausing for lunch to make the most of the view. We all whipped out our sit mats in unison and sat down. I was perturbed to find myself getting down onto the ground somewhat less nimbly than the woman next to me, who looked around the 70 mark. This sort of thing is part of the reason for the expensive stint of 1 to 1 personal training I am currently partaking in and may or may not blog about.

Pony at Bucklebury Farm

Coming up to the top of the hill above Bucklebury Farm

Saw this weird fungus in woodland passed through on this walk. What's all that about?

Fungus or poss alien life form

At Upper Bucklebury we stopped at the Cottage Inn for a drink and loo stop – in fact suspect the former was a thinly veiled excuse for the latter, though the drink was also enjoyable. After leaving the pub, we walked south from Upper Bucklebury via Blacklands Copse. The latter stages of the walk took in Midgham Park, where several of us admired what we could see of the house.

A couple of the group had brought secateurs on the walk, presumably to trim any rogue footpath overgrowth – in the event we didn't encounter too much, but one of the chaps in front of me did trim a few bramble fronds out of the way at one point, perhaps just to make it worth while having brought the tools.

Route below showing start and finish at Midgham station. The BWW's Scrapbook of Previous Walks page has a write up here (as walk 656).

Car update; hay; AI poetry

Car: update

Reading Service Centre diagnosed the noise as being due to a problem with a nearside wheel bearing. Points to Mum, who on our way back from Derbyshire in early July had mooted the idea that it might be a wheel bearing issue. I did text her to congratulate her on her mechanical knowledge, though she modestly claimed it had been a lucky punt. The car failed its MOT on that plus a couple of more minor issues, all of which RSC fixed the same day and retested it. It is now MOT-ed for another year.

When I went to pay up and collect the car, I commented to the very nice chap there that every time the car develops something wrong with it these days, I think it’s going to be sayonara, and referred to its mileage. His response was something like “Nah! Good little cars, those. Go on for ever.” He isn’t the first mechanic I’ve had refer to Ford Fiestas in this vein, so perhaps there’s something in it. He went on to say something along the lines of how he’s had several cars that have done over 200,000 miles and they’ve been fine and as long as I get it an oil change yearly, it’ll be OK. I was cheered by this, though eventually I will no doubt be tempted by the gadgetry that comes with more modern cars, such as navigation screens, sensors to deter you from reversing into walls, and the like (though I think I have, amazingly, managed to avoid doing the latter in the whole of my >35-year driving career despite being sans sensors).

On my way out, another mechanic called over to me as I was approaching the car with “should be a lot better without that noise” and commented that the noise had been “horrific”. Certainly it had been becoming unsettling. I was glad that my worries about them calling me back to claim that they couldn’t hear anything had been unfounded. According to the internet, which I consulted immediately after they phoned me with the diagnosis, it’s extremely dangerous to drive with a severely worn wheel bearing and you should never do it. Oops. The relaxed chap in the office seemed to be of the view that advice off the internet does often overdo the scare tactics.

Cassius' hay consumption

For a few months now Ruth has been concerned at what appears to be a decline in Cassius’ hay consumption. He used to be a good muncher of hay, but I’ve been aware of no longer hearing the regular munch-munch-munch sound from behind me in my office – or at least, not as much as previously. Ruth’s first tactic was to stick a Post-It note low down on the door near his feeding area suggesting that he increased his hay consumption; the note fell off the door and he chewed the corners off it, but we didn’t notice any other change in behaviour.

Wondering whether he simply doesn’t like the hay she’s been buying lately, Ruth splashed out on a pricey hay selection box for him, but he has proceeded to spurn most of the boxes, only showing any interest in a green grassy number which looks as though it’s about the least roughagey of the lot.

My bookshelf stacked with hay selection packs

Cassius enjoying vegetables and ignoring hay

Cassius has now also started on some anti-inflammatory medication of the same sort that Harley went onto for the last few years of his life. Elderly rabbits can get arthritis in their joints, apparently, which can not only interfere with hopping about but also with their management of their caecotrophs (we don’t talk about that; it’s a rabbit thing). Cassius hasn’t shown any overt signs of being arthritic, but then rabbits tend not to show overt signs of anything. The medication is fed to him via a syringe and thankfully, as Harley did, he seems to like it. As mentioned before, rabbits have such a bizarre metabolism that they need the more concentrated dog suspension of this medicine, rather than the cat one.

GenAI forays

At work, we have been instructed to use Microsoft Copilot if we wish to make use of GenAI tools in a work context (which I generally don’t, but am aware that some colleagues do). I am amused by the disclaimer it comes with to the effect that any advice it gives might be complete b*ll*cks.

I have messed about with ChatGPT a few times, mainly to ask it to write poems on specified topics, all of which have been ludicrously saccharine but highly amusing. Here is what it wrote for Ruth’s 50th birthday last year, after being fed selected keywords. Because of my inclusion of the rabbits' names in the prompt, it clearly had trouble telling which name referred to Ruth's partner, so seems to have gone with the assumption that she, Cassius and I are a throuple.

And more recently, I consulted it for some career advice for Ruth:

I also asked it to write a poem about Chloe’s aggression towards Cassius. This one went on at inordinate length, proceeding to glamourize Chloe into some sort of Xena: Warrior Princess figure, and then give the whole thing a happy ending. Also: the understairs cupboard was not her bloody dominion - he was there first.

ChatGPT also had the cheek to title the poem 'Chloe Finds Love':