Lake District – Page 7 – Around the world with Evie Bean

Souther Fell and Bannerdale Crags 19/05/18

On a roll and a bit too cocky.

On a map, not looking too closely, this looked a nice achievable loop. So off we set.

Souther Fell = easy tick

Look at the map more closely once on top of Souter Fell and I realised that there was no direct link footpath. I could see one which looked a lovely steady climb going up to Bannerdale Crags on the other side of the valley, and the ground down the edge of Souter Fell didn’t look too bad, it was dry and a beautiful day….. So I went for it.

As I started walking down it turned out that it really was as steep as all the close contours on the map suggested. Knees were sore so I thought, well why not slide down on my bum (don’t fret, Evie was secure in the sling on the front). And asleep.

Well that’s what we did, bum-sliding interspersed with walking when the terrain was more rocky. And it brought us out into the valley floor, amazingly without Evie waking up. However then another obstacle….. a wide region of heathery grassy lumpy ground to actually get to the path!

Finally to the path, I started tromping up, by this time quite hungry. Evie woke up half way up the ascent so we stopped for a double feed with a view.

It was at this point I realised I’d lost my banana in the bum-sliding descent so had less food than anticipated to fill my now energy depleted body. At least I had refilled my water bottle at the stream as that would otherwise have run out to.

Eating all I had and having fed Evie, I continued onwards and upwards to the summit of Bannerdale Crags. A new one for me; Evie was asleep again!!

Then for the final descent, which was on a path this time but almost as steep and very tough on the knees.

A glorious but tough hill day, with my sore legs I was pleased for once to get back to the car.

Angletarn Pikes – 18/05/18

With Evie now 6 weeks old, for Angletarn Pikes I met up with my friend Lou ( well into a pregnancy herself) and her old but fit dog Seamus O’Leary. Given as this walk was before I thought to start this blog, looking back I now find it funny as we were trying to find a catchy title for a book for a guide to the Lakes with an ante-natal woman, post-natal woman with baby and a geriatric dog! Not quite what this is going to be, but part way there.

So it was another gorgeous day so we packed our cossies and headed to angle tarn.

Taking our time getting up the hill, both with good reason for a slow and steady approach, we decided to get in the Pikes and tick off a Wainwright en-route. Seamus seemed happy with the pace to!

Once we reached Angle Tarn and had some lunch, it decided to get cooler. Angle Tarn is generally very cold anyway early in the year, so we swapped the swim for a jumper and headed down instead.

What it did mean was that when we got back to Lou’s we had time for an ice-cream, and Evie had time for a cuddle with Paddington!

Gowbarrow – 13/05/18

For Evie’s second Wainwright we needed a small and local one, as we were still getting used to having a baby, I was still sore and Evie was still under 6 weeks old. So we set off up Gowbarrow. However, Tim decided that we should try a new route, so rather than going up the main path it turned instead into a bit of an adventure.

The path turned into a bit of a non path, so some heather bashing and a bit of scrambling were required to actually get to the cairn on top. But it was worth it. Another amazing day and stunning view looking down over Ullswater, not that Evie saw it as once again she was asleep at the top!

We then followed a real path, though not our normal one, to get back down…. glad it was dry as normally I think it would be a bog!

21/10/18

A regular walk of ours, it being close to home. But today was one of those cracking days with beautiful late afternoon light, autumnal colours…. and Evie awake at the top!