The Celtic Cross |
It crosses the main road by a fly-over
then steeply up through the woods. The wind increased considerably
and I began to have second thoughts about my planned camp on
Lonscale Fell. The path is part of the Cumbria Way and there were
several walkers coming down as I climbed up. They would not be
walking the full Cumbria Way; they’d probably walked up Skiddaw. The
track emerged on to the road and car park, though no cars were
there, which I thought odd. Through the gate I turned left to follow
the man path towards Skiddaw. I was now getting a very bad battering
from the wind and realised I wasn’t going to get up Lonscale Fell. I
had a look at the Celtic Cross monument then dropped steeply down to
re-join the Cumbria Way path below. |
At Whit Beck there is a ford, which
isn’t usually a problem, but the earlier rain had turned it in to a
torrent. Fortunately a little upstream was a fence crossing it which
I was able to use to get across. The path around the base of
Lonscale climbs steadily upwards and I was looking forward to it
turning north up above Glenderaterra Beck and hopefully getting some
shelter from the fierce westerly wind. The path narrows in places as
it now has to follow the very steep fell side. At times the drop off
to the river below is almost sheer. The wind seemed to have been
funnelled into the valley and was now battering me with the same
ferocity as earlier. |
On the Cumbria Way and Lonscale Crags |