Distance: 12.5 miles
Ascent: approx 900m
Weather: mostly sunny, one shower
Paths that weren't: 1
Deer: 4
Caterpillars: wooly
Squirrel: 1 (colour undetermined, but hopefully red because of where it was)
We arrived in Patterdale and left the car in the hotel car park, where we are staying for the weekend. A track leads up to Side Farm (where we were passed by enthusiastic campers driving like idiots) and then we took the pretty (but popular) path up around the edge of Ullswater.
An attempt was made to follow a path up the side of Scalehow Beck, but it was lost in the bracken and steep rocky hillside. We aborted and returned to the track, which was quite interesting (especially the clinging on to roots and tree branches while scrabbling for purchase) the ascend by the clear grassy path further along (this one marked on all the maps) before crossing the beck (a useful gravelly patch in the middle of the stream to jump to) and up on to Low Birk Fell. We had lunch here, with tea and chocolate tiffin from The Lunch Box in Ambleside. Sheep trods led all over, and we followed them to Bleaberry Fell / Birk fell and up to The Knight, which has a pretty little ridge (making it look very pointy from a distance.) coming down, we passed a couple (he seemed to be having a good time, but his companion, not so much) and followed the wet grassy path back along to High Dodd (steep grassy descent) and Sleet Fell. There was a short sharp rain shower, so we had to put our waterproofs on, but it soon passed.
There aren't really any clear paths down from here, so we followed some streams and deer trods (complete with deer family) through the bracken, where it was least steep, back to the main path. We returned along the lake side path back to Patterdale, accompanied by midges, but rewarded by lovely views of the lake.
Ascent: approx 900m
Weather: mostly sunny, one shower
Paths that weren't: 1
Deer: 4
Caterpillars: wooly
Squirrel: 1 (colour undetermined, but hopefully red because of where it was)
We arrived in Patterdale and left the car in the hotel car park, where we are staying for the weekend. A track leads up to Side Farm (where we were passed by enthusiastic campers driving like idiots) and then we took the pretty (but popular) path up around the edge of Ullswater.
An attempt was made to follow a path up the side of Scalehow Beck, but it was lost in the bracken and steep rocky hillside. We aborted and returned to the track, which was quite interesting (especially the clinging on to roots and tree branches while scrabbling for purchase) the ascend by the clear grassy path further along (this one marked on all the maps) before crossing the beck (a useful gravelly patch in the middle of the stream to jump to) and up on to Low Birk Fell. We had lunch here, with tea and chocolate tiffin from The Lunch Box in Ambleside. Sheep trods led all over, and we followed them to Bleaberry Fell / Birk fell and up to The Knight, which has a pretty little ridge (making it look very pointy from a distance.) coming down, we passed a couple (he seemed to be having a good time, but his companion, not so much) and followed the wet grassy path back along to High Dodd (steep grassy descent) and Sleet Fell. There was a short sharp rain shower, so we had to put our waterproofs on, but it soon passed.
There aren't really any clear paths down from here, so we followed some streams and deer trods (complete with deer family) through the bracken, where it was least steep, back to the main path. We returned along the lake side path back to Patterdale, accompanied by midges, but rewarded by lovely views of the lake.
Scalehow Beck and Ullswater
Deer on Sleet Fell
Route map and download gpx
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