WELL, that’s another autumn gone. I love the season of russet and golden hues, as the nights draw in and the evenings are spent huddled round an open fire drinking hot clichés, says John Hunston the Walking Mountain Leader.
Seriously, I do love autumn. But I also wonder at the colours we sometimes see on social media and in magazines. Apart from the maple, are any leaves really that red? Like those pictures of sheep with markings so bright they wouldn’t go amiss on Father Christmas, I suspect a weeny bit of filtering going on. One day I’ll go to New England and see if the American version is any better in real life.
From the summit slopes; mist clearing 
Eden valley mist from Blencathra 
Reflections on Derwentwater
Talking of leaves, my partner is very much involved in the Keswick to Threlkeld railway path controversy. I touched on this subject a couple of months ago, and it now seems the laying of tarmac is taking place, with a short section in Keswick open to the public. This has coincided with a particularly cold spell, so the perfect storm of ice and leaves can be assessed. However, it seems to morphing into a bigger argument about the accountability of the Lake District National Park Authority’s paid officers to the board members. In the south of the county, another argument is raging over the use of vehicles on green lanes, particularly in a commercial setting. Now, I’m not particularly keen on the black stuff, as I said last time, but at least I can see there are two sides to the discussion. Where folk are making money out of driving tourists in 4x4s around the hillsides, then I’m afraid I struggle to see the upside. If the lakes all have speed limits on them to keep the noise levels down, then how on earth can this be justified?
The Jaws of Borrowdale
Haweswater 
Chilly Larry
Getting back to normal life, we’ve had some cracking temperature inversions recently. Over the last weekend of November/first of December the Eden valley was completely covered, and driving through Penrith on my way to Haweswater the trees were fully laden with frost. The cold air seems to get trapped in the valley as it comes off the Pennines and the moisture condenses into a thick mist. Rise a hundred feet or so, and it’s like being in an aeroplane looking down on cloud, though still cold enough for a heavy snow-like frost, especially on north-facing slopes where at this time of year the sun hardly shines. Larry, our Bedlington terrier, has had a trim recently and been rather chilly, so will be much happier now a thaw has set in. He rubs against my shins when he’s cold and we stop moving, which can be rather painful given his bony ribs!
Our trip to Haweswater was a long-awaited return to a lovely area. To allow Larry a good run off the lead, we decided to avoid the crowds and head over Branstree and Seaside Pike on the east side of the reservoir. Larry’s not great with other dogs, and neither is Jessie, who belongs to friends we were meeting there, so a quieter area is always welcome. The two dogs tend to ignore each other, but they almost got to playing together, which was lovely to see. From Branstree we were surprised to see the cleft of Scafell and Scafell Pike peeking out between Harter Fell and Mardale Ill Bell. We could also just see into Blea Water, the deepest tarn and only the second deepest lake, after Wastwater, in the district, at over 60 metres deep. To the south, Pendle was clearly visible with its distinctive outline and the Yorkshire three peaks were represented by Ingleborough and Whernside. On the coast, we could see Heysham nuclear power station. As we wandered past one of the surveying columns for the reservoir construction to Selside Pike, the Eden valley opened up, with traffic visible on the M6 and the Shap cement works fuming away. Lower down, all was murk, and inhabitants of the many beautiful villages there were missing out on some blissful sunshine.
Long Stile ridgeon High Street 
Cross Fell from Selside Pike overlooking the Eden valley 
Swindale 
Haweswater and Mardale Ill Bell
We made a beeline for the corpse road between Mardale and Shap Abbey, made easier by frozen ground, and enjoyed the final zig-zags to the cars parked in a lay by before heading to the Haweswater Hotel and its art deco splendour for a bread-bowl of soup and hot chocolate. Built by Manchester Corporation to replace the Dun Bull in the 1930s when the reservoir flooded the valley and all its demolished buildings, it is a gem of its time and appears little changed. Squeezed between the water and steep ground, it is not a natural stopping point for walkers, but please do make a point of dropping by on the way home from the head of the valley; they will make you very welcome.
John Hunston – the walking mountain leader
johnhunstonwalking.com
John is a member of the Keswick Mountain Rescue – you can donate to this amazing, lifesaving charity online via this link: http://keswickmrt.org.uk/donate/
