Hiking
Hike up from Thrushwood round Latrigg and Lonscale Crags for a picnic at the bridge over the Glendatarra Beck, that runs between the Skiddaw and Blencathra massifs. A stiff breeze whisking the sunny intervals through the view over Threlkeld Common and Bleaberry Fell, with Keswick and Derwent Water in the distance: the main thing about this path is the spectacular view. It’s not a particularly high route (max 450m. altitude), also this path is shared with mountain bikers on the Glendaterra & Lonscale Crags Mountain Bike Route. Events this Sunday included a run up Skiddaw, being passed at Latrigg Saddle by packs of runners evoked memories of my own running days, cross-country and a few fell and moorland runs.
“The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
Good Friday hike on the South Downs between Kingston near Lewes and Rottingdean. We enjoyed a picnic of Hot Cross Buns still warm from Hot Cross Buns queue at the bakery at Fiveways, Preston Park. This year’s lambs enjoying the sunshine in the South Downs National Park.
Just 162 m. altitude and a ten to fifteen minute walk from Keswick town centre, Castlehead offers a famous panorama of Derwent Water, Bassenthwaite Lake and the surrounding fells, which today were clouded with numerous shades of grey. The geological evidence is that this was once a glacial valley and even earlier was the lower slopes of the Borrowdale volcano.
Shap is a Cumbrian byword for “cold and bleak” - the highest point on the A6 trunk road over Shap is 426 m. altitude. The area marks a sharp change in the geology which is exploited by several prominent quarries each with different specialities,
Shap granite is famous for large grains of reflective minerals, Shap pink granite looks good polished up and constructed as a kitchen worktop, Shap Blue granite is used as an aggregate for road surfaces. Exposed within this small area there are almost the full range of rocks found in the Lake District.
