Day Nine - Buttermere walk

from Keswick we headed south & west to Buttermere

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Keswick, we discovered, is a pleasantly small mountain town, and easy to get around. Booth's Market, in the center of town, has a transit center, from which buses go every day to other Lake District towns and to hiking trailheads. 

Buttermere, a classic Lake District hike, is about an hour's ride, the route going west & uphill past Borrowdale and Seatoller, and then over Honister Pass, only at 1,167 ft. but still an austere looking place.

On the way, I asked the driver about a 25% grade somewhere, and she said it's on the other side of the Pass, and that she would let me know when when I could get a photo standing at the front of the bus. The 25% slope downhill was a fairly short section of the long descent to the Lake.    

Once on the walk around the Lake, it was generally overcast and the wind was howling at times, especially at the southern part of the lake, but some sun broke through now & then, lighting up near or distant hills. 

note - you can enlarge any part of a picture by left-clicking in and then out again.

	approaching Honister Pass		old slate mine, still active		trail seen ahead goes to the top of Fleetwith Pike.
		25% grade downhill		Fish Inn at Buttermere
	start of the walk		Sourmilk Gill		first look at Fleetwith Pike
		other walkers		Burtness Wood
	Walla Crag				Warnscale Beck from Peggy's Bridge
		Fleetwith Pike		again
			south end of the lake		old bothy with a view !
Warnscale Beck		Haystacks		Highland Cattle
	Gatesgarth Beck, begins at Honister Pass		Hasness beach and High Stile		a small tunnel
				Herdwick Sheep & Buttermere Pines
	the trail goes through a working farm				what is it ?
		Melbreak in the distance, see note		back to Buttermere

note - all place names here are from an Ordnance Survey (OS) Explorer map. 

Postscript - As can be seen, even a short walk here can reveal a variety of lighting effects, and, the reddish fall color on the steep hillsides adds a lot of character. The light rain we encountered was barely noticeable and the weather was invigorating. 

Taking the bus out & back was a great relief from having to drive on such steep & narrow mountain roads, and the round-trip bus rides had an amusement park aspect, because when full of hikers & gear it has a lot of mass, and really accelerates on downhill slopes. The driver we had on the way back tended to let it run for awhile, no doubt knowing the road, so at times it really seemed like a flying bus !     

And because a bus takes up the whole road, it always gets priority, and you can see oncoming vehicles quickly pulling off to the side. When they were partially still on the road, our driver seemed skilled & considerate; you could tell he was used to close calls.  

Back in town at Booth's Market, we purchased some grocery items, and were awed by an array of attractive pastries. My wife & I tried a mushroom & leek pie, which nicely complimented a salad, at home. Trying to maintain a mostly-vegetarian diet meant we usually had dinner at home, during our 7 night stay at Keswick.     

Rich and Linda meanwhile enjoyed finding dinner out at different places. Center city pubs and restaurants were a 20 minute walk, whereas The Pheasant Inn, rated the best restaurant in Keswick, was an easy 7-minute walk from the rental, and twice they came away happy.

go to next page - Hill Top House (Beatrix Potter) & Brantwood (John Ruskin) 

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Fleetwith Pike, from Andrew Locking

Once again, see www.andrewswalks.co.uk