Day Nine - Buttermere walk
|
|
from Keswick we headed south & west to Buttermere |
return to 2019 UK trip index
return to mdimage site index
Booth's Market, in the center of Keswick, harbors an outdoor bus station where buses go to all Lake District destinations and popular hiking trails, or to other towns further south.
We took the bus to Buttermere, a classic Lake District hike, about an hour's ride away. The route goes through Borrowdale, past Seatoller, and then up & over Honister Pass, only at 1,167 ft. but still an impressive & austere looking landscape.
On the drive uphill, I went to the front & asked the driver about a 25% grade, as per the guidebook, and she said it's on the other side of the Pass, adding that she would give me a hand signal and I could take photos standing at the front of the bus, when we reached the pass. The 25% slope downhill was a fairly short section of the long descent after the pass.
Once on the walking trail around the Lake, it was generally overcast and the wind was howling at times, especially at the southern part of the lake, but sunlight broke through now & then, lighting up near or distant hills.
The four mile walk around Buttermere was fairly level.
note - you can enlarge any part of a picture by left-clicking in and then out again.
 |
approaching Honister Pass |
.jpg) |
old slate mines, still active |
 |
trail seen ahead is to the top of Fleetwith Pike. |
 |
25% grade downhill |
 |
Fish Inn at Buttermere |
 |
start of the walk |
 |
Sourmilk Gill |
 |
|
 |
Buttermere walk |
 |
 |
Burtness Wood |
 |
Walla Crag behind Great Bay | |
 |
same view |
 |
Warnscale Beck from Peggy's Bridge (2 views) |
 |
iconic Fleetwith Pike |
 |
|
 |
again |
 |
 |
south end of the lake |
 |
Dale Head, above Honister Pass | |
 |
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 |
 |
back to Buttermere |
Taking a bus out & back was a great relief from having to drive on steep & narrow mountain roads. The round-trip bus ride had an amusement park aspect, because a bus full of hikers & gear has a lot of mass, so the bus really accelerates on steep downhill slopes. The drivers we had on the way out & back tended to let it run for awhile, no doubt knowing the road, so a few times it seemed we were in a flying bus.
Because a bus takes up most of the narrow roads, it always gets priority, with oncoming vehicles quickly pulling off to the side. If they didn't, our bus drivers seemed skilled & considerate; you could tell they were used to close calls.
Back in town at Booth's Market, we purchased some grocery items, and were awed by a vast array of attractive pastries. My wife & I tried a mushroom & leek pie, which nicely complimented a salad that night, at home. Trying to maintain a vegetarian diet meant that we usually had dinner at home, during our 7 night stay at Keswick.
R & L, on the other hand, enjoyed having dinner out at different places. Turns out that The Pheasant Inn, spotted online a year ago as having a great menu, rated the best restaurant in Keswick, was an easy ten-minute walk from the rental house. Twice R&L came away happy.
go to next page - Hill Top House (Beatrix Potter) & Brantwood (John Ruskin)
return to 2019 UK trip index
return to mdimage site index
 |
Fleetwith Pike, from Andrew Locking |
Once again, see www.andrewswalks.co.uk