May the Force be with you

Its been ages since I have written in the blog.  Blame it on the last few weeks of Nursing School and frantically studying for my boards.  However, now that I have nothing to do except stress over whether or not I passed, (I PASSED!) I figured it would be a good time to catch up on the blog – starting with the last day trip  in England with Mumsy.  (I told you – it’s been a while!)

On Friday, in typical BAE fashion, Kevin got out of work after a half day.  Since the weather appeared to be decent (for England) and not too cold (for England), we decided to show Mumsy the splendor of hiking in the fells.  Since we had limited day light, we decided to focus our energy on a quick walk rather than full fledged fell hike.  Mumsy had seen mention of a big waterfall called Aira Force which is located on a huge stretch of National Trust land and we were able to locate what seemed to be a nice circular walk, so we set out in pursuit of a little fresh air.

First of all, I should mention that it was freezing!  This is clearly illustrated in my pictures (to follow).  When first setting off on the train, we immediately came across a fallen tree with a very strange appearance.  Upon closer look, we realized that the tree had thousands of coins hammered into it.  Apparently it’s good luck or something.  All I know is it made for a cool picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The waterfall itself was a short mile walk from the parking lot on a well established path.

Wild stream of Aira, hold thy course,

Nor fear memorial lays,

Where clouds that spread in solemn shade,

Are edged with golden rays!

Dear art thou to the light of heaven,

Though minister of sorrow;

Sweet is thy voice at pensive even.

And thou, in lovers' hearts forgiven,

Shalt take thy place with Yarrow!

  Once you catch a glimpse of it, its easy to see why William Wordsworth was so inspired by it.  (Actually, its easy to see why Wordsworth loved the whole Cumbrian area so much.)  It was also easy to see how cold it was.

Yes, that’s snow up on the top of those hills.

After we viewed the waterfall, we set off to follow the circular path from Aira Force to Gowbarrow Fell, Memorial Seat and back to the parking lot.  We had just about enough time to do the whole walk as it was around 1 and the walk said it took a comfortable 3 hours.  However, we quickly learned that the directions we had printed from the National Trust were not to be trusted.  In what seemed like a simple step, we were to carry on up the main path and through a gate to open farmland and then at the junction, go up and over a stile to head up to Gowbarrow.    Simple – right?  Well, the stupid directions failed to mention a bridge we needed to take so we walked along the river for a good 25 minutes before the path ended due to a bridge being out (for a good number of years mind you), so we had to head all the way back to where we started and take a bridge there. 

Kevin wanted us to cross the river by leaping to the other side, but I quickly vetoed that idea.

Then, we walked over the muddy, icy path for a good mile before we saw anything that resembled  a gate, and it took another 10 minutes before we wound up on the farmland that the directions described.  It’s a good thing it was so beautiful or I would have been pissed!

Traditional Herdwick sheep found in this area.  We found this one to be particularly Cailin like in appearance

Ullswater

Once we finall found the stile, we climbed the incredibly steep and icy hill up, up, up.  When it started to flatten out, we could just make out Gowbarrow Fell.  Since we had come all this way, we decided to book it over to the Fell as it was starting to get late. 

 

At this point, it was nearing 3:30, and as it gets dark very early in the northern parts of England, we had limited daylight left.  On the map, it appeared we were about halfway around the loop.  However, since we had so many problems following the directions up to this point, we decided to play it safe and head back the way we came.  Kevin was freaking out that we were going to be stranded on the icy dark hills so he literally made us run down, which is dangerous for someone like me who trips over shadows.  However, I made it unscathed.

All in all, a good trip.  Mumsy was able to bag her first fell and with this hike, and I was able to add another one to my meager list.  This area of Cumbria is one I’d love to spend more time exploring, but as I sadly have only one trip left, it will have to wait until I convince Kevin to go back…