The final morning of a terrific weekend had arrived, and once again the five of us were up washed, dressed and bedding stripped ready for check out before 8:30 am. We had breakfast together and restocked the packs for the morning walk.
The plan was for all 5 of us to jump in Tim’s car and drive to Stonethwaite. From there we would make the steep but short climb up to Dock Tarn, then onto Great Crag and Grange Fell before dropping down into Rosthwaite passing the Scafell Hotel and the familier route back across the fields to the hostel, where I would then drive Tim back for his car in Stonethwaite. This would save time and road walking.
A little after 9 am we were ready to go, and filled Tim’s boot up with rucksacks for the few minutes drive to our start point. The weather was similar to Friday and Saturday, sunny with a cool breeze.
We like Osprey
It was a steep climb of steps up to Dock Tarn, and there were a few tight muscles and fatigue amongst the group today, so we took our time and kept a steady pace.
The summit of Great Crag isn't altogether clear as we approached it, so Tim’s trace from a previous walk was handy. The area around Dock Tarn has several crags, which any one of them could be the high point looking from below, but a cairn does mark its 449m top sticking up amongst the many heather that cover this area. In fact it reminded me of the Peak District.
Tim and Dom pointing out Saturday's route
Passing Dock Tarn
Great Crag summit
The path disappeared occasionally, and after stopping at a subsidiary cairn for a break, we found ourselves on a pathless section with a bit of a heather carpeted drop off. Dom and I decided to take a careful look over, and relieved to see it was safe to descend through the heather. We regrouped with Ruth, Tim, and Colin to continue down to Puddingstone Bank, before the climb up to Jopplety How.
It was fast approaching lunchtime when we left the summit rock, so it just left the quick descent passed Birkett’s Leap and the Resting Stone down to Rosthwaite, and the short walk back to the hostel, just over 5 miles.
Once back in the car park, we all said our goodbyes and I drove Tim back to Stonethwaite for his car. A fantastic weekend of walking in great weather, socializing with new and old friends, laughter, good food and......a little drink.
Just a blumin good time really.......thanks to everyone at the meet......until next time guys.
Also thanks to Ruth for some of the photos here.
A good quick lung buster on the Sunday but still a brilliant day. Here's to the next :-)
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