Walking my name sake...
However, paddling may have just been as good an option; when I called in on the Greta there was a respectable flow, which would have made for a sporting paddle. However, walking was just as good.
We reached our destination of Chapel Bridge in the Newlands Valley in good time and sat for a few minutes whilst we waited for the van coming up from Preston to arrive. We were soon on foot heading off along the road, and then the footpath which ran along the western bank of Scope Beck. After a while we started climbing up the fell side to reach the small plateau on Robinson. This is the fell I share my surname with, which I noticed on the map last week, when I was walking along the ridge line running south from Cat Bells. It definitely had to be climbed just for the novelty factor and it just happened that today was that day. To be honest I hadn't planned to be walking Robinson so soon, but it just seemed like a good idea when I was hunting out a route on Thursday night.
The bleak ridge line along the top of Robinson.
Once at the summit of Robinson (737m) we briefly stopped for dinner, but long enough to catch a slight chill from the falling snow and slight breeze, which was whipping across the fell. From here we carried on south to one of the two Robinson Crags, via Hackney Holes before climbing Littledale Edge to where Hindscarth rises up from the valley floor.
Looking down, along Littledale Edge and Hindscarth running up from the left.
There was an option to descend down Hindscarth back to Chapel Bridge, but with plenty of light left in the day we carried on along Hindscarth Edge to reach the summit of Dale Head (753m).
On Dale Head looking across to High Spy.
We had looked at Dale Head from High Spy last week and noticed that the ascent up the northern face was exceptionally steep. However, today we were going to descend down this face back into the valley.
Descending the north face of Dale Head from Dalehead Crags.
To begin with the descent was slightly sketchy. We had to traverse above the top of Dalehead Crags, which was covered in some deep powder slope before we finally reached the tight switchbacks at 400m and eventually the valley bottom, where the headwaters of Newlands Beck were flowing quite well, making the crossing as sketchy as the earlier snow traverse.
Looking up the valley: Dale Head to the left, Hindscarth running from middle to right and Robinson in the back on the right.
All that was left to do now was traverse the base of the fell, following Newlands Beck on its journey downstream back to the vans and the hours drive back to Carlisle. There's quite a bit of water around the Lakes at the moment, what with the rain and the temperatures rising slightly meaning the snow is starting to melt. Maybe I'll go paddling tomorrow.
More pictures can be found here.
We reached our destination of Chapel Bridge in the Newlands Valley in good time and sat for a few minutes whilst we waited for the van coming up from Preston to arrive. We were soon on foot heading off along the road, and then the footpath which ran along the western bank of Scope Beck. After a while we started climbing up the fell side to reach the small plateau on Robinson. This is the fell I share my surname with, which I noticed on the map last week, when I was walking along the ridge line running south from Cat Bells. It definitely had to be climbed just for the novelty factor and it just happened that today was that day. To be honest I hadn't planned to be walking Robinson so soon, but it just seemed like a good idea when I was hunting out a route on Thursday night.
The bleak ridge line along the top of Robinson.Once at the summit of Robinson (737m) we briefly stopped for dinner, but long enough to catch a slight chill from the falling snow and slight breeze, which was whipping across the fell. From here we carried on south to one of the two Robinson Crags, via Hackney Holes before climbing Littledale Edge to where Hindscarth rises up from the valley floor.
Looking down, along Littledale Edge and Hindscarth running up from the left.There was an option to descend down Hindscarth back to Chapel Bridge, but with plenty of light left in the day we carried on along Hindscarth Edge to reach the summit of Dale Head (753m).
On Dale Head looking across to High Spy.We had looked at Dale Head from High Spy last week and noticed that the ascent up the northern face was exceptionally steep. However, today we were going to descend down this face back into the valley.
Descending the north face of Dale Head from Dalehead Crags.To begin with the descent was slightly sketchy. We had to traverse above the top of Dalehead Crags, which was covered in some deep powder slope before we finally reached the tight switchbacks at 400m and eventually the valley bottom, where the headwaters of Newlands Beck were flowing quite well, making the crossing as sketchy as the earlier snow traverse.
Looking up the valley: Dale Head to the left, Hindscarth running from middle to right and Robinson in the back on the right.All that was left to do now was traverse the base of the fell, following Newlands Beck on its journey downstream back to the vans and the hours drive back to Carlisle. There's quite a bit of water around the Lakes at the moment, what with the rain and the temperatures rising slightly meaning the snow is starting to melt. Maybe I'll go paddling tomorrow.
More pictures can be found here.
Good lines, stay safe and see you on the wet stuff...
Iain
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