Twitteratti High Street Walk 26 aug 2012

This was the third meeting of the Twitteratti group ,after the second tweet up on Great Gable the promise of home made chocolate brownies and hot custard was too much of a temptation and the biggest turn out so far appeared in the small car park at Hartstop village .  15 people & 2 dogs :)   we almost completely filled the small car park early on a Sunday morning, so unfortunately allot of people may have wondered what was going on for it to be so full   haha!
The weather wasn't looking great as usual ,with low cloud obscuring all the fell tops so it looked like yet again i would not see any views :(  organised by Gina and the route supplied by Ray we where heading for Hayeswater first taking the path up Hayeswater Gill.
a quick photo shoot in the car park , just in case we lose anyone on the way :D         

We started walking up the track along the Gill, as usual Gina was taking the lead with Tanya keeping up with, for the time being :)

the path got increasingly steeper and it wasn't long before the large group split up and spread out a bit,  by the time the main group with Gina leading had almost reached the top , Ray,Tanya , Alan & myself were at the back , mainly because we where taking loads of "Tanya Stops" to take photographs.  well that's our excuse anyhow :D   i shot this with my 300mm, yes they where a long way ahead at this point!  Doh!

Just over the top we came to Hayeswater reservoir ,  all the mounds around the side are called Moraines , left by glaciers from the last ice age Ray informs me.

The first summit to climb up to is "the Knott" up this steep grassy incline , Gina's off into the distance again :)   and "the beast" comes flying down the hill towards us!

                            a rather bad picture of "holly"  airborne as she runs down the fell :)

                                                                  

Climbing higher now , the mist is rolling in behind us,  we all take a stop half way up and it is a good time for a group shot , and a " Beast" shot too :)

    This has to be one of the best group photos ever, stunning atmospheric cloud heading towards us  :)

                           Heading upwards the grass is sparkling with sunlit dew :)    lovely :D

A few minutes later , while the main group had gone way ahead, Tanya spotted a herd of Beautiful Red Deer high up on the fell side , one advantage of taking more rest stops than the others i guess      (  Ooops, sorry, meant Tanya stops  :D  )

The summit of the Knott  2,425 ft  was only a short distance from here , amazingly the sky brightened and a bit of blue sky and sun broke through, but only for a few minutes .

  we eventually get our first high level view of Hayeswater through the low cloud, which is breaking a bit :)

                                     and looking down to Hayeswater with wonderful light!

                      and a few moments later ......................... mist rolls in again      arghhhhh

next summit was to be Rampsgill Head  2,598 ft , off we set across quite boggy ground heading into the low cloud ,then as we spread out across the fell so as not to cause too much damage, Tanya would tell us off #fix the fells :) and yes we didn't know where we where!    amazingly out came all the maps, phones & GPS and it actually turned out we where ON the summit!    lol  
    off into the cloud on our way to "High Raise" 2,632 ft  our next summit.

                                          "High Raise"  wonderful views we have got, NOT!!!!!!

          arriving on  "Kidsty Pike" 2,559 ft , but not expecting to see anything, what a shame:)

Next stop  "High Street"  the old roman road that runs across the fell top.  amazing !   and we all cant wait for the brownies & custard :)    here is High street, cant see any Romans though!   lol

After a long slog , and yes it was really tiring .  we eventually made it up to level ground and the  High street summit trig point 2,717 ft.

On a previous walk Alan & Gary had joked about not having any hot custard with our brownies while on the summit of Great Gable , so they had promised to bring some.    They didn't forget :)   So all 15 of us where sitting on top of a Roman road tucking into piping hot custard and home made brownies , god knows what other fell walkers must have thought as they passed by :)   High Street  .   

 

                                             and the infamous Brownie and hot custard :D

Our next stop was to be Thornwaite Crag  2,572 ft to the "Beacon"   Tanya had to leave us as she had another walk planned in the afternoon, so 14 & 2 dogs carried on to find the beacon in the mist:)  we get glimpses of Hayeswater through the mistiness

                                                       Gina & Dave with Hayeswater behind :)

We eventually arrive at Thornthwaite Cove at the beacon, its actually crowded with people here and its just started raining also,  no views again!!!!!!!!!!  Arghhhhhhh

we go through the gap in the wall and head towards Thresthwaite mouth and then down the Thresthwaite cove valley towards Hartsop village.   this path was really steep at first, loose shale and rock before proper steped path took over,but still very difficult to prevent slipping down the rocks!   i wont mention who slipped and fell!

               a group photo taken near the bottom of Thresthwaite cove :)    what a good one :)

        upon arriving back at the car park , Sian had brought home made Flapjack , delicious :)

what a great walk of about 10 miles , pity we couldnt see any of the magnificent views, but there is always another day. and finally a pub stop at Brotherswater Inn  to finish the day.
 must say thanks to Gina for organising the walk & Ray for suppliying the route :)