Buttermere is one of those places in the Lake District that many people, and pretty much every hiker knows about, but it never seems too busy. Probably because it’s actually a bit of a pain to get to, the roads into the area are all very narrow, full of twist and turns, and a great many edges to drive off. So consequently, even during the busy periods it never seems crowded. And so, it was back to Buttermere for this walk.
Friday’s drive to the Lakes was the usual punishing 8 hours of hard work dodging idiots and poor road surfaces, but this drive had the added bonus of temperatures that hit 30 degrees, and without air con the drive was long and hot. By the time I arrived two hours after the sat nav said I would I was glad to get out of the van and have a stretch in the clean air and amazing views. My walking partner was already there, so after a quick catch up and yet another ‘sorting of the kit’ we headed out in the heat around Fleetwith Pike and the climb up to our pitch for the night.
It was up the hill slightly behind Blackbeck tarn that we finally found a pitch where the ground wasn’t sodden, surprising really as it all looked pretty good from a distance, but I guess it was just one of those areas that holds the water like a sponge. However, we found this one spot big enough for both our tents and a little room between and so we pitched up. As soon as that was done it was time to eat, time had slipped by quickly and at this point it was fast approaching 10pm and hunger was hitting hard, chow time. Food was prepped and the bar was opened, for me a nice Chianti, and my buddy had 0% beer at hand, and we began to relax and enjoy the views in the lingering light of a fine June evening.
One of the things I’ve really come to enjoy is company on my walks, and spending the rest of the evening chatting away over a wine and a beer in fantastic surroundings that command spectacular views has come to be one of life’s great pleasures. But all good things…….so when the tiredness began to take full effect it was time to hit the hay, so we headed off to the solitude of our respective tents and a solid night’s sleep.
Unfortunately, that did not turn out to be the case and I only managed to get four hours sleep, waking up at 4ish am to the earliest light, and my buddy having stayed awake a little longer than me slept a little later but still only managed about the same amount of time. Oh well! One of those things I guess, so all we could do was to have breakfast and get packed up for the days walk that lay ahead of us.
We headed out towards Innonimate tarn with the intention of restocking our water supplies before continuing on to Haystacks and beyond. We navigated (I say we) to what we thought was the tarn, but it didn’t look like I remembered from the last time I was there, it looked for all the world like it had dried up quite a lot. At the time of writing this has been one of the driest springs on record, and so we thought it had just lost a lot of its content. We filtered from the cleanest water that was there and filled every container we had, the temperatures for the day were due to hit the high twenties again so we needed as much as we could carry to stay hydrated. The part we collected from looked to be teaming with life including frogs and newts, which means that the water quality had to be good. So, with bladders and bottles filled we set off to find the path we needed. Unfortunately for my ego, not 50m further on we found the real Innonimate tarn, glistening away in the bright sunlight filled to the brim and boasting a decent population of water lilies. It looked gorgeous. One corner and 50m off course meant we missed filling up where we had intended. A lesson in navigation and why you shouldn’t assume anything, if ever there was one.
Anyway, after a little banter coming in my direction about this slight miscalculation we carried on, following the obvious path over Haystacks and down the other side. This was a hard section of the walk due to steep rocky scrambles while carrying heavy packs, so the going was fairly strenuous. We decided that once we got to the bottom, we would take a rest break and get something to eat and drink. The sun was hot, the grass was soft, and eyelids were heavy………….
Fifty minutes later we woke up!
While we were napping like children….again….the weather had started to turn and heavy rain was beginning to fall sporadically. We had spoken to another walker earlier who had told us that the forecast was for heavy weather coming in from the west, and that the area we were planning to pitch up was likely to be a bit wet anyway. With the weather turning and what was already a fairly wet prospect to the end of the day, we made the decision to head back the way we had come, to the pitch of the previous night. And it turned out to be a good thing we did.
Walking back over Haystacks and all those rocky scrambles in rain showers that were accompanied by blowing wind was particularly pleasurable, and I made sure to mention the fact that walking on rocks was my favourite kind of terrain (again). However, after a bit of walking in various directions we made it back to the same spot as the night before, got pitched up and set about getting some food on the go.
It’s usually my favourite time of day for any walk, you’ve had a solid day of walking and exercise, you’ve usually seen many things, and by the end of the day it’s time to pitch up, settle down with a good meal (and a mug of red) and to simply relax and enjoy the surroundings. It’s a good time to reflect on the day and life in general, as well as any specific issues that might be playing on the mind. It’s also a good time to just simply empty the mind and spend an entire evening in a state of mindfulness if that’s what you want.
It’s also a good opportunity to watch the world as day turns to night, and in this case witness a bank of cloud flow between the peaks in the distance and merge in the valley next to us and begin to amass. The shapes and forms cloud can take when it’s pushed by wind but facing obstructions can be fascinating to watch, and this particular evening was a cracking example of just that. We managed to take a few decent pictures as the cloud moved and swirled towards us before it overcame the camp, and it didn’t take long to do so. Not long after that the rain started to fall, so we decided to hit the tents and settle in for the night. But that was definitely not the end of it.
I’m not sure how much time had passed, but before long the thunder started, at first it was a little distant, but not too far. And then the lightening came, again, not too close, but before long we were right underneath a substantial storm that crashed and flashed in a fairly epic way, and we were there, right slap bang in the middle of it. Everyone knows that being in the hills during a storm is not a good idea for obvious reasons, but it would have been worse to try and bail. So we stayed, safe in the knowledge that if the worst were to happen we wouldn’t know much about it. There was only one thing to do, enjoy the light show, such as it was from inside the tent (it was raining hard), and try to get some sleep.
The following morning was the usual breakfast and packing up routine. Once we had gotten ourselves set we headed down off the hill, following what was an interesting direction to the path we needed to follow (yet more of my favourite rocky terrain), to get to the where we had parked up.
This was a planned walk with a planned route, we knew where we were going and pretty much knew what to expect. But as with all good plans sometimes you just have to adapt to whatever the changing circumstances demand, and this was no exception. We changed our plans and ended up having a different kind of trip to the one we expected, but no lees enjoyable for it.
If anything, this particular walk gave me the opportunity to really analyse a question I’ve been pondering over for several years. Recently it came up again during a zoom call where it was suggested that I follow a course of action that would ultimately lead to building a business around leading walks in the hills and mountains. I’ve considered doing this from time to time but never put anything into action, I’ve always procrastinated and ended up doing nothing about it, and now I truly understand why. I have managed to put this particular question to bed once and for all.
Once again our plans went slightly awry, but it didn’t matter, what really matters is what you take away from the trip, and in this case we had a good walk in both harsh sun and lashing rain, we slept in the middle of a wild thunder and lightning storm in the hills, and as usual when walking with my buddy, we enjoyed good conversation and a bit of banter. I also settled a long standing issue.
All in all another good weekend.