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Buttermere

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.

Behind Fleetwith Pike looking towards Haystacks

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.

A view from the pitch before the cloud came in

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.

Bannau Brycheiniog

A great weekend in Brecon

The bank holiday weekend of 24^th of May was booked for a trip to Brecon (Bannau Brycheiniog), and specifically to quieter area in the west, mainly to avoid the bank holiday crowds, but also to re-visit a stunning spot that we’d been to before. The idea was to do more of a previous walk and then explore the paths on top of the escarpment that runs south north towards Llyn Y Fan Fawr and then west to Llyn Y Fan Fach.

It’s a round robin walk that starts at the southern end of the escarpment and climbs steadily to the top of the ridge, where the path continues close to the escarpments edge all the way to the far end and then turns sharply west before heading down to the first of the lakes. From there it contours round eastwards before turning south and heading for the second of the lakes and then continues south along the foot of the escarpment all the way back to the start.

It’s a very neat route that seems to have most of what you want from any kind of walk in the hills, decent climbs, great views, and plenty of clean fresh air, and I was joined again by my mate Mark, who’s always good company on these walks.

The plan was to start the route going anti clockwise walking at the base of the escarpment towards LLyn Y Fan Fawr where we’d spend the night pitched up next to what is an incredibly beautiful lake with great views. It’s about 5k from where we had parked and was easily achievable in the time we had set aside, given that we were due to set off at around 5pm. However, in what has recently become the norm for my walks, not much had quite gone as planned.

It took an extra two and a half hours for me to travel to my destination after several sat nav re-routes and some fairly heavy bank holiday traffic, and my walking compatriot didn’t manage to arrive until just after 7pm (you’ve gotta love bank holiday travelers). I know in the grand scheme of things that we were part of the problem given that we were traveling as well, but knowing that trite little fact didn’t help one little bit.

Well, after finally meeting up and discussing what we were going to do at such a late hour we decided that the best thing would be to start the route in the other direction and go clockwise. This meant that we could make a short ascent up the southern end of the escarpment to a slight plateau where we could pitch for the night. Although it wasn’t far from the start and it was only a short ascent, it was still quite steep, and after huffing and puffing hard for a while we hit the plateau in late dusk light and managed to pitch before complete darkness, which in anybody’s book has to be counted as a win.

It wasn’t long before the stoves were fired up and food was on the go, and once the hunger had been satisfied, I felt that a small mug of red was in order, so given that it’s almost the law that’s what I had, and my buddy had one of his beers. I don’t think it was long after that we had both hit the hay. It had been a long day and a late night and both of us were flagging.

We knew that the weather forecast for the weekend wasn’t good, and was in fact promising rain and wind of decent proportions for the duration. Never one’s to be perturbed by such things we were prepared for it. However, come the morning despite finding ourselves in the cloud base the rain was nothing like what we were expecting, not much more than occasional heavy drizzle, and the overnight wind was nothing to write home about either, although that was going to change.

Cloud falling over the edge of the escarpment

The morning light brought with it a view of the cloud as it moved across the land and then hit the edge of the escarpment where the wind worked its magic and created a wonderful swirling effect as the cloud cascaded over the edge. You don’t see that every day or in every location. But the day had to start, and after a good cuppa and some breakfast we broke camp, packed up, and headed off on the route along the top of the escarpment.

As we set off and lost the shelter of where we had pitched the wind began to make itself felt. It was a combination of a fairly strong wind and the exposed nature of where we were that made it quite bracing. It wasn’t particularly cold or wet, but given that the hillslope dropped to the west, which is where the wind was coming from, and the fact that we walking a ridge meant that we got the full effect of what mother nature had to offer on that particular day.

What this meant was that as we made our way along the ridge we were being constantly hit on our left hand side by the cloud laden wind that made our left side damp but left the right side dry, an interesting feeling for sure. However, unperturbed by the conditions we were making good time as we walked north along the path that ran very close to the edge on occasions.

It continued on this way for a while until we got to the trig point on Fan Brechyniog where we took the obligatory selfie and then carried on towards the end of the straight section where we had to turn left before sweeping back round clockwise and dropping down towards Llyn Y Fan Fach. However, before we did that there were one or two very quick breaks in the cloud where we were teased with what we would have seen on a clearer day. One of the reasons for doing this particular walk was to capture the unbroken views across Brecon that are available from the top of the escarpment. Unfortunately, the cloud put paid to that, but we did get a few glimpses where the cloud parted briefly at which point the phones came out toot sweet and we got as many pics as we could.

Anyway, after making our way down to the lake we decided to take a break for a while, make a brew and get something to eat while we gave our poor old bones a bit of a rest. The escarpment may look fairly level, but it’s not at all. There are a few hill sections to climb and some of them are fairly steep, and doing these while carrying a load on your back can be taxing to say the least, but despite that we had made exceptionally good time so the rest was well deserved.

After an amount of time (I’m honestly not sure exactly how long we were there) packs were hoisted, poles attached to hands, and off we went following the path that contoured around the base of the escarpment. This part of the path had some pretty interesting features along the way, features that I won’t bore you with here, but Mark had to put up with me getting a bit over excited about geomorphological anomalies and the such (he does that a lot).

We continued on our way guessing at how far it was to the area we were going to pitch for the night, me being wildly wrong on several occasions and Mark getting it mostly right. I’m like a broken clock, right at least twice a day, but no more than that. We finally arrived at Llyn Y Fan Fawr to be met by a very bracing wind as we rounded the corner that the escarpment had sheltered us from. Time to seek a spot for the night.

After the usual roaming around looking for the best location, we finally settled on what we thought was the best option and made camp. The wind continued, and the rain came sporadically meaning that the best option was to get fed, have a quick mug of wine and get an early night. To be fair I know I was fairly knackered, and I think Mark was too. My only concern that night was for the stability of my tent, not that wind is much an issue for it even in much stronger wind than we had that night, but it’s a trekking pole tent and as such is held up by the tension created by the fly being pegged out tightly at the base. With well seated pegs and the guys from the top being pulled tight this tent can take a battering, but we were pitched on thin soil with plenty of buried stones and my pegs were not as well seated as would normally like them to be. My concerns turned out to be unwarranted though, because despite the high wind and gusting that hit us all night the tent pegs remained secure, and so did I in my trusty Lanshan.

Morning came, breakfast was had along with a hot brew, and we packed up in the wind which is always fun.

From where we were it was about a 5k walk back to the cars, and once again we made good time, but as we made our way back the weather improved step by step, so we decided to take break and just enjoy what was becoming a beautiful day. We sat at a lovely spot next to a small waterfall overlooking the land as it dropped away in front of us and relished the small amount of sunlight breaking through the clouds as it warmed the air.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that the reason we go on these mini adventures is to simply enjoy the sights and sounds, the views, and to relax in what is an amazing environment while being able to take a break from the lives we lead day to day. In short, to recharge the mind body and soul. Sometimes conditions cause you to work your way along a route as if on a route march, and this was one of those occasions. The wind and low cloud made the route something to do rather than something to enjoy. This is not to say that it wasn’t a good thing to do, far from it, I really like getting out in harsh conditions and pushing on, but not all the time.

Sat in the sun relaxing in such a lovely spot we were reminded of that fact. That we should find more opportunities to just pause, sit, and take in the view. There is so much to see when you take the time to look.

The next camp is going to be a ridiculously easy one with very little distance to cover, but it was purposely planned that way a while ago. However, after that one we are returning to Buttermere for some unfinished business, and that walk is going to be a solid walk over two days covering some fairly hard terrain and some solid hillwork. But, after the lesson learned at Lyn Y Fan Fawr I think we will be pausing more often and taking a good look at what is around us.