Great and Little Langdale

Distance: 13.9 km (8.45 mi)
Time: 3 hours 46
Average speed: 3.7 km/h (2.3 mph)

The last weather forecast that I'd seen hadn't been too promising, but not all that bad. Light rain in the morning, heavier in the afternoon. Only that was several hours old and the B&B's WiFi was playing hard to get.

The drive up to Great Langdale was, as might be expected, lovely. I am worried about what constitutes an A road in these parts. I parked up near the New Dungeon Ghyll hotel and paid for the day, then set off west. A short and gentle walk over fields, then up over the shoulder of Side Pike. The light rain at the foot of the climb had become heavy by the time it levelled out.

I continued on past Blea Tarn which would be a nice place to stop should the weather be more co-operative. I started down beside a stream, then as the rain got heavier I retreated to the shelter of some trees and started stuffing things into waterproof bags. Phone, camera, wallet, car keys (remote central locking) were all bagged up and stuffed into the backpack, not to reappear until after the walk. The guide book went into once of the pockets of the waterproof jacket, I would have to rely on the supposedly waterproof GPS.

I started down beside the stream for a second time, in wind and rain. Lots of rain. There was a path to follow, involving streams and boggy ground to cross and I nearly had a boot sucked off. Luckily the boots were new, just bought last Friday, and kept most of the water out. The path led me to a road in Little Langdale, which I decided to follow down to get some solid ground under my feet whatever the route might say. The route said follow the road.

With the rain easing off I consulted the guide book and backed by the GPS followed a path on the South side of Little Langdale. This path went through a herd of Highland Cattle one of which was standing in the middle of the path staring at me. I lost the staring competition and decided it had right of way, so bypassed it on some soggy ground.

Passing the old slate quarries (and a very well appointed climbing hut) the rain had all but stopped and I considered getting the camera out. Every time I got close to a decision the rain came back. The river was re-crossed at Slater Bridge. This was half a pack-horse bridge made from slate and half a couple of rock outcroppings crossed with slabs of, well, you can guess. All with a rusty railing that changed sides half-way across and some very wet stones.

Crossing back over to Great Langdale I caught a glimpse of Helvellyn, or at least the clouds where the peak of Helvellyn should have been. Not the best day to have been up there.

Checking the GPS saved me a wrong turning which would have led half a mile out of my way. I followed the bridleway along the south side of Great Langdale with the wind and rain firmly in charge. Some of those raindrops were being driven into my face with some force, leading me to keep my head down.

Another close encounter of the bovine kind, this time two non-highland cattle refused to back down, leading to another squelchy excursion.

I came to a T junction. One was in the right direction and signposted to Dungeon Ghyll, the other was in the opposite direction and indicated the road. It was so obviously the former it was 10 minutes before the GPS showed it should have been the latter. In fact the route I took was a little shorter than the one the guide said I should have taken, unfortunately it was far more exposed and the weather wanted to make sure I knew it.

By the time I reached my start point I firmly ignored the car and went straight for the pub opposite, hoping for a warm fire to dry out and a hot meal. Yes and yes, a nice Cumberland sausage.