Buttermere and Back

 This was a long planned visited to Buttermere, an area that I love, and it was to be a first time visit for Sam.  I had learned a great deal about Dumfries and Galloway from Sam and I was hoping to reciprocate in a small way today with an introduction to the area and the sharing of some tales and memories.  It was never meant to be a birding trip.

We’d certainly chosen an appropriate day for the experience as it was dry and sunny and the air was warming up as we left home early morning and travelled westwards.  The road taken was to include Alston and Hartside Pass where we hoped to stop to take photographs.  I’d almost forgotten how wild, rugged and picturesque this area is, although I’m sure many would point out that there is no true ‘wild’ about the place.  The Tyne Valley held dispersing patches of mist, some simply wisps, which were quickly burning off.  As we reached Hartside Pass the mist was thickening again, all the more as we gained height, so photography was forgotten, but as we descended we enjoyed the drive above a cloud inversion which was a real spectacular experience.

Blencathra.  AKA Saddleback

In the past I’ve spent many a time in Lakeland waiting for the mist to clear from the tops of the fells, but I need not have worried today as by the time we were past Penrith and looking up to the clear cut peaks of Blencathra we were under  blue skies with only patches of white cloud.  We chatted about my conquest of Blencathra quite a few years ago, not an easy climb even then.  We avoided the centre of Keswick but not without discussing the ‘Pencil Factory’, home of the first pencil, and the plumbago mine that once existed in a partially wooded and verdant Borrowdale, the area we next travelled through.   We stopped for a short time at Ashness Bridge for photographs and I was a little disappointed because I recalled a far better view in years gone by.  Perhaps the trees have grown and blocked some of the vista, or perhaps my memory is playing tricks.  Anyhow, we found out right away there is barely anywhere in Lakeland where you can park these days without paying!  We decided not to drive further up the narrow road to the hamlet of Watendlath, but to save that for another time.  I was reminded of Hugh Walpole’s dramatic descriptions of Borrowdale, and Watendlath in particular, in his Herries Chronicles.

Ashness Bridge with Skiddaw in background

Next stop was at the Bowder Stone car park, another episode of daylight robbery for parking.  This little episode will now be forever known to us as the Bowder Stone debacle.  I won’t go into details, but next time we’ll actually find it and not be sent heading in the wrong direction by a friendly lady attempting to help!  Has someone moved it since my last visit?  Borrowdale is a beautiful valley and memories came flooding back for me.  I pointed out Seathwaite to Sam and explained that it holds the distinction of being the wettest part of England. We were soon passing Seatoller and heading up Honister Pass.

Honister Pass

Honister Cragg

Honister Pass

Honister Pass

We parked at the top of Honister to enjoy the views and visit the quarry shop.  Honister Quarry is the last slate quarry to operate in England and has done so since the seventeenth century.  The underground workings have expanded further and further underground.  I got my eye on a slate wall clock which I have since ordered, so the stop in that sense was costly.  A walk to slightly higher ground gives a good opportunity for photography of the pass and craggs above, and Sam got his eye on patches of Butterwort in a typical wet habitat.  A search for Sundew brought no reward.  A Red Admiral Butterfly made an appearance as did a small butterfly that I thought may have been Mountain Ringlet known to frequent the high ground of Fleetwith, but having checked the dates of flight periods it seems most unlikely.  That brief sighting remains an unknown. Two Pied Wagtails flew across the carpark.

Honister towards Buttermere

Sam takes in the Honister atmosphere.

Honister

Honister

We found all parking spaces taken at Gatesgarth, which lies at the foot of Honister, so we decided to double back and take lunch in one of the pull-ins on the pass.  We agreed that this was a good decision as we sat enjoying our food in this rugged area with light patterns constantly changing across the steep fellsides and ahead of us over Buttermere.  It is little wonder that the poets and artists have been attracted to the area over many years.  The beck ran calmly and quietly.  It was giving off a typical sound of slow shallow running water that soothes the mind, whilst the rocks and pebbles showed shape, texture and colour through the pellucid cooling waters.  In places it held small still pools which took on a darker hue.  This was beginning to be Lakeland at its best, beautifully rugged and without droves of people, we only had the Herdwick sheep as company and a lone cyclist who was heading over the pass.

Wanscale Bottom

Wanscale Bottom and Haystacks

Wanscale Bottom

Wanscale Bottom

Eventually, having found a spot to park at Gatesgarth we set off to walk into Wanscale Bottom, taking a small bouquet of red roses to place at the point where my parents ashes were laid.  We took a few minutes out here, alone and with our own thoughts.  My mother and father loved this area and referred to it as the basin.  Understandably, as the surrounding fells including Fleetwith and Haystacks stand tall and encircle the area forming a basin like area.  The sun was now hot on our faces and the light shone brightly through the stand of trees.  The steep narrow waterfall at the head of the valley could be heard in the silent still air.  First of all, a Kestrel hovered above us and then a Common Buzzard hunted close by us in eagle like fashion.  I hopefully entertained Sam with tales of backpacking over Honister Pass and over the fells in my youth and some other tales.  Sam pointed out that a few of them ended in gloomy fashion and death, I suppose reflecting upon how dangerous the area can be.  We saw only two or three walkers in this quiet area far away from the touristy honeypots.

As we passed by Gatesgarth Farm and the cottage where I celebrated my twenty-first birthday I could help but feel some of the welcoming warmth had disappeared from the farm, not helped by the fact that the main drive way has now been gated and the gate was closed.  I told Sam of some of the characters of past years such as Annie Nelson an elderly lady and friend of Beatrice Potter who lived in the cottage when I began to visit the farm in the 1960s, Peter the painter who lived in the barn and completed many oil paintings of Lakeland scenes and sold them to visitors, and Jobby the farmer’s brother who my family always thought was the double of Hoss in the TV series of the time, Bonanza.

Gatesgarth and Buttermere

Buttermere Lake was as still as a village pond.  I remembered that on days as sunny and calm as this the reflections on the lake at early light and before any disturbance of the mere and sharp colourful and stunning.  Sadly, the Buttermere pines look unhealthy these days.  There had not been a breath of wind during our visit.  We drove along the narrow road to Crummock Water passing the small church at Buttermere of which William Wordsworth said ‘A man must be very unsensible who would not be touched at the sight of the chapel of Buttermere’.  There is a memorial here to Alfred Wainwright whose ashes are scattered on what were his favourite fells, The Haystacks which can be viewed from the church.  I’m not sure what Alfred or William Wordsworth would make of some of the traffic in Lakeland these days.

We returned to Buttermere Village and headed over Newlands pass.  If Honister Pass can be described as wild and rugged, Newlands is in stark contrast being more green, tamed and picturesque.  It was time to head for home now via Keswick and Penrith and onward along the Military Road.  We stopped near to Hadrian’s Wall for refreshment and noticed that already mist was beginning to form again in the valley.

It had been a great adventure and I was pleased to be able to share so many memories during the day with Sam.  Thanks mate.