Honister Pass

Finding places to park up in certain parts of the Lakes on a weekend is getting very difficult unless you are up at the crack of dawn and unfortunately getting out of bed early is not one of my strong points. I had wanted to park up by Tewet Tarn which, although it is quite close to Keswick, is usually very quiet but the few parking spots were already taken.

My next bright idea was to head down Borrowdale as it was close by. Both car parks at Rosthwaite were full as was the roadside parking at Stonethwaite. Seatoller was also full and I didn't even bother going down the side valley to Seathweaite as I knew this would be full of the Scafell Pike and Great Gable hikers.

So it was over the Honister Pass and on the far side I finally struck lucky. Fortunately its a road which people usually just drive over to get to the Buttermere area. A few people do stop for a breather after the excitement of driving over a Lakeland pass, but they are few and far between. They should try driving over the Hardknott Pass to Eskdale, now that is scary!

I didn't go for a walk as such, I just slung my camera bag over my shoulder and wandered back up the Pass to see if I could find anything interesting to shoot. The screes of Fleetwith Pike and Honister Crag always make for good photos plus I think I got a few decent ones of Gatesdarthdale Beck so my day wasn't wasted.

I do enjoy driving around the Lakes but I always like to get out of the car at some stage for a walk irrespective of the weather. At one stage it didn't look as if I would get out at all. I suppose it's a case of The Lake District becoming a victim of it's own success, especially as it is now a World Heritage Site.