Wigtwizzle - Norman Smith's Travel Blog.: quarry

Showing posts with label quarry. Show all posts

Holme Fell

It must have been twentry years since I was last on Holme Fell when I was helping a friend do the Wainwrights. I've been to Hodge Close a fair few times but have always walked down into Little Lnagdale and not up Holme Fell.

I really have missed so much. It must be one of the most beautiful fells in The Lakes; not very high but a pure joy to walk upon. There has been a lot of quarrying in the past so there are a few disused dams scattered about and the remnants of many disused quarries but these just add to the beauty of the place. Nature has done a superb job and created beauty which ever direction you look.

The views from up high are first class as well; to the west you can see some of the Coniston Fells and to the north west are The Langdale Fells. Eastwards Windermere can be seen and on a clear day, you can see right across to The Yorkshire Dales.

I didn't quite make it to the top but I'm presuming that from the summit, you can see Coniston Water and right down to Morecambe Bay.

Due to my health issues, I knew when I had reached my limit, so I just found a large boulder to plonk my behind on, sat for a while and picked another of the many paths scattering the fell to walk back down to Hodge Close and my car.

Without doubt I will be returning, as my walk on Holme Fell was one of the most enjoyable I have done for many a year.

Hodge Close Quarry

Quarry Path, Hodge Close

Disused Dam, Holme Fell

Looking towards Wetherlam

Disused Dam, Holme Fell

Holme Fell

Langdale Pikes

Holme Fell

Disused Dam, Holme Fell

Fleetwith Pike

An old favourite which was done in beautiful sunshine with not a cloud in sight. I parked up at the top of Honister Pass and trudged up the old tramway used for bringing down slate from the mines high up in the fells in days gone by. Once at the rock cutting, known as Drum House, I veered right which brought me into close contact with the ugly quarry workings, one of which is still being used.

Standing in such a wasteland makes it hard to comprehend that just half a mile away stands a cairn which gives one of the most beautiful and iconic Lakeland views in my opinion; the one looking down over Buttermere and Crummock Water with Pillar and The High Stile Range to the left and Dalehead in front. For good measure, you have Haystacks, Great Gable and the Scafells behind you and the Helvellyn Range in the distant left.

The path across the fell top frequently gives enticing views of the grandeur of what is to come once you gain the summit. One in particular is a view down a gully to the Honister Pass road far, far below. A good head for heights and a clam day is needed to get the best photo opportunity but unfortunately it was blowing a howling gale so I kept a safe distance from the edge. The wind was so strong and gusty, it nearly blew me off my feet a couple of times and that is no mean feat I can assure you!

Once on top I found a nice spot in the lee of the wind and had my lunch. A few people came up the ridge from Buttermere but found it too windy to hang around for long, most just took a photo and carried on. One person who did stop for a chat was the author of the Cicerone Press Lakeland Fells Guide books which are an updated version of The Wainwright Guides. The more we spoke the more I got the impression that the only reason that stopped was to blow his own trumpet and plug his online blog!

Thankfully once he had gone I was left with the fell to myself again and took the photos for this blog. The walk back to Honister was by the awful mine road which was very steep and just seemed to go on forever. It kills my hips and thighs every time I walk it and so it was with relief that I finally got back to the car.

All in all it was a grand walk but I had been very surprised and caught out a bit by the gusting wind on the top. It just goes to show that you can't take any walk in the fells for granted, no matter how low and short the walk is. Nice days often have a sting in their tails.

Quarry Working on Dalehead

The Old Tramway

Quarry Waste heap

Quarrying Relics

Old Quarry Workings

Looking down on Honister Pass

First glimpse of Buttermere

Pillar and High Crag

Haystacks and Pillar

Close up of Pillar

Quarry Workings

Quarry Road to Honister Pass

Honister Pass Visitor Centre

Rusty Relic

Old quarry Shed

A wet afternoon down Borrowdale

"So go create. Take photographs in the wood, run alone in the rain and sing your heart out high up on a mountain
where no one will ever hear
and your very existence will be the most hypnotizing scar.
Make your life be your art
and you will never be forgotten.”
― Charlotte Eriksson

There's nothing I like doing more than walking through the woodlands of Borrowdale when the weather is not up to scratch. Somehow sunshine and clear blue skies just don't seem to work in this part of Lakeland and as long as you are dressed appropriately, you can't go far wrong. It never ceases to amaze me how people will saunter around Keswick on a rainy day but won't travel a few extra miles and experience nature at its finest.

This is another walk you can taper to suit your needs and time. Doing the full round from Grange to Seatoller (via Castle Crag) and then back by the River Derwent is one of the most beautiful walks there is in The Lakes. That needs to be done on a fine and clear day though, just so that you can fully appreciate the views on the higher outward route.

With today being wet, I just followed The Cumbria Way alongside the River Derwent and through the woods as far as the old quarries where one of Lakeland's "characters" used to spend the summer months. Millican Dalton (20 April 1867 – 5 February 1947) was a self-styled "Professor of Adventure"and was born on 20 April 1867 at Nenthead, Alston, Cumberland before moving to Buckinghamshire. At the age of 36, he gave up this city lifestyle and went to live under canvas, in a rough wooden shack in Buckinghamshire for the winter months and in a cave down Borrowdale (which he dubbed "The Cave Hotel") for the summer months.

An alternative lifestyler long before the term was created, Dalton, who was a vegetarian, pacifist and teetotaller, lived off his wits and surviving on a small income which he earned as a climbing guide. Millican Dalton's cave, as it is locally known, is on the eastern flank of Castle Crag and consists of two inter-connected split-levelled caves formed by the slate quarrying process. This cave was inhabited for nigh-on fifty years by Dalton.

During the winter of 1946-47, Dalton's hut in Buckinghamshire burned down, so he moved into a tent. This was too much his the 79-year-old frame, however, and he contracted pneumonia, from which he died on 5 February 1947. All perfectly true!

For a more detailed version of he lifestyle, see this site.

On my return to Grange I popped in the Chapel just before the bridge to a) dry off a bit and b) to have a look at the Borrowdale Story Exhibition which looks to have grown over the years and now has displays showing the history and also modern day life in the valley. It's a very interesting way to spend half an hour and should be backed up, when you get home, by a visit to their website where there are interviews by local characters and much more besides. Here is a link to their site.

All in all it was an afternoon very well spent in the company of some of Lakeland's finest scenery.