Today was going to be a busy day for sure as all of the family was together and that doesn’t happen very often these days. We organised a walk we could all do and in fact it’s one I have wanted to do for a while, taking in Castlerigg, High Rigg and Low Rigg. The forecast was for the weather to improve as the day went on, which indeed it did. It was just a shame that the blue sky of the evening didn’t arrive just a few hours earlier in the day.

When we were driving over Dunmail Raise the rain was lashing against the windscreen but as we parked at Castlerigg Stone Circle it did look like the clouds were lifting and breaking up. Before we started our walk we went to have a look at the stone circle, especially as there were two of us who had never seen it before. You can’t fail to be impressed with this stone circle and on this cloudy morning it was very atmospheric.

Our walk followed the low-lying footpaths eventually arriving at St John’s in the Vale Church and the youth centre. Here some of the party decided to have a rest and eat their lunch while four of us took the short but steep path up to the summit of High Rigg. The weather was improving all the time and there were plenty of long sunny intervals now. We had visited this summit once before in the pouring rain and on that visit had no desire to hang around so it was good to sit for a while today and take in the extensive views of the northern and eastern fells all around us.

 

 

Once back at the St John’s in the Vale church we ate lunch in the churchyard while listening to an organist who was practicing for a wedding taking place later that day. Our walk continued past Tewet Tarn, a place I’d wanted to visit for quite some time.  Unfortunately there was no chance of reflections in the water on this blustery day. It wasn’t easy to get too close to the tarn either: I think wellies might be required to be able to do that. It’s certainly a lovely spot though and there are plenty of grazing animals around too.

It wasn’t too long and we had got back to where we had parked the car at Castlerigg Stone Circle. With a big improvement in the weather I soon gave up on the idea of getting another picture of the stone circle as there were just so many people there now. We decided it was time for some afternoon tea and we thought we’d show our newest visitors some of the Lake District’s must-see places. We drove the short distance to Watendlath, a favourite place of ours, and had a drink at the very busy tea shop there.

 

 

Time was spent walking around the delightful tarn and visiting the waterfalls in Watendlath Beck before driving back down the valley stopping first at Surprise View and then at Ashness Bridge. All this had made us very hungry and we went into Keswick to get fish and chips.  By the time we had finished our fish and chips at around 7pm the evening was just perfect and we spent some time by Derwentwater enjoying the views of the north-western fells across the lake and enjoying the warm sunshine too.