Angletarn Pikes and Brook Crags  | - Click on the image above to view gallery
|
|
We don’t get to visit the Lake District very often so for us the task of completing all 214 Wainwrights seems unlikely for now. Whenever we do visit though we will often try to visit summits new for us, as it means we are exploring new areas of the Lakes. We get a lot of pleasure doing just that and one place I really hoped we’d be able to visit this time was Angle Tarn and its Pikes, as I heard from so many other people that it’s one of their favourite tarns and places to be.
It’s always great also to share new walks and places with people who know them well, so when Ann and Roger, David and John joined us we knew we were in for a great day despite the rain and grey clouds.
We met up in the car park at the far end of Hartsop village and it soon became apparent red was the colour of the day as 5 out of 6 of us were wearing red. In fact one person asked Ann if there was a reason for us all being in red, but it was just a coincidence of course. I could tell though due to the weather this was going to be the main colour feature of any pictures today.
Very soon after setting off the rain started but it was a gentle rain to begin with and as it was still quite humid it actually felt quite refreshing until we had to give in and put on our waterproof jackets. It was never hard enough to ever need over trousers as well though.
We walked first through the village and then along the valley, then took the path leading up to Boredale Hause. It seemed a nicely graded path but not sure it was very comfortable for the person on the stretcher being led down by members of the Patterdale Mountain Rescue team who were out on a practice session with some new recruits.
Once at Boredale Hause we happily followed those who knew the way, first to the higher of the Angletarn Pikes then to the lower one (but only by a couple of metres) which gave us our first view of Angle Tarn itself. Even though it was a very overcast, wet day it still looked very picturesque. It was time for lunch so we made our way onto the isthmus that went out into the middle of the tarn then followed several really bad Christmas jokes. David felt the water to see if it was cold and when he said it really felt warm I had to check too. It really was warm too not sure I’d fancy having a swim in it on a wet day or whether it’s a suitable place to swim at anytime but it felt warm enough. Down by the shoreline I spotted another young frog a completely different colour to the one I’d seen on Wansfell. This one didn’t turn into a prince either.
 From the summit of Brock crags looking across to the upper section of Pasture Bottom.  Delightful upland barn
After lunch the rain really seemed to settle in for a while but still it was never bad enough to put on over trousers and we squelched our way across a rather nasty section of bog to reach the summit of Brock Crags. We just knew that on a better day the views here would be wonderful so agreed we’d have to return on a much better day.
Nigel suggested as we had never visited Hayeswater it would be good to visit there too and I was delighted when on the path back to Hartsop village we passed the delightful moss covered barn I had so often seen in pictures. It looks well worth taking time to look around, but the yard had turned into a quagmire in the recent rain, so we didn’t risk it. We did however go and have a closer look at the old corn mill complete with its grinding stones still in place.
We thoroughly enjoyed our day and the damp weather certainly didn’t dampen our sprits so thanks to Ann, Roger, David and John for helping us to have a memorable day. One thing is for certain too: we will definitely be returning to Angle Tarn in the future.
 |
