Great and Little Langdale  | - Click on the image above to view gallery
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We had planned to meet Terry at the Old Dungeon Ghyll car park on what looked like another morning where we would see some more rain and indeed the forecast was for some heavy showers once more. Terry told us that he had in fact had a really good night’s sleep despite our doubts that he would have found anywhere dry enough to pitch his tent. None of us after our soaking of the previous day on Red Screes fancied walking up into the clouds once more so our plan today was to do a low-level walk around Great and Little Langdale, doing a circuit around Lingmoor Fell.  Herdwick Sheep We started off from the car park and followed the steep road up to the cattle grid below Side Pike: the place you would normally get a great view across to Mickleden and the ridge of Bowfell and Crinkle Crags. However today the clouds were very low so not much of a view at all but it’s still a great place to stand and take in your surroundings and there always seems to be a sheep there to be included in your picture.
It’s then a short walk to Blea Tarn which today certainly wasn’t living up to its name, and I struggled to find any reflections. It’s a lovely spot to spend some time though although this day you would have been hard pushed to find a dry enough spot on the grass to sit down and enjoy a picnic lunch.
We had walked here last year but had never followed the path we did today which led us past some lovely falls in Bleamoss Beck and then across Blea Moss where we discovered why it was called “moss” as after the amount of rain that had fallen it was a very squelchy walk. Added to this one of those forecasted heavy showers had also arrived. So for a while my camera was put safely away, which was a shame as there were lots of things that I’d have liked to take pictures of for certain.
Terry had never been to Slater’s Bridge or Cathedral Quarry so we knew we would have to make a visit there too. Sadly the worst of the weather that day was when we were close to Slater’s Bridge and it was another of those occasions when the camera was safer staying in my bag. We looked at it from afar and decided we would be better to find some shelter inside Cathedral Cave. We had a quick bite to eat here as we watched the rain falling in through the large hole in the roof. When the sun shines in through the big hole it looks amazing. I know it’s also possible to investigate further in the cave but the rocks were so wet and slippery I really wouldn’t have fancied exploring too far.
Just as we left the shelter of the cave there was a view of some blue sky and we hoped that it meant we would have some dry weather for a while. We decided though that it would be nice to have a pint and sit down in the Three Shires Inn. On our way to the Inn we passed several large groups of youngsters all dressed in waterproofs heading for Cathedral Cave: I assume it was some outdoor pursuits group. We wondered whether with all those people now in the cave there wouldn’t be much standing room left and we’d have been standing in the water if we were in there now. I wonder if they were going to explore the passages in the cave.
It was obvious when sitting in the pub that the weather really had improved and when we came out the sun was shining and it was lovely to enjoy the rest of the walk feeling the warmth from the sun which dried us out nicely from where we’d had a bit more of a soaking earlier in the day.
The route we took was all new to us and it’s always good to explore. We followed the footpath through the lovely Sawrey’s Wood where the early autumn colours were very evident and emerged at Elterwater Quarry. Lots of interesting things to look at there and now we could see that in Great Langdale the cloud level was still quite low and the tops of the Langdale Pikes were still in the cloud.
 We however continued our walk in sunshine for the rest of the afternoon alongside Langdale Beck on our way back to the car parked at the Old Dungeon Ghyll. On our very first visit to Great Langdale some 30 years ago we noticed a lion’s face in the rocks above the New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel and for a while we looked for it until we saw it and once you find it, it really is very obvious too.
Back to our car then and we said our goodbyes to Terry and wished him well as he’d planned a few more nights camping but not in the Lakes. Thank' you for being such great company.
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