Distant Latterbarrow.

Claife Heights, Latterbarrow and an important other.

Early morning mist hadn’t cleared when I set off so I changed my direction of route to hopefully have better views later. Wandering through the forests up to Claife Heights there was no view anyhow. The trig point, occupied by a family, was barely above the trees and I soon plunged back into the forest musing on what this area looked like prior to planting. There was no sign of Peter Rabbit.

A mirky Claife Heights.

A House of Cards.

The sequestered summit.

National Trust Land.
With my ability to misplace keys this would be a nightmare.

Plenty of people were out and about on the well signed tracks and when I arrived at the prominent tower on Latterbarrow it seemed crowds were gathering. There was some brightness by now and there were views to the bigger fells, Bowfell and the Langdale Pikes being prominent. A dog was chasing a Frisbee with great skill and his owners were interesting to chat to. A drone then appeared at great speed and started aerobatics which looked decidedly dangerous for the assembled crowd, a definite intrusion into the day. They are apparently becoming a big problem, in Holland the police are training eagles to snatch any from the sky that maybe of criminal intent.

Distant Bowfell and Langdale Pikes.

Frisbee champion.

Unwelcome drone.

The track back to my car was delightful, through birch and alder much nicer than those conifers. It was a shock facing the traffic through a busy Ambleside. As the day was perfect by now I drove up a minor lane above Windermere and parked at Causeway Farm for a quick ascent of Orrest Head. The footpath mentioned in AW’s chapter was closed since 2007, it would have helped if there was some clue as to its successor. Further down the lane I found a signed route up to the summit. If I thought Latterbarrow was busy I wasn’t expecting the number of people up here. Some were struggling up the path from Windermere in the classic hill going high heels. All the benches were occupied. The view finder recalls the fact that this is where Wainwright first set foot in Lakeland – the rest is history.

Epiphany!

Modern day AW.

A popular view point.