An unexpected sunny spell on Lord's Seat

(Continued from the previous day.)

 

 

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Rain is falling down quite heavily as we set off, wandering on the easy forest tracks. In a couple of places, a misty view of Derwent Water appears between the trees. At one point we discover that we have accidentally made our way onto a mountain bike track. The rain has kept the bikers in bed though, so luckily we don't have to jump into the bushes to avoid collision with any speeding two-wheelers. The whole of Whinlatter Forest is a rather convoluted mix of bridleways, footpaths and mountain bike tracks, so this is quite an easy mistake to make. Quoting Wainwright: "The [forest] roads generally have a good dry surface and are excellent to walk upon, but one's sense of direction is soon at fault in these dark cuttings, which 'hairpin' and spiral considerably to gain height."

 

As we continue out of the forest towards Lord's Seat, the rain eases off and suddenly the sun shines through. The sun stays with us for almost two hours, as we tick off three Wainwright summits: Lord's Seat, Broom Fell and Graystones. With their gentle summits rising above the forest, they are far from the most spectacular hills in the Lake District. Nonetheless, they are a very pleasant place to be when they are located in a bubble of sunshine in between rain clouds. "Some mountains have better names than they deserve and some deserve better names than they have," writes Wainwright in his entry for Lord's Seat, obviously considering Lord's Seat in the first category. But even he must admit that "it retains the indefinable charm of Lakeland in spite of the advancing march of the Norwegian and American spruces in all directions."

About the name of "Lord's Seat", Wainwright mentions that "it is said that the name of the fell derives from a natural rock seat just below the top on the north-west side - but anyone who spends time trying to identify the place will question the legend, for not even the commonest commoner could install himself in any of the few rocky recesses hereabouts with the standard comfort his lordship would surely have demanded."

Lord's Seat is the highest of the hills to the north of the Whinlatter Pass. Continue west, ticking off two more Wainwright summits with Broom Fell and Graystones. At one point it got so warm that we stripped down to our t-shirts. That proved a little too optimistic though, because soon the wind picked up again, pushing a fresh wave of rain clouds our way. We descend back into the forest, which is not as easy as you expect. On a map, seems trivial to join any of the forest tracks from the open fell, but the trees at the edge of the forest are so dense that only "death by spruce" awaits for those unwilling to make a detour. Several tracks through the grass along the forest edge show that many other hikers have found themselves in a similar situation before, vainly trying to find a way through. The only access that we found, was a forest road that reached the western edge of the Daring How Plantation. A direct descent along this western edge is also possible, though rather steep.

We return to the Whinlatter Pass along the forest road in between Lord's Seat and the fell of Whinlatter. The weather turns slightly showery, but nothing as bad as the rain at the start of the day. The pass is reached without further events. There is a café for those wanting some afternoon tea, but I've got to drive off to Manchester Airport for my return flight to Zürich...

 

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I did not expect to be able to tick off three Wainwright with the sun shining on us. It made the day very enjoyable, even though it was a very easy route. My Wainwright count is now at 82. Still a long way to go to 214... Hopefully I'll manage to keep on doing these Lake District trips once a year or so.