Castlerigg

Although the real purpose of the weekend in Keswick last month was to meet the extended Moses family, which was a fantastic chance for reminiscing and grounding for me but somewhat overwhelming for Moonface; we also managed a decent walk.

At least some of us did, there were about a dozen of us who headed up from Keswick, towards Skiddaw up the Glenderterra mine track between Lonscale Fell and Blencathra, then back via the Castlerigg Circle. It's years since we saw it, the last time was possibly when Moonface & I had our summer together collecting chironomids, in the late 70's. It seems smaller now than it did then, and tamer. There's a car park nearby, and instead of being on our own there were other visitors too. But the setting is still superb, with views of the snowy hills not far away.

The whole walk was pretty good, with lots of chilly sunshine in spite of our walking right up to the snowline. And the most surprising thing was the way that the hilltops nearby looked so like chocolate cakes, with their dark brown tops where the heather, grass and bracken had died back, and a frosting of snow which petered away to very sugary spots lower down the slopes.


:o)