Day 7: Wetherlam
Weds 15th July
One reason for visiting Cumbria at this time was to see the Netted Carpet moth that we had been too early for last year. I had been trying to contact the National Trust warden Roland at St Catherines (near Windermere) where we had found Touch-me not Balsam and knew the moth to occur. I had been in contact with him having met him last year and this morning he phoned to arrange moth trapping for Thursday. He also had a map for me showing a site for Touch-me-not Balsam on the east shore of Lake Coniston – but without internet access we had to drive to Windermere to collect it. Made an adventure of it my taking the vehicle ferry across Lake Windermere and also did our shopping at the excellent Booths supermarket in Windermere.
Having located the balsam without difficulty, we eventually arrived in the lovely Tilberthwaite to start today’s walk at 13:30. Started by ascending Wetherlam (762m) and then continued along the ridge to Swirl How (800m), Great Carrs (830m), Little Carrs and Hell Gill Pike (692m) and on round Wet Side Edge to complete the circuit back to the car. Clear tops and magnificent views in all directions, including Morcombe Bay and Duddon sands to the south, the Esk Estuary and the Isle of Man to the west and many of the high Lakeland peaks to the north. We made the probable mistake of taking the path over the col SW of Great Intake which involved a strenuous ascent and steep descent at the end of the walk - the flatter route around might have been better.
Distance ~10km, Ascent ~ 750m
One reason for visiting Cumbria at this time was to see the Netted Carpet moth that we had been too early for last year. I had been trying to contact the National Trust warden Roland at St Catherines (near Windermere) where we had found Touch-me not Balsam and knew the moth to occur. I had been in contact with him having met him last year and this morning he phoned to arrange moth trapping for Thursday. He also had a map for me showing a site for Touch-me-not Balsam on the east shore of Lake Coniston – but without internet access we had to drive to Windermere to collect it. Made an adventure of it my taking the vehicle ferry across Lake Windermere and also did our shopping at the excellent Booths supermarket in Windermere.
Having located the balsam without difficulty, we eventually arrived in the lovely Tilberthwaite to start today’s walk at 13:30. Started by ascending Wetherlam (762m) and then continued along the ridge to Swirl How (800m), Great Carrs (830m), Little Carrs and Hell Gill Pike (692m) and on round Wet Side Edge to complete the circuit back to the car. Clear tops and magnificent views in all directions, including Morcombe Bay and Duddon sands to the south, the Esk Estuary and the Isle of Man to the west and many of the high Lakeland peaks to the north. We made the probable mistake of taking the path over the col SW of Great Intake which involved a strenuous ascent and steep descent at the end of the walk - the flatter route around might have been better.
Distance ~10km, Ascent ~ 750m