Buttermere: 18–19 September 2010
- Distance
- 9 miles
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Location
- Buttermere … Map of start point
- Leader
- Kelly
We had a great weekend staying at the Buttermere Youth Hostel.
On Saturday we were climbing Haystacks - not stacks of hay, but Wainwright's favourite mountain and where his ashes have been scattered. We left the hostel on a path alongside Buttermere itself, including a short tunnel, rejoining the road to Gatesgarth. There we left the road on a broad and easy path up the wide valley of Warnscale Bottom. Gradually the path started to climb, steeper and steeper, to an area of waterfalls near the top. From there we skirted round the tops to Blackbeck Tarn, where we stopped for lunch. After lunch, we continued past the oxymoronic Innominate Tarn and over the tops of Haystacks, before descending steeply to Scarth Gap.
Then we had a splinter group break away! Andy led the hardy group on a tougher route over Seat, High Crag, High Stile and Red Pike before taking a precipitous route down by Sour Milk Gill. In the meantime, Kelly took the rest of us back down the easier path and along the wooded south side of Buttermere, and back to the village in good time to visit the tea shop for delicious cake, which the hardy group missed out on. When everyone was back and cleaned up, we headed to the Fish Inn in the village for a very nice dinner. We can make a special recommendation of the roast lamb!
Sunday dawned wet and miserable, with low clouds and steady rain. Half the group wimped out altogether, but not wanting to be beaten by the weather, half of us wrapped up in our best wet weather gear and set off on a short walk down to the edge of Crummock Water, back up Rannerdale and down into Buttermere … and another visit to the tea shop!
Photos by Stevie