Glenridding from Silver Crag. The Helvellyn range is the far sky line.
A few weeks ago, my first (successful) overnight wild camp of the year had me in Ullswater on one of the hottest days so far. I parked in the free car park near Brotherswater intending to get to the summit of Place Fell for my camp site. I’d miscalculated twice. First, it’s quite a trek from Brotherswater to Place Fell with a heavy bag. And second, did I mention it was the hottest day of the year? I couldn’t walk any faster than a languid stroll.
I started with a bag-free walk around Brotherswater and back to the car again.
Flowers around Brotherswater. Hartsop is on the far side.
A picked up my heavy bag from the car and headed to Patterdale village and Ullswater. I wandered lazily along the south shoreline path, looking for spots where I thought both evening and morning light would work their magic. I’d worked out the angles already and thought the morning light would stream all the way down the lake to Glenridding. A little way along is a promontory called Silver Point, where the lake bends rightwards. There’s a small top here, Silver Crag. I made it there and metaphorically collapsed, dropping my bag and trying to find some shade to cool down in. I knew I’d never make it up to Place Fell summit but thought this was a pleasant spot with a good view.
The midges thought so too. They were my only company in this surprisingly quiet spot and they did their best to entertain me. I swaddled up, trying to keep only my eyes showing and covering everything else.
The sunset wasn’t fantastic but I took what shots presented themselves. I settled in my bag, cursing the midges that forced me to zip right up. Surprisingly, I managed to sleep reasonably well (by bivvy bag standards). I’ll write up the next morning’s shots in the next post.