Swinside is one of those ridges with lots of false tops, but eventually levels off to reveal our goal - Hopegill Head in the centre of the picture and Ladyside Pike on the left.
Hopegill Head near Keswick
With the lighter nights in late spring an evening walk is the best way to make the most of the good weather.
We started this walk from the west side of Whinlatter Pass, just above the small village of Hopebeck. There is a small car park on the side of the gated road and from here make our way up the pathless hill side onto the start of the Swinside Ridge. The first half hour is a bit unforgiving, but a good reason to stop and rest is the view back out to the coast and over the Solway Firth to the Galaway coast line of Southern Scotland.
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Swinside is one of those ridges with lots of false tops, but eventually levels off to reveal our goal - Hopegill Head in the centre of the picture and Ladyside Pike on the left. |
Once on the broad ridge the views were excellent. In front the lies the whole horse shoe for the evening. To our left lies the Skiddaw range and the Whinlatter hills in the foreground, and behind us is the Solway Firth and the Isle of Man shimmering the in the evening sun.
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A breather before the last climb - it looks worse than it really is. By now the temperature has dropped considerably due to the clear skies and altitude.
Mike's on the crest of the ridge trying to make the most of it, but there's a path just on the top left of the picture traversing onto the summit.
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We spend over half an hour taking in the views, this is just one of the many photos I took - it still doesn't do it justice. We can see Crag Hill dominating the sky line and Pike o' Stickle with its distinctive bee hive shape to the left of the notch |
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We turned west (right) and followed the ridge along Gasgale Crags. This is another enjoyable ridge, with contrasting sides, the north being grassy and spreading out like four fingers on a hand. The south side differs completely, with rocky ribs and scree running down to the gill in the bottom. When seen in the right light the ribs are wonderfully highlighted with contrasting shadows and light.
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We watched the sunset over the Solway Firth with colours ranging from burnt orange to deep blue.
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We have run out of time - taking too may photos. We were going to descend south- west down Whiteside and traverse on the path back to the car, but instead we follow one of the fingers down to a small hill called Dodd. From here the path swings right and follows the valley to its' end and we head back to the car.
