Crummock & Amazons for Ever! Print
Written by Peter Burgess   
Friday, 09 December 2011

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On Crummock Water Continuing a recent sojourn in Cumbria, I again utilised the YHA and this time stayed at Buttermere.  What a hostel!  It was a real treat to stay within such a fine establishment and the view I awoke to was spectactular.  With a vista across the lake to High Stile and Red Pike, evening dinner and breakfast wasn't bad either, with a fine bottle of Jennings before retiring to bed!  Packing up the car, soon saw me at Rannerdale and the prospect of paddling across Crummock Water to attack Mellbreak direct.

Crossing the lake, these magic views
Magic Views!
I have had a few outings in my canoe, but this was the first time I'd attempted a paddle followed by an ascent.  I know lots of 'Action Man' types do this kind of thing in Scotland, paddling the 10 miles up Loch Hourn before climbing some Munro like Beinn Sgritheall.  Mine was a lesser affair, but all the same it proved a great activity for a couple of hours.

The route from Hause point to Low Ling Crag
Crossing Crummock!
Parking up at Hause Point car park beneath Rannerdale Knotts, I paddled out across the 600 metres or so of Crummock Water to beach the craft at Low Ling Crag.  From there, I ascended Mellbreak direct, rising about 1360 feet in little over a kilometre.  The morning was a bright one, and crossing the lake saw beautiful shafts of sun, emphasised in the early morning mists evaporating from the valley.  I was at the summit in about an hour and after pausing for a while and soaking up the magnificicence of it all, I dropped off the east flank of Mellbreak dropping directly for Ling Crags.  It was a magnificent prospect as I descended, given greater perspective by my little canoe hauled up on the beach of the achetypal tombolo, a feature more recognised in coastal waters than on Cumbrian lakes.  The air was clear and the sun was out as I dropped altitude, the kind of day we all dream about and made even better by the inclusion of the lake crossing.  For me it had been a great new experience and as I parted from the couple sitting on the rocks at Low Ling crag I lapped up the new vistas I had never seen before.  

It was great to be on the water!
On the Water
I've now got a new 'bug' and I really do hope to paddle out again.  I'd been wanting to experience such an outing for a while after buying An Atlas of The English Lakes by R.B.Evans, but until Christmas last I didn't have the means.  Here's to more paddling and fellwalking combined.   I guess all this is a result of reading Arthur Ransome.  I'll end there, "Swallows and Amazons for ever!"

 



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