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After Saturday's poor do (my fault for lack of waterproof pants), we decided to have a walk up Lingmoor Fell. We set out early and were soon halted by having to make regular stops for photos of rivers in spate, flooded hotels and overflowing lakes. The water at Whitewater was flowing higher and faster than the day before and the footbridge across the river was uncrossable. Next stop was Newby Bridge to see boats washed up onto the hotel car park, we couldn't see them as the water at the hotel was too deep to walk through. The power of the water there was incredible. We headed for Hawkshead but were turned around near the Lakes Aquarium as the road was flooded, we went via Finsthwaite (fins would have been needed on the other road!). There were people sweeping the road here as it seemed their drives had been washed away and onto the road. Next stop was Esthwaite, the water had risen a few feet more than the Saturday. The picnic tables were in the water and the car park was much reduced! The road wasn't too bad from Esthwaite to Clappersgate, there were a few flooded bits of road on the way to Skelwith Bridge, but not too bad to drive through. Heading into Great Langdale was a pleasure as always, the road was crumbling in one spot, creating a ditch right across the road. I've never seen so many cars parked in Langdale, the car parks were full, the verges full, I guess everyone wanted to go look at the waterfalls. We parked at Blea Tarn and had a mooch around the outcrops to the south of the tarn and had some wonderful autumnal views of the pikes. Lingmoor Fell was set aside for another day and we headed down to Little Langdale. We followed the path from Blea Tarn down to the road at the bottom of Wrynose and went to have a look at the Ting Mound, not impressive to look at but it seems it has a lot of history. Cathedral Cave and Slaters Bridge were the next objectives, the weather stayed nice and sunny (for the time being). The views of and around Little Langdale tarn were gorgeous, the bracken was very red and the sun was lighting it up beautifully. Cathedral Cave was quite busy, lots of people goldfish spotting. They're still there (the goldfish I mean!). We crossed Slaters Bridge and headed back for the road and wandered back up to Blea Tarn, stopping regularly to unblock drains on the roadside. We came across an AA van that was being rescued from the flooded road by a tractor. Bad news when the rescuers need rescuing eh? After a quick stop at Chapel Stile for (expensive) coffee and cake, we drove around to Coniston and had a couple of stops on our way along the lakeside. The scenery was grand, the lake looks so good when it's so full! Last stop of the day was at Spark Bridge again. The river looked brilliant as it crashed under the bridge, definitely not a day for a paddle. Sorry it's been such a long tale, we had a long day with a lot to see, the bad weather can have a good side to it! A full Webshots album is at http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/568309572rgZqeF |
