After a wet and windy dog walk along the old railway track this morning, the weather cleared and by 2:30 a watery sun came out and tempted me to do a walk I had first thought about doing almost ten years ago when I bought my cottage.  I climbed Bleaberry Fell from Shoulthwaite Farm on the A591.  Not one but two Unfrequented Wainwright Routes!!!  I pass this way every day I drive into Keswick and I parked just 50 yards from the farm drive on the 200 yard stretch of disused road now used as a layby.

From the farm  a path leads into the forest and onto a forest road after 100 yards.  Turn right and follow the forest road until a sign points the way to cross Shoulthwaite Gill.  After crossing the footbridge head up the hill until a grass ramp leads upwards to the left to reach a grass shelf at the foot of the scree below Goat Crags.  I followed the shelf (where Polly celebrated reaching the snow in her unique way) until a small gill was reached. We turned and followed the gill west and after 15 minutes over snow covered heather and bog the summit cairn came in sight.  A dog gate near to the summit allowed Polly to make a dignified passage through the fence whilst I wished I was three inches taller when I tried to get my leg over!

Smashing views at the summit and it was clear that the fells far to the south (Bowfell and the Scafells) had much more snow than the nearer fells.  The Helvellyn Range also had a good covering.

Our descent followed a fence east from the summit until a wall was reached.  We turned north and followed the wall which skirted Dodd Crags.  To the west we could see the top of Walla Crag and Polly flushed a black grouse from the moor.  She often flushes red grouse but this was the first black grouse we have seen.  Eventually a break in the wall allowed us to contour round the crags heading east until we were above Snipeshow Tarn (hidden above Brackenrigg on the A591).  Just after I photographed the tarn from above, Polly flushed out a snipe from the heather.  Nice to know that a bird which gave the name to the tarn still flourishes in the area.

We picked up another wall which led south back to the spot where I had started to climb to the shelf below Goat Crags.  A short walk downhill led to Shoulthwaite Gill just ten minutes from the car. An enjoyable three hour walk which was an unexpected bonus on a day which had started badly but which improved steadily from mid morning.

http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/562741984UHTdMw

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