Name of walk	Holme Fell from Hodge Close
Date of walk	2014-10-02
Distance walked (miles)	2
Duration of walk	2 hours 0 minutes
Weather	Blue skies and sunshine, no wind.
Peaks on walk	Holme Fell
Walked with	On own
Parking	Hodge Close

Yesterday on a still, beautiful blue sky day, I drove to Hodge Close in order to climb Holme Fell. I would visit the quarry too and drive home with a stop off at Kelly Hall Tarn. Rain and gales were forecast for the following day, so this would be the end of our recent long spell of good weather. 🙁

Looking down into Hodge Close Quarry and the two tunnel openings where I will go at the end of the walk.

I take the track up towards Holme Fell, going through a couple of gates and then when I reach the stone wall taking the track that goes up and to the left. This takes you to the first reservoir, with views to Ivy Crag on the left and Holme Fell on the right. Excellent reflections!

I walk to the far side of the reservoir.

Then instead of following the track up I detour off left to the second smaller reservoir.

I then return to the main track which takes you up in between Ivy Crag and Holme Fell.

Great views out to the Langdale Pikes.

Views out to Fairfield and the Helvellyn range.

Close up of Grisedale Hause, with Fairfield on the right and Seat Sandal on the left.

Holme Fell summit.

Shadow selfie looking down on Tilberthwaite and across to Wetherlam.

View south down Coniston Water.

I then go across to Ivy Crag summit. Looking back down on the reservoir.

Looking back to Holme Fell summit with Wetherlam behind.

Close up view to Pike o'Blisco, Crinkle Crags and Bowfell.

I head back down to the reservoir.

The beginnings of autumn foliage.

I take the back route around Hodge Close Quarry. I climb the barbed wire fence for the view down. It is a sheer drop!

I work my way around until I am directly above the two tunnel openings

View across to where I parked my car. Hodge Close is used by groups for abseiling and climbing. It is also used by scuba diving clubs. The quarry has a maximum depth of about 32m with visibility up to about 10m. There is a tunnel entrance at about 24m which leads to three chambers and 2 interconnecting tunnels, to enter these is serious cave diving and you need to well equipped and trained. There have been a number of fatalities here over the years. I have never dived here, the prospect of submerged tunnels and caves only inspires terror, I prefer open water.

The entrance to the quarry is from the next quarry. Gained from the path to Oxen Fell. The descent takes you into an enclosed wooded area where little light penetrates and the rocks are moss covered. Eerie! Soon you can see the light from the tunnel.

Some of the metal workings still remain.

View out from the right side tunnel entrance. Great reflections!

It is very difficult to capture on camera in bright sunshine.

I exit through the second tunnel and stand with my back to the sheer quarry face. Looking towards the first tunnel.

Across the other side is a cave. There is no access for walkers.

Five minutes after I took this photo, when I was back in the cave, I could hear rocks splashing into the water. I peered out to see a young man and a woman throwing rocks from the very top down into the water. Idiots! I made myself visible. They stopped. Good job there were no divers under the water!

Time to go back up.

One of the houses at Hodge Close. Unfortunately by the time I had made my way back to the top of the quarry the rock throwing couple had scarpered. I did meet and chat to a couple from Whitehaven on their first visit to this small area, they were off up to Holme Fell. I hope they managed to locate the entrance down into the quarry and the entrance to Cathedral Quarry on their return to Little Langdale.

On the drive home I couldn't resist a stop off at Kelly Hall Tarn, looking rather glorious in the autumn sunshine with Dow Crag and Coniston Old Man as the backdrop.

There was an abundance of Dragonflies wizzing about.

Time to head home.

The walk up and down to Holme Fell is only a couple of miles and will take less than two hours. Mooching around the reservoirs and detours to Ivy Crag and the quarry doubles the distance and increases the time. The detour to Kelly Hall Tarn added another mile or so, as I had to park next to the Cumbria Way Path and walk back up the hill. I did some shopping at Booths in Ulverston on the way home, but was still back home for early afternoon. In other words it is a short, interesting and very easy walk!