Birkhouse Moor • Walking the Cumbrian Mountains

Name of walk	Birkhouse Moor
Date of walk	2009-03-11
Distance walked (miles)	6
Duration of walk	4 hours 0 minutes
Weather	Mist
Peaks on walk	Birkhouse Moor
Walked with	Ged and blind Kas
Parking	Glenridding car park.

Yesterday was great visibility and blue skies but I had been in Cartmel Priory teaching. I was supposed to be teaching maths today but decided that the call of the mountains was infinitely more appealing! I hated maths when I was at school and none of it has ever been of any use. So yet another day of attempting to convince bottom set year nines, for a double lesson, that simultaneous equations are an important life skill lost hands down to the awesome incentive of gales, rain, hill fog and strenuous mountain climbing in snow!

Ged was up for a walk so we went to Glenridding. I had chosen a route that he hadn`t done before going up Birkhouse Moor (2350ft) via Mires Beck, down to Red Tarn which Ged said was looking gorgeous yesterday when he was on Helvellyn (that`s right, rub it in!), and then down the valley crossing Red Tarn Beck and down the Greenside Mine Road back to Glenridding. About 6.5 miles.

The weather started off better than the forecast had predicted. Glenridding Dodd from the Mires Beck Path.

Looking down Ullswater.

The weather was starting to change.

Looking down the wall that leads up to Striding Edge.

Starting to enter the snow line.

St. Sunday Crag just peeking out of the mist.

The top of Birkhouse Moor. It was very windy! I wouldn`t fancy Striding Edge today!

The snow drifts on the other side of the wall.

We now turned off for Red Tarn, couldn`t see a thing!

Red Tarn......honest!

Ged pointing to where Helvellyn should be.

It took us a while to find the path down to Glenridding, but we eventually came across it and headed off down the valley. We did think of doing Catstycam but the weather conditions put paid to that idea.