Name of walk	Holme Fell and Cathedral Quarry with Anne and Keith
Date of walk	2015-07-22
Distance walked (miles)	5
Duration of walk	3 hours 25 minutes
Weather	sunshine and showers, but clear.
Peaks on walk	Holme Fell
Walked with	Anne and Keith Hackney
Parking	Hodge Close

On Wednesday afternoon I met up with two fellow bell ringers, Anne and Keith, to do a walk up to Holme Fell from Hodge Close, near Coniston. We arranged to meet at the Spark Bridge turn off and continue on in one car. Even though they are keen walkers, this would be their first ‘Wainwright’ mountain. The drive up to Hodge Close takes a lot of the height off the walk. Holme Fell is just over 1000ft, but has excellent views out for very little effort. It is a couple of miles to do a ‘there and back’ walk. We would then walk along a good path to Little Langdale, to visit Cathedral Quarry.

Looking down into Hodge Close Quarry.

We head up the track to the first of the two reservoirs. Ivy Crag on the left, Holme Fell summit on the right. There was no wind at all this afternoon.

The second of the reservoirs taken from the dam.

We return to the first reservoir before heading up over boggy ground towards the summit.

Once some height is gained there are good views out to the surrounding fells. Seat Sandal, Grisedale Hause and Fairfield on the right.

I had totally forgotten about the little rock scramble up to the summit, but thankfully it proved to be no obstacle and Anne and Keith achieve their first Wainwright summit. Views out to Coniston Water behind.

The Langdale Pikes on the left. The clouds were looking a bit ominous, and we had a shower just a few minutes later, but it didn't last long.

View back down to the reservoir and over to Lingmoor.

Keith and Anne returning from the summit, the small rock scramble is up on the left. They give the rocky summit photo a bit of perspective, proving that Holme Fell could not be defined as a "Granny summit"!

The sun is out again and we make our way back down via another of the many tracks, less boggy than the one on the way up.

Once back down we head off towards Little Langdale for Cathedral Quarry, which turned out to be just over a mile from Hodge Close. You climb over a stile next to a locked gate on your left shortly before you reach Slater Bridge. It must be ten years since I have walked to it via this route. The small 'Cathedral Quarry' sign post is gone and replaced by this new one.

The long tunnel entrance.

Keith giving the interior some perspective. It has a dramatic central pillar.

There is a pond along the far wall, the water is a bit murky and you would not expect it to contain fish, but it does.

The out of focus orange blob is a goldfish!

There was also a school of small fish, about 9cm long, swimming about in the shallows, I thought they were sticklebacks, but I can't see any spines in the photos, but there is bound to be someone out there who's an expert in identifying blurred fish in murky water! (Thanks to Bill in Melbourne for his most helpful suggestion of "Great Whites".....thanks Bill! ;-)

An excellent place for a photo opportunity!

The view out if you follow the tunnel out the back.

From the entrance to the quarry you can follow the other path on the right and locate the openings that look into the quarry from above. We were short of time so we headed back towards Hodge Close. View out from the quarry entrance towards Lingmoor.

Anne and Keith were trying to decide if the house on the right belonged to a fellow bell ringer of our acquaintance.

Little Langdale enjoys some beautiful scenery.

A galleried barn.

The walk in total was nearly five and a half miles and took us three hours and twenty five minutes. Always a good little walk. So many people walk straight past the stile leading up to the quarry without even knowing it is there! I think Anne and Keith enjoyed themselves, only 213 Wainwrights to go! I reckon they will achieve that feat before I manage to achieve ‘ringing inside’. 😉  I got home at ten past seven, but still managed to get to bell ringing practice at St. James’ before they had even rung the bells up.

 

Jo.