Name of walk	Muncaster Fell
Date of walk	2013-05-21
Distance walked (miles)	8
Duration of walk	5 hours 0 minutes
Weather	sunny but poor visibility
Peaks on walk	Muncaster Fell

I now have a new camera a try out! Like my old one, it is a Canon Ixus, this time the 230, which is tiny. I have upgraded from 10mp to 12mp, a 5x zoom to an 8x, and from a 37mm lens to a 28mm, meaning it has a wider angle lens and so there should be less need to photostitch two pix together.
This week I had Tuesday off, and as my knee was still fluid filled from the K2B, I didn’t want to do anything too rough under foot, so a walk over Muncaster Fell fitted the bill. A nice and gentle dawdle! The K2B results were in the newspaper last week, I came 1773rd from 2039 finishers. 3200 registered, but only about 2600 went through the start. Never mind! I once came 31/32 in a Needlework Exam, so I learnt to handle shame at an early age! (I hated needlework! Still do. One of the reasons I married Brendan was that he owned a sewing machine and had made his own curtains and seat covers! Sewing is still not my department! I lay brick drives and build walls, I don’t do any of that girlie stuff! )

The mist/clouds were down over Corney Fell, and I could barely see to drive over it. The weather was forecast to improve as the day went on. Ged, Kas and I drove to Eskdale Green and parked in the parking spaces at Giggle Alley, then headed for The Green Station. The footpath takes you near the track for the Ravenglass to Eskdale Steam Railway.....

Kas leads the way....

Cows were on our route to the gap in the wall, so we had to detour down into the boggy bit on the left.....

The gorse is looking good......

The cloud is still very low so not much in the way of views is to be had........

The summit is at the far end of the fell, and there is quite a bit of up and down to get there. The ground is very boggy/muddy in places too, so we had to detour off the main path occasionally......

Bits of blue sky starting to appear......

Ross's Camp. John Ross was an agent of Muncaster Hall and this was his favourite picnic spot.

Ged thinks it is summer......

The summit cairn is on the horizon, ahead.....

There it is! We meet a Rambling Group coming in the other direction. They are impressed by Kas.....

Summit view.....

Looking towards the nuclear power station at Sellafield.....

Whin Rigg far right, Yewbarrow etc beyond.....

We head down to Muncaster Tarn where we stop for lunch.....

None of the lilies are flowering yet......

We then take the Eskdale Trail path.....

We then take the Eskdale Trail path.....

It take you through lots of woodland full of bluebells........

Muncaster Head.

Lots of calves asleep in the fields......

We go through the gate, then we come back again as we are faced with cows, calves and a bull on manoeuvres......

We continue on once all the cows are in the field. Forge Bridge. I used to take Tom swimming here......

The white building is the King George IV pub......

Well, it would be rude to pass it without saying hello!

We return to the bridge by the Green Station and wait for the next steam train to go under. There was one due at 3.03pm.

The train at The Green station. I haven't been on the train since Tom was young enough for me to have a good excuse to do so. He was a big fan of Thomas The Tank Engine. Of course, I'm sure you all know that the Island of Sodor, where Thomas chuffed about, is Walney Island.

As the day was still young, we drove to Wasdale for the walk from the Youth Hostel down through the woods to Wastwater.

The bluebells were out here too....

The boathouse...

View up towards Yewbarrow, Kirk Fell and Great Gable....

Close up of Yewbarrow.......

The main walk was eight miles. Very easy! It took about 5 hours.
My new camera appears to have performed okay. It has 290 pages in the instruction manual! I never even read the instructions for the last one!

I`d better send this email quick. I have to be at work in under an hour. This afternoon’s GCSE exams are Drama and Textiles. Textiles? That’s just bloody needlework by another name! Nooooo!

Jo.