| Name of walk | Tarn Hows & Black Crag with Fr. John |
| Date of walk | 2017-08-11 |
| Distance walked (miles) | 5 |
| Duration of walk | 3 hours 10 minutes |
| Weather | Rain |
| Peaks on walk | Black Crag |
| Walked with | Fr. John Inglis |
| Parking | Glen Mary NT car park |
The forecast for our last walk together was rain and gales, so we decided on a lower, shorter walk. John hasn’t walked any southern fells, so we walked up Black Crag via Tom Gill waterfall and Tarn Hows, starting from Glen Mary NT car park, by Yew Tree Tarn. This is an easy walk with a gentle incline and plenty of woodland for shelter from rain and wind, if need be.
Who needs GPS? Our meeting place and route up to Black Crag shown on the car park information board.
We take the route up beside Tom Gill.
Tom Gill waterfall.
John and the waterfall.
A fair bit of water today.
Heading up towards Tarn Hows.
Tarn Hows looking black and white.
The money tree.
It would only take one determined person with a pair of pliers........
The seat at the head of the lake. We go over the stile for our route over to Black Crag.
We go through the gate leaving Tarn Hows behind us. Soon we head into Iron Keld. The trees have grown up making the route more enclosed. When you reach the next gate take a sharp right up on to the fell side.
Black Crag ahead. It is now raining.
The summit with the glorious vista of the Coniston Hills behind.....but not today!
Somewhere down there is Lake Windermere!
We cross the wall stile for a coffee out of the wind.
A bit soggy! A hot coffee warms us up for the descent. The rain will be in our faces.
A glimpse of Windermere.
Looking across to the other cairn with Esthwaite Water beyond. I point out to John where the Langdales and the Fairfield Horseshoe should be. He will be able repeat this walk next year in sunshine.
Back at Tarn Hows completing our circuit.
We head back down the Tom Gill track.
The walk was 5.4 miles and took us three hours and ten minutes. A good walk despite the rain and the lack of views. Afterwards we drove to Coniston for lunch at The Black Bull, a chance for John to indulge his passion for chips! On Sunday evening John is returning to his parish in darkest Surrey, but we will be meeting up again in September when I’m down in Brighton.
Jo.
