Ennerdale, 13-14 September 2019

It's been less than a fortnight since we got home from the Pyrenees, but the weekend with good weather forecast was not to be missed. We drove to the Lakes on Friday evening. It was only two of us, and we tried to carry as light backpacks as possible. We left the car at Honister pass and after walking for half an hour found a relatively flat and dry camping spot. Saturday was a long day - we covered 23 km, climbed 1780 m up and 1940 m down! This was a record for a trip with full backpacks...

The red and blue lines show our track in the first and second days, respectively.

Ennerdale from Looking Stead. Scarth Gap Pass with Robinson behind are in the centre of the photograph.

This is Robinson's cairn. It was built in 1908 to commemorate British mountaineer J. Robinson. The rock on the left is Pillar rock.

We were planning to scramble up Pisgah, but it was busy with a large mountain rescue group. We chatted to them for a while and went up.

The clouds were rising up from the valley and melting in the sun.

The top of Pillar was in the clouds with strong wind. We went down. Occasionally the clouds would lift and reveal a beautiful view of Ennerdale Water. We descended to the forest and followed High Beck down to the river Liza.

We found lots of mushrooms in the forest. We even came across some chanterelles, a rare find in England. After a brief lunch break, we forced the river Liza. This saved us from a round trip to the nearest bridge. We were carrying sandals just for this crossing. The water was rather cold. Maria tied her boots to the backpack but one fell in the water and rapidly disappeared in a strong current. Victor eventually managed to catch it after a couple of unsuccessful attempts.

The sandals proved very useful not just for crossing the river. The sole on one of Maria's boots came off on Pillar. We did a complex "boot rearrangement" and continued walking. As we followed reasonable paths for the rest of the trip, this was not too bad.

We climbed the ridge on the other side of the river and went towards Honister pass. Down below is Buttermere.

Great Gable is hiding in the clouds. Because of strong wind, the clouds would cover the summits every now and then, only to retreat a little later, rapidly flying past us. This was a fascinating sight!

Crummock Water from High Stile. The contrast between the sunlit, white farm houses and the green background is amazing. Far behind Cummock Water one can see the sea with wind turbines.

We were enchanted by the rapidly flying clouds. The view was constantly evolving.

A straight road from the abandoned slate mine to Honister pass. We got back to the car park before dark.

Sunset. This was a long day. Ennerdale is a beautiful place, but it is quite remote, we met very few walkers.

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