Second walk of the summer and we were off to Wasdale to make the most of the long days.  Seatallan was going to be our target today. As its a long drive to the Western Fells, Peter came for me at 6.00 am.  We arrived in Wasdale at the entrance to Windsor Farm around 8.30 and parked up.  We got ready and I was trying out my new knee braces for the first time thanks to Peacocks Medical Group.  Hopefully they would support my knees today and help me finish the remaining 14 tops.

Early morning view of Sellafield and the coast

Start of the walk

We set off walking before 9.00 am and began climbing straight away, walking up the road towards Windsor Farm.  Just before the farm we took a right signed Bridleway and followed the wall past the farm onto the fells.  The path we were on was heading towards Iron Crag (save that one for another day).  We wanted to veer off to the right towards Seatallan, our target for today.

This was the direction we were heading, over the top of this rise.

It was a long, slow slog towards Cat Bields over boggy, tufty grass.  Also at this time we got a bit of a shower and the temperature was dropping.  As the rain eased off a little we decided to have a cuppa and a little bait.

Boggy walk towards Cat Bields

We were still climbing steadily all the way and the top was shrouded in mist.  There was only a faint path too which would be difficult to pick up on the way down, so Peter ingeniously drew some arrows in the mud so we could find the way back down.

A very misty summit

Seatallan summit

We reached Seatallan summit just after 11.30, a trig point and a shelter but unfortunately we couldn’t see past them.  On a clear day it would have been a great view from up here but sadly not today.  It was a good job Peter drew those arrows because the mist was making directions very difficult.

Descent through the ferns

The descent

It was actually quite cold now so we dropped down off the top as quickly as possible, out of the mist. We got back down to Cat Bields and had a choice whether to turn right to go back the way we came up or left down by the side of Buckbarrow through these ferns.

Looking back up towards Cat Bields

We took the left turn down through the ferns until we reached a path for the descent back down to the road.

Back down to the car

The path was actually quite steep although my knees were doing fine thanks to the knee braces. These braces have lateral support around the knee rather than the simple neoprene bandage I got from Boots.  They were certainly providing much better support today, so thanks again to Peacocks.

Gill Beck

Buckbarrow

The Screes

We got back to the car at 1.15, somewhere around 19,000 steps and just under 7 miles and top number 58 in the bag.

See you on the next one hopefully in September.