A very long walk in the Lake District

Due to a late night on Saturday, I'd arranged to meet up with this East Lancs LDWA walk two hours into it.

The walk is named the High Street Stroll. If the name conjures up a gentle afternoon stroll, think again!

The walk started in Ambleside at 8am, then headed over to Kentmere where I met up with the rest of the six strong group on the path from Garburn Pass shortly after 10am.

The route after Kentmere: Nan Bield Pass - Harter Fell - Branstree - Mosedale - Selside Pike - Mardale Head (bottom of Haweswater) - Kidsty Pike - High Street - Thornthwaite Crag - Stony Cove Pike - Kirkstone Pass and then back to Ambleside.

The estimated time for reaching the cars at Ambleside was 8pm for this 30 mile walk. However, GPS showed it to be 31·5 miles and we finally returned at 9.15pm. And we are not talking about slow walkers : these are hardened experienced walkers who go at a fast pace. Many will be completing in the forthcoming "Hundred" in Scotland.

There will be a more detailed report soon on the East Lancashire LDWA Website

All photos were taken with a cheap phone camera on which the lcd is little use in bright sunshine so it's point and hope!
The first couple of photos were taken on the top of Branstree, the second of the unusual trig point.



The next is the view eastwards towards Shap and the final from the col between Kidsty Pike and High Street.



As usual with me, I was slow on the tricky descents but making up on the climbs where, even late in the day, I was happy with my stamina, being able to push strongly up the final major climb up Stony Cove Pike. By joining them late, I was only out for 11hrs 15 minutes but this is the longest walk or run I have ever done by over a couple of hours. The longest day on my GR10 schedule is nine and a half hours according to the book, so I should hopefully be able to cope, providing I get early enough starts to avoid the worst of the heat.