Newlands Horseshoe - more pictures

Here are a few more pics from my Newlands Horseshoe walk (subject of my last post).

Dramatic clouds on Blencathra

The steep descent of Scope End is seen in the very centre of the pic

The pleasant heather ridge of Scope End just before the steep descent

Newlands Horseshoe

Tomorrow I should have flown to Lourdes. For various reasons I cancelled this trip which has turned out to be fortuitous.

Last Friday I walked the Newlands Horseshoe in the Lake District. Two years ago I downloaded the list of 214 Wainwrights as a basis for visits to our Lakes National Park, but not from motivation to assiduously complete them. After bagging four on Friday I have now climbed forty. I know I have done more in the past, but decided only to count those I could specifically date from the time I downloaded the list.

All went well on the first half taking in Cat Bells, Maiden Moor and High Spy to arrive at Dale Head which I had previously visited on my recent Buttermere round. Dale Head is at the head of the Newlands Valley which is an aesthetically pleasing, almost unbelievably symmetrical glaciated valley which  I had  vowed to revisit when I discovered it on that Buttermere trip.

After coffee and a sandwich in a sheltered spot overlooking the aforementioned wonder on one side, and looking down to Buttermere Lake far below on the other I set off on the western side of the horseshoe to take in Hindscarth. I have been having some pain in the left knee for a couple of weeks, and this suddenly became more acute.

Newlands Valley from Dale Head, Skiddaw in the distance

The descent down Scope End was steep and rocky and I was in much pain with a further four kilomteres on level tracks back to the car.

I will have to see what some rest will do, but I am glad I didn't have this problem on day one of a twelve day trip in the Pyrenees.