Lakes Trip #7 – From Tongues to Buzzards (Day 1 & 2)

This was my 7th trip to the Lakes this year — clearly I can’t stay away. Another long drive, another set of fells, and another chance to tick whole areas off the map.

🌅 Day 1 – The Warm-Up (Far Eastern Fells)

Date: August 14, 2025

📍Route: Troutbeck Church - Troutbeck Tongue

📏Distance: 9.4 km

⬆️Ascent: 348 m

⛰️ Wainwrights: #202

Weather: steady rain on the drive, clearing to evening sunshine and blue skies.

Mood: relaxed, grateful, and quietly smug that my change of plans paid off.

---

Originally, I was meant to arrive on Friday, but I changed my plans to come up on Thursday evening instead.

Why?

Just so I could sneak in one lonely peak — Troutbeck Tongue. Totally worth it. My last of the Far Eastern Fells.

The drive up wasn’t exactly promising — rain until Junction 25 — but by the time I hit the Lakes, the skies had cleared. Blue, calm, and perfect.

It was one of those perfect evenings: blue skies, no wind, vest-and-shorts weather.

The climb was gentle, more of an unwinding stroll than a slog.

The only drama? A bracken jungle taller than me. For 20 minutes I was fighting bracken taller than me, until OS Maps saved me and spat me back onto the real path.

The top gave me glowing views of so many Wainwrights in the evening sun, and back at Ambleside YHA I celebrated with a pint by the water.

Calm, mellow, almost suspiciously easy.

Wainwrights bagged:

🏔️ Troutbeck Tongue (364 m)

📍 Area completed: Far Eastern Fells

〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️

🏔️ Day 2 – Buzzards, Bracken & A Bog-Free Surprise

Date: 15 Aug 2025

📍Route1: Cow Bridge carpark (Brothers Water) → Hartsop Above How (Eastern Fells)

📏Distance: 8 km

⬆️Ascent: 530 m

⛰️ Wainwrights: #203

📍Route 2: Steel End carpark (Thirlmere) → Birk Crag → Standing Crag → Ullscarf

📏Distance: 10.9 km

⬆️Ascent: 669 m

⛰️ Wainwrights: #204

Weather: Blue skies all day, clear and calm, perfect visibility

Mood: Energised, inspired by my ridge chat, buzzing from buzzards overhead

---

Morning Drive 🚗

The day began with one of the most scenic drives in the Lakes — from Ambleside over Kirkstone Pass.

I’ve done it before, and it never disappoints.

After winding my way down, I parked at the end of Brothers Water, ready for the first climb.

🏔️Hartsop Above How🏔️ (#203)

From the car park, the trail plunged straight into a steep forest ascent.

With the sun blazing, no wind, and still air, it was a full-on sweatfest.

Emerging onto the ridge, the payoff was immense: 360° views, blue skies, absolutely stunning. Another lucky weather day.

I saw no one on the way up. Complete solitude.

Well, until I did meet one person. On the descent, I stopped to chat with a Scottish man in his 70s. He was on his third round of the Wainwrights (yes, third!), and he looked ten years younger than his age. We talked for a good 20 minutes, swapping hiking and Munro stories (!). Inspiring doesn’t even cover it — that’s exactly how I want to be at his age: fit, sharp, still climbing. Encounters like that remind me why I love hiking. It’s not just the views, but the people who “get it.”

Oh, and somewhere on that descent, two buzzards 🦅 circled right above me, hovering in the blue sky. Another pinch-me moment.

---

🏔️ Ullscarf ⛰️

Next stop: a drive to Thirlmere. I parked at Steel End car park, only to discover the machine still runs on coins ONLY. Who even carries coins anymore? I only had a £10 note, so I risked it and parked anyway — half expecting £100 ticket later. 🙄

From there, I set off toward Ullscarf. I’d plotted my own OS Maps route, which promptly threw me up a steep scree slope (!) with good grip but a relentless gradient. At the time I just plodded on, not even realising this was the first, and more benign, of two betrayals by OS Maps. I should have looked more closely that day, which would have spared me the full-blown drama on Day 3.

Just to spice things up, it led straight into a bracken field. 🌿

No path, chest-high greenery, and just me in the middle of it.

Intimidating? Not quite — but definitely unsettling.

Just me, and a lot of second-guessing. 😵‍💫

Thankfully, I eventually picked up the path through the woods and out onto a grassy slope. The dreaded bogs never came — I got very lucky.

I reached Ullscarf’s summit alone, before another hiker (also in his 70s! on his second round!) arrived and we chatted. Two fells, two inspiring older hikers.

The theme of the day?  Inspiration from those who’ve walked these paths for decades and are still going strong.

---

Descent & Wrap-Up

For the descent, I dreaded retracing my steps through that bracken and scree, but fortune smiled — I found a proper path down that avoided it all.

Relief.

A gentle road walk back alongside Thirlmere wrapped it up. ☀️🌞

Not the most dramatic of days, but it was a box ticked: the Central Fells completed.

Oh and I didn't have a parking ticket for £100...Sometimes you just get away with it.

Wainwrights bagged:

🏔️Hartsop Above How (579 m) - Eastern Fells

🏔️Ullscarf (726 m) - Central Fells

📍 Area completed: Central Fells