2023 UK Lake District – Day 12 – Rich Fink Photography

Apple iPhone 14 Pro, 2.22mm, f/2.2, 1/3900 sec.

This was the view looking south as we approached the Castlerigg Stone Circle from Eleven Trees Road, just to the east of Keswick. Dramatic!

Apple iPhone 14 Pro, 6.86mm, f/1.8, 1/8000 sec.

I would have married her 5000 years ago. But I can hear her now, “The neighbors have a rock up at Castlerigg. Couldn’t we have a rock up on Castlerigg?”. And yep, that would have been our rock.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro, 6.86mm, f/1.8, 1/16000 sec.

And I can just hear the guy who brought the rock at the far right, 5000 years ago, telling the guy next to him, “Dude, your rock is lame. You couldn’t have brought a better rock than that? Fred Flintstone would have brought a better rock than that.”.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro, 2.22mm, f/2.2, 1/4500 sec.

This was the apparent entrance to the stone circle.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro, 2.22mm, f/2.2, 1/4800 sec.

A view from inside the circle. The group of rocks inside the circle at left are believed to have defined a place of honor.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro, 6.86mm, f/1.8, 1/9700 sec.

The story of my life.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro, 6.86mm, f/1.8, 1/5500 sec.

And that is Blencathra (2848 ft), which I hiked over and around on Day 7, as seen from where we parked our car to visit the Castlerigg Stone Circle. You can see the Blencathra Field Studies Center where I started near the base, and you can see the switch-back path that I took to the summit. The first rounded peak before you reach Blencathra is Blease Fell (2641 ft). I came down the other side. It was a great way to spend 4 hours!

From Castlerigg, Mary drove Patty, Andreas, and I to Derwentwater Marina, where she dropped us off to hike the western shore of Derwent Water down to High Brandelhow pier, while she went to Milnthorpe to pick up her uncle for dinner. From the High Brandelhow pier, we came back to Keswick by way of water taxi. Patty, Andreas, and I stopped to have lunch on the waterfront at the Lakeside Cafe. Afterwards, Mary picked us up and took us back to the Derwentwater Hotel. The map above shows the route that we took on our hike. The hike was 2.32 miles, with 118 ft of ascent, and it took us 1 hour and 33 minutes. Then we took the clockwise launch back to Keswick.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro, 6.86mm, f/1.8, 1/6000 sec.

This is looking south near the beginning of our hike, when you can start to see Cat Bells (1480 ft) up ahead.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro, 6.86mm, f/1.8, 1/6000 sec.

Another shot of Cat Bells.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro, 6.86mm, f/1.8, 1/3000 sec.

This is looking northwest from the western shore of Derwent Water. And that is Blease Fell and Blencathra (2848 ft) in the distance.

Apple iPhone 11, 4.25mm, f/1.8, 1/3200 sec.

Blencathra in the distance. Castlerigg Fell on the right.

A launch is approaching, with Blencathra in the background.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro, 2.69mm, f/1.9, 1/200 sec.

So, we made it back to the Derwentwater Hotel, and all I needed was 1 cider out in the beer garden to get up the gumption to head back to Cat Bells for the sunset.

The sun was going down, so I knew I would have to hurry. On the way out, I passed a total of 3 people coming in the opposite direction. Then I entered the woods, and it was dark! Finally, I hit the northern slope and started climbing. The whole route is shown on this map. There are a couple of things to point out. First, it is hard to tell, because the hotel where I started hiking is underneath the Portinscale label, but I started out by walking nearly 0.4 miles in the wrong direction (east) before correcting my mistake. Also, in the end, I really didn’t get anywhere near the peak of Cat Bells. I’ll have to save that for another time. The total route was 4.76 miles, with 807 ft of ascent, and I completed it in 1 hour and 53 minutes. The photos below are what I took along the way, and on the way back.