A short walk in the Vale of Lorton

Not much walking of any interest has been done by us of late, again due to the poor health of Sheila’s mum who is once again in hospital. At the moment we are sharing responsibility with family. This has given us a chance to get away and we landed up in the Vale of Lorton.
The morning started off with calm weather, some cloud and occasional blue sky. It was quiet, very quiet.
Heading out and picking up the fell road and then hill track past High Swinside we came across our first obstacle Hope Beck. Due to the recent snow melt the beck was running fast and high. We went up and down until we found a place that looked ok to cross.
The scenery on our left is steep territory Dodd, Penn, Whiteside End filling the view. In the distance Mellbreak and the Buttermere ridge with remnants of recent snow.
I stopped to take a photo only to realise that I had dropped my glasses. We retraced about 500metres and found them.
At Gasgale Gill we crossed the footbridge and the valley road and headed up to Scales Hill which we were told had great views. We wasn’t disappointed. Fantastic views down Crummock Water.

Having lunch I found that I had no waterproofs. I had stupidly left them in the car. The forecast was for rain at 2.00pm. We were enjoying watching a Barn Owl hunting but we had to get a move on and at 1.00pm the first drops started. With only about 10 minutes to the car the rain started quite heavily and the scene changed to one of murky ghostly hill shapes as the rain swept in. It was only 15 minutes after we got back that the weather changed dramatically with heavy rain, strong gusts of wind and no visibility.
What a difference 4 hours makes in the Lake District.
        11.85km