After my last journey with multiple bus journeys before 9:30am, the bus pass watershed, I’d learnt my lesson. I caught the 05:40am bus to Preston and bought a senior explorer ticket for £5.90 which is valid in Lancashire and Cumbria. I reached Preston then walked to the Railway Station where I had some time to kill before the 06:40am Glasgow train arrived. At Oxenholme the Windermere train was waiting and in Windermere I had another wait for the 08:18am 555 bus which I caught to Rydal.

St Mary's Church, Rydal

Rydal Hall

I stopped briefly to have a look at St Mary’s Church which was built in 1824 by Lady le Fleming of Rydal Hall. William Wordsworth worshipped here and was the Church warden in 1833. Further up the lane I turned right into the grounds of Rydal Hall. After taking a few photos I continued along the lane to the camping ground behind the buildings. I saw the Yurt tent of the designer Dianne Standen but it only seems to be open on Sundays. The path follows a track through the woods which goes to Ambleside but my objective was Rydal Head to the north and my map didn’t show any path going that way. At the first gate I left the track and headed straight up the hillside and into the woods.

It was a picturesque area and I soon reached a green path heading my way. The morning was now warming up and the damp woodland surroundings had brought out all the flies. This is my least favourite time of year not just because of the flies but also the flourish of tree growth and large amount of pale green everywhere. Give me autumn and winter any day. I was fighting a losing battle with the large flies. They were huge and looked like harrier jump jets landing on me. They were painful as well. One landed unnoticed on my hand and had punched a hole in my finger which bled for quite a while after I’d brushed the fly off. Even my shirt didn’t stop them trying to suck my blood. I left the wooded area after Birk Hagg and at last had a good view of the high fells ahead. The flies were still around but less numerous.

On the way up to Rydal Head

View of Windermere from Rydal Head

My planned camp was high up in Rydal Head at a spot I’d seen on Google Earth but wasn’t sure if it would be suitable. I followed a path along the valley bottom which eventually petered out at the last gate. This is an area which doesn’t seem to get many walkers due to the lack of paths showing use. I crossed an interesting area showing signs of ancient dwellings but nothing was shown on my map. I kept scouring the head of the valley through the binoculars to see if the area I’d chosen for a camp was feasible. The more I looked the more I realised it wasn’t.

Looking back to Rydal from Camp_1 below Fairfield