| Date ... | Saturday, 5 December 2009 |
| Distance ... | 6.0 miles |
| Ascent ... | 840 feet |
| Time ... | 5 hours 0 mins |
| Weather ... | 8 ºC, fresh SW winds, heavy showers to start then sunny spells |
| Walked with ... | Sheena, Paul + Pat and Tim dog |
| Summits ... | School Knott - 760' (OF) |
| Start ... | Windermere Bus Station (SD413987) |
| Finish ... | The Watermill Inn in Ings village (SD445986) |
| Maps ... | Ordnance Survey - Outdoor Leisure Nº7 (1:25,000) or Landranger Nº90 (1:50,000) |
| Books ... | Outlying Fells by Alfred Wainwright (ISBN 9780711228054) |
To see the route map of this walk follow think link which will take you to the Anquet Maps web site, which I now use to display my route maps. You can follow my route and see the 'locations' of all the photo's from this walk by visiting Everytrails
This was the second of our walks from our 'Xmas' weekend in the Lakes. We'd met up with some friends on the Friday evening at The Watermill Inn at Ings and we'd hatched a plan, over a few pints, to pay a visit to School Knott, a 'Wainwright Outlying Fell'. The weather was completely different on the Saturday morning, it was grey, murky and chucking it down. It was forecast to brighten up early on in the morning, so a quick re-think over breakfast, had us getting the 10am bus to Windermere from where we would walk back to the pub, over School Knott, hoping that the weather improved. Well as they say, the best laid plans ... when we got off the bus at Windermere it was still miserable so I suggested that we had a slow stroll down towards Bowness, doing a bit of window shopping along the way. By lunchtime the weather was showing signs of improving, so we got a sandwich for our lunch and headed off back to Ings along the Dales Way. This was the first time I'd really walked in this part of the Lakes and it was really lovely, despite the very wet conditions under foot. The views from School Knott were well worth the effort, we'd walked a lot further than planned, but it had been a very leisurely stroll.
We paid a visit to Sean's (akaStriding Edge) shop in Bowness while we were there, the ginger bread was delicious!
The ticket offices were back in business after the recent flooding, but the cafe and toilets were still closed
The steamers were still operating, though there weren't that many customers
Looking north along Windermere towards a distant Ambleside
Feeding time for the ducks, geese, gulls and everything else!
It was a frenzy of beaks an wings, Tim gave tm a good woofing
St Martin's church in Ambleside
The sign on the Royal Oak pub, which may be more relevant next time I see it, hopefully?
Me with our friends Paul and Pat, with Tim taking no notice of the camera
Sheena, Paul and Pat
Can we really get to Ilkley before it get dark???
The view that welcomes people on the Dales Way as they reach Bowness
We had our lunch beside this tarn (?) only thing was it didn't show on my map???
This one did though, School Knott Tarn
Tim was having a great time as usual, mud everywhere, just hope there's a river near to the pub?
A passing shower and one of the rainbow, from School Knott
.... and the other end!
Sheena and Tim on the summit of School Knott
Zooming in on Windermere Bus Station, surely it can't be that close? We'd walked miles to get here!
Reston Scar with Brunt Knott behind from School Knott
Whasdike Farm
Heading down into the woods beside Whasdike Farm, not far to go now
Just under the railway line and along the road
and we were back at The Watermill Inn
Paul and Pat waiting for their Christmas dinner at the pub
Sheena enjoying her mince pie and coffee, at the end of another grand day in the Lakes ....