Easedale Tarn and Sour Milk Gill
One of our regular "In the Diary" walks is a wander from Grasmere up to Easedale Tarn via Sour Milk Gill. Occasionally, particularly in the summer, we'll keep going a little further - a couple of weeks ago wasn't one of those days!!
The weather was overcast although mostly dry, but the ground was extremely wet and the gill was extremely full, making it a great day to be up there. I like the walk up Easedale as you get a lovely gentle warm up, with Sour Milk Gill in the distance, before eventually having to stretch your legs and start heading upwards.
The falls are wonderful across a one kilometre stretch leading up to the tarn and we spent ages at the lower falls, crossing the footbridge and then heading up close to the gill for a while, before dropping back to the bridge to recross and heading up the other side too. It can get a little addictive, wanting to get to an ever-slightly better position to view each section of the falls.
Eventually we scrambled back to the path and continued up towards Easedale Tarn. There are a set of stepping stones at the outflow of the tarn enabling you to cross and come down the other side of the gill (with a diversion into the lower reaches of Far Easedale, the next valley over) and back to Grasmere. Today, however, the stones were well underwater and we opted for the safe option of coming back down the same way.
This is a great December walk when the light is limited - long enough to get into the hills and get some great views (when the clouds allowed) but short enough so that you didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn, could still take your time, and could also get back to Grasmere before the coffee shops closed.
Andy
The weather was overcast although mostly dry, but the ground was extremely wet and the gill was extremely full, making it a great day to be up there. I like the walk up Easedale as you get a lovely gentle warm up, with Sour Milk Gill in the distance, before eventually having to stretch your legs and start heading upwards.
The falls are wonderful across a one kilometre stretch leading up to the tarn and we spent ages at the lower falls, crossing the footbridge and then heading up close to the gill for a while, before dropping back to the bridge to recross and heading up the other side too. It can get a little addictive, wanting to get to an ever-slightly better position to view each section of the falls.
Eventually we scrambled back to the path and continued up towards Easedale Tarn. There are a set of stepping stones at the outflow of the tarn enabling you to cross and come down the other side of the gill (with a diversion into the lower reaches of Far Easedale, the next valley over) and back to Grasmere. Today, however, the stones were well underwater and we opted for the safe option of coming back down the same way.
This is a great December walk when the light is limited - long enough to get into the hills and get some great views (when the clouds allowed) but short enough so that you didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn, could still take your time, and could also get back to Grasmere before the coffee shops closed.
Andy