Waterfalls are wonderful, but meeting people still beats them...

Yesterday's walk was a "scoping" walk - making sure a proposed walk would work. I wanted to link two walks, that both start at the base of Borrowdale, one to Taylor Force and one to Galleny Force, into one great mountain day, with more "minor" falls along the way (and higher up the valleys), three high tarns to chill next to, and a fair amount of walking.

It worked, albeit I'd forgotten about the incredible mountain views you get in the linking middle section - the walk gets fairly high (up to around 730m) without actually summiting, and you get to see some stunning views of so many peaks, lines of sight down several valleys, and much more. At around 17 miles it's not for the faint-hearted but the benefits are huge!!

As I reflect now there were three highlights of the day;

• My chat above Stockley Bridge with two lovely ladies "visiting from down south" who declared me "The Waterfall Man" as they'd spotted me constantly stopping to get closer to the waterfalls along the way, which gave me the chance to extol the virtues of waterfalls (and mention my walks!).
• I'm getting on a bit so the chance to speak to younger people that aren't related to me is a treat, especially on the hills. I met Nayim and Paige between Angle Tarn and Sprinkling Tarn and we chatted about routes up to Scafell Pike (where they were heading, Nayim getting in some practice for Kilimanjaro) and about the main points left on their route where they needed to make sure they were heading in the right direction (there was still some cloud about up high). I love little breaks like this.
• The final highlight happened late in the day (sunset had just arrived) as I walked the final mile back to the car park at Seatoller. A convoy of four cars stopped and the front passenger in the lead car showed me a stunning Instagram picture entitled "Old Water Mill" and asked me if I knew where it was. I had no idea but on my OS map found "Old Mill Cottage" within half a mile, maybe that was it, and suggested which path to take. While the cars went and parked three members of the family group exited their vehicles - it was getting dark, and my feet were tired but, rather than let them wander in the gloom, I took them to where it probably was. Sure enough, it was there and, despite the gloom they managed to get some pictures to take back for everyone else (and, of course, I grabbed a pic too!). A great finish to my day.

Andy