While central Europe is experiencing record-breaking heatwaves, it's starting to feel more like Autumn here in Lakeland with week after week of unsettled weather, and by unsettled, I mean rain and thundery showers with just the odd few hours of sunshine thrown in for those brave enough to hit the fells. According to the forecasters, apparently we have more unsettled weather to come, which could possibly extend into August, with the promise of brighter weather to return by mid-August. That's almost six weeks of rain and cloud, it's difficult to keep optimistic, isn't it?

The unsettled weather extended into the weekend, with Saturday looking like a washout with rain moving across the park from the south-west. On paper you wouldn't leave the house, but reading between the lines of the forecast, the heaviest rain was due around lunchtime, and if we were lucky, we'd only have light showers to deal with. We could have sat at home watching the rain run down the windows or get out and enjoy a circuit of Haweswater.

By midweek, we knew we were in for another wet weekend, but that didn't stop David from sending Rod and me an email asking if we fancied a walk around Haweswater, a walk that I've been meaning to do for ages but never gotten around to. Today's forecast was perfect for it. We had chosen to start the walk from the hamlet of Burnbanks and to walk the route in an anti-clockwise direction, which would allow us to cover the rougher section of the route before the heavier rain was due. 

Taking into account the forecast, we had also arranged to meet at the earlier time of 7:30am which meant a 4:30am alarm call for me. Groggy, I left home around 5:20am and arrived at a drizzly Burnbanks around 7:15am where I found David waiting with Calva. I parked at the side of David, and we sent our windows down to save chatting in the rain. The drizzle eased, and we began kitting up just as Rod arrived. Three of us opted for waterproof over trousers while Rod and myself added rain covers to our packs. Just before leaving, we were passed by a friendly dog walker, who unbeknown to us, would be the only person we would see between Burnbanks and Mardale Head.

Not all of the shorepath keeps to the shoreline; in fact,  we were a good deal above it for the best part, and as you can see during the Summer months, the bracken can get high, as demonstrated here by David and Rod. 

With the bracken as high as it was, the path below can sometimes be obscured, which caused Rod to slip and fall as the path narrowed and gave way under his feet. Rod was quickly back on his feet, with no harm done other than an extra soaking from the bracken. This wouldn't be the last time one of us would fall due to the bracken.

The rain got heavier as we passed through Mardale Head, reducing David's chances of removing his waterproof jacket on account of being too hot. David was right; it was mild, but it was also very wet, so we had to grin and bear it for now.

Once through the car park, we walked up the road, a section of the route that I'd been looking forward to due to the views over The Rigg. Today, however, our views were strictly limited, with clouds appearing to get even lower.

With Haweswater Hotel behind us, we stopped a little further on at the top of the access road to the Draw-off Tower. It was 12pm now, and a refuel seemed like a good idea, Calva certainly thought so. It was the quickest of lunchstops, as we ate on the move while David and Rod picked berries from the roadside. The miles seemed to pass quickly. The cairn below Four Stones Hill came into view, which meant that above the dense woodland to our right was Hugh's Laithes Pike. The source of water was never far away, whether it was flowing into the Reservoir below or spilling over the roadside. Water in every shape and form ruled the day. I had only stopped once to take in the view of Haweswater Dam some years ago, a view that is commonly obstructed by trees, but we managed to find a clearing that gave an uninterrupted view of the Dam wall, where we were shocked to see the high tide marks, which go to show how low the level actually is. 

We left the captivating view, passing the woodland where navvies graves from the building of the dam were thought to occupy. Further up the road, we pass the Madale to Shap old road before crossing Naddle Bridge, where we cut left through the woodland flanked by Haweswater Beck. We followed the woodland trail before emerging at wooden gate, beyond which waited our cars at Burnbanks. Drizzle again as we kit down, one wet, and one completely dry sock for Rod, David finally got to remove his waterproof jacket, and thanks to my four week old Meindl Bhutan's, my socks had stayed dry the whole time.