Tarns, thunder, undercliffs
From nature’s special effects dept.
SOME ARE SPECTACULAR (Red Tarn on Helvellyn, Stickle Tarn in the Langdales), some are serene ( Watendlath, Sunbiggin), some are barely there at all (Foxes Tarn on Scafell) – but they are all beguiling. ‘ Tarn’ is an old Norse word for pool or small lake, and it was adopted wholesale in what we now call the Lake District, where you’ll find approximately 2500 of the things. They nestle in glacial coves high among the fells, or in lower, gentler hauses between valleys. Always engaging, sometimes mysterious, and always a welcome sight on a walk.
Tarn-bagging is a thing; for many walkers, it’s an alternative/antidote to peak-bagging. Apparently the method of ‘ bagging’ is simply to run your hand through the water of each. Or seek them out for wild swimming, as CW did a few weeks ago, in Grisedale Tarn beneath St Sunday Crag one sweltering summer day. Or just use them as a picnic spot, a chance to paddle, or even rest your eyelids. They have famous fans, too: guidewriter Alfred Wainwright had his ashes scattered at Innominate Tarn on Hay Stacks ( his favourite fell), while CW columnist Stuart Maconie has a soft spot for Bowscale Tarn, which hides away in the Northern Fells round the side of Blencathra. “I will pretty much always detour to be near water,” says Stuart. Tarns are a very good reason why we should all do the same.
WALK HERE: Download Bowscale Tarn and Watendlath at www.lfto.com/ bonusroutes