On a bright, sunny, warm day, eight of us left the coaches at Dockray,  Taking a footpath leading west, we passed Millses before turning S.  After a while, the path approached the Aira Beck and we came to a stone footbridge.  Crossing the bridge, we sat on a nearby grassy bank for our morning stop.  A heavy flow of water over the falls made for excellent scenes. 

On our way again, we continued S and then gradually turned E onto Gowbarrow Park.  As the path climbed generally eastwards, the path forked and we took the upper path.  We were rewarded with great views of Ullswater as we headed towards Memorial Seat.  On reaching Memorial Seat, just above Yew Crag, we stopped for a break and the chance to photograph the lake, both to the east and the west.  I don’t think I have ever been in the Lakes when the views have been so clear.  When planning the walk, I had originally intended to drop down below the Crag and take the lower path back to Aira Force.  However reading about the crags, I began to feel it may be too steep a descent and then talking to some nearby people who seemed to know the area, I again got the impression that it would be a difficult descent.  Consequently, I decided that we would take the same path back westwards.  I have to say that making this walk in both directions should be a must for any walking group.  Given the weather, the views are magnificent.  On nearing Aira Beck, we took a lower path to  a footbridge.  From the footbridge, we had an excellent view of Aira Force.  The amount of water flowing over the fall was significant and the sun shinning on the water produced interesting rainbows.  After climbing the steps we arrived at a nice grassy area with seats and in the sunshine – ideal for our lunch stop. 

After lunch, we headed thro the woods down the west side of the Aira Beck, to the toilets and a fairly large car park.   At the edge of the A592 we took a good solid path running parallel to and generally about 50 yds north of the main road.  This was a pleasant path which  after crossing the A5091, passed mainly thro trees although there were gaps giving good views of Ullswater and Patterdale Common beyond the lake.   As we headed to Glencoyne Bridge, there were more open views of Ullswater  and as the path moved further from the lake we had an excellent view of Birk Fell   Just before Glencoyne Bridge, the path turned south and there were excellent views to the south end of the lake.  On this part of the route some of it was on footpaths sometimes alongside the lake and sometime on the road itself.  Eventually we reached Glenridding where we had a nice additional sunny stop beside the Glenridding Beck.  We crossed the beck on the main road and then turned W on a small road to Westside.  We then turned south on a roughish path which began climbing giving us an excellent view of Sheffield Pike behind us to the north.  As the path twisted around to the east we had a great view of part of Glenridding, the southern section of Ullswater and, in the distance, Gowbarrow Park, including the path we had walked in the morning to Yew Crag.  This was where we had our afternoon stop.  As the path turned south we arrived at the quiet waters of the secluded Lanty’s Tarn.  Leaving the tarn, we headed SW down to Grisedale with the impressive St Sundy Crag before us.  After crossing the Grisedale Beck we joined the minor road leading to Grisedale Bridge where we joined the A592 to our destination of Patterdale.

Another excellent walk in the Lakes, more due to the beautiful scenery and the excellent warm sunny weather than the leader.  As I mentioned to several people that day – “I don’t think I have ever been to the Lakes in such perfect visibility.”