Well the trio are finally back together after a staggering two month break which can be put down to holidays and work, it happens I guess. Storm Ali had battered the Lake District during the mid week leaving felled trees in its wake and not to mention some very unsettled weather which even had the forecasters guessing what will happen next.

As it turns out today Saturday had remained dry with even some sun forecast throughout the day so we turned our attention to a walk that David had previously walked alone and simply wanted to repeat again so he asked myself and Rod would we join him and of course we jumped at the chance.

The main aim in todays walk was not Wetherlam but to visit the Bomber wreckage which had been pushed into Broad Slack after crashing during bad weather on Great Carrs back in October 1944. A memorial still stands at the crash site alongside part of the landing gear but we wanted to explore, and of course share what remains of the wreckage located below in Broad Slack.

We had agreed to meet at 08:30am just outside Elterwater at the parking spaces at Walthwaite Bottom and arrived simultaneously at around 08:20am...thats three blokes arriving from three corners of the country within five seconds of one another as David so aptly put it! As it turned out Rod had followed me in from Ambleside and we both so happened to arrive at the same time as David. There were plenty of spaces so we parked side by side and greeted with the usual handshakes, behind us, the owner of a camper van is cooking bacon which smelled positively delicious "gan ask can he cook three more" David laughed.

It's a brisk morning with the morning temperature just into double figures but it feels cooler than of late and unlike our last walk we'd ditched the shorts for long trousers. Kitted up we locked the cars and headed into the hamlet of Elterwater passing the Britannia Inn and the familiar Maple tree which is just starting to show its autumn colours. We continued and crossed the bridge over Great Langdale Beck before turning right on the outskirts of the village at a sign posted Coniston.

The tarmac road came to an end as we entered Sawrey's Woods and under rough track we made our way towards Dale End where we were treated to our first view into the Greenburn Valley.

Just in case you were wondering that's Wetherlam over on the left with Swirl How and Great Carrs in the distance, Broad Slack can be seen at the head of the valley between Swirl How and Great Carrs.

Having reached the head of the second shelf Broad Slack was presented before us, but, in order to reach its base we would need to navigate around a bowl of boggy ground, here we keep left while maintaining height before starting the climb on Broad Slack.

From the base of Broad Slack we still couldn't see the wreckage and although myself and Rod never spoke of it I wondered what size of wreckage was I expecting to find.

This engine at some point weighed in at 730kg and that is of course beyond the weight of what any human could carry. On any other crash site the RAF clean up crew would have hauled the wreckage away using trucks but due to the mountainous location of this site the wreckage was pushed from the summit of Great Carrs (not far from the original site of the crash) down into Broad Slack.

Having left RAF Topcliffe in Yorkshire on a night of training exercise the crew which consisted of seven Canadians and one Scot found themselves in thick cloud whilst over the north west of England where they became lost, having made contact with Topcliffe the crew were given a bearing for the base but after a half an hour nothing had been heard so a Mosquito was dispatched from Church Fenton Airfield with an aim to guide the Bomber back to base which was equipped with the latest night-fighting direction finding equipment.

The crew of the Mosquito were successful and homed in on the Halifax Bomber only to have located it then witness the moment it crashed into the west side of Great Carrs sadly killing all eight crew members. It is thought that instead of following instructions to orbit high ground at 4,000ft the crew descended to get a visual fix but by this stage the crew were too low and sadly it was too late.

If you look towards the right below Prison Band your traverse started between the craggy outcrops in the distance then below the crags you see on the left which pretty much kept us in line with Swirl Hawse.

Please be advised to only attempt in clear conditions.

Having secured a lunch spot close to the path we de-shouldered and had lunch, soon after a couple and their two dogs pass who stopped for a quick chat, the dogs, however, were more interested in our lunch than conversation!

With lunch packed away we re-shouldered and began our descent down Wetherlam Edge, the edge itself isn't exposed but it can be tricky underfoot with lots of twists where in some cases four point contact is required, or five point contact if you want to include your backside! We're descending towards the flat area below known as Birk Fell Hawse from where we'll descend further into the Greenburn valley via a faint grassy footpath.

With one last look into the Greenburn valley we left the main road through Little Langdale and headed for Dale End once again, I hadn't noticed the slight incline in the road this morning but my legs had picked it up on the way back. Under the mass of Lingmoor Fell we entered Sawery's Woods passing many a walker and mountain biker, Elterwater was close and both David and I were eagerly awaiting the moment we'd take off our boots.

We left the rough track behind and entered the village under a warming sun and passed the Britannia Inn whose benches were packed with folk eating and drinking outside still wearing jackets to keep the nip out. A few minutes later we found ourselves back at the car which I unlocked to take out my trusty stool, I untied my boot laces and eased my right boot off first soon followed by my left, I'd half expected to see flames shooting from my aching feet but all I got was sweaty socks.