LAKE DISTRICT - FEBRUARY 2015

DAY 1: BLACK FELL - 1,056FT
JUST OVER 1 HOUR TREKKING 


So....here we go again, the Lake District! We had kept a very close eye on the weather as we knew it would be sheets of deep snow on the fells. But, us being us, we decided to go for it anyway as we loved trekking in the snow the previous year. So we got together with Mr & Mrs S and found a lovely little cottage just outside of Coniston called Low Arnside, which was completely in the middle of nowhere but close to everywhere we planned to trek and climb.

Mr & Mrs S had already prepared themselves with ice axes and Mr F had called a very good place in Windermere called Stuart Sports where Mr F got his trekking boots from to ask their opinion on crampons. To cut a long story short, we reserved some well recommended micro spikes that are easy to get on and off any type of boot, which meant we didn't have to buy proper winter boots to accommodate crampons.

Since Mr & Mrs S were diverting to Manchester en route, so we got to Windermere before them and headed straight to Stuart Sports to buy the reserved micro spikes for all of us and we also bought some ice axes too!! We met up with Mr & Mrs S and headed on for the cottage. We were told by the owner that it's best to park our cars on the main road and walk up to the cottage because if it were to snow overnight, we would be stuck getting out! However, we headed up from the main road anyway as the weather forecast wasn't due to snow all week - in fact, the weather was looking to be pretty awesome the whole week! It was quite a long windy road from the main road to the Farm (High Arnside Farm) and was glad we made the decision to drive up as it wasn't too bad in terms of ice and would have been a long and slogging walk up everyday! We met up with the farmer, Martin who told us we could park the cars at his farm and walk down to our cottage as driving them back up the steep track definitely would have been too much come the morning when it would have iced over. So we drove the cars down to the cottage to off load all our gear. Then after shovelling some of the ice and snow off of the track heading back up to High Arnside, Mr S went first with the getting his car back up and just made it! Then it was Mr F's turn with his car but he couldn't even make it off the front lawn!! He had got himself stuck on the soft grass - so Mrs F being the lightest got in whilst Mr F and Mrs S gave the car a push back, which soaked them both in mud!!

With both of the cars safely back up on High Arnside farm, we made an impulsive decision to go out and walk up to one of the lowest of Wainwrights that just so happened to be within walking distance from our cottage. We had a home shopping delivery coming between 5:00 - 5:30 with all our food needs for the week so had enough time to get up and down again.....

Our Cottage

Don't be fooled by the grim name 'Black Fell' it was a short stroll to the top with stunning views and gorgeous sunset. If it weren't for the fact that we had our shopping due to be delivered, we would have stayed up there longer for the sun going down. We were fortunate that it was well within walking distance from the cottage otherwise we would have had to drive all the way out just to tick it off!

Our first night in the cottage was freezing!! The house hadn't had any heat in it for a couple of weeks and during winter in the middle of nowhere, you can imagine how it felt! Mrs F had to put her buff around her face during the night to block out some of the cold air which she hadn't done since being in the Himalayas!! There was a real fire in the living room that had lots of coal and wood to burn, so that was quite cosy and warmed the place up after a day. We were all quite excited when we first got the cottage, running around the upstairs and down looking in all the rooms and opening all the mysterious doors to see what was inside :-)
That night, Mrs & Mrs S took their sledge that they bought with them up on a snowy hill just outside the cottage and had a bit of fun whilst Mr & Mrs |F were on lasagne duty...

DAY 2: HOLME FELL VIA RAVEN CRAG - 1,040 FT
4 HOURS TREKKING CLIMBING


After a restless cold night, we were up and ready for our first proper day. The guy in Stuart Sports recommended a good scramble that we could do that was just up the road from our cottage, so no need to drive anywhere. However, on the long road down form the farm, Mrs F slipped on some ice and came right down on her backside.....fall number 1!

Mr F Putting The Fire On

Enjoying The Warmth Of The Fire On Our Feet

Mr F Reading A Wainwright Whilst Watching Any Murray On The Tele!

The Living Room...

The Bathroom....

The Stairs Leading Upstairs....

Upstairs Landing....

Mr & Mrs F's Bedroom

The cottage was very quaint but the downside to it being quaint was the low door frames...especially the one leading upstairs! All of us had quite a few knocks and bumps that Mr F put a carrier bag there to remind people to duck as they went through! 

Front Lawn

Views From The Cottage...

Our Cottage

The Barn Right Next Door That Stored More Wood & Coal For The Fire

The Long Slog Track From Low Arnside To High Arnside

We got to the main road and turned left and walked down to Yewdale Farm where we picked up the road leading to Raven Crag, which we scrambled the whole way to the top of Holme Fell. It was quite a nice woodland walk...

Mr F & Mrs S Doing Their Usual Point Checking

Yewdale Farm



Our Raven Crag Scramble Up Ahead...Very Excited!!

Mrs S Makes Tracks

Boys Are In Hot Pursuit 

Mr F Selfie Number 1

We got to the top and it was quite snowy but fairly flat, much like the top of the Langdale climbs and we only really noticed how cold it was when we stopped. We got to the top and stopped for lunch in a gully that guarded us from the -4 wind...needless to say we didn't stop long as we could no longer feel the tips of our fingers!!

Mrs F Selfie Number 1

View From Top

We could see the cottage in the distance from where we started to head back down which was a comforting sight as we were all pretty cold and couldn't stop thinking the fire! We basically headed in the direction of the cottage and shortly after started to come across some ice and snow....so we cracked open the micro spikes!! I think we were all quite keen to try out our new toys...and they were sooo good! You can practically walk on sheets of ice without slipping at all, they were fantastic! Walking down beside us were an elderly couple (he was wearing his wellies!) who we think were tagging along to try and find their way down!

Mr F Helping Mr S With His Spikes

Mrs S Showing Hers Off Because They Match Her Bag!

Our Way Back Down

We got to a main road and came across and old slate quarry that was fenced off but we could get close enough to take some photos that really don't do it justice of just how large and deep it is!

After de-spiking, we made it back to the cottage in good time, before 3pm even! But it was nice to just chill by the fire. The night before Mrs F was on dinner duty and made her famous lasagne, so this night was the turn of Mrs S and her home-made chilli con carne.

Mr F tried to brake up some of the ice with his ice axe that lead up to the farm for when we needed to use the car the next day...

View From Our Cottage In The Afternoon

DAY 3: WETHERLAM - 2,502 FT
VIA WETHERLAM EDGE GOING UP & STEEL EDGE GOING DOWN
6 HOURS OF TREKKING & CLIMBING ( WITH OUR ICE AXES!)


We drove very carefully down the track leading from the farm to the main road, dodging the ice on the sharp bends and made it onto the main road...Mrs S was now able to open her eyes! :-)

We only drove 10 mins up the road and parked near Lower Tilberthwaite to the start of our trek up to Wetherlam. We hit quite a steep incline pretty much straight away which was the Wetherlam route and needed our spikes on for this. It was really quite icy in most places. We would never have been able to go much higher than 600ft on any fell without them, so they were definitely a good buy. Mr F had his first fall on ice right at the start that turned out to be the first of 3 that day!!



Our Point Where We Spiked Up Point

 

Mrs S Being Photo Bombed By Mrs F

Mr F Helping Mrs F With Her Spikes

Up We Go!



Where We're Heading For



Mr F Looking Confused

Mr F Checking His Satmat To Make Sure We Were On The Right Track

We reached a section of the climb where we needed to scramble to the summit just at the top. It was completely covered in ice and was far too cold and dangerous to take any photos! We had our ice axes to the ready and used them to bang into the ice and hoist ourselves up used our trusty spikes to stop us from sliding back. It was fun....but careful fun!

Wetherlam...Conquered!

Buggles & Muggles With The Ice Axes & Loving It!

We decided not to stop directly on the summit as it was far too cold and a bitter wind, so we walked a little further down where we stopped for only 10 minutes to fuel up on lunch and flasks of hot drinks. You will never enjoy a hot drink better than on the summit of a freezing cold mountain!! We headed off on a fresh patch of untouched deep snow that Mr F was having load of fun in. We then came across a unknown boggy area that Mrs S put her foot right in! That's the only trouble with walking on snow....you don't know what you're walking over!

We pretty much ran down the mountain to get the blood back to our limbs and get away from the cold...

The Way We Just Came Down

Our micro spikes were all different colours depending on our boot size which was quite funny that we all had our unique coloured spikes!

Once we were down off the mountain via Steel Edge, we had to cross an icy stream. Mr S tested the firmness with his ice axe and Mr F decided that he should go first being the heaviest. Mrs S followed, then Mrs F and finally Mr S. We told Mr S that there was a good firm spot to walk on which almost gave way, and whilst he was making his way over, Mr F was standing just on the edge of the stream that gave way under him!! Mrs S was crying with laughter and Mr S was saying 'You guys!' because we told him there was a steady place to tread, which then became the joke of the trip! Good times :-)

Where Mr F Went In!

The Icey Stream

Mr F Looking Happy In His Spikes & With His Axe

We came back round onto Wetherlam Edge and made it quickly down, this time keeping our spikes on until we were back down to the little woodland area. However Mr F had quite a stumble, hurting his knee, pulling his calf and ripping his gloves and trousers. Oh dear :-( Mr S reached over a gate to undo it a tore his down jacket on some barbed wire!!

Back at the cottage, Mr F was on dinner duty and made a very delicious pie. Mrs F accidentally ordered 4 family sized ones instead of 4 individual ones!! It came as quite a handy mistake in the end because we planned to go to the pub for dinner a couple of nights but there's no way we were heading out after dark, so we had an extra meal for a night.


DAY 4: CONISTON OLD MAN - 2,633 FT
              BRIM FELL - 2,611 FT
              SWIRL HOW - 2,630 FT
              GREAT CARRS - 2,536 FT
              GREY FRIAR - 2,536 FT
              DOW CRAG - 2,555 FT
6 HOURS & 45 MINUTES TREKKING 

So we're heading back to one of Mrs F's favourite places in the lakes...Coniston. We had a mammoth day planned out so needed to be up and out fairly early so we had enough daylight to do it all. We were slightly concerned about the very steep track leading up to the car park at the foot of the Old Man due to the snow and ice and wondered if we would have to walk the first part from the main road. But thankfully it was all fine apart from the very last part when we had to get out and gave Mr F a little push up over the sloshy ice.

We headed to the right of Coniston and walked the same way up the first time that Mrs & Mrs F done it in 2013....but with a lot more snow and ice this time! Nevertheless it was still a really enjoyable walk to the top. We weren't able to see the majority of the slate from the old quarry but there were still the old aerial tramway tower and cable that we had to step over. Low Water was frozen over and looked beautiful. Although we were completely shaded from the sun after we reached Low Water, it didn't feel too cold because we were also being guarded from the wind too. We were micro spiked up and although Mr S had to do a little repair on the front of his spikes using Mr F's trusty penknife, we were at the top in good time....

Woke Up To A Sheep In The Front Lawn!

Early Morning Sun On The Mountains

The Start Of Our Coniston Walk

Frozen Low Water

The Way Up To Coniston



The Final Push

Views From The Top....

             
          Views From The Top....

Our Way Across To The Next 5 Summits

We came across the Halifax bomber wreck that is still there from the 1940's that crashed on the ridge. As we walked along and racked off the next 4, we came across a rather steep decent which would have meant having to take a even steeper ascent up to the next and last Wainwright of the day. We had a choice to either go back on ourselves slightly and walk the ridge around to Dow Crag or to do it the hardcore way....all the way down then all the way up. We chose the latter! It was quite good fun going down in the snow and we had our ice axes to hand - however we did have a little glitch! We came across a steep part of our descent which looked like it could be a controlled slide down with our ice axes. So Mr F volunteered to go first and made his way onto what looked like a snow covered ski slope. He did go down at a fair pace and he had to dig his ice axe deep into the snow to stop himself from going any further! Mrs S followed suit only for them both to realise that it was a bad mistake and at the end of the slope was a drop onto rocks!! They had to make their way back up the slope and Mrs F & Mr S decided to walk around and over the rocks, taking extra care! It took a while to get down due to the logistical nightmare that was the slope of near death that Mr F had and Mrs F stumbling over rocks to get down! It just took a little more time due to the snow and it gathering up and forming chunks of solid snow under our micro spikes that we had to keep banging off in order to maintain a good grip with our spikes. Anyhow, we got the the valley of the 2 mountains and had a very quick pit stop before gearing ourselves  up for the mammoth climb ahead of us.....and it was a mammoth climb!!!

Here is the tricky part over the rocks just after the dodgy slope incident. Mr F was actually a bit scared of what Mrs F thought was a controlled slide!

...And Our Mammoth Climb Back Up!!

What We Just Came Down...

And So It Begins...

It was a incredible slog all the way and none of us had any hamstrings left by the time we got to the top!! Mr S suggested heading over the stream to what looked like the proper path where there was no snow to tackle, whereas we were not not only contending with the steep incline, but all the deep snow that went with it! However, we just decided to stick with it since we had already started.
After some energy gels had been consumed, we rushed over to the final Wainwright of the day and had to climb through a little maze of rocks to get to the other side which was the way down.
It was pretty much a straight forward route down, although covered in snow and ice, it was quite a clear route. We eventually made it to the main track that lead us back to the car which seemed to go on forever! We got back at the car just as the sun started to set at 4:30 and just as it started to get really cold. We headed to the nearest local shop to top up on supplies for dinner and other stuff and headed back for the cottage.

The Track That Lead Us Back To The Car

Mrs F Selfie Number 2

Mr F's Ice Axe Injury When He Slide Down The Dodgy Slope

DAY 5: WANSFELL - 1,597 FT
4 HOURS TREKKING

Since we had a hard long day the day before, we decided that we weren't going to set our alarms and that we would have a fairy easy day today. So Mrs S made bacon sandwiches and Mrs F made pancakes for breakfast and we set out around 11am and headed for Wansfell.
We parked on a lay-by on a country road that lead up to the start of our trek and didn't realise how far we had actually parked from the start, so was a bit of a march!
For what should have been a nice stroll to stretch the legs turned into a bit more than that! We had to put our spikes on pretty much straight away to get up the initial steep part where there was lots of ice. We met a couple of old guys who were coming down who looked at us as though we were mad when we told them we were out for a 'stroll'

We followed the wall and what we thought was the path until we realised we should have been on the other side of the wall. Mrs F was keen to 'hop over' but we carried on until the end of the wall where there was a little gap for an easier climb over. It was a really cold and blowy day, hence not many photos were taken on this day. We met a lone trekker who kindly took our photo for us on the summit, then we walked along a little ridge to higher summits that weren't Wainwrights, crazy enough! We do find that there are a lot of high summits that aren't official Wainwrights compared to the lower ones that are!

Mr F Selfie Number 2

Mrs F Trying Out Different settings on her new camera

Mr F Consulting The SatMap

Once we had finally made the fell top walk around, we started to descend back to the long main road. But Mr F's spikes on his right foot broke slightly -a link came lose on the chain meaning that he couldn't wear it, so he only had his left foot to guide him down. Whilst Mrs F, Mrs S & Mrs S could walk freely on the ice and snow, Mr F had to take the high ground of grass and walk where he could that was safe. He managed to get it fixed back at the cottage though. We just gave God thanks that it didn't happen the previous day during our really long day.

We stopped in Ambleside on the way back to look for pliers for Mr F's spikes and cotton for Mrs F to darn some of the ripped clothing. We had a little walk around a few outdoor shops and Mrs S bought herself some thermal underwear! Then Mr S treated everyone to coffee's in Esquires which was really nice after a cold day out on the fells.

Mr S raced back to the cottage the catch some photos of an amazing sunset that night....

Martin the farmer had lots of cool dogs who loved to greet us every morning and each night we got back from a trek. He had 4 boarder collies called Joe, Tip, fly and Gill and 2 jack russells which one he kept behind a caged doored that just yapped all the time! Mr F particularly liked Joe who equally took a shine to Mr F and they became good pales...

Mr F With Joe

All these cows were pregnant and during our stay we saw a newborn calf that we too camera shy for a photo and Mum was very protective....

Back at the cottage it was the turn of Mr S to cook and on the menu was steak, chips and peas....and a very good steak it was too!


DAY 6: HELM CRAG - 1,299 FT
              GIBSON KNOTT - 1,379 FT
              CALF CRAG - 1,762 FT
              STEEL FELL - 1,811 FT
5 HOURS TREKKING

We had a very short discussion about what to do today, where to go and how much of a strenuous day we were up for. The discussion didn't go on very long, we were all pretty much coming to the end of our limits! We didn't go for the mammoth day that the boys originally planned out for us, instead we decided to still go for numbers but not too much of a long day, since we didn't want to seize up in the car back to London in 2 days time.

So we parked on the same main road that Mr & Mrs F parked when we tackled Helvellyn for the second time last year and walked to the start of our trek, aiming for a nice little horseshoe of 4 Wainwrights. This time it wasn't such a harsh straight up ascent, but on zig zags that were a welcoming sight compared to what we had been climbing up during the week. We reached the top of where the famous Lion & The Lamb rock is and stopped to admire what a beautiful day it was. There was no a breath of wind and the sun was shinning, it was just perfect conditions to be on a mountain...

Our Way Up

Thought These Lined Up Sheet Were Quite Funny

By The Lion & The Lamb

Looking Back At The Lion & The Lamb Rock From Our Ridge Walk

The Boys Loving Their Adventures As Always

We stopped for lunch at a very beautiful scenic spot. Mr F took a cheeky picture of Mrs F trying to get a signal on her phone. We had no signal at the cottage and it was so cold taking the phones out that the battery would die!

Working Out The Mountains Around Us

Mr F Pointing The Way To Our Next One

Mrs F had to stop and put plasters on the back on of heels as all the going up had taken a toll on the back s of her heels, but was able to march on thereafter...

Beautiful Scene Over The Frozen Tarn

Mrs F Selfie Number 3!

Mrs F Standing In front Of The Ridge Walk We Just Did

The Walk Out And Back To The Car

 Mr S went over by what seems liked the end over the mountain and suggested that we went that way down straight off! So we all had a bit of a wrecky before heading straight down in the untouched snow....and it was so much fun!! There were places where we could run down which we wouldn't be able to do if it were just grass and rock, so we made the most...

Mr F & Mrs S Following Suit

Mr F On His Rock Looking Out

A Look Back At Where We Had Been

Our Way Down

As we got near the bottom, we came across a heard of sheep that were feeding from a squared steel trough type thing and noticed that one of the sheep had got its from hoof stuck in the bottom 2 rails. So Mrs F held the sheep down whilst Mr F got it free but it just sat there, so after Mr F gave it a nudge it was clear that his leg was broken :-( We walked to the next farm back down the main road to let the farmer know but no one was home. Mrs F prayed that the sheep would be ok.

We walked back along the main road to the car and it was just as long a walk as Mrs F remembered it the first time!
It was Mrs S's time to cook again that night and we had a messay of everything that needed to get eaten! We had pie, chips, veg, grated cheese gravy and it was lovely!
It was so nice to chill out with the fire on each night - it became a regular thing to make dinner based around Pointless being on! But tonight it was the start of the 6 nations rugby and England were playing Wales, so we were set for the night with nibbles, drinks and rugby. However Mrs F couldn't quite make it to the end of the second half and was dead to the world! She woke up, asked if England won and went to bed...England did win! :-)


DAY 7: LATRIGG - 1,203 FT
2 HOURS TREKKING

So today was our final day and we decided to mark off one of the lower secluded ones since we were in the area, as we did with Wansfell and Holme Fell. So we jumped into Mr S's car with the intent to get up and down the mountain in no time and have a nice little stroll around Keswick. However, things didn't quite go as planned to begin. A few days previous, Mr S whacked his exhaust on the track that lead up from the main road to our cottage when going over the cattle grid. He did stop on the way to Keswick to make sure it was ok and as it seemed to be, we journeyed on. Then 9 miles from Keswick, we started to hear a rattling and scrapping going on form under the car and knew instantly that it was the exhaust. When there was a safe place to pull over and investigate, it was the exhaust that had cracked at the front, so Mr S had to put his hazards on drive really slow to Keswick. We prayed that the exhaust would hold out till Keswick and that we would find a place to fix it on this side of town. We pulled into a petrol station and Mr F got out and asked a guy coming out if there was an exhaust place anywhere near by. He said that is a tyre and exhaust garage just down the road....so we headed for it. Mr S was geared up for an expensive bill but by the absolute grace of God, they were able to get the part delivered and repaired the same day for £75.00 all in!!!! We couldn't believe it but knew that it was the Lord looking out for us yet again and as always.

We decided that we would still climb Latrigg, but we definitely didn't need our rucksacks, so Mr F looking like a real tourist with his Tesco bags that had our rolls and micro spikes in them. We headed up through a woodland area that looked like it had recently been trimmed back a lumber jacked. We met a lady who was walking her dogs who suggested going up to the left because it was a nice walk. Well she must of hated us, because it was yet another steep incline all the way to the top!!

        And so our steep incline begins....

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And continues once we got up from the forest floor. Mrs S and Mr F used to fence to pull themselves up!

The View From The Summit Of Latrigg

Looking Over Keswick

We Could See Scotland In The Distance!

The top of Latrigg was so lovely. It would make a really lovely day out on a summers day with a picnic. Even on a cold day it was lovely. We de-spiked and made our way down back through the forest and picked up the same road that Mr & Mrs F took on their way back from Bowfell in 2013. It looked different from the last time but I guess that was due a lot of the trees  being cut down. We saw the same sign about the red squirrels but didn't see any red squirrels this time.

Our Walk Heading Back Down

Mr F kept falling over the minutest things so he found a big stick, like a staff to help him down! Mrs S found one too...

Once we made it back to Keswick town, we decided that we would go to a local hostel for hot drinks and it was quite nice - compared to some of the hostels that Mr & Mrs F encountered on their 2012 backpacking adventure. After our drinks, we walked around town and we went to see the shop Love The Lakes that is owned by a guy who Mr & Mrs F follow on line called Stridingedge.net who has 2 really cool bearded collies called Fletcher & Dougal. We were hoping to meet them but they weren't at the shop that day. We went to a big sweet shop where we had to control ourselves...however Mr F got 2 bars of nougat and Mrs F got a bag of honeycomb and a bag of chocolate cups for Mrs F's Mum :-) We looked in a few outdoor shops, naturally and then we headed back to the garage to pick up the car.

In The Hostel 

Mr F Was Trying On A Few Hats

Once we were back at the cottage, we got all our things together and packed as much as we could and walked it up from the cottage to the farm where the cars were so we didn't have to do it all in the morning. That night Mrs S made a delicious tortellini pasta with bacon and peas in a carbonara sauce and garlic bread.



In the morning, we were pretty much all packed up and ready to go. Cuddles and Juggles wanted to have a photo too, so Mrs F took all the boys out for one last photo sesh before heading home back to London.....

  

VERDICT OF THE LAKE DISTRICT IN FEBRUARY 2015

Mr F: Winter trekking brings a very different challenge...a few close shaves, a couple of falls and one very near miss (ice axe training very helpful) Excellent cottage in the middle of nowhere with friendly farmer and dogs.

A tough week but very enjoyable especially our day on Coniston. Roll on April and the London Marathon.

Mrs F: I really loved trekking in the snow and really loved my new micro spikes that enabled us to go to the places that we wouldn't have been able to without them. Walking on the ice was cool....slipping on the ice was not! In a way it's a little easier going up on the snow because we weren't subject to the stepping stones - this way we could just pick our spot of snow accordingly and hope we didn't fall down a hole with a buried bog beneath it! Coming down is way easier too, we could pretty much run down the side of the mountains and it was so much fun. I love trekking and climbing in the ice and snow, although it was a really bitter wind on my face and ears, it was really enjoyable with the right equipment.

The cottage that we stayed in was really lovely and in the perfect location - as always our loving heavenly father was our 5th and most important member in our group each day. We were safe and well looked after, especially Mrs F's knees that caused her no pain at all and wasn't aching at all...praise God for His goodness! Now this trip is over, Mr & Mrs F are now focused on training for the London Marathon. 61 Wainwrights conquered, 153 to go....come on!!!