LAKE DISTRICT - FEBRUARY 2016



We were looking forward to getting back to the Lakes for 2 reasons: 1) Because we love the Lake District 2) Because we were now fully equipped and ready for some snowy mountain tops...and 3) because we wanted to rack off some more Wainwrights!

We booked a cottage just down the road from where we had previously stayed back in September in Bassenthwaite, just outside of Keswick. We were once again in the good company of Mr & Mrs S, but we arrived early Saturday afternoon and they came on the Sunday evening.

As always, the directions to the cottage were encrypted and we made a couple of wrong turns and turnarounds once we were off the main road, before we finally found the small gap in country Lane road that lead down to the cottage. The cottage came with a bothy just outside with a double bed, en suite and central heating and it also came with a games room in the barn!! It had a full size snooker table and table tennis....much to Mr F's absolute delight. So if the whether got really bad we were sorted! I think Mr F actually typed in 'Cottages With Pool Table' when we were searching for a cottage and found this one!

Once we sorted ourselves into our room, we headed straight to Keswick to grab some dinner in the Bank Tavern pub where we have eaten before. We had a little mooch and then headed to Booths for some extra things we didn't get in the Tesco shopping delivery. It was really quite sad seeing the after effects of the floods that had happened in the Lake District not too long before over Christmas. There were shops that were closed for refurbishment, sand bags still down by doors and opening, skips with lots of damaged good in peoples front gardens and Booths was less than half the size it always was due to the damage it caused, which was really quite sad to see.

Living Room With Open Fire

Kitchen

Although the kitchen was quite big, there was no cupboard space to put any food. There was lots of cupboard space, but because the cottage was big enough for 10 people, they were full up with crockery. So we had to put all our food on the little table in the kitchen...

Mr F Planning Our Walk For The Next Day

The Study Downstairs

Lethal Steep Stairs Going Up....And Down!

Main Bathroom That Mr & Mrs F Used

Landing With Our Room Straight Ahead

Our Room

We were faced with 2 decisions in regard to the rooms. The rooms upstairs had a lot of dead and live black flies and the other double room was outside! We decided to give the nicer double room with the en suite to Mr & Mrs S...because we're nice like that! The other double room was in the bothy outside, but we didn't quite fancy making the trip into the cold and possible rain of an evening to get to bed, so Mr F got rid of all the flies and put 2 single beds together and stuffed the gap with pillows and it was actually really quite comfy...Well done Mr F! Mrs F made sure that no one was lurking in the open loft area above us!!

The Landing With Mr & Mrs S Room Ahead...The West Wing!

Mr & Mrs S's Nice Room

That night, we headed into the barn to have a couple of games of table tennis and pool. Mr F has played table tennis before and is actually quite good at it, whereas Mrs F has only ever played once before on our honeymoon 4 years ago! Needless to say Mr F had Mrs F running around after his 'BOOM' shots! It warmed up quite quickly in there even though it was electric heaters and was good fun...

The Boys Were Having A Go Too!

DAY 1: SALE FELL - 1,170 FT
              LING FELL - 1,224 FT
2 & HALF HOURING TREKKING

Mr F looked at the amp and saw that there were a couple of odd low ones near to our cottage where we could just walk straight out from the cottage to get to. The Wainwright book said that you can't get from one to the other without going up and down again, but we headed over first thing in the morning anyhow and was just so happy, excited and in our element being back on the fells...

All Ready To Embrace The Wind

Mr F Pointing The Way

We followed a well trodden obvious path leading up to Sale Fell. It wasn't overly steep but steep enough for our first day of stretching the legs. The further we got to the top, the windier it became, to the point where Mr F's hat blew off but stopped just before it went all the way back down and Mrs F could lean back into the wind and it hold her up! 

Heading Up...

Mrs F Leaning Back Into The Strong Winds

                                                                           

Looking Over To Our Next & 2nd Fell Of The Trip...Ling Fell

Although Mr F had read the Wainwright book that said you can't get from Sale Fell to Ling Fell, it looked like you could from where we were standing, so we started to head over...until we came to a drop down where we had to go which lead to a little road before having to go up again...

Trying to keep the camera still with one hand in the wind for a photo at Ling Fell cairn was near enough impossible!

Mr F Got One Of Mrs F At The Summit Instead

Back on the main road and to the cottage...

Once we got back and changed, we headed in to Keswick where we bought things for dinner for when Mr & Mrs S turned up and Kindling, which Mr F found in the garage that was cheaper than what we had found and a bigger bag...result! We bought a few bits from different shops to spread our money around the much needed custom after the floods. Mrs F bought some chocolate cups and honeycomb for herself and some fruit nougat from Friars of Keswick big sweet shop before we had a little mooch about the shops and headed back to the cottage ready for when Mr & Mrs S arrive...  

We gave them the cottage payphone number to call us for when they were at the Pheasant Inn pub just down the road and Mr F would drive out to meet them and show them the way back. However...Mr F chose to walk down in the rain as he didn't think it was very far. Mrs F in the meantime was on the phone to them trying to direct them to the cottage! Eventually Mr F made his way to them and got them back! We had a jacket spud, beans and cheese dinner and chilled out with by the open fire...bliss!

DAY 2: WALLA CRAG - 1,234 FT

              BLEABERRY FELL - 1,932 FT

              HIGH SEAT - 1,995 FT

5 HOURS OF TREKKING IN THE POURING RAIN!

So we knew that today was going to be a rainy day. However, rainy day was a massive understatement! But, as a man once said 'There's no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing' So we layered up wit waterproofs and headed for the boggy fell tops. We parked up just in a little lay-by on the main road as we didn't fancy paying £8 to park in the nearby car park and headed straight up a grassy bank. We were heading one way according to the Satmaps but came across a sign that pointed towards Walla Crag in the other direction! Mr F & Mr S had their usual checking of the maps before we set off for sure. We walked up the side of the stream that lead us all the way up, that was actually quite a nice little walk. Visibility wasn't overly great when we got to the top but good enough to get a good view over Keswick. From here is when the rain really came down. Unfortunately it rained so much that we weren't able to get the cameras out to get any pictures of the day, even though we were out for 5 hours :-( WE had every bit of weather accept sun, quite literally; rain, sleet, snow, hail stones the size of hazelnuts and lots of wind....

The Boys Checking The Route

Girls Selfie

                                       

Still Checking!

A Lovely Picture Taken By A Family Of Passing Trekkers

Right, Now We Know Where We're Going, We Headed Off & Up

One thing that is easy to do when you're on a mission to get to the top, is look back at the view. The view can change in every 5 steps you take...plus it's a good excuse to stop for a quick breather!

Our First Group Photo

      

Standing At The Top Of Wala Crag…Fell Number 1 for the day

In order for us to get to our intended fells, we had no choice to walk over LOTS of boggy land where you just had to pick the best spot to put your foot and hope it doesn't go all the way in!! The walk itself was challenging enough and even the Wainwright book said that it was a place of real grimness and the rain just added to it. Saying that, Mrs F was feeling slightly smug as she was the only one with dry, warm feet out of the group. Mr F had a big hole in the side of his boot that he knew about months ago and chose not to get a new pair and his gaiters had no strap to pull down under his boot that didn't hold them over his boot well enough...which he also knew about months ago and done nothing about!

Once we had lunch and reached our final fell for the day, High Seat, we headed down for the valley floor which still seemed like such a long way from where we were standing near the top. Apart from 3 of our members having wet feet and the day being very wet and challenging underfoot, we didn't come across anything too arduous....until now!

We came across a section where there was nothing but wet a slippery rocks on one side of us or a straight down grassy bank on the other side. Mr F & Mr S went over by the rocks to see if there was a safe enough place for us to all get a firm foothold, but they were far too wet to even consider going this way. We all stood a bit stunned for a while when Mrs F went over to analyse the grass bank on the other side. It was a fair drop from where we were standing to the start of the bank but it looked 'do-able' and certainly a better option that the rocks. Mrs F volunteered to go first, having to take her rucksack off to slip down on her bum, holding on tightly to Mr F's hand and he lowered her. Mr F threw her pole to her where she made a very caution bum slip down to the edge of the short drop, where she had to turn and face the grass, hold on to the fern roots and abseil down to flat ground...not easy, but somewhat OK and our only option of getting of safely. Mrs S went next after literally chucking Mrs F's rucksacks down to her. Mrs S struggled slightly but got there in the end, followed by the boys, we were all off of this challenge and on to our next one....a feral fell horse!!

We were now on a really muddy, slippery walk down along a fence and Mrs S fell over all the mud 5 times, Mr S fell over a couple of times and done some sort of stunt man roll on one of them! Then we were coming up to a horse that was just happily grazing and minding his own business. Mr F went past him in his florescent hat no problem, Mrs F went past him no problem, but then he moved right up to the fence so that Mr & Mrs S couldn't get past him and they needed to hold on the fence to stop them from falling any more. The horse at this point wasn't happy with us now being around him and he went to run away but got spooked because he was sliding all over the place in the mud too. The managed to stop himself right by Mr F and went right up to him and stared him out. We think the colour of his hat didn't help, so we were yelling down to take his hat off, which I'm sure didn't help! Mr S tried to calm him with his 'Easy Fella, there's a good boy' but i didn't really work that much since he was clearly feral!

At this point the horse was completely unpredictable and so Mrs F decided to give him the high ground and go around him by going lower, but the horse turned around and started her out too! She had her walking pole at the ready if he al of a sudden charged, which he really looked like he was going to do. We somehow all managed to get past this horse, pretty much power walking down this hill to the stile at the bottom, with Mr S saying, 'Keep going, he's coming down behind us!'

Well we all made it down safely without being killed by the horse...an eventful finish to the day! Mr S suggested us going for a coffee in town but Mrs S wasn't having any of it! She was far too wet and muddy to be sitting around in a coffee shop. When we were back at the cottage, Mr F took his shoes and socks off and could literally wring his socks out they were so wet, as could Mrs S. Mr S had wet feet too...Mrs F still had bone dry feet! The open fire was handy to dry the boots next to as was the central heating - nearly every radiator in the cottage had wet clothing on them! That night, was Mr F's turn to cook and we had pi, new potatoes and veg....an eventful, challenging, wet but fun day...

DAY 3: BINSEY - 1,466 FT

1 & HALF HOURS TREKKING

So we decided that Mr F & Mrs S really needed new boots before we done any other long days on the fells. So we decided to go and climb Binsey, which is a little solitary fell right out on it's own that Mrs F really wanted to tick off the list as we were in the perfect location to do so and wouldn't be coming back over this way again. So we set off first of all to go and do that, leaving our rucksacks behind and planned to go into Keswick in search of new boots. We parked up pretty much right at the bottom of Binsey in a little layby and had no choice but to make our way up a dirt track was incredibly muddy and deep before we got onto some grassy terrain and started to make our way up. Mrs F took her water with her and put it in her hood so she didn't have to hold it!

The boggy path!

Binsey Summit Dead Ahead...

Lovely Views As We Neared The Top...

   

           

Our Second Selfie...

On Our Way Down...

Views Of The Snow Topped Mountains From The Bottom...

We came off a different way to where we came up to avoid the muddy track and had a 15 minute or so walk back to the car once we were on the main road. We saw a hurrican fly over us but no one could get their camera out in time for a photo...

The Long Road Back To The Car...

We got back to the cottage and had lunch before changing to go into Keswick in search of new boots for Mr F & Mrs S. Mr F tried a pair on in the new Millets shop and reserved them to pick them back up on his way back to the car. Mrs S tried on a pair she was also planning to buy on her way back in Rathbones. Mrs F went into Friars to restock on chocolate cups and jelly strawberries and Mr F went in search for more pants as he didn't bring enough away with him! We had a list of things that we needed to get and went around town picking them up from various shops to again spread and support the local economy. Mr F was finding it somewhat difficult to find just a normal black pair of boxer pants and went into near enough every shop in search of some. It became quite funny when we all went in together in search of his pants in Fat Face when the lady asked what size he was to bring some from the stock room and Mr F just smiled and said 'Well, you know...large!' However he wasn't prepared to pay £18 for 1 pair of pants and carried on with his search! Eventually he found some really nice ones in The Edinburgh Wollen Mill shop that were actually quite nice.

As per routine, we went to George Fisher trekking shop just for a mooch, but never buy anything as it's expensive. However this time, Mr F & Mrs S was sucked into the idea of renting their boots for the rest of the week for £15 instead of the near enough £100.00 they were going to spend on new boots....so they did! Mr F went back to Rathbones to let them know, Mr F however didn't make that courteous trip to Millets as it wasn't on our way back to the car!

Tonight's dinner was Mrs S's home made Chilli Con Carne with bulgur wheat, which was new to Mr & Mrs F who haven't had bulgur wheat before, but it was actually really quite nice cooked with some chicken stock. Now as it was Pancake Day, Mrs F cooked up some pancakes for afters before we all headed into the barn for some games....doubles pool and Mr F & Mr S had quite a few games of competitive table tennis while Mrs F & Mrs S played a long game of pool. In the end, they made up their own game of hitting the white ball back and forth across to each other! A good way to end the day...

DAY 4: CLOUGH HEAD - 2,381 FT
              BARROW - 1,494 FT
4 HOURS TREKKING

We were so far disappointed in the lack of snow compared to last year. There was only a good amount of snow on certain mountains at a certain height. So we went in search of them! We planned a big day ahead of us, so Mrs F made lunch for her and Mr F and packed it in Mr F's rucksack. Mr F however took it out of his rucksack to get his hat and gloves and forgot to put it back in!! Half way to the start of our trek, Mrs F had a sudden thought and asked Mr F if he put the lunch back in his rucksack - we pulled over at the garage where there is a Spar only to discover that he didn't re-pack our lunch for the day! We then had to go in the Spar and buy our lunch, luckily they had ready boiled and peeled eggs in the chilled section...however needless to say Mrs F was not happy...

We had planned to go and do The Dodds and were aware that there were some road closures where we wanted to go but went as far as we could on the road until we couldn't go any further before the road works stopped us from going any further, which meant we couldn't get to the start of our trek. So we pulled over in quite a nice spot where the boys consulted the map for an alternative plan...

The Boys Ready To Go...& Our Forgotten Lunch On The Sofa Behind!

 Our little stop to come up with plan B...

Once we had a plan in place, we got back in the car and drove to our starting point and got going with our day...finally! The walk out was pretty straight forward, before we had to break off to the right and straight up towards the snowy summit of Clough Head. It was a beautiful sunny, crisp day...

Snowy Tops Up Ahead...

The Boys Checking The Route As Per Usual

We came across the part where we needed to dart off and up, but had a little pit stop so Mrs S could put blister plasters on her heels from here rented boots rubbing. Mr F could also feel a blister on his heel but again chose to ignore it and carry on...

Our Plaster Pit Stop...

The straight up approach to the summit was somewhat of a slog to say the least! The further we got, we were coming across patchy snow in the grass until we couldn't see any grass at all and were in the snow completely...finally!

                        ...From a grassy terrain to a snowy one in minutes!

Oops...Try Again!

That's Better

Once we reached the top and had pictures by the cairn, we stopped briefly for our eggs and a quick drink before heading back down the same way we came up, which didn't take too long at all. The views from the top were amazing...

Stopping For Eggs

Views From The Top...

Mr F had found a new place to store his Wainwright book for easy access, rather than in the bungee cords on the back of his rucksack where he normally keeps it...

Mr F Selfie Number 1!

Not Entirely Sure What Mr F Is Doing Here On His Way Down!?

We were on the lookout for Mr S's water bottle as he had lost it. Mr F went to have a look where we stopped for eggs and we kept a lookout on our way back...he found it in the boot of his car! Once we were back on the little road at the bottom, we came across a good place to Cop-a-squat and have lunch. We also discussed weather we should go and do another little mountain that was on the way back to the cottage since it was still early enough to do so. So that's what we decided to do. We got back to the car and drove and parked up not too far from where we last stayed in Joan's Cottage. Since it didn't look too high at all at only 1,494 ft, we decided to leave the rucksacks behind and go for it. However, the summit that we thought was directly in front of us turned out to be 1 of 4 or 5 false summits with a never ending trek to the actual summit! With no water with us, it turned into thirty long work...

Our Lunch Stop

Setting Off For Barrow

And So The Bigger Than Expected Trek Begins...

Thankfully Mrs S had brought her slice of ginger cake and kindly shared it out amongst us all at the summit we finally reached and Mr F had 4 Jaffa Cakes left from our purchased lunch which we had 1 each...just enough to get us down again and guzzled our water down!

A Familiar Sight Of The Boys Pointing To Other Mountains

The Girls Not A Fan Of This Mountain!

Quick Picture Of The View...

That night was Mrs F's turn to cook with Maggi chicken with spuds and veg. However Mrs F discovered that the coating on the frying pans weren't actually there any more and the paper stuck to the pans and burnt! So Mr F had to save the day by scrapping the burnt bits off the chicken...it was quite tasty in the end!

DAY 5: GREAT DODD - 2,807 FT
              WATSON'S DODD - 2,584 FT
              STYBARROW - 2,770 FT
              HART SIDE - 2,481 FT
7 HOURS TREKKING IN THE SNOW

So now we know where we can and can't get to by the closed roads, today we were going back to do the Dodds. When we came without Mr & Mrs S last year in June, we attempted them then, but the weather was far too bad to do them all, so we ended up just doing White Side & Raise (See 2015 July entry Day 4) So we headed over near to where we were the day before and parked up by St Johns in the Vale as recommended by the Wainwright book and headed straight up the grass verge right by the car. There was no clear path that we could see, only description from the Wainwright book and pictures to go by, including a tree at the bottom where the path started and a stile we had to climb over - other than that we had to pretty much make up our own route.

As we headed up and around, we were on a slanted hillside that was a bit awkward and couldn't see a way over to where we needed to be. We were coming across a stream that was coming down the fell that we needed to cross to get over to the other side which is where we needed to be having figured it out. It was nice to see some friendly team work crossing it. Mr F's book that he now keeps tucked in his front strap fell in the water but he rescued it just in time before he got really wet and damaged....

The Initial Grass Verge Going Up From The Car/Main Road

The Stream We Had To Cross

Team Work Of Helping Hands To Cross...

Once we were over the other side and where we needed to be, it was a steep climb up that didn't seem to end! We stopped briefly for a little sit-sat before getting on it again. We knew we needed to just keep going up, but we were going more around and up to find an easy route which seemed to take forever...

Once we had a clear way up to the summit, we headed straight for the cairn we could just about see at the top. We were going for ages and this cairn just seemed not get further away and Mrs F' was starting to feel hungry. Mrs S convinced her that the summit wasn't too far now and we could all stop for food once we were there. However, we were going and going and going and still the cairn just wasn't getting any closer. Mrs F gave in to her hunger and eat a snickers bar in record time! As we were nearing the top, the grass slowly turned into snow and visibility was starting to get poor. Mr S suggested that again instead of going straight up and give our legs a bit of a break from the monotony of having just spent the best part of an hour going straight up, we should go around the bottom and pick up the path that would lead us to the top. However this path was just as close as the cairn and we covered more ground going this way, but we got to the path eventually. By this time we were surrounded by nothing but white and had to put our sunglasses on...

Setting Off From Our Stream Crossing

Mrs F Being Photo Bombed By Mr F

Walking Around At The Bottom To Find A Clear Way Up

Mrs F Waiting For The Boys To Catch Up

And So The Long Slog Up Begins...

The Boys Checking The Route

The Way Up Into 'The White'

The Summit Of  Great Dodd...Finally!

Once we neared the top, it was becoming quite icey and Mrs F had a little slip, so we decided that it would be best to put our spikes on...any excuse to use them! Well after all, we had brought them with the good intent to use them...

Girlie Selfie Without The Flash...Try Again...

....There We Go!

The Boys Braving The Cold For A Quick Photo

Once we reached the summit, we stopped and had lunch (we remembered it today!) and hot drinks but didn't stay too long as staying still was getting too cold and fingers were starting to go numb. So we dropped back down another way towards Watson's Dodd and ended up walking into the sun that came out which was really lovely...

Walking Up To Watson's Dodd Into The Sun

As we were aware of the time and light limit, we didn't hang around on each summit before heading off to the next one...once we had reached Watson's Dodd and Stybarrow, we had a quick group huddle - and some Jelly Babies and Iced Gems - we looked over at our final planned mountain for the day, Hart Side and made the decision to go for it. We all had our head torches if it came to it, but we needed to get a good march on in order to tick this one off the list, otherwise it would mean coming back just to do this one. It was really hard work with the deep snow and we were trying to tread in each others footsteps to make it easier. However we had to ask Mr F to walk with closer and more straight steps because we were having to leap from one foot step to the other!

We got to the summit and didn't take too much time to have a turnaround and make our way back. We were once again on the lookout for something that Mr S had lost...his hat! This time he knows he definitely had lost along the way because he was wearing it not too long ago...there, in the distance of everything white, we saw this little black dot that as we got closer, it looked more and more like Mr S's hat...and it was! :-)

Heading To Our Final Summit For The Day

Mr S's Hat On The Floor!

As we were walking in thick snow, we had no idea what was lurking beneath us and sometime we would go down a good foot and a bit with each step we took , which was hard enough work. Then on our way back, unknowingly we walked over a boggy bit of water and literally, Mrs S, Mr S and Mr F all went down pretty much at the same time!! Mrs F for some reason was very fortunate to have not got sucked into the bog and as Mrs S had to lay on her belly and pull her foot out, bringing a load of mud up with it just balancing on the back of her foot! Once Mr F had gotten his own foot out of the bog, he had to help dig Mr S's foot out...all now had a very wet and very cold foot! The only to help get the freezing water warm in the boots, was to get a good march on and try to warm up. Mrs F took the lead and set a good pace which got us back to the path that lead us down fairly swiftly. We passed Raise that we discovered had a ski slope on it and 2 people and a dog were going down it...a never seen before in the lake district and didn't even know it was there!

The Crystallised Icey Grass

Ski Slope On Raise

We eventually made it to the same crossroads that we came across when we attempted the Dodds last year (See 2015 July entry Day 4) We came across a couple who we asked them if they wouldn't mind taking our photo and of course we returned the favour. Mrs F knew remembered that it was now an easy push for the main road now, although it looked different to what she remembered it being before. We eventually came to the snowline and were able to take our spike off and had a little sit-sat and finished our food before heading for the road and back to the car. It was sad to see all the water damage to the path heading down, it just looked like a landslide had gone right through the path...just another sad reminder of the terrible flooding the lakes had endured only 2 months previous...

Mr F Having A Chill Out Waiting For Mr & Mrs S To Catch Up

An Attempted Selfie...

...That's Better

Final Push For The Main Road

Once we were down on level ground and asphalt, we had a little walk back to the car and planned to go back to the cottage to change and then head straight back out into Keswick town for a curry night at The Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, which is an old courthouse and have eaten the curry there before on a curry night meal deal. We drove past Keswick town and Mrs S suggested that we turn around and just go straight there as it was a bit too long to go back and come all the way back out again...so we did! We were all obviously really tired and hungry because conversation was minimal when our food came and we scoffed our faces! It was a really nice curry and a great way to end the day...


DAY 6: GRAYSTONES - 1,476 FT
              HIGH RIGG - 1,603 FT
              CASTLE CRAG - 985 FT

So Mr & Mrs S decided to have a chilled out day today and left us to go out on the fells solo. So Mrs F made our lunch...and made sure to pack it...and we planned to go and tick off a few little ones that are here and there on the map. Our first little one of the day was Graystones. We parked in a little lay-by where the map suggested and we headed through the gate and up where the book also said where the path was. But the apparent path was really steep and fall of loose slate and impossible to get up. So we went up just aong side it where we could actually get a good foothold and made the little slog up to the top. It was one of the best days that we had for weather, the sun was warm as we made our way up and Mrs F even took her coat off! According to the book it's not one of the prettiest views, but we thought the views were really nice...

The Impossible Slate Route

Our Easier Alternative Route

Views Heading Up...

Picture At The Summit

The Bridge Near Where We Had Parked

Once back at the car, Mr F had a quick check of the map and book and we headed back to park up near St Johns in the Vale but it took a while to find the lay-by that was in the book. We eventually found the place to park and headed through some boggy areas before coming across the stone wall where we needed to follow right along until the path headed off to the left and up to the summit of our next fell, High Rigg. We sized this up the day before as a potential to come back and climb as it was directly opposite where we had parked the car. There was another small one opposite that that looked good to tick off as a quick one to do too. So Mrs F was convinced we had missed the wall that we needed to follow up, but Mr F was confident in himself and his Satmaps reading skills and said we still needed to keep walking further along....sure enough, we came across the wall that we needed to walk along....


Mrs F forgot her walking pole so improvised with Mr F's golf umbrella!

High Rigg

Although the book said that we needed to walk right along the wall and dart off to the left and up, it looked as though we were making our way more around the bottom than up...so we darted up early! We each chose our own path through the dead tall grass and met near the top where we had a sit-sat stop for lunch just below the summit with really good views...was a good place to sit for lunch...

Making Our Way Up

On The Summit

Sitting For Lunch

We were going to do...directly opposite, but the book said that it's quite a cold and dark walk as you have to go through the forest with lots of tall trees and since it was already quite cold, we didn't really fancy it so we decided to first head into Keswick to take the hired walking boots back for a few bits and on the way back to the cottage, stop off and do the lowest of the Wainwright, Castle Crag...


On the way back to taking the boots back, Mr F stopped off for a haircut and Mrs F bought some more chocolate cups from Friars and reproofing fabric wash in Blacks and asked the guy behind the counter what time the sun set...he gave a very specific time off 11 minutes past 5. We knew we were up against the clock, but we still drove up to gage it better. We parked up in a little town called Grange and judged the distance verses the time/light...and decided to leave the rucksacks behind and start walking up a bit. We came across the sign that said it was half a mile longer than we first thought and stopped for a couple of minutes to really consider going for it or not. We decided to go for it!

We did get quite a march on and Mrs F was up for it more than Mr F at first as the summit was so tantalisingly close, but was worried about the darkness creeping over us, even though we had the head torch and wind up one. On our way, we could see Keswick Mountain Rescue in full swing - 2 mini buses and a medical van were parked up and we could see the team heading up High Spy dressed in red with a rescue helicopter circulating at the top. When we got back, we looked up at what had happened on Keswick Mountain Rescue Website and a lady had broken her ankle whilst descending from High Spy to High White Rake.

The walk up through a little woods area was actually quite a nice, pretty walk but because we were on a mission, we couldn't really appreciate it. We got to a part of the walk where we had to walk through a maze of slate, being careful not to slip on all the loose slate that was all around us. Mr F dropped his booked that went rolling back down and he had to go and get it and came back up a slightly different way. Once at the top, it had one of the best summit views we have seen for Wainwrights lowest mountain, just a shame we couldn't hang around too long to appreciate that also...

Driving Out To Castle Crag

Mrs F Liked This Little HOuse Out On It's Own

Our Walk/March Through The Woods

The Summit Somewhere Up & Over There!

Looking Back On The Start Of Our Slate Track 

The Top!

At the top there is a memorial to Borrowdale men killed in World War I with wooden crosses all around which was nice to see. We spent a little while taking a few photos and just admiring how beautiful the view was with the sun setting, but was also mindful that we still needed to make our way down safely off of the slate track. I think we would like to come back on a nice sunny day where we can take our time and fully take it all in...

The Easier Stroll Back

By the time we got back to the car, it was still light enough for us to see where we were going, but literally 15 minutes later it was dark. We drove back to the cottage and gave the mince that we had bought over to Mrs S who made lasagne that night for dinner, whist we went and warmed up in the shower. Mr & Mrs S spent a chilled out morning with a fry up and then a stroll around Derwent Water. We packed up as much as we could in the cars that night ready to get up and on the long journey back to London in the morning. Our last night in the cottage and in the lakes always has a somewhat sombre feeling - sad to be leaving the lakes again and not coming back again for another 4 months, please the Lord. But, we were as always very blessed to have been able to come back and do all the things that we did and are always thankful to our great Father in Heaven for all that he provided for...able bodies, food, a warm and lovely cottage at the end of a hard day on the mountains and good times...until our next visit to the Lakes to continue with our quest of just 99 Wainwrights to go!

The Sunrise As We Drove Out Of Bassenthwaite The Next Morning

VERDICT OF THE LAKE DISTRICT IN FEBRUARY 2016

Mr F: A great time with plenty of snow to play in. A real mix of weather, but a fantastic time as always. Under 100 to go!!! 

Mrs F: As always I was so happy to be back doing what I love with the people I love. The Lord blessed me with abled knees which in turn enable me to enjoy the wonderful world around me that He created. Although the first day was full of rain, I actually really enjoyed the day. I really wasn't keen on the very long slog walk up to Great Dodd, but it was great to be in the snow which is why we like to come this time of year. Our last day in the sun of ticking off a few of the lower ones was a great day just me and Mr F. It was sad to see just a fraction of the aftermath of the flooding and really do hope that people will continue to come to the Lake District to give it the time and appreciation it really deserves. The Lake District will always have a special place in my heart for so many reasons, but to be on the mountains with my God, my Hubby and my best friends in just one of them....roll on June!