As always, we planned to go away in February in hope of some good ice and snow climbing. Mr & Mrs S weren't going to come as Mrs S was going away with friends on a summer holiday the same month. However, when we were out walking together one day, we were talking about our planned trip to the Lakes, their eyes turned green and they decided to come! Safety in numbers in February is always a good thing 👍
So as always, we started looking for a cottage close to where we needed to be for the mountains we planned to climb for the week. Apart from a few, we still had quite a bit of the Northern Fells to tick off and Mr & Mrs S had only done Blencathra, so somewhere North was the place to look. After a few hours of looking across various days and various cottage potentials sent on our '4 Goats' whatsapp group, Mrs F found a cottage that was quite a bit out of the way North, but in relation to where we needed to be for the Norther Fells it was perfect...and a good price for the week too!
We had the week off in the lead up to when we were due to get to the cottage on the Friday, so we decided to head up to see Mrs F's dad in Blackburn, as we normally just have a flying stop over visit. We also went to see Rend Collective in Cambridge with Mrs F's Aunt & Uncle on the Sunday too who were amazing!
The day before we checked into our cottage, we all went to St Anne's which was a really lovely day, although a bit cold a blowy! Mrs F Dad made the most delicious dinners during our stay there, being the amateur chef that he is. He made chicken thighs with crushed potatoes and creme fraiche on our first night we arrived and lamb stir fry with wild rice on the second night. We then had pancakes for afters and Mt F had his famous pancakes with gravy!! Much to our surprise and his delight, we had pancakes at Mrs F's Mum the day before we headed for Blackburn, as it was pancake day and two f our nieces were converted into having gravy on their pancakes too!! 😲
 |
| Chicken & Potatoes Delicious Dinner 😋 |
 |
| Mr F's Pancake With Gravy! |
 |
| Lamb Stir Fry...Proper Delish! |
On the Friday morning, Mrs F's Dad had to go to a cancer hospital in Manchester to have s scan to ensure the all the cancer is still all gone and praise God it was! We thought we would be gone before they were back, but they were home a good hour before we needed to leave for the lakes, which was still a good 2 hours drive to our cottage! As we neared the lakes, we could start to see the snowy fells which always get us excited!
Mr & Mrs S were a little bit ahead of us, so we met up in our trusty parking spot down Stanger Street in Keswick, where we all went for an early dinner at the Weatherspoons we often eat at when we're in Keswick. It used to be an old courthouse and have kept most of it looking so. It's called The Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. Mr F had some healthy Thai noodle dish, Mrs F had a very delicious steak and Mr 7 Mrs F shared a mixed grill. We then wondered around Keswick trying to find Mr S a new base that is the same as his old faithful Helly Hansen one. It was like trying to find Mr F a pair of pants all over again! 😆 Mrs S treated herself to a new buff that had a fleece part to it...she also treated herself to a new rucksack, top, boots and Rab coat before we came away! Once we'd walked all around Keswick, we headed for our cottage. It was quite a drive out and when we arrived, our Tesco shop was was already being unloaded with the help of the housekeeper! As per usual, Mrs F and Mrs S went to check out the bedrooms to see who is having what bedroom. Mrs F chose the more traditional looking room, but may have put her bid in too early as the bed was quite uncomfortable. It was a spring mattress that felt like we were sleeping on the coils of an oven hob!! The cottage itself was situated in an old English Country Manor Estate, which was still lived in. From the main road, we were lead up a private road through the grounds which lead up to the main house, then the road followed around the back past a tennis court to another house that was huge. Next to that house is a converted stables, which was our cottage. From the paintings that hung in the living room - which were of traditional fox hunting hounds with riders on their horses - we guessed it must have been an old hunting place and they must have used the stables to keep the horses. The owner had two dogs called Clive and Milo. Milo was a young Labrador pup who was a bit mischievous, we heard his owner calling him several times in the mornings! She was also the owner of the cottage but we didn't see her until out second day as she was on a skiing holiday. According to the information book, there was an orchard out the back of the cottage and if you following the way through the fence, you will come to a pond. We all decided to go out and venture the grounds but we could find the orchard at first until we realised that we were in the orchard, but it didn't look like one as it was the wrong time of year! As it looked quite muddy, we gave up on the idea and went back inside in the warm.
After our first night of Mrs F using the spare pillows to lie on, Mr F used 3 blankets to lay down under the mattress cover which gave it a bit more padding...still wasn't great but much better and was able to get a good nights sleep most nights. We had a supper of chip sandwiches before heading off to bed ready for our first day of a short walk to stretch the legs and get them moving...
 |
| Glorious Crisp Morning View From Our Bedroom |
 |
| Living Room... |
 |
| Hallway To Toilet & Both Bedrooms |
It was an upside down cottage with the living rooms and bedrooms upstairs and only the kitchen downstairs. They were designed this way so people could enjoy the views of the fells from the comfort of their sitting room or bedroom. The kitchen was bigger than the pictures mad it out to be on the website, but it was a lovely place to gather in the mornings for breakfast. We eat dinner on our laps upstairs though, just for the comfort.
 |
| Stone Steps Leading Upstairs...Wasn't a fan of the antlers! |
 |
| Our Bedroom |
 |
| Our Bedroom Had a Walk In Wardrobe! |
 |
| Our Big En Suite Bathrrom |
 |
| A Beautiful Tapestry In The Hallway ByThe End Bedroom |
 |
| Spare Toilet |
 |
| Mr & Mrs S's Bedroom At The End Of The Cottage |
 |
| Their En Suite Bathroom |
 |
| Kitchen (Mrs F Making Chilli For Tonight's Dinner! 😋 |
 |
| Utility Room From The Kitchen |
 |
| The Old Wooden Storage For The Horse Saddles |
 |
| Out In The Court Yard |
 |
| The Back Of The Cottage |
DAY 1: GREAT COCKUP - 1726ft
2 & HALF HOURS HOURS TREKKING
We headed out in the late morning, as today was an easy 'stretch the legs' day. We made our lunches, packed our rucksacks and headed for Great Cockup...what a name! The drive to where we needed to start from wasn't too far away, roughly 15 minutes in the car. We parked on a little verge that was in the book and headed up the windy country path. After all of us climbing over a farmers gate that was locked, we realised that it was locked for a very good reason....it wasn't the way! We passed our turnoff so we had to come back on ourselves to pick it back up, but we weren't too far out of our way at all...
 |
| Our Path Ahead Of Us |
 |
| The Boys Double Checking The Way |
The boys always have a route plan the night before, whilst the girls have no idea where we're going or what we're doing...we just make the lunches and turn up!
 |
| The Girls Just Going With The Flow! |
 |
| Now On The Right Path...Upwards & Onwards |
 |
| Great Cockup Dead Ahead |
 |
| The Boys Looking At The Next Day's Planned Route |
 |
| Looking Over To Little Cockup |
 |
| Mr F Conquering Great Cockup Summit |
 |
| Group Summit Photo |
Once we had reached the top, we looked for a spot out of the wind, which was in a near enough little dip in the fell just out of the wind from the other side where it was blowing. We sat and had our lunches and admired the views at the same time. To quote Mrs F "I could think of worse things to do on a Saturday!" Mr F handed Mrs F her roll and she accidentally batted it out of his hand and it landed on Mr S's boot!! She applied the two second rule and eat it anyway!! 😜
On our way down we thought it rude not to go over to Little Cockup, which was actually on our way down. It's not a Wainwright but we went over nonetheless. We wore our gaiters as it had been snowing hard the week before, which is when we would usually go and a good job we did as the terrain was boggy coming off. We picked the path/road up that our car was on and that was Wainwright number 1 for this trip done...BOOM!
 |
| Heading Down Towards Little Cockup Over On The Right |
 |
| Looking Back Up At Mr & Mrs S Making Their Way Down |
We headed to Sainsbury's in Cockermouth on the way back to pick u p a few bits, which we thought was quite appropriate as we had just climbed Great Cockup...keeping in line with the theme for the day! We got more chips, bananas and other bits we needed as well as some beers and ciders. Then we headed back to the cottage where Mrs S started to make a dent in the giant sized Panettone that they still had left over from Christmas, enjoyed with a cup of tea. The cottage was really warm with the very efficient heating, we didn't need to light the fire all week. In fact it was sometimes too warm, especially in our bedroom, we had to turn the radiators right down. We chilled out for the rest of the afternoon and a much enjoyable Chilli Con Carne with Bulgar Wheat and watched Captain Corelli's Mandolin, which Mr & Mrs S bought with them and was quite a good little film. We enjoyed it with a glass of red wine and dark chocolate...day one, done!
 |
| MrS S Tucking Into The Panettone Whilst Mr F Reads His Wainwright Book |
DAY 2: KNOTT - 2329ft
GREAT CALVA - 2246ft
6 HOURS 45 MINUTES TREKKING
After a much better nights sleep, we were up, fed and watered and ready to start another day. We headed for the same parking spot as the previous day and headed in the same direction towards Great Cockup before diving off to the road that will eventually lead us to our first summit for the day, Knott. As we were getting ourselves sorted by the car, a man pulled up in a van who was parked by us in the same spot the previous day. We thought he must be doing the same and using the same parking spot, but he just wanted to get out and have a chat and said he recognised us from parking there the day before - which was mighty impressive as we had a different car the day before and we didn't actually see him either!! It was nice of him to stop and ask our plans for the day and told us his anyhow 😊 The weather was mild which was always a bonus but we had our spikes with us as we know all too well that the weather can change in an instant...
 |
| Views From Our Parking Spot |
 |
| Mr S Getting Himself Organised |
 |
| Off We Set |
It wasn't too long before we found ourselves on a slopped grassland verge area heading for an area over the back which we couldn't quite see from where we were. As we walked on, the snow started to appear and we found ourselves in what looked like a gully with a little waterfall running through, which we walked up beside...
 |
| Quick Water Stop |
 |
| The Snow Slowly Starting To Appear Further Up |
 |
| Knott Somewhere Up There! |
 |
| A Usual Sight On The Fells...The Boys Checking The Way |
 |
| The Little Stream/Waterfal |
We had to cross the stream as we couldn't go any further on that side but then had to cross back over further up...
 |
| Mrs S Getting Helped Hopping Over... |
 |
| ...And Back Again! |
As we came out of the gully and onto open land, we were near enough in a complete whiteout. Mrs F had to put her sunglasses on to stop the little floaters that were in her eyes! We were really in deep snow now and came across areas where we fell in up to our knees near enough every step we took! It was arduous work pulling ourselves out of one hole with one leg only to do the same with the other leg on the next step...
 |
| Mrs F Loving The Snow |
We were eventually out of the deep snow and onto a more grassy, steady underfoot incline to the summit, which seemed to never come. Mr F had his Satmap with him and was giving us updates about how far we had to go before we were near the top...
Eventually the summit cairn came into view and we were all very pleased to see it. On a very big plus side, at least it wasn't blowing a blizzard in our faces or hail stoning or raining, just a bit of wind which we could easily cope with compared to some weather conditions we've previously been in!
 |
| The Summit Cairn Somewhere Up There! |
 |
| Knott Summit Cairn...Conquered! |
From the summit, we headed on the North side towards Great Calver, in what turned into yet more deep snow, but was actually having quite a bit of fun with it. This time it was a lot softer and deeper and Mr F being the heaviest one of the group, just kept falling in. Mrs S was really laughing and said it was like having mountain side entertainment! It took us an hour and half to get from Knott to Great Calver, which wouldn't have taken so long had it not been for the deep snow that added extra time and effort onto our day. But fair play to the boys for navigating us through 0% visibility to the summit, which had some iron/steel works on top of it - Mrs F couldn't quite make out what they were from a distance through the snow...
The wind was blowing quite cold on Mrs F face, so she wore her nice big woolly hat that Mr F bought for her, that comes right around her face...done the job of keeping her face warm just nicely! ☺
 |
| Mrs S Tucked Up In Her New Part Woolly Buff |
 |
| Mr S Checking His Compass |
 |
| Back In The Deep Snow |
 |
| Mrs F Almost Knee Deep In It! |
 |
| Mr F Dodgy Selfie! |
 |
| The Final Push To The Summit |
 |
| And Behold...The Summit! Mrs F Photo Bombed By Mrs S's Walking Pole! |
 |
| A Slightly Better Attempt At a Smile! |
We then had the task of finding somewhere to sit and have lunch. We came across the deepest wind shelter we'd ever seen but it was packed full of snow. Mr S was almost convinced that it will do but we swiftly moved on! Just a little further on, we found a spot to plonk ourselves to eat our well earned lunch and hot drinks. Mrs F was the only one who used her folded mat to sit on. However she was also suffering terribly with acid reflux caused by last night's dinner of the chilli's in the Chilli Con Carne, which was followed by the indulgent red wine and chocolate...the perfect cocktail to set off acid reflux! She was sick a few times and felt like she was being cremated from the inside out and everything she eat (including lunch) just made it worse...😢
 |
| The Snow Filled Wind Shelter |
Once lunch had been consumed, we made our way down through yet more deep snow. We made our way through what we could only assume was a gully, as the snow had completely covered it, but it resembled that of a gully! We were all struggling to keep afloat, but the snow was so soft and deep we just all kept falling through...especially Mr F!
With perseverance and a few momentary trapped legs that disappeared through the snow, we made our way through and out of the thick snow and eventually onto grassland that had less of it and progressively disappearing altogether. We then came to a very steep descent through bracken, which is not Mrs F's favourite terrain, but she however used it to her advantage and made her way down quite swiftly through it, using it as footholds to stop her from slipping. The other 3 chose to take the more steady and stable route on the faint path of dirt and lose stones.
 |
| Mrs S Pulling Herself From a Fall! |
 |
| Making Our Way Through The Thick Snowy Gully |
 |
| Mr F Taking a Tumble...Again! |
Once we were all down and out of the thick of the bracken, we looked up and saw the most majestic, magnificent view of the sun coming through the clouds over the summit cairn that was right on top of a huge mountain that was right in front us. We had no idea the mountain was even there but all of a sudden, it was standing loud and proud over us. The boys spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out on the map what mountain it was and could see that it could only be Bakestall, which is what we were planning to climb the next day. Mrs F took quite a few photos but it still doesn't do it justice...
 |
| Looking Back At u Route Through The Bracken |
The end of the bracken looked so tantalising close. It looked as though we had to make or way to the very end by the stream and cross over to the other side to pick the path up that we needed. However once we got out of the thick of the bracken, we saw that we could pick up the path from our side that took us comfortably over to the other side, which was a very welcoming sight...
 |
| Looking Over At Our Path That Will Lead Us Back To The Car |
 |
| The Long Windey Path Back |
 |
| Mrs F Waiting For The Other To Join Her Out Of The Bracken! |
 |
| Can You Spot Them Way Up There?? |
The girls started to make their way over to the other side on the path and when they looked back, the boys were still on the other side having a discussion about the big mountain that they were sure is Bakestall...
 |
| The Boys Al The Way Over On The Other Side |
 |
| The Girls Waiting Patiently For Them! |
 |
| Looking At Our Route Down From The Other Side...Looks Brutal! |
 |
| And So Starts The Long Way Back... |
 |
| A Lovely Little Waterfall En Route Back |
The path seemed like something out of The Labyrinth, it just went on and on! It actually went on as far as back to the road the car was on. Once we were on the road, it seemed to take forever to make it back to the car. Mr F kept saying
'The car is just around this bend' The trouble with that was, there were a lot of bends in the path and each time the car was never just around the bend! The trouble with having long walk out back to the car on flat solid ground, is it actually hurts your feet more than spending all whole day trekking on grassland areas. Eventually Mr F was right about the car being just around this bend and it was a beautiful sight to see. Better sight to see that the pair of black underwear that we randomly placed on a rock along the path on our way back! 😲
 |
| The Final Stretch Of The Path That Lead To The Main Road |
The first thing Mrs F done when we were back at the cottage was take Lansopraole, which is a gastro resistant tablet to help put out the fire in her stomach! Then she made a start on the evenings meal of lasange and chips. However the lasange sheets took forever to cook, which may have had something to do with the fact it was a 3 layer lasange! Mrs F was still struggling with how uncomfortable her stomach still felt but managed to eat the chips and salad and majority of the lasange. Everyone else demolished theirs!
DAY 3: BAKESTALL - 2208ft
3 & HALF HOURS TREKKING
So today's weather wasn't overly inviting, being the groggiest looking day so far. However it was a good job we were only doing the one...the mountain that looked a monster, Bakestall. We parked in a different place today in the same neck of the woods where we had parked the past 2 days. The intent was to park as close to the start as possible and we managed to do so very well. We parked in a little lay-by right by the gate at Peter House Farm that took us straight on the path we needed. It was the same gate we walked out of the previous day to get on the main road back to our car, but this time we didn't have such a long walk back once off the path....or any walking back at that matter!
 |
| A Quick Shot Of The Little Waterfall Before The Clouds Rolled In... |
 |
| ...Literally Seconds Later, The Waterfall Disappeared! |
Once we made our way along the path to the start of the climb upwards onto Bakestall, our level walk turned into a sluggish upward climb...all the way to the top! The good thing was, Mr F said it was less than a mile to the top, so that was somewhat good for PMA! (Positive Mental Attitude)
 |
| The Start Of The Slog Upwards |
The trail was mainly on a rugged path and grass areas that had footsteps kicked into them. Even though it wasn't very warm, it felt like a hard cardio workout that required us to stop every 10 minutes or so to catch our breath and give our legs a sporting chance...
We eventually came across a snowy patch and we decided to put our spikes on as it would be easier with a bit of grip than without them, especially for coming back down. So we stopped briefly to spike up and Mr F always has to help Mrs F out her ones on as the rubber that fits around the boots is quite tough...
 |
| Our Trudge Through The Snow |
It actually wasn't too far from where we stopped to spike up to the summit. The summit itself was on a sharp bend of a fence that lead up to Skiddaw. As Mr & Mrs S still hadn't conquered Skiddaw, it was tantalisingly close, but still quite a way to go in bad weather. So the decision was made to come back on a better day where we could actually get good views at least. We wasn't a fan of Skiddaw when we done it (see 2013 July entry) as the way we went through Latrigg Woods was a monotonous route and plus the fact that we had just driven up from London and climbed Skiddaw on the same day! Those were the days when we were ambitious to make the most of our time in the Lakes. We would often go and climb one or two before heading home too, which made it around 11pm by the time we got home. The biggest climb we did before heading home once was Dollywagon Pike, Nethermost Pike and Helvellyn (see 2014 April entry) These days we like to get up and head straight home and be there by midday! How times change...
 |
| Bakestall Summit Right By The Bend In The Fence |
We had a quick lunch stop and hot drinks before heading down, as stopping for too long would get us too cold. The spikes came in handy on our way back down, even after the snow as it was wet and slippery, they were stopping us from slipping with the good grip underfoot. As soon as we got back to the rugged path, we took our spikes off and carefully made our way back down to the main path that took us back to the car. We stopped at a gate that had a stile, which was quite handy to sit on and finished off the rest of our lunch. We stopped for longer than normal, but it wasn't that cold a little further down and wasn't windy, so it quite a pleasant little stop. Although it wasn't raining it was wet with all the fog, so some of our stuff was getting little dew drops and soggy...especially Mr F's hair as he never puts his hood up!
 |
| Pit Stop By The Gate/Stile |
 |
| Mr S In Mid Munch! |
 |
| Mrs S Photo Bombed By Mrs F |
 |
| Nice Proper Photo Together 💙 |
We headed back to Sainsbury's to pick up more banana's and easy peeler oranges. The easy peelers were particularly sweet and juicy and the Gala apples were much bigger than the ones you get in London, for whatever reason. Mrs S picked up an impulse buy of hot cross buns to have with our usual hot drinks when we got in from being out on the fells.
It was quite nice to go out, climb a Wainwright, tick it off the list and get back to enjoy the rest of the afternoon back at the cottage. Mr F was due to preach at church on the first Sunday we were back, so he spent every evening studying and writing out his sermon, so he got stuck into that. Mr S was doing some of his architect work on his laptop, Mrs S was doing some bits on her iPad, whilst Mrs F enjoyed watching
7 Years in Tibet that was on the tele. It was just a really nice chilled out afternoon...
Later that night, Mrs F went to have a shower and slipped slightly as she stepped in and bashed her toe joint on the shower cubicle 😭 It came up in a little lump so Mr F went and got some peas to put on her toe. She rested it for a while before trying to shower again with better success! She was a little worried about it being bruised and painful to walk on, but it was fine. Mr S was on dinner duty with a lovely dinner of steak, chips, peas and salad. A nice day had by all...
DAY 4: MEAL FELL - 1804ft
GREAT SCA FELL - 2136ft
BRAE FELL - 1920ft
LONGLANDS - 1585ft
4 HOURS TREKKING
We woke up to a glorious morning, the best morning so far and was forecast to stay nice. We had a choice to climb 4 today and 2 the next day or do it the other way around, although the 2 day once was a slightly longer walk out and up. Since it was a nice day, we opted for the longer day of doing the 4. We headed out straight after we were fed and watered and ready for the day...
 |
| Beautiful Sunny Morning |
 |
| Getting The Car Loaded Up & Ready |
This time, we parked somewhere completely different. According to the Wainwright book ,there is a little parking spot in a little lay-by at the start of where we needed to set out from. As with most of these apparent parking places in little lay-by's, it took a bit of locating and finding! Parking spot found, we headed in a onwards and upwards manner...
 |
| The Start Of The Climb Up |
 |
| Looking Ahead Of Our Initial Climb Up |
The ground levelled out somewhat onto a sheep track. Once Mr F looked at the Satmap, we were too high and needed to pick up a path that was apparently much lower down. So as we headed downwards slightly and picked up a path that eventually lead us right through the valley. It was fairly level although we were trekking around the side of a fell, so wasn't an uneven ankle killer. It was quite a warm day, we stopped to delayer...
 |
| The Sheep Track We Followed |
 |
| The Valley Ahead |
 |
| Up Where We Were Heading |
So the intent was to carry on walking up through the valley and eventually get ourselves onto the ridge ahead and skirt around back over to Meal Fell. However, Mr F came across a shortcut through a patch of snow that took us directly up onto where we needed to be, which cut out about 30 minutes of making our way up to the ridge line...
 |
| Where We Were Aiming For |
 |
| Our Shortcut |
 |
| Wind Shelter By The Summit |
 |
| Looking Over At Skiddaw |
 |
| Meal Fell Summit Cairn |
We decided to have a pit stop for food and enjoyed the beautiful clear views around us. We had an impressive view of Bakestall, Skiddaw and Skiddaw Little Man from where we were...we were in no rush as we had the sun beaming down on us, no wind and great all round views...
 |
| Our Pit Stop |
 |
| Skiddaw In The Distance |
The route up to our next mountain for the day looked brutal. From where we were looking it was a straight up grass route onto the ridge we were initially aiming for, but the way up always looks worse from a distance. We realised how much we were shielded from the wind when we stood up to get ourselves ready to set off again. Once we were well on the way upwards, it wasn't too bad after all...
Although it didn't seem too bad once we were on it, the route still required regular breathing stops! Mr F went ahead and Mrs F pushed through wanting to stop and met him at the top of our next summit, Great Sca Fell. Mr & Mrs S shortly caught us up...
 |
| Mr & Mrs S Coming Up To Join Us At The Summit |
 |
| Views Were Still Beautifully Crisp Clear |
 |
| Looking Ahead To Our Next One...Brae Fell |
 |
| Group Photo On Great Sca Fell |
 |
| Looking Forward Towards Our Next Destination |
It didn't take us too long at all to get to the next summit...7 minutes to be precise! We passed Little Sca Fell along the way, which isn't a Wainwright but a fell in it's own right.We met a family on our way who were heading up to Great Sca Fell. A Mum and Dad who were clearly more up for it than their 3 kids who were lagging behind!
This time at the summit, the boys decided to come out and make an appearance for a summit photo! We stopped here for lunch in a little wind shelter just about big enough for all of us, before setting off for the final Wainwright of the day...Longlands. From Brae Fell, we had to head downwards in a kind of U Turn manner and walk alongside Brae Fell, through some slightly challenging boggy areas before heading upwards slightly to the summit of Longlands. Mrs F realised halfway up towards the summit that her beloved sunglasses of 7 years were no longer on head! Mr F very kindly offered to go back and have a look for them. He ran back to where Mrs F thought she lost them, which wasn't too far from where we were but he couldn't find them 😢 He did however find his own brand new sunglasses on the floor on the way back! He blamed Mrs F as he said he gave them to her to hold along with his rucksack whilst he ran back...Mrs F said they must have fallen off his head...mmmm. So a very sad Mrs F joined the others and made it to the summit of Longlands. She did put a message on a Lake District Facebook page asking people to look out for them. There was a kind man who was doing the same route the next day and looked out for them, but alas, no joy...
 |
| Looking Towards Brae Fell From Little Sca Fell |
 |
| The Boys Summit Photo |
 |
| Skiddaw In The Far Distance |
 |
| Brae Fell Huge Summit Cairn |
 |
| Setting Off From Our Little Wind Shelter |
 |
| Looking Back |
 |
| Longlands In The Distance |
 |
| This Made It Look As Though We Were Walking Right Off The Edge! |
 |
| We Thought This Line Up Of Sheep Was Quite Funny! |
Once back to cottage, Mr F was on dinner duty of breaded fish, jacket potatoes, roasted peppers, peas and salad. However we had the worlds most uncookable jacket potatoes that refused to precook in the microwave (although the microwave was a low wattage) and fish that would not crisp up! The potatoes took a good 25 minutes in the microwave before we could even put them in the oven. Mrs F ended up taking over as Mr F sat at the kitchen table writing more of his sermon. We had dinner a little later than expected but it was nice once it was finally cooked and on our laps ready to eat! We enjoyed it whilst watching Legends of the Fall, which was another film that Mr & Mrs S bought. A good day had on the sunny fells...
DAY 5: HIGH PIKE - 2157ft
CARROCK FELL - 2169ft
4 HOURS TREKKING
Once again we woke up to a beautiful sunny day to the sound of birds...and Milo the black lab puppy being called by his Mum! She is the lady who owns the cottage, Philippa. Mr F was the first up and downstairs, so he opened the door to say hello to the dogs. Clive ran into the cottage and Milo followed him, Philippa only saw Milo run in and apologised to Mr F who said he was only following Clive! 😃
As Mr S was concerned about Mrs S's poorly chest, we decided to take 2 cars as our planned route lead us up onto the fells at a different end to coming off. We drove quite far out and too far from where we needed to park both cars, we ended up in a lovely little village called Mungrisdale at the far end of where we needed to be. Mr F lead the way and had Mr & Mrs S following in their car, so pulled over by a nice looking pub to look at the map and re-evaluate. We had to go quite a way back to get to where we needed both card to be, which was just off of a main road that ran right through the open land running past the fells. Mr S parked his car ready for when we came off the mountains and Mr F parked it further up to the start of our trek. He had to drive through what looked like a little stream that had water height markers, so we imagine in the wetter months it gets quite high. Luckily it was ok enough for us to drive through. The road was quite narrow, so Mr F drove further up to turn around ready to be facing the right way for when we came back. With not a breath of wind and the sun shinning, we set off for High Pike...
 |
| Looking Upwards |
 |
| Getting Ourselves Organised By The Car As Per Usual |
 |
| Mrs F Raring To Go |
 |
| A Common Scene of The Boys Checking The Route |
 |
| Our Initial Upward Trek |
Our way up through the valley was a really pleasant stroll. Much like the previous day heading up towards Meal Fell, the route was on the slight slope along the side of a fell, but again, not an ankle killer. We met a couple with a couple of dogs on the way up and one of them - who was a rescue dog - was unsure of us all and really barking and growling. Mrs F persevered with her and she eventually came around to her 😊
Mr F suggested heading straight up onto the fell we were skirting around to gain the height and carry on walking across the ridge to the summit. Mr S suggested staying on the path we were on that eventually took us up directly onto the summit...we went with the latter. Once we got to the summit, there was a pleasant surprise of a bench on the summit! We've never encountered a bench on a summit before, not sure there's even one at Snowdon outside the little cafe...
 |
| Skirting Around Towards The Summit |
 |
| The Summit Up There Somewhere |
It was such a warm day that we & Mrs S took our gaiters off. It was such a lovely sunny day with absolutely no wind and a really pleasant, not too arduous trek. The path turned into a short incline, that took us directly to the summit. The backdrop of the mountains behind were beautiful...as always, photos never do it justice...
 |
| Little Push To The Top |
 |
| Mr & Mrs S Shortly Following |
 |
| The Summit With The Backdrop Of Snowy Mountains |
 |
| The Summit Cairn Dial |
 |
| On The Summit Bench |
 |
| Looking Over To Carrock Fell |
 |
| Making Our Way Over |
As we made our way over, the terrain quickly turned into a bog fest! Mrs F persisted without gaiters, hopping from the more protruding spongy areas. Whereas Mr F and Mrs S decided to stop and put their gaiters on, just at the right time before Mrs F literally 2 minutes later went down a really boggy and muddy hole! Her entire boot and bottom part of her gaiter was black!
 |
| Mr F & Mrs S Putting Their Gaiters Back On |
There were a quite a few other people out, including a big group of about 10 people who were heading up to Carrock Fell at the same as us. They overtook us when Mr F & Mrs S stopped to put their gaiters on and made it to the summit before us. As we neared the top, we decided to stop further down just out of the way to allow the group to move on before we got to the summit ourselves. We each found our own rock to plonk ourselves down and enjoyed the complete stillness around us. In all the times we've been out on the mountains, we've never experienced absolutely no wind before, you could literally hear nothing...it was such a blissful moment.
We had lunch and sat for a while just taking in all the views around us and enjoying the rare silence. Once everyone had moved on from the summit, we headed up ourselves, just literally 50 foot from where we sat...
 |
| Summit Up Past The Bog Fest |
 |
| Carrock Fell Conquered |
 |
| Views From The Summit Carin |
 |
| Mrs S Photo Bombing Mrs F! |
 |
| Panoramic Views From The Summit |
 |
| Beautiful Photo Of Us |
 |
| Boys Checking The Route Back |
 |
| Through The Mini Boulder Field |
The initial way down form the summit was through a mini boulder filed, which then shortly after turned into a grassy downward slope. As we continued heading down, we were nearing what looked very much like a cliff edge at the end of the route. It was however a steep descent carrying on through and down the valley. The initial part onto the steep descent was through a gully of lose ground that wasn't steady underfoot at all. Mrs S had a little trip on her backside, whilst Mr F took his time behind us. The gully opened out onto an open area of general downness!
We then picked up a rough route that looked like a rake heading down, that eventually took us to a path towards the main road that was tantalisingly close. It's quite funny whenever we come down a hard descent as we always say 'I don't fancy coming up this way!' However sometimes the way initially our planned way up!
 |
| The Steady Grass Route Down |
 |
| Looking Back At Progress |
 |
| Coming Up To The Big Drop Through The Gully |
 |
| The Gully! Photos Really Don't Show How Steep It Really Is... |
 |
| Mrs S Slowly Making Her Way Through... |
 |
| ...With The Use Of Her Walking Pole |
 |
| Mrs F Taking The Lead |
 |
| Mr S Taking His Time To Be Careful |
 |
| Picking Up The Path Further Down |
 |
| Mrs F Pleased With Her Rake Tackle |
 |
| Looking Back At Our Route Down |
The path lead us to a couple of parked cars by the main road...our's however was a little further along the road! So we had a little 5 minute along the main road the Mr S's car and took us further up the road to Mr F's car. We decided that as today was our final day on the mountains that we would have a drink. So off we went in search for a local pub that sold Real Ale and a local shop to get some bean for our planned dinner of pie, chips & baked beans...oh, and milk! 😊
 |
| Heading Back To Mr S's Car Along The Main Road |
 |
| Looking Back & Up At Our Crazy Route Down |
 |
| Beautiful Mountains Ahead |
We stopped in a tiny village not too far away where they had a pub and a little local shop. However the pub was shut, so we grabbed our bits from the shop and went on ahead in the cars to a pub that was open further up. Mrs S had her usual pint of cider, Mr F had his pint of local brew and Mr S & Mrs F had the Wainwright beer...they all went down very nicely!
We headed back to the cottage where Mr F got back on his sermon, Mr S got back on his architecture stuff, Mrs S was playing some kind of origami game on her iPad and Mr F read her bible on the big bay window in the living room. It was Mr F's turn to cook dinner (he actually cooked it this time rather than Mr F taking over!) It was so nice to have an old time classic of pie, chips and beans. We were supposed to have the pie with new potatoes, carrots, peas, green beans and gravy, but Mrs F forgot to order the new potatoes with the Tesco delivery...this version was so much nicer anyway! Mrs F had been wanting to watch The Holiday all week that was a selection in the cabinet in the living room. So we enjoyed both our dinners and the chick flick film...
Today was also the day that Billy Graham died. Mrs F works for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the day before, we were eating breakfast at the kitchen table and for some reason, Mrs F said that she had a feeling that Billy Graham would die when she wasn't at work...the next day he passed away!
 |
| A Shot Of The Mountain From The Living Room |
 |
| Mrs F Enjoying The Views Of The Grounds Sat On The Window |
DAY 6: DAY TRIP TO COCKERMOUTH
So as we were all done with the Northern Fells, we had a rest day, which we never normally do. However our last trip to the lakes back in September had a rest day to Grasmere (See 2017, December entry) We normally carry on ticking off the Wainwright when Mr & Mrs S have a rest day, however to carry on climbing would mean to drive quite far away from the cottage to get to the ones we haven't yet done. Our issue now, is we only have 18 Wainwright's left, but they are dotted her, there and everywhere! So there will be some days that we can only do one as it may not be close to anything else or have a day of driving to various places to tick off more than one, which is what we have down before when we ticked off 3 in one day doing that (See 2016, June entry)
Anyhow, we all agreed that a nice trip to Cockermouth to look around would be nice, since none of us had ventured into Cockermouth before. It was also nice to have a completely relaxed morning and not have to get up to go and exert ourselves for the day. We spent the morning in bed with the curtains pulled back, the sun beaming in and the sound of the birds. It was a proper chilled out morning, which we don't get many of even when we're in London on our days off! We parked in a car park where we could walk through a little park to the main road and had a walk right through the main shopping road. It was a lovely little town with lots of local independent shops of bookshops, butchers, bakers, fishmongers, tea rooms, pubs. There was a pub called
The Christian Fletcher and we found out that Christian Fletcher from
Mutiny on the Bounty was from Cockermouth. We had a look in an old vintage shop that had lots of junk stuff, but Mrs F loves a vintage shop, as does Mr S in fairness...Mrs S...not so much! She and Mr F waited outside for Mrs F & Mr S to finish perusing and come out. We were then on the hunt for somewhere to have lunch. Mr S quite fancied a coffee and maybe cake in the little cafe in the bookshop we went into, whereas Mrs F was up for something more substantial than that! We were stopped by a local lady who must have detected we were in search for lunch and recommended a place up by Sainsbury's called
VeeVa! So we took her word for it and went in search for it down Station Road, which we had already ventured down. Give the lady her due, it was actually a nice place. Not as quaint as we would have liked but it was nice food, good hot drinks good milkshakes! Mrs F had a cheese & ham toastie, Mr F had a bowl of sweet potatoes and Mr & Mrs S had something too but can't remember what...think it was some kind of burger! Mr F went and got himself a banana milkshake....Mrs F's eye's lit up, went and got herself a chocolate milkshake...and wasn't overly keen on it, so Mr F polished it off!
 |
| Mrs F's Decaff Caramel Coffee |
 |
| Mr F's Banana Milkshake |
 |
| Mrs/Mr F's Chocolate Milkshake |
Lunch consumed, we bought jacket potatoes from a green grocers on the same road for our final night of a mish-mash dinner to get everything eaten before we headed home the next day. We had a mooch around a music shop and other little independent ones before making our way back to the car. Mrs F was disappointed we didn't go to see the castle, so Mr F checked the time on the car, saw we had another 3 hours so we walked through the little park down to the castle where we could see it from the other side of the little stream. Castle seen, Mrs F satisfied, we headed back to the cottage to make a start on packing up all our gear. Mrs S was on dinner duty for the final night and make a concoction of the chicken with Maggi, roasted carrots, roasted peppers, more uncookable jacket potatoes, green beans (that were past their sell-by date) fish and chips!
We eat in the kitchen downstairs for the first time all week. We wanted to have a relatively early night as we were up early to head back to London in the morning, so we watched the second half of Titanic, put the dishwasher on and went to bed!
 |
| Our Mish Mash Dinner |
 |
| The Lemons Were No Exceptions |
As per usual, we were up with the birds in the morning, cars loaded and ready to hit the road. We followed Mr & Mrs S out and missed the turn/shortcut that would have lead us directly to the M6. So we had to head up to Carlisle to pick it up further up. The journey across the Pennines home is one we always prefer than going on the M65. It was a beautiful sunny morning and the way was clear...praise God! We were home before midday, which was a good run. Winter Lake District climb, done...Northern Fells...done! 😃
No comments:
Post a Comment