The weather forecast was dreadful and didn't bode well for the day at all, showers, gusty wind up to 55miles per hour and other nasties were predicted for the morning but never the less we headed north, stopping, as always at Tebay services for our welcome morning cup of coffee.
We'd decided to tackle Raven Crag and Armboth Fell, if the weather gods allowed that is. A nice circular walk, taking in the 2 hills and finishing along the banks of Thirlmere. The whole way up in the car the rain battered against the windscreen and there was much talk of us not even getting out the car once we arrived but we carried on regardless.
On finding a parking space the rain was still drizzling however it was not as thunderous as it had been on the trip up the motorway. There was a breeze but it wasn't nearly as windy as predicted. It was bleak and misty but walkable so off we went.
Raven crag was lovely as we walked up through the trees on quite a steep path. A path littered with emerging wild flowers and the odd fungi!. Before long we were up on a plateau area and saw a sign that said, Castle Crag, Hill Fort so we figured while we were there we'd have a peek.
Castle Crag (not THE Castle Crag) was just a rocky mound with what seemed to be a trench like cut out round the sides. No further information was offered but it was a nice enough place.
The rain was easing off a bit and just a very light drizzle now as we headed up through the last bit of steep forest towards the summit of Raven Crag. As we reached the summit the drizzly rain turned to snow which was a bit of a surprise and the views over Thirlmere were lovely. We saw 2 ducks flying below, round and round and finally fleeing off to the other side of the lake. A few moments later we saw what we thought was a Kestrel but it was too far away to get a picture and even to see through the binoculars but we watched it soar round the side of the hill.
Time to head back down and out of the snowy, wet weather, back into the forested area to find the path to Armboth Fell. We took the track round to the left and it brought us to a style which led us onto to a marshy boggy moorland type path. The rain by this time was a bit more persistent and the ground underfoot was boggy and a bit yuk!
Initial thoughts were to turn back but we were almost there and we'd missed this fell before when we did High Tove and High Seat so it was best we bagged it now, even though the going was tough. Rain and bog, Brilliant !
Before we reached the summit the rain started to ease off and the cloud lifted from the surrounding hills showing the flanks of Helvellyn and Brown Crags peppered with snow and slowly revealing themselves from the mist.
Armboth Fell was ahead of us and not a very high peak at all, I think Wainwright was having a laugh when he included this in his lists.
We stopped on the top for a few mins to finish off what lunch we had brought and soon were heading for the path down. It was a straightforward path and one that would take us back to the banks of Thirlmere. Littered with a few waterfalls, some visible, some not it didn't take us long at all to reach the bottom and then follow the path along the side of the lake.
We saw the giant tree and Chris spotted a Red squirrel and soon found ourselves back at the car after another adventure in the lakes. Nothing perilous today but definitely a walk that we didn't think would happen. The weather gods were somewhat kind to us in that we didn't get the big gusts of wind that were predicted and a little bit of rain never hurt anyone, did it?
