After a few weeks of non hill activity we headed out early on Saturday morning to tick of 1 or perhaps 2 more Wainwrights from the list. Bakestall was the initial target but with the weather forecast looking decidedly dodgy it was debatable whether we'd even get out of the car.
Parked we changed into boots and got bags ready when the heavens opened and we quickly jumped back in the car and thought we'd give it a few mins to abate before venturing out. After 15 mins or so it had eased off and although only spitting it was decidedly brighter so off we went.
The first part of the walk took us up the same path we'd been on a few weeks before with the mountain bikes. Heading towards Whitewater Dash but before then we took a right turn and headed steeply up the flanks of Bakestall.
It was a wet and slippery ascent of the first part of the hill and with frequent showers it meant hoods up then hoods down intermittently. The higher we got the windier it got and although there wasn't much of a path we plodded onwards and upwards.
At the first plateau we could finally see the hill in the distance and although it didn't seem that far away it was slow going as there now wasn't much of a path and heads down we tried to follow a shallow track through the moss and grass that was leading us in the right direction.
Finally on top it was a lot more pleasant. The wind was still buffeting us about but the rain, thankfully, had stopped and there were a few dots of blue sky beginning to appear.
2 choices at the summit with 1 that would take us up onto the Skiddaw hills and 1 that would take us back down to the original path right at the point of the waterfall Whitewater Dash. Skiddaw wasn't in our plans for today so down we went.
Directly ahead of us was Little Calva and Great Calva which if the going had been better we'd have tackled today but alas those were going to be for another day.
Stopping at the waterfall we had a bite to eat and then followed the well defined track down round the base of Bakestall back to the path where the car was parked.
Thoughts were to pop into Keswick for a bit of shopping and a bite to eat at the Dog & Gun but Keswick was so busy we couldn't even get into the town far less get parked so we headed for home with the promise of a stop off at our favourite cheese shop in Settle.
So not the full compliment of Wainwrights ticked off today that we'd planned but still 1 more off that ever decreasing list. Chris is on 207 with 7 left to do and I'm on 181 with 33 left to do.
Fingers crossed we'll be in the Langdales next weekend with our beloved Bob we we can tick off a fair few more.
