5 Wainwrights fuelled by Tunnochs Tea Cakes

It's almost the end of October and I cant believe the last post to my blog was in August.  Inbetween then there's been adventures in Italy including The Italian Grand Prix, wanders round Riva del Garda where we did some Via Ferrate and then time on the Italian Rivera visiting the Cinque Terre.  I'll get round to posting about our Via Ferrate soon but for now here's an account of our day yesterday.  Come rain or shine we were getting out !

The day started somewhat early and we were on the M6 heading north about 7.30am out the car with boots and waterproofs on about 9.30/10am ish.  Not as early as normal but the walk today whilst not short wasn't as challenging as some of our adventures. 

 We headed up the path and could see the fells ahead that we'd be tackling and identified the route down almost immediately to our left.  Upwards to the right was the first order of the day and having missed the path (surprise, surprise) we found ourselves heading straight up a boggy, heathery, pine needly, slippy woody steep slope.  Its not surprising that we ended up off piste but I wasn't ready for it so early in the day.   

The rain was on/off and showery to say the least but what met us at the top of the slope was a fierce driving wind.  The kind that has you hunkered down and moving forward as if in battle.  The path off to the right was noticeable however the wind kept blowing me off it and onto the slippery bog again.  By this time I was soaked but warm enough and soon enough we arrived at the top of Whinlatter where there was, much to our relief, a small shelter.   Sitting down and gathering ourselves together we had a Tunnochs Teacake and caught our breaths.

 Onwards now to Lords Seat and the wind was ever with us.  We could see some people coming the other way but other than them the hills were empty.  Our route took us down though the forest and followed the mountain bike route for a bit before opening out again where the path up to Lords Seat was clearly ahead.

Lords Seat was nice as the sky had begun to break up and we could see some blue sky and although we didnt know it then we'd seen the last of the cold rain for the day.

A quick detour over to Barf and here we met some other walkers heading the other way. Lovely views over Bassenthwaite Lake one way and the Skiddaw range the other way.  Here we found somewhere to have a sandwich (cheese and piccalilli), a pear and another Tunnochs Tea Cake.  Not quite sheltered from the wind but enough to give us a few mins rest to eat lunch.

Back down off Barf and over again to Lords Seat.  I wondered if there was a way round Lords Seat instead of going back up to the summit and down again to get over to Broom Fell and there seemed to be a path that skirted the contours round the side.  Big Mistake!  Whilst is was a sort of path it was at an unatural angle and was not the easiest to walk on.  For the first time today I felt my knee twinge and the angle I was walking at just seemed to aggravate it with every step.

Broom Fell was lovely.  A nice big solid cairn at the top and a wind that would cut right through you. We didnt hang around long  and headed down towards the forest again.  The last hill of the day was right in front of us and it seemed such a long way away.  Battling the wind we ventured down and then began the trek back up to our final hill Graystones.   Chris motoring on ahead leant into the wind at the top and almost took off.  Wicked conditions but fun all the same.

So off downwards we went it was steep and slippy and we nearly took a tumble a few times.  Half way down the path we veered off to the left into the forest again towards a waterfall hidden in the trees, spout force I think.  Anyway we decided to give that a miss as there didn't seem to be much water in there anyway.  Instead of the waterfall here's a nice picture of some broom.

 A few miles along the path and we were back at the car, sprinkled with pine needles falling from the canopy of trees in the forest we headed for the pub.  1 large glass of red had my name on it. 

Great day in the lakes.  This is what we do.  Its good for the soul, the mind and the health.   But shhhhhhhh don't tell everyone or they'll all be up there and the secret of putting one foot in front of the other and climbing a hill is one I'd like to keep to myself.