Come hell or high water (no pun intended) we were getting on a hill today if it killed us. The forecast was fair throughout the day with rain coming in later so up we got early doors (6am) and we were out the door by 6.32. An obligatory stop at Tebay for a couple of scotch eggs (hill food) and a couple of coffee's it wasn't long before we were heading into Keswick. Seeing the sight of how high the river rose and peoples gardens strewn with rubble and occasional recognisable pieces of furniture was sobering as it really hit home just how devastating those floods were.
Parking up by Latrigg the road was closed half way mainly due to the fact one side of it had washed away and there were pot hols 1 - 2 ft deep running down the centre of the road. More evidence of the devastation of the water. We parked, got our boots on and made our way up the rest of the road towards the start of the walk. There were a few birds about and a fluttering of red caught my eye and although we got a blurred picture of around 6 birds that landed in a pot hole in front of us we recognised them later as being Crossbills. Beautiful and colourful.
The start of the walk starts fairly steeply and the fair forecast was holding out. I didn't think we'd be luck for long as we couldn't see the summit or even anything past half way up the initial hill. It was all foggy and looked damp and a bit bleak. Onwards and upwards and time would tell if we'd get a dry day.
The views behind us was a bit dark and cloud swirled in and out of peaks previously climbed. My fav little hill, Causey Pike with its distinctive nobbles and cute little nose like feature was there in all its glory with just a little dusting of snow. Keswisk lay before it and as we climbed, more hills became visible as well as Derwent water.
The initial path was a good one, in fact the whole way up the path was really good. The higher we got the more snow there was but there wasn't really any deep stuff. More patchy and icy.
The higher we got the less we could see and soon enough all views behind us an ahead of us were obscured. I'm sure this walk would have been gorgeous on a clear day but today we could only see what was ahead and soon that wasn't much indeed.
I think it was just after Skiddaw Little Man that the ice rain started but thankfully we had our goggles with us and although after they steamed up I couldn't see a thing they did keep the wind and ice off our faces....RESULT! The wind was fierce (50mph forecast) so we didn't stick around long at the summit of either hill and instead of carrying on we decided to venture back down the way we'd come up as conditions were fun for no one.
Cameras were packed away as we made our way down off the hill on a great path that flanked round and met our original path which then led down again towards Keswick and Derwent Water.
There were a fair few folk out on the hills today. Some fell running, some walking and some just having a wander out. We were back down by 2pm and glad that we had time to pop into Keswick to visit the butcher and the cheeseman and of course we'd pop into the Dog and Gun for a nibble and some well earned refreshment.
A great day out, a quick walk and weather that was different than forecast but that's just par for the course and all in all superbly enjoyable.
