Lakes Day 1 - St Sunday's Crag Sorted !

Bank holiday weekend camping in Glenridding meant that we had 3 days to play with and the plan for day 1 was to take in the summit of St Sunday's Crag along with a few others of course.  Starting with Arniston Crag, Birks, St Sunday's crag, Fairfield then coming down via Hart Crag and Hartsop Above How.  A full day out indeed.

We walked from the campsite, which was nice, after a breakfast of porridge for me and beans and sausages for Chris.  Camping isn't camping unless there are beans and sausages involved.

We made our way up to the little craggy summit of Arniston Crag in good time and the weather was decent. Not sunny and a bit of a bite in the wind but not too bad all round.

The next stop was Birks and what a boring summit that was.  A steepish slog up the side of the mountain and a flattish grassy plateau like summit.  But it was a tick and a tick that got me closer to my 100th Wainwright.

St Sunday's Crag was a pleasure to walk.  A mixture of gravel path and craggy scrambly bits made the upward journey much more pleasant.  It was hard work and the biting cold wind, if it got you, tore right through you.  Good job we had layers as the previous nights camping had left me chilled so I was feeling it more than usual.

After a bit more effort we reached the summit and it was quite busy on that route today.  The views were as always spectacular and we could see clearly the remaining route of the day.

We didn't hang around long on the top but started on the downward path that would take us down and up the side of Fairfield.  A quick bite of lunch (meats and cheeses) and the discovery of some odd garments and we were on our way up the beautiful path that clambered through rocks and big steps up the side of the hill.

The top of Fairfield was confusing.  So many cairns at a similar altitude.  Which one was the top?  We touched every one just to be sure.

Across the summit of Fairfield we could see the other horseshoe leading down into Ambleside but we were taking a left turn before that over to Hart Crag and our route downwards.

Quite a nice path down, nothing too taxing.   A nice bit of scrambly bit and a decent path.  A perfect end to a perfect day and before long we were back at the road and pulling our tired legs along towards the pub.

Hurrah for the White Lion.