The first weekend where the weather wasn't horrendous with promises of dry, bright, sunny and calm days meant only 1 thing. Bob was quickly packed after work on Friday with all the necessary things we'd need for a weekend in the lakes and off we set.
Approaching Keswick we found that the A66 was closed a few miles before Keswick and if we planned to stop at our Castlerigg spot then we'd have a heck of a detour. We pulled off before the road closure and found ourselves on back roads, some very narrow, around the Mell Fells and after 10 mins or so found a lovely spot to park up on a bridge over a river.
What a spot this proved to be. In the morning we had a red squirrel peeking in and it danced around for a few mins before heading off to the forest, we had a dipper in the river below and a massive fox crossed the field in front of us, keeping its beady eye on us as it crossed. All that wildlife and we hadn't even had breakfast.
We were soon dressed and on our way to park up for our walk. Honister was our destination for parking as today we'd planned to head for Great Gable taking in Grey Knotts, Brandreth & Green Gable. I'd done Green and Great Gable before but Grey Knotts & Brandreth were ticks for me, yay!
The forecast was proving correct with the sun shining down on us as the cold wind bit at my face. It wasn't long after we got going that I began to warm up and as there was very little wind at this point it was quite pleasant. The initial part of the walk is fairly steep up the side of Grey Knotts but this kind of path is great because you gain great height in a short space of time and the distraction is all the gorgeous views opening up around you.
At the top of Grey Knotts we took the obligatory trig pics and set off towards Brandreth.
The higher we got the windier it got but it wasn't uncomfortable at all. What else was noticeable was that the higher we got the icier it got and the ice/snow patches were becoming more frequent. We knew that most of the high hills were in winter conditions but for some reason our winter gear was still in Bob. No crampons and more importantly no ice axe which always came in handy when going up or down snow/ice patches. No sliding down any patch on your bum if you've got nothing to stop you.....bah !
After posing at the summit cairn of Brandreth we could see over to Green Gable and more importantly over to Great Gable and it looked pretty wintery to me. We said we'd make a decision on the top of Green Gable whether to continue as it wasn't sensible to get involved with any larger ice/snow fields without the proper equipment and sure enough as we stood on top of Green Gable it was aparent that we wouldn't be going any further but would find our homeward path which was visible just below us and call it a day.
So off we went down the path, which I must say was a brilliant path. The homewards route took us right past Pillar and we could see down the Ennerdale Valley and over to Buttermere and all the gorgeous Fells round that area.
We couldn't have asked for a better day weatherise and it really is a privilege to get to do what we do and experience the world from a different prespective and glad I've always got my camera to take advantage of the most perfect conditions.
Thats me up to 194 Wainwrights meaning only 20 to go !
