Three down, Four to go!

Things are getting a bit repetitive! Another day in the Lakes, another of Wainwright's books completed. This time it was the Far Eastern Fells. 

After a very foggy start when leaving home we broke in to the sunshine around Settle and had bright sunshine for the rest of the day. Cath dropped me off at The Queen's Head in Troutbeck and headed off to go mountain biking. The target was to pick up the last four tops on a linear route to Howtown, the first few kilometres were on tarmac but then it was up hill on to the lowest fell in the book, Troutbeck Tongue. The boggy ground to the north mentioned by Wainwright was fairly dry so soon I was on the first of the big climbs of the day up the old Roman Road on to the ridge leading to High Street.

This was very warm work despite taking it steady, the only people I saw were a couple of fell runners. The ridge itself was fairly quiet until Thornthwaite Beacon and along the ridge to Gray Crag where I lunched. Then it was a steep drop down to the outflow of Hayeswater and back up to climb on to Rest Dodd.

The sun was taking its toll now and I wished I'd brought a hat to provide some shade. One more top to do, The Nab, and it's one that used to be out of bounds as it lies within the Martindale Deer Reserve but these days access is permitted. Fortunately the very boggy ground between the two tops was nearly dry so it made for easy, well cushioned walking. 

With just a surprisingly steep descent down in to Martindale there remained only another long section of tarmac to gain the pier at Howtown and grab the ferry to Pooley Bridge for some well earned scram before Cath arrived and we headed home.