Back on the Wainwrights

Given a fine forecast for the Saturday with encroaching rain for Sunday it was time to head back over to the Lakes and grab a few more Wainwrights. So, having woken at 5am I'd had breakfast and was on my way by 5:30. The A65 was surprisingly busy, in fact it was busier than the M6, don't know what was going on.

My target were the hills around Loweswater - this is an area of the Lakes that I really don't know having rarely ventured further than Buttermere. A bit of investigation revealed that the ground between the fells had a reputation of being "damp" so with recent precipitation it looked like it could be interesting.

I left the car at 0750 and headed towards Burnmoor Fell. Basically a steady plod up through woods then by means of missing the path a steep section to reach the ridge and so the top. For the next couple of tops (Blake Fell and Gavel Fell) it was simply a case of following the fence line on the ridge. The ground was damp but not overly so. It was after Gavel Fell that things got interesting.

White Moss is known for being wet ground and it didn't belie its reputation, however since so few people cross it the vegetation is still intact so it's possible to stagger from grass lump to grass lump. All a bit slow going though and it was a relief to get on to the firmer slopes of Hen Comb.

Buttermere and Fleetwith Pike from Hen Combe

Taking the fell runner's line (i.e. straight down) to Mosedale meant some very steep ground avoiding small rock outcrops on the way. A bit of a detour to cross via the bridge then it was straight up Meallbreak. It was here that I saw (not met) the first people of the day and a short while later passed a solitary walker near the summit. Apart from a couple of parties near the fell gate they were the only people I saw on the hill.

The next objectives were Fellbarrow and Low Fell but as I set off I realised that my knee wasn't going to be able to handle it - with the bad summer weather I've done so little walking to crags or anywhere else that I'm just not used to it. So home it was.

Sunday's bike ride was out to Feizor and back - there weren't many of us out (seven) so we all jumped in to the B-ride! After a very nice tea and scone at the cafe we returned in increasing rain for a total of 88Km of riding. On Wednesday there were twelve out riding and the pace was pretty brisk, with the nights drawing in there were lots of new lights on show - Hope Vision 1s being quite popular as well as the Lezyne. With all the flashing modes of the tail lights it was quite a disco heading round the roads to Thornton.