Start point: Longlands (NY 266 358)
Longlands – Longlands Fell – Lowthwaite Fell – Brae Fell – Little Sca Fell – Great Sca Fell – Meal Fell – Trusmadoor –Great Cockup – Longlands
Distance: 6.9 miles Total Ascent: 673 metres Time Taken: 2 hours 40 minutes Start Time: 10:20
Weather: Warm but windy on the tops. 12oC
Firstly, thanks to all (the many!) who attended the book launch in Keswick and Bowness this weekend, it was great to meet so many of the StridingEdge family and I was humbled by the amount of people that had travelled from far and wide to attend the event and meet Dougal and Casper (and two blokes that have brought a book out!). Thank you.
The weather has completely turned around from my last walk with the temperatures reaching a heady 12C and the snow has completely disappeared from the fell tops now. I wasn’t expecting much from the weather but was pleasantly surprised when the weather was much brighter than expected on these rather dull fells. The wind however was biting up there and it was really quite cold on the tops.

It was mighty windy once up on the top (as demonstrated by my able assistant, Dougal) and hat and gloves were required from here.

Bassenthwaite Lake. Today's tale from the fells...when I was descending steeply towards the River Ellen, I could see by looking at the lie of the land the best route of descent. I could also see a crossing of the River Ellen and a path on the opposite bank marked by the gap in the bracken. The person a little further ahead of me had a hand held GPS at which he was intently gazing. He managed to descend the horribly steep way without lifting his eyes from the screen and continued across a bog towards a crossing of the River Ellen which would have been a nightmare, as it goes into a deep ravine further downstream from the crossing. I could see him looking around for a crossing place when I was well on my way back to Longlands...they are alright those GPS's but sometimes it's better just to look!