Start point: Deepdale Bridge (NY 399 144)
Deepdale Bridge – Gale Crag – Hartsop Above How – Hart Crag – Fairfield – Cofa Pike – Saint Sunday Crag – Gavel Pike – Birks – Arnison Crag – Deepdale Bridge
Distance: 10.3 miles Total Ascent: 1431 metres Time Taken: 4 hours 45 minutes
Weather: Clear and cold, especially on the highest tops. 9oC.
After a cold and frosty night, it was a really clear day today with lovely blue skies and autumnal colours all around Deepdale. The Hartsop above How ridge is a fine walk and the return across Fairfield and St. Sunday Crag makes a lovely circuit of the valley. Angus and Casper managed to get recognised again on St. Sunday Crag by a StridingEdge fan, and (by default) so did I!
Autumnal Deepdale at the start of the walk.
Gavel Pike on St. Sunday Crag from the Hartsop above How ridge.
St. Sunday Crag across Deepdale.
Looking back to Place Fell.
Angletarn Pikes.
St. Sunday Crag.
Onward and upward - looking back to Place Fell and Angletarn Pikes.
Looking along the ridge to Hart Crag and Fairfield.
Angus.
A pair of Beardies on Hartsop above How. Down below in Dovedale, I could see foxhounds and hear the constant shouts and blowing horn of the huntsmen. Not sure what they hunt these days, though!
Looking across an icy pool to Hart Crag and Fairfield.
Fairfield.
Looking down the Hartsop above How ridge from Hart Crag.
Shooting into direct sunlight, not a good idea - but I liked the way the sun lit up Windermere and Morecambe Bay from Hart Crag.
The summit of Hart Crag.
The western fells from Fairfield, the familiar shape of Great Gable to the left.
...and a wider panorama.
Great Gable.
Looks busy over on Helvellyn.
Dollywagon Pike, Nethermost Pike and Helvellyn across Grisedale.
Cofa Pike and St. Sunday Crag.
Seat Sandal above Grisedale Tarn and the view westwards beyond from Cofa Pike.
Dollywagon Pike.
The summit of St. Sunday Crag - it's starting to cloud a bit now.
Gavel Pike and the Far Eastern fells from St. Sunday Crag. I could hear the bellowing of stags somewhere down below from here.
Ullswater and Birks from Gavel Pike.
Birks.
Hartsop on the descent from Birks.
Ullswater and Great Mell Fell from Trough Head.
Hartsop from the summit of Arnison Crag.
Just the three of us here on Arnison Crag.
Place Fell and Autumn in Deepdale.