Coniston Old Man
The weather turned out much better than I thought it would today – it was a proper winter’s day up on The Old Man, all blue sky and snow, just lovely. That was a good choice Casper lad!
Walks
Grisedale Pike
With a break in the weather and a bit of sunshine around, Grisedale Pike looked very tempting from Keswick today wearing its best winter coat. The predicted weather as for high winds with a wind chill of -18C and so it turned out in the end – I didn’t fancy the full Coledale round once I had been up high for a while so took the valley route from Coledale Hause. As the old saying goes “Half a Coledale is better than no Coledale at all”! Once again it was just me and young Dougal whilst Casper stayed at home in the warm – sensible boy!
Black Fell
There has been little chance for me to get out on the fells over this last couple of weeks but today there was an opportunity but the weather forecast seemed to scupper any plans I had. Today’s mission was to beat the forecast rain, hail, thunder…
Wetherlam, Steel Edge and Wetherlam Edge
Tilberthwaite – Steel Edge – Wetherlam – Wetherlam Edge – Birk Fell Man on Birk Fell – Tilberthwaite Gill – Tilberthwaite [4.2 miles, 648m ascent]
The Scafells
With the ridge of high pressure sitting over the Lake District and the persistent fog at lower levels there was a very good chance there would be a temperature inversion today which fortunately proved to be correct. I set off early from Brackenclose to try and catch the sunrise from the roof of England and I am glad I did, it was a fantastic morning to have the highest peaks in the land all to myself with some stunning views.
Wansfell
More cold weather today and it was sunny around the fringes of the Lake District but many of the higher tops were shrouded in cloud; cloud that looked heavily snow laden. Even lowly Wansfell had a good few snow flurries blowing across whilst I was up there but in between there were some decent views.
Helvellyn
I seem to be following a bit of a pattern here with heading out early, chasing the sunrise but I find it is well worth it. Today’s views were just jaw dropping with the sun lighting up the fells with some fabulous colours. The wind was very strong making it feel like a bit of an Arctic expedition at times and I was well layered up for this one.
Coniston Sunrise
It has been really cold and clear for the last couple of days so I wanted to get high on a fell to catch a glorious sunrise this morning and I wasn’t disappointed with the one I got – the view from the Old Man was fabulous this morning, one to remember for a while.
Caw
Kiln Bank Cross – Park Head Road – Brock Barrow – Long Mire – Caw (OF) – Park Head Road – Kiln Bank Cross
The Uldale Fells
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.
Crinkle Crags and Bowfell
It was a beautiful weekend with lots of snow visible on the fell tops. Today was to be the day of the week according to the forecasters…well, it would have been rude not to go out!
Coniston Old Man
I saw Scafell through a parting in the clouds earlier this morning and could see that there was snow on the tops. It was a good bet that others would have snow on too and on the way to Coniston I could see that those tops were also dusted with snow. It only seems like 5 minutes ago since summer but there you go – full blown winter conditions on the fells once more.
Blawith Knott
The predicted Arctic blast did indeed arrive today and it was numbingly cold in the wind even on the top of lowly Blawith Knott – it only seems like 5 minutes since summer! Today was only a short walk followed by an aimless wander around – quite relaxing and enjoyable it was too.
Yewbarrow
I was looking forward to getting to Wasdale once more, it seems like ages since I was over that way. The weather started off looking quite promising but by the end of the walk it had clouded over and ended up a little dull but the great scrambling sections at either end of the fell made up for that.
Walney Sunset
It was such a fantastic day today, the weather was fine and clear and it was really warm. I didn’t manage to make it for a walk but did manage to catch the final glowing embers in a fabulous west coast sunset from Walney Island.
Lank Rigg
It was damp with a strong wind today making it feel decidedly chilly; I wore gloves throughout which shows how cold it was. There were quite a few showers but at least the strong wind made sure they blew away quickly.
Helvellyn & Striding Edge
The forecast was making it look to good to miss today and fortunately they got it right. Striding Edge was looking good today, very good in fact with views for miles.