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The day before we had walked from Gosforth around the beautiful Blengdale Forest, about 6 miles but it was back to the fells today and parking at Brackenclose, at the head of Wastwater. Although a bit cool we set off in good weather and high spirits, hoping for some views today
It's always a wonderful place to be and although still not clear there were some sights to see.
- Illgill Head from car park
- Climb to Lingmell
Even from the foothills we could see into the valley, albeit a trifle cloudy
- Towards Wasdale Head
- Kirk Fell
- Illgill
As we gained a little height we could see a side profile of Yewbarrow, it looks so different from each of its sides
- Yewbarrow
The paths were stoney but graduated quite easy as we pressed on
- It's behind me
We passed some old buildings, don't know if they were dwellings or to do with farming but they always fascinate me
- Old ruins
We could now see the first steeper climb but all was ok for the moment
- Ahead to Illgill
We were high enough to see Burnmoor Tarn, around 60 acres in size and Harter Fell(?) in the distance
- Burnmoor Tarn
The view back to Wasdale told us something
- Oh Dear!
As you can see the mist was dropping but no wet weather leggings yet, but it wasn't long
- Calm before the storm
Then it came, rain and wind, driving into our faces like needles, the visibility was getting quite poor as we kept going to the summit which seemed never to appear, even passed the highest point to get there. When we did get there it was so bad just one photo of each of us then it was camera away, in case I don't look wet enough, check Glynn, Happy Times
- Illgill Head at 604m
- Wish we'd gone the beach now
It was now just press on and do Whin Rigg and trace our steps back down, we did get some visibility back as we descended but the rain was pelting down. The tracks were now rivers and the Herdwicke had the right idea, wedge yourself under a wall
As we reached the car the only bit of us dry were our feet, all the gear had let in some way, but the scarpas had done it. Kill for a hot coffee