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Day 2. Let the Battle (with the weather commence) Well after most of the Sat being a washout ad just starting to clear at sun set we could see that the Sunday looked like it could be a better day for walking (cloud free)
Oh how wrong I was
! After a little drive around Braithwaite we eventually found the parking space for this walk, and there was NO parking ticket required
. So off we went and soon found the start of the walk at Barrow Lodge and before long we were closing in on the snow line and the wind was picking up so it was time to get more layers on. Minutes later we were at the first summit of the day, Barrow and it was blowing an absolute hoolie
although the visibility was looking good for now anyway, great views all around with the sun hitting some of the fresh overnight snow on the surrounding hills, it was looking great. Onward we went and after we figured out the maze of paths we were soon on Outerside and then on to Causey Pike and thats when the wind and snow showers realy picked up
. So it was gloves and hat on and time to zip up all round, and as long as I didnt turn around to take too many photos
I would be fine as the wind was hitting the back right side (I ended up taking 125 photos on this day
). On we went and it was with out a word of exageration it was the coldest, windiest day I have had on the hills even after 240 odd Munros, and I work outside so I thought that I was fairly weather hardy
Nope, I guess not ! So on we went and umpteen photos later we were at Crag Hill, and this was the first time I had to walk on what I think was rain which had fallen on to stones (or Melted snow) and had frozen ? It was like walking on ice cubes and guess what I had not brought my crampons
. So rather than go over the end of Crag Hill we had to skirt around to the left and to find snow to walk in as it would be far easier to walk in,and it turned out there was plenty of on what would be the West side of the hill. This was when we decided not to go for Grasmoor on this walk as we had even further to walk head first in to the wind on the way back. So on we battled till we got to Hopegill Head when we had to turn and face the wind
, it was bloomin horrendous! It must have been 40-50mph with stronger gusts with the added bonus of hail showers
. On we went though, through what only could be described as a blizzard for the next 30 mins or so and we could then start to see the summit of the last summit of the day, Grisedale Pike. After even more photos we started to head down hill which we had to be pretty careful as it is a fairly narrow ridge and a trip in the wrong place could end up in a bit of bother
so after about maybe an hour we were back at the car and what a relief that was. THere was more though, we still had a 4.5 hr drive to do to get us to our nxt destination in Wales! Enjoy the photos once again. Colin
