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The target for this walk was the Coledale round, but the weather had other ideas.
the forecast was for strong winds, and it was windy slogging up the slope of barrow, but the summit was more than windy, but once off and in the lea of the hill it was ok, I skirted round stile end and then climed outerside, again no drama until the summit when I was exposed to the full force coming down the valley,
Down onto the sail pass path and all quiet again, crossed over and up the path to causey pike with the aim f grabbing that top then follow the ridge over scar crags and sail but on cresting the ridge the wind was immense and i ended up virtually crabbing along with hands on the ground trying to keep my balance and falling forward when the wind died momenterily. it was scary so after getting to the top of causey pike i retreated back down the way i had come and went for a walk around the base of catbells and returned along the derwentwater shore path.
a day i would not like to repeat with wind like that
On the walk in from Portinscale, its raining heavily( normal january weather for the lake district) and Barrow looks high enough as the higher fells around it are in the cloud above, the route up follows the length of the ridge from right to left.
On the ridge of barrow, the rain has eased, looking back at Portinscale and keswick beyond
Cat bells and Derwentwater
stopping for a breather and its actually brightening up a bit
But the cloud is still touching the summit of Barrow
at the summit and the drop down to Barrow door and stile end
the climb up the east ridge of outerside,
On reaching the top of Outerside I was hit by the wind and spent several minutes ( it felt like just bracing myself against the wind and trying to carefully step forward without stumbling,
was glad to drop down slightly and get out of it
looking back towards Stile end and Barrow and the sail pass path
cresting the ridge between Causey pike and scar crags just before the full force of the wind hit me
I struggled up and down the dips and small tops of the top of Causey pike bracing against the wind, it was on my back but the ridge is narrow and i was worried i would stumble and pitch myself down the slope.
the summit of causey pike, I was rather close to the ground here, buffeted by the wind. the clouds were whipping past as the wind accelerated over the ridge. very scary
I turned back and the found walking into the wind even worse as I could see the clouds rushing up towards me from below like i was falling through them, disorientating.
at one point the wind blew my woolly hat off and i crawled to grab it where it had landed, that was the point I decided to head down and not try to continue the ridge towards scar crags and sail
summit selfie
retreating back down to the sail pass path , outerside to the left and Stile end and Barrow to the right
then the cloud lifted slightly and Skiddaw came into sight.
looking back up the sale pass path, all is calm down here and its stopped raining, what was the drama
heading for derwentwater and a look back and the summit is clear, ( causey Pike is the fell with the knobbly bit on the top) still blowing a Hoolie, i consoled myself knowing i had made the right decision
