Ellson Fell with a welcome breeze

[McMole]

An early morning call from Jaywizz led to a complete change of plans for the day with a 90 degree rotation in our drive direction: south instead of west. The forecast for the day in the west had been erratic over the previous 24 hours. Every time I looked it seemed to change from a fine day to one with several hours of wet weather around midday then back again. Jaywizz added in the possibility of thunderstorms and suggested we head to an area with a more stable, dry and lightning-free forecast. So we headed south to Ellson Fell where the combination of a shorter walk and longer drives kept the outing to about the same overall length.

We used Inca's parking place and followed his route to the top and back.

Jaywizz at the start with our route visible all the way up Castlewink

Looking back down at the car with the A7 in the distance

The summit from the 494m top and cairn on Castlewink

We did have a much better view than him with almost unbroken sunshine. There was a strong breeze which stopped any overheating and also meant there were zero midges or clegs to bother us. A welcome change from our previous outing. Cauldcleugh Head, where we'd had rain, wind and thick mist in 2017, was visible beyond Tudhope Hill as were the Eildon Hills in the far distance. It also afforded us a good view of Pikethaw and Wisp Hills which are on our list for later. There wasn't the time (or the energy) to do them as well that day.

View from the summit back over our approach route

The view NE to a clear Cauldcleugh Head

Eildon Hills 23 miles away

Pikethaw Hill on the left and Wisp Hillt on the right beyond the forested Glenrief Rig

There followed a leisurely stop at the top to consume some very tasty cherries Jaywizz produced out of her pack Aiming more directly for the col on the way down we crossed the course of the Rough Sike stream where I found that a) it flowed underground at that point and b) it had completely dried up. There was enough room to climb down and capture a shot of the continuing small tunnel.

The line of holes down to the Rough Sike streambed

The dry Rough Sike stream tunnel (diameter less than a foot)

Back at the car doors were opened to let the breeze cool it down before we headed back to crawl our way around the Edinburgh bypass.