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On Saturday, we drove down from the Orkney islands.
It was dark when we got to Keswick. In the morning, I opened the curtains in our apartment and there was Skiddaw in the sunshine, the summit capped with snow.
I grabbed my stuff and went for it - who knew when the weather would be like this again? I wasn't feeling too energetic after a solid day travelling, but I knew the route was easy and it was a good forecast.
I packed my ice spikes which I put on pretty much straight away as the paths were icy and very slippery - they were FAB and no problems until I took them off near the bottom on my return and had a spectacular near-fall on the tarmac in a car park
My boots for this walk were a pair of old crappy leather Hi-Tecs, £3 from a charity shop - I'm in the market for a new pair I think!! However they did the job.
It is a very simple route but a long uphill slog. Thankfully the views made up for any aches and I felt really exhilarated up there. The snow made it feel magical although it wasn't deep, and I was so glad I'd brought the ice spikes as it meant I was completely secure and didn't slip once!
When I got back down and back to base I had a long hot bath to get warm again.
Glad I dragged the "big" camera up there - it was spectacular!
- View from Briar Rigg
- Great views for a short amount of ascent
- Coming out of the trees and starting to climb...
- Derwent Water and Keswick
- Coming to the snow......
- Summit of Skiddaw Little Man, looking more like a broken old fence?!
- Summit at last - looking back to Little Man. So cold I could barely breathe! The coldest summit I've ever experienced.... couldn't eat or even work the camera without gloves and it took my hands half an hour to thaw out!
- Coming back down.