Grasmoor and Grisedale Pike (plus five bonus Wainwrights)

Eeee! That was such a good fun morning I had today! It left me drenched in very unladylike rivers of ‘glow’, and desperate for: a) a shower; and b) a few cups of rehydration drink; but I had an absolute ball.

In the interests of being relatively cool for as long as possible, it was only just gone 6.30am as I stepped out of Colin and headed out to do this circuit (I’m not sure ‘circuit’ is really the right word here; it’s more of a scribble!):

The hills visited, in the order I visited them, were:

1) Whiteless Pike (660m)

2) Wandope (772m)

3) Grasmoor (Marilyn – 852m)

4) Grisedale Pike (Marilyn – 791m)

5) Hopegill Head (770m)

6) Crag Hill (839m)

7) Sail (773m)

The day was fine and sunny as I made my way over the first three tops and down to Coledale Hause. Thanks to the early hour, I even got to enjoy the sight of an inversion a few valleys over, which hadn’t had time to burn off:

Grisedale Pike wasn’t meant to come fourth in my list, but once at Coledale Hause the whim took me to reverse the order of my next two hills, so that’s what I did. I met a chap up there who was worried about the weather and felt that rain was on its way, with the risk of thunder. I looked around at the few fluffy clouds and didn’t share his assessment of the immediate risk.

Atop Grisedale Pike. A few minutes earlier there had just been a few fluffy clouds around

A very short while later*, as I made my way up Hopegill Head, I noticed that suddenly there were bubbly clouds. A few minutes after that, as I reached that next summit, there was a big black ominously bubbly cloud sitting over me, which was also shrouding the summit of Grisedale Pike, making me glad of that whim which had made me reverse the order of these two.

Where’d all that cloud suddenly come from?

Looking back at Grisedale Pike from Hopegill Head, just before the cloud fully covered the summit

I’d hardly been going slowly until this point, but I certainly didn’t want to miss out on my last two tops due to the threat of lightning, so I put a bit of a spurt on even though it seemed pretty likely that, like yesterday, the cloud would drift away and thunder not be heard until much later in the day.

By my standards, I positively flew from Coledale Hause over my last two hills, opting to go the longer-but-gentler way to the top of Crag Hill, rather than making my way up the screes of the NW side.

Such a nice valley – if it wasn’t for the sodding flies!

From Sail Pass my route took me down to walk down the valley, up above Sail Beck. I might have paused for lunch somewhere along there, especially as the clouds were now looking far less ominous (with much blue developing again) except that I was being so bothered by big and nasty looking flies that I put even more of a spurt on to try (semi-successfully) to keep them at bay.

Based on yesterday’s stats, I’d expected this round (which came in at 13.5 miles with 5100’ of ascent) to take me all day – at least 7 hours. As it went (thanks to the flies, more than anything) I arrived back at Colin at 12.21, which was three minutes after it started sprinkling with rain. That rain proved short-lived and it was three hours later when great big blobs of rain started falling and distant thunder heard, by which time I was sitting with my feet up, watching out of the window.

So, another hugely enjoyable outing, in superb surroundings, with superb views, and on another super-hot day. 

Bonus photo of the glorious lumpy-bumpiness

(*the downside of the current lack of wind is being attacked by flies every time you stop moving; my pause on the top was thus only a couple of minutes, during which time I had to knock lots of spiders off my legs, whilst I was doing the ‘midge slapping dance’ on the rest of my exposed skin. I suppose if I’d left the spiders to crawl over me they might eventually have dealt with some of the other flies…)

Red Pike, High Stile and Mellbreak

Red Pike (NY161155; 755m), High Stile (NY170148; 805m) and Mellbreak (NY148186; 512m)

What a fantastic day I have again had! Being greeted by clear skies as I looked outside this morning (quite an easy thing to do, as I’d slept with the skylight window and blind open), I made haste as much as was possible with chores to perform such as removal of ramps and hook-up cable, and the emptying of the toilet. Over Honister Pass I went, glad to be without any other traffic as I crawled my way down the other side, to park in the popular parking area at Buttermere*.

The most notable feature of today’s ‘circuit with arms’ (both of my Marilyn tops were out-and-back detours from the circuit) was the three steep climbs, which made it a harder walk than any I’ve done in Cumbria on this trip so far. The first climb, as far as Bleaberry Tarn was also notable for bearing a stone staircase almost its entire distance from the end of the lake of Buttermere – quite a feat of engineering, and one that made me glad to be ascending not descending.

Bleaberry Tarn with High Stile behind. I was to walk that ridge from right to left as shown in the snap.

The pull up to Red Pike (a bonus Wainwright in my day) doesn’t bear a stone staircase, but could do with one; it’s steep and awfully eroded. I’d intended to make it to the top before pausing for second breakfast, but the hunger and the sweatiness got too much a short distance below.

View along Crummock Water from High Stile

High Stile has two summits, not too far apart and with only a metre of height difference between them, but (a little ridiculously) they appear as separate entries on the hill lists, as the slightly lower top is the Wainwright summit and the higher is the Marilyn summit, so two ticks for no additional effort.

I’d passed one (denim-clad) chap bearing a camera at Bleaberry Tarn, and seen another chap up on the ridge to High Stile as I’d feasted on my hot cross bun below Red Pike. The next people I passed were a couple and a group of three as I made my way down Scale Beck (over 550m of height lost – sob!). Aside from another couple I saw from a distance descending Mellbreak, they were the only people I saw on the hills all day. Buttermere village was a different matter: heaving!

Scale Force - a high fall, but without much 'force', perhaps because of the recent dry spell

The clouds hadn’t started to fill the sky until I was up on Red Pike, but by the time I paused for a bite to eat alongside Scale Beck the cover was complete and one particular cloud was looking ominous. Cutting short first-lunch I made haste onwards, completing my descent before re-ascending via Scale Knott to Mellbreak. The pull up to Mellbreak was another steep one, but being on cropped, firm grass, the going was pleasant.


Looking along both Crummock Water and Buttermere from Scale Knott (I think). Mucho haze making the lumpy bumps around look far less prominent.

Happily, the clouds had started to clear by the top, so a pause was had to dispatch my second sandwich and a bit of chocolate and, for the first time in a week, I had to don my fleece, albeit only for the time I was stopped. Moving again, and back out of the breeze, I was soon glowing once more.

Some of tomorrow's hills, as seen from my second-lunch spot

My outing was completed by a stroll along Crummock Water which brought me back to my start point with 10.3 miles walked involving in the region of 4000’ of ascent.  The only negative in the whole outing was the haze, which has made my photos even less illustrative than they usually are, but even through the haze I’d enjoyed those views immensely.

^{(*three other vehicles were already present when I got there. By the time I looked back from the top of Red Pike I could see parked cars snaking up the road. Visiting the National Park car park later, on my way back to Colin, I saw that the charge there was £8 for stays of more than 4 hours (and to add insult to injury, there’s a 20p charge to use the toilets there), making it unsurprising that people park for free just up the road. In my view an £8 payment to the National Park Authority to enjoy a day on the hill isn’t too bad – if your visits are infrequent (i.e. not daily) and there are at least two people in the car. For a singleton visiting hills every day, £8 per day to go walking feels, to me, to be excessive. Still, in eight days I’m yet to pay for parking (beyond a couple of charitable donations in honesty boxes, but I consider those to be donations rather than parking fees) so I can’t really complain.)}

High Rigg and Dale Head

High Rigg (NY308220; 357m)

With Mick off away to work at 6.30 this morning, I thought I may as well make tracks at the same time. He went south and had a tiresome journey, in Monday rush-hour traffic, of two and a half hours (to do under 100 miles), whereas I headed north and was parked up at my first destination in under half an hour.

Having parked to the SW of my objective, my final approach to the top was from its NW side, so it felt like a bit of a round-about route to take. However, it was exceptionally easy and before I knew it I found that the craggy outcrop in front of me (on a hill of many craggy outcrops) was, in fact, the top. I recalled that, in his Pictorial Guide, Wainwright had said of the final climb from the Church of St John in the Vale that ‘anyone full of the joy of spring will do it in 15 minutes (authors time: 35 minutes)’. Whilst I’d like to think that my time of 9 minutes is attributable in part to being fit after all of my recent hills, I think it was more to do with the fact there are now lots of well-trodden grassy paths, making an easy ascent even easier.

Yet another summit selfie

Had the Church of St John in the Vale (which sits high between two valleys, at the end of a little lane to the east, and on a byway from the west) been an old and interesting looking one, I might have gone and looked at it on my return leg. However, it looked a surprisingly modern, so I took a slightly more direct route down, with the added bonus that I kept off tarmac for longer.

The same pleasant paths on which I’d started my walk also ended it, and a few minutes later I followed a tractor out of the layby. Or, I followed it almost the entire length of the layby, before it decided to reverse, completely oblivious to a hulking white van behind it. The way the farmer started when I sounded Colin’s horn was quite comical, and onwards I went, to my next hill, via Booths in Keswick for a few more calories to keep me going these next few days.

(3.8 miles, 700’)

Dale Head (NY223153; 753m)

The weather forecast for the first three days of this week is almost identical, with very low winds and fine starts to the days, but with cloud building and the risk of thunderstorms and torrential showers in the afternoons*. With the way the cloud was building as I approached Honister Pass, once I parked Colin in a layby a third of a mile to the east of the pass** I didn’t tarry too long over my coffee and hot cross buns before I set out up the pass thence up the hill.

A few other people had also thought Dale Head to be a good bet for this morning, but not so many as to make it feel busy, and it was a straightforward, if exceptionally hot and sweaty walk. I had to remind myself that the heat is good training for next month in the Pyrenees, although I was pleased when, about three-quarters of the way up, the cloud blocked the sun and, with a hint of a breeze blowing, it became a much more pleasant temperature.

Looking worried, but slapping a grin on my face all the same

The views from the top would have been outstanding if it hadn’t been for the haze. Indeed, my phone told me, on my first attempt, that it couldn’t take a panoramic shot because not enough detail was visible.

A lovely shape of valley, but the detail is lost in the haze

There are other hills I could have visited from Dale Head, but I think that I’ve been up all of the surrounding hills before (I do hope I’m right in that thought, otherwise it was an opportunity wasted!), and as my accommodation for tonight was going to provide me with mains electric for the first time since I left home last Tuesday morning, I was happy to have a pre-noon finish and to spend the rest of the day charging a ridiculous number of electronic gadgets and frittering my time away with my book and a couple of radio-programme downloads.

(3.4 miles, 1500’)

(*The forecast has held true today. One downpour, as I’ve been typing this, has been particularly akin to stair-rods.

**I thought I would have to pay for parking at Honister Slate Mine today, so was happy to find a layby within a ten minute walk; I subsequently found that there’s also a National Trust car park at the top of the pass.)

In The Last Month

We set out for Scotland on 5 May and walked our first hill late that afternoon. Exactly 31 days later, at noon today, my tally for the month (which also included 7 days at TGO Challenge Control and a quick visit home) stands at 50 hills.

The incredible statistic is that of those, I've only had rain on three and only had cloudy summits on two.

Apparently the weather will continue to hold for the rest of this week so I will try to make the most of it.

(Ha! As I type it's just started raining (not entirely unexpected - clouds have been building all afternoon - but as I'm not on a hill, it doesn't affect the stats.)

Holme Fell and Claife Heights

Holme Fell (NY315006; 317m)

Setting out from a nice car park along the dead-end road to High Tibberthwaite, lying to the west of Holme Fell, our ascent included a chat with a couple of MRT chaps manning a drinks station for the Lakeland Marathon (we were, apparently, just ahead of the first runners) and an encounter with a border collie which removed the sun cream from the back of my right leg with its tongue. So, reasonably uneventful really...

Our descent included the accidental herding of a Belted Galloway all the way down to the gate on the track at the foot of the fell.

The hill itself is a small and easy one, with plenty of animal trods to ease passage through the heather and bracken for those, like us, who shun the less-direct main trodden line. It's not a bad viewpoint either, and at the time we were up there barely a cloud was to be seen in the sky.

It was a short walk (again) but not a bad little hill. Our stroll (which could have been made a little shorter - not that any further shortness was necessary - by starting from one of a number of pull-ins we found along the road on the east side of Pierce How Beck) came in at just 2.7 miles with 600' of ascent.

Claife Heights (SD 382973; 270m)

Being in the car today, the drive to Far Sawrey was quick and easy, even in the face of oncoming little cars whose drivers seem to think they're three or four feet wider than they are.

The village hall there provides parking in return for a couple of pounds in their honesty box and it was ideally positioned for our purposes. Even better, they also have benches, which gave us a nice place to perch to eat our sandwiches (it was only 11am but once again I was hungry enough to eat a scabby dog).

The walk up to Claife Heights, approaching via the track to its west side, was relatively uninteresting and the summit likewise with only a tiny snippet of a view visible through the trees...

...so we opted to return via the path to the east of the summit in the hope of getting to look at Windermere below us. The path itself was slightly more pleasing, but the views largely still absent. It went down as the least interesting hill of my trip so far.

With 3.75 miles walked (750' of ascent is my rough guess) we were back at the village hall and off to Ambleside to fondle a bit of gear and to eat ice-cream.

Lingmoor and Loughrigg

Saturday 4 June

Lingmoor (NY302046; 469m)
There was a bit of a change in the weather this morning: it was overcast and noticeably humid. The latter feature made me regret (vocally and repeatedly, until Mick told me to shut up) that I hadn't selected shorts as my legwear for this first of two tops today. It also made the going much harder than it has been on all of the recent hot (but low humidity) days.

We weren't out outrageously early, but still early enough to have the hill to ourselves. On the downside, at that time the cloud hadn't had the opportunity to lift and whilst we were well below it, it did mar the views of the surrounding tops.


I was glad to get to this top and not recognise it as I hadn't been 100% sure that we hadn't been up there before

The first people met were when we were paces away from being back down at valley level. Then they came thick and fast.

With 5.2 miles walked, with 1300' of ascent, we arrived back at Colin (parked at Elterwater) in time for elevenses (I was so hungry today that elevenses comprised over 800 calories and I was still ready for lunch an hour later) and in view of how busy our immediate surroundings had become the decision was made to sit out the next few hours, watch the world go by and not set out again until at least mid afternoon.

Loughrigg (NY347051; 335m)
Half past three came, people started returning to the car park from their walks, and we adjudged it a suitable time to set out into what was now a hot and sunny afternoon.

A rather pleasant little walk was had up to this excellent viewpoint, from where we picked out routes we'd taken over surrounding hills. A different path was taken to get us back down (which avoided an excess of descent-to-reascend), forming a lollipop-shaped walk coming in at 3 miles.

Having seen how incredibly busy it is around Elterwater, I'm glad that I stuck around the edges of the Lakes for Bank Holiday week. I'm hoping that next week will be a bit calmer, as most of the rest of the hills on my target list are in more popular areas.

Whin Rigg, Illgill Head and Dent

Friday 3 June

Awaking early again this morning (for no good reason - there were no little lanes to be tackled whilst they were still quiet) I peeped outside to find another cloud-free day - the fourth in a row.

Illgill Head (NY169049; 609m)

As I only had one Marilyn on the agenda today (Illgill Head), with an incidental Wainwright thrown in (Whin Rigg) I thought I'd make a decent walk of it by forming a circuit by continuing to the north off Illgill Head towards Wasdale Head before looping back via Burnmoor Tarn and Miterdale.

Somehow I managed to restrain myself from eating my sandwiches at 9am at the top of Whin Rigg, making do with a handful of fig rolls, which staved off the rumbling for, oooh, at least ten minutes (it was a hungry day today!).

The way up to Whin Rigg had been fine, with increasingly lovely surroundings, but the continuation to my main objective was really superb, as I shunned the main trodden line and took to the less obvious path running along the edge of the steep slope which falls down to Wastwater screes.

View from the top

One woman and one backpacker were seen on my way up to the fantastic viewpoint of a summit. A couple and their dog were passed as I started down towards Wasdale. They were the only people I saw until almost at the road end in Miterdale.

Burnmoor Tarn

At Burnmoor Tarn (so picturesque!) I was sorely tempted to throw in a detour over to Scafell Pike (I talked myself out of the impulsive scheme in the end due to a lack of food and the knowledge that Mick would like to do that one with me) and in Miterdale I finally stopped for lunch. Incredibly I managed to last until 11.30 before the sandwiches met their end. A few clouds had formed by then, and for a couple of minutes the sun was obscured - for the first time on this trip.

It was a most enjoyable circuit (10.5 miles, haven't calculated the ascent), but I was back by just after noon, with a whole afternoon stretching out in front of me.

Dent (or Long Barrow) (NY041129; 352m)

As Mick isn't able to join me until late this evening and as he needs to be at work before 8 on Monday morning, the chosen location for this weekend's rendezvous is in the Ambleside area. That left me without any more Marilyns that would sensibly fit into my afternoon ... except that on a perusal of the map I realised that I could go and visit the one on which I'd not even made any notes for this trip, on the basis that it's too much of an outlier.

Then the thing happened which I always knew, when I started pursuing Marilyns, would happen at some point. After a 15 mile detour to visit this hill, it came into sight and my first thought was "I've been up there before".

Yep, Dent lies on Wainwright Coast to Coast route, but for some reason I'd not ticked it off.

What to do? Well, as I'd taken the trouble to drive out of my way and as it was such a nice day, I thought I may as well go up it again.

I didn't join the C2C route until I was out of the forest, right by this bench...

... where, in 2008, I recall pausing for painkillers for a headache (funny the things that can stick in the mind!). Suddenly I was in a snake of people heading up to the top. Many of them paused every 5 paces to admire the view - and who can blame them? It was a gorgeous day and the views were outstanding. Plus, if my memory serves, this is the first hill, on the first day, of the C2C route so could come as a bit of a shock to the system.

Reaching a big cairn where a dozen people had stopped, I paused also for summit photos ...

...before realising that this wasn't the top. Onwards I went, pausing again at the proper summit, where the local dogwalker behind me assumed I was uncertain as to the onwards route and started shouting to me to continue straight on. He was a bit taken aback that I wasn't on my way to Ennerdale.

Once I'd visited the tuft of grass half an inch taller than the rest, which lies five paces off the path (so at least I can justify the return visit on the basis that I have walked those extra five paces with half an inch of ascent) I did continue straight on, as the dog walker was so eager for me to do, as I thought I may as well make a circuit of the outing.

Back at Colin, parked by the river where lots of children were swimming and splashing, I'd walked exactly 4 miles with around 800' of ascent.

Then it was a drive around to t’other side of the Lake District. The long way around. Without the use of any narrow, steep passes.

Whitfell, Hardknott, Harter Fell

Another really excellent day has been had under the most stunning of blue skies. In fact, my afternoon of hanging around in Eskdale (amongst other things, sitting on a bench outside the church which is conveniently within range of a BT wifi hotspot and steps away from the ice-cream-selling village store) has been as good (although in an entirely different way) as the morning’s hills.

Whitfell (SD159930; 573m)

With a drive up Hardknott Pass featuring in my plan for the morning, the alarm was set especially early today so I could be up and down Whitfell and on the road before most tourists were even thinking about breakfast.

And, if you're going to be up early then what better way to spend those hours of lost sleep than with a gentle walk up firm grass, with rocky outcrops and sea views within sight, under clear skies?

It was a joy! I even took the tiny detour onto one of the rocky outcrops (Buck Barrow) on my way down for no other reason than because it was there. (postscript: bonus! Just discovered it's on various hill lists so an extra tick too.)

Back at Colin it was time to tackle some more tiny roads, with the intention of driving to the top of Hardknott Pass for my next two hills. That plan got modified when the reality of the pass appeared ahead of me. It wasn't so much the thought of getting Colin up to the top, it was the thought of having to crawl back down in first or second gear so as not to have a repeat of the Spanish-smoking-brakes incident. So, I parked at the bottom of the pass and quickly replanned for a circuit taking in:

Hardknott (NY231023; 549m) and Harter Fell (SD218997; 653m)
The first thing I needed to do on this circuit was to get to the top of Hardknott Pass and, as not a single car passed me going in my direction during that 2km (1000' height gain), I didn't have the opportunity to stick out my thumb, so I walked.

Reaching the cairn at the top I was off tarmac for the rest of the outing (ignoring the few paces to cross the pass to get to my next hill) and onto a path which I'd read is 'intermittent'. I lost it on the way up and took what was, perhaps, a slightly harder route than was necessary. I managed to follow it on my way back down.

A particularly big grin on the summit

Crossing the road to get to Harter Fell I fully expected a path. After all, there are paths everywhere in Lakeland and surely lots of people choose to approach this hill from the top of the pass? For a while there was a trodden line too, per my expectations, but then I lost it shortly after a stile and a huffing-and-puffing yomp ensued until I picked it up again. Then I lost it again. Taking the direct line, I was heartened by the sight of a person not far above me and hoped she was on a path (whilst also hoping she wasn't going to think I was on the path and head in my direction). She wasn't, but the going from there was easy.

With its two big rocky tors, and stunning views over, well, lots and lots of hills actually, but most notably the Scafells...

...it was a magnificent place to be. I visited both of the tors, just to be sure, although I was pretty sure that the first one I went up (the one nearest to the trig) was the highest.

Two chaps at the trig were intent on not speaking to me, save for a cursory 'hello' (goodness, how can anyone British not mention the weather to a stranger when in the midst of a spell like this?!), so after a little tour of the summit, down I went.

A ridiculous excess of cairns made sure I couldn't possibly miss the line of the path down to the bridleway which took me back to Colin.

In deciding not to take any lunch with me on this outing I'd calculated my expected timing and estimated that I'd be back at noon. It was one minute past when I blipped Colin's blipper and climbed into his superheated interior. Lunch had to wait a while longer as I was parked on such a wonk there that food preparation was not feasible!

With the options of finding another hill to fill my afternoon or just sitting around I opted for the latter today - and have had a jolly good time of it. All I'm lacking for perfection is Mick, but an exchange of emails this afternoon (I have no phone signal, or I would have just spoken to him!) has arranged a plan for a rendezvous tomorrow night, meaning that I will have company for my weekend's hills.

Last Night

My kipping spot last night was absolutely superb in terms of location. Not only was it perfectly placed for this morning's first hill, but it boasted this view out of the front window:

from what I can see on the screen of my phone, that snap doesn't even start to do justice to the reality of the vista

Out of the side window I had an extensive view of the sea and the Isle of Man. It was so good that I made a special effort to stay up until sunset so that I could witness this:


I also caught the glow of sunrise (Funnily enough, out of the opposite window) at 3.45 this morning, although having peeped out at it I then prioritised going back to sleep over grabbing my phone for a photo.

I'm so glad I didn't miss out on such a quality* kipping spot, as nearly became the case. As Colin isn't the most agile and nippy of vehicles on narrow/wiggly/steep roads, when cars get behind me I always pull over as soon as I can to allow them to pass. My considerate nature nearly backfired on this occasion when I got to the parking spot to find it full, including two of the cars I'd let past not long before. Happily, a motorhome saw my indecision as to what to do and gesticulated that he was about to leave. My evening of spectacular views was saved!

^{(*okay it wasn't perfect in all respects - that road became surprisingly busy at 5 o'clock this morning. That didn't bother me on this occasion as I was getting up then anyway.)}

A Fine Four

What a cracking day I've just had in sunny Cumbria! It started bright and early with:

Top o'Selside (SD309919; 335m)

Bit of a spurious waypoint at the start/end of this track. I didn’t take a swim in the lake at either end of the walk!

 

The early start was brought on by my desire to negotiate the 3.5 miles of little-road to my chosen car park before the masses were out and about. I only met one car on my way in, and that one came so fast around a bend, on a bit of road that didn't seem wide enough for a Colin and a car to pass, that I was braced for the sound of metal on metal. How we avoided each other, and how I also avoided the wall to my left, I know not, but it left me sufficiently shaken to want to get this hill done and myself away from this little road as quickly as possible.

A good path sped me up the first half of the hill, then, at a farm building, I had a choice: left or right would most likely take me (slightly longwindedly) to a path heading up to the summit. I chose neither, opting instead to go straight up the slope in front of me. It's probably not a decision I would have made had it been two or three weeks from now, but for the moment the bracken is still short enough not to be an impediment.

big cairn, but that's not the true summit

With the true summit of this hill not being marked by any feature, I took time visiting all the bits that looked like they might be an inch higher than the rest, then loped back down via the direct route of my ascent. It seemed steeper on the descent. I take that perception as being indicative of me being reasonably fit just now; I like it when I stop noticing steep ascents so much!

By 8.30am, which was within an hour of setting off, I was back at Colin, with 2.3 miles walked and 950' of ascent. Pausing not for a moment more than necessary before tackling the road again, I met not a single vehicle on my return journey, which took me back to the A road, thence to:

Kirkby Moor (or Lowick High Common) (SD260040; 333m)

A small windfarm and lots of quarrying (historic and current) scar this hill, so it was a surprise to find it to be a pleasant little walk up to the cairn marking its high point. Being knocking on for 9.30am by the time I reached the top, and with the sun gaining warmth, I did wonder why I hadn't dug out my shorts - something that didn't come to pass until after the next hill. Sometimes my perception that the effort of taking off my shoes, in order to get changed, is more trouble than the comfort of wearing something different really is way off!

evidence of old quarrying ahead and to the right and a wind turbine peeking over the ridge

sea views and sunshine

Twas just a little outing at 1.7 miles with 550' of up.

As my parking place here was a layby on the main road (lots of buffeting from passing cars) I didn't pause immediately on my return for a cup of tea but made tracks to the church car park at Whicham for:

Black Combe (SD135854; 600m)

The church at Whicham has provided a large car park on an honesty box system, which was a pleasant and peaceful place for elevenses before I headed off up Black Combe.

After all the fighting through heather in Scotland it's still a novelty to have paths on every hill and this one seemed particularly well-trodden, even though it wasn't heaving with people.

Good company was had for lunch in the summit shelter with a family; it was the daughter's (age 11 or 12, I would guess) first hill and after initial hesitation as to the enjoyment value of slogging up hills, by pudding she was talking about her next one. A convert :-)

The gradient of the path was perfect for striding down, so it wasn't too long before I was roasting in Colin's interior (29 degrees!) and pondering whether to sit around for the rest of the afternoon (it wasn't quite 1pm) or whether to do one more hill.

The stats for this one were 4.5 miles with around 2000' of ascent.

Muncaster Fell (SD112983; 231m)

This one didn't sensibly fit next into my itinerary, but it had the dual appeal of looking quick and easy and of not involving any little lanes (the obvious next hill involves driving a narrow pass - I'm trying to restrict all such roads to early mornings, or evenings).

The free car park at Muncaster Castle provided me with a good place to leave Colin (although it looked alarmingly full at first glance, there were spaces in the far back corner) and some gentle waymarked paths took me up this hill. In common with all of today's tops, the views spanned 360 degrees and were superb. So close to the sea...

...with blue skies above, and with lots of the Lake District hills clearly visible to the north east:

I walked back down with a smile on my face, fully appreciating how lucky I am to be able to be out enjoying some hills on a day like this (whilst Mick 'enjoyed' the inside of a conference room - but it was his choice to work this month!).

This last hill of the day came in at exactly 3 miles with an easily-gained 550' of up.