29th September 2012.

Another disappointing dawn on what was supposed to be the best day of the weekend.The radio predicted the better weather would kick in by late afternoon so,on that basis, Grant went back to bed and eventually started off at 4pm for a round of Helvellyn,Fairfield and St.Sunday Crag.Graeme,Alan,Bob and I had a leisurely breakfast and set off around 10am for the Deepdale Horseshoe.Along the road a short distance from the hut we turned up Grisedale and located the path leading up to Birks and St.Sunday Crag.Things were improving weatherwise all the time

We were joined for the day shortly after the outset by Cathy ,pictured above,of whom more anon.

Looking down to Braesteads farm in Grisedale.

Further up the ridge.

Graeme, Cathy, Bob and Alan on top of St.Sunday Crag.

There was a chill wind blowing and it became rather dull between here and Fairfield.

Cathy down below with St.Sunday Crag in the background.

The odd shaft of light kept up our interest as in this one over Grisedale Tarn

Heading up  Cofa Pike on the way to Fairfield.

Looking over to Helvellyn.

We huddled into one of the numerous stone circles for lunch and Cathy,having almost finished her Wainrights,kept the savages from north of the border right as to which hill was which

We split up here with Cathy leaving for a choral concert down in Patterdale while the rest of us carried on round to Hart Crag.A view down to Coniston and the sea on the way there.

I had intended paying a visit to the Priests Hole on the way but Bob and I decided that it could wait for a midsummers bivvy.

Heading down Hartsop above How.

Beautiful autumn light over Place Fell by now rounded off an excellent day on the hills

Over the years Bob and I have met them all on the hill,Tom Weir,Chris Bonington etc; but while chatting to Cathy on St.Sunday Crag it transpired that this was our first meeting with a bona fide rockstar After much interrogation she eventually admitted to having shared a stage at Glastonbury as a backing singer with one of my all time favourite songsmiths, Ray Davies of the Kinks . You can see her here as well backing him at the Electric Proms series

You wait years to meet a rock star on the hill and then you meet two in a row.See the next blog entry when I get round to it

28 September 2012.

High Rigg.

Time for the annual jaunt southwards We were booked in to the George Starkey Hut in Patterdale for two nights and with a good forecast for the  Friday Bob and I headed down early intending to pay a visit to the Derwent Fells. It was pretty miserable driving down the M74 and with no sign of it improving on the road from Penrith to Keswick we abandoned plans for a day on the higher tops. I like mountains but I`m not stupid We spent a couple of hours browsing round second hand book shops waiting for the rain to subside. While it didn`t actually stop it eased off enough to encourage us to have a look at the map and implement a Plan B,adding to my Marilyn tally on nearby High Rigg.

Rather than taking the quick approach from St.Johns in the Vale Church we opted for a bit of a leg stretcher and parked up at Castlerigg stone circle.

From there we walked down the road a mile or so before heading off up a muddy path to Tewet Tarn which allegedly has some fine views over to the Blencathra direction.No for us today . It was beginning to brighten up out to the west ,relatively speaking though.

After a quick nip up Low Rigg we dropped down to the Church and immediately started off up a well made path heading for High Rigg.A heavy squall chased us off the summit and we abandoned plans for the entire ridge to Bridge End farm and turned west instead to Shaw Bank.

Summit before the squall.

Shaw Bank and High Rigg.

Things were looking up now on the weather front and we were treated to some nice light on the walk back to the car.

30th September 2012.

Little Mell Fell.

Torrential rain overnight and continuing into the next morning  had made driving pretty hazardous and our friend Cathy had only just made it out of the Lakes on her way back to London.Neither of us like walking in the rain with no views but it was so bad that there was something exciting about it   One of my few remaining  East Lakes Marilyns,Little Mell Fell, was handily placed on the way home . I never bothered taking my camera up the hill so here`s a couple of pics from Bob that sum it up

On the way up……

…and at the top which as you can see is almost under water

26th May 2012.

I needed a wee break from the blog and pc`s in general for a month or two.Promise to try and catch up this time

Thankfully we were going home today as I don`t think I could have taken much more of this heat As it was we were up and away early to break the back of it before the sun got too high.Just a short day in prospect walking up Sgurr Coire Choinneachean which rises directly above Inverie. We had noticed the previous day that the obvious way up by the edge of the trees was in the shade of Beinn Bhuidhe opposite for a few hours each morning and as a result we enjoyed a fairly easy ascent until the sun hit us.

Looking over Inverie Bay to the Isle of Rum.

Back down to Long Beach where the tents were.

It`s a steep wee hill Bob near the top of the ridge where it eases off a bit.

Lounged around the summit for an hour or so enjoying a light breeze

On the way back  down.

Just enough time for a paddle before dropping the tents and biking down to the pier.

It turned out that our rush for the boat was in vain as the Cap`n and his Mate had been overwhelmed by the need to “rehydrate” in the Old Forge thus leaving us to swelter for another hour underneath that bloody sun