High Pike via Brandy Gill & Carrock Mines

Wed 9 September 2020
Another gill I’d been eyeing up for quite some time – Brandy Gill which rises from Carrock Mines and goes between Carrock Fell & High Pike. This is how NOT to do it!

Seathwaite Fell by Grains and Taylor Gills

Thu 27 Aug 2020
The second day of our Borrowdale trip. Richard was having knee problems and was walking quite slowly so we decided to set out up Grains Gill and decide at the top whether to do Esk Pike or just to do Seathwaite Fell. Either way, we were coming back down via Styhead and Taylorgill…

Green Gable, Base Brown & Brandreth

Wed 26 Aug 2020
Richard and my first trip away this year I think – certainly the first since the Covid crisis started anyway. We didn’t go far – just to one of our favourite hotels down Borrowdale.

It might seem silly for me to go to stay down Borrowdale now I’m a ‘northern Cumbrian’ but it actually makes sense really. For a start, the hoteliers are friends of ours and also it meant we could just leave the car at the hotel for the whole visit and just do walks from there. With the current parking and visitor chaos in the Lake District, that was a very good thing!

Whinlatter Round aka ‘Caught in the Forest’!

Tue 7 April 2020
This was during lockdown but, as I’d had to travel to Keswick anyway, I did the walk on my way back. I knew all the Whinlatter Forest carparks were shut (and so the Forestry people thought that Whinlatter Forest was also shut) but I also knew there was roadside parking. There were a couple of other cars there and I bumped into one girl just coming back from the hill (although, of course, at a 6 foot social-distance!)…

Blencathra via Halls Fell & Doddick – in record time!

Sat 11 July 20
Well it was record time for me anyway… this was after work – I was feeling very fit and wanted to be back down in time for my tea at the Scales pub! I was up and back in exactly 2.5 hours…

Great Calva via the Magnificent Hause Gill

Sat 9 May 20 (and repeatedly since)
A couple of weeks before, I’d walked Knott and Great Calva via Trusmador and Burn Tod Beck and discovered Hause Gill on my descent – it was superb!

Grasmoor via Gasgale Gill & Dovecrags Arete

Sun 22 Mar 20
This was at the start of the superb weather spell we had this year. I’ve also got a feeling it may have been the first day of lockdown or perhaps the day before. There were hundreds of people around down Buttermere though and, just to show there was no problem with walkers, everyone was already keeping a very safe distance between their family groups etc.

Howgills – Did Carlingill but Missed the hill!

Over the winter…
Sometime over the winter (possibly January), I agreed to meet up with my friend and fellow blogger Simon for a walk in the Howgills. I was fairly insistent that I particularly wanted to go up a mountain I’d been eyeing from the M6 each time I’d driven past as it had inviting-looking ridges up the front. The map said it was called Fell Head…

Snowy High Pike… Made me Sick!

Thu 27 Feb 2020
This was a deep and soft snow plod in early spring where I exhausted myself so thoroughly, I ended up with a COVID-type virus! You never know really as, even though they thought it started here at the end of March, they’re now saying they think it could have started a month earlier.

It’s certainly a warning not to overdo things when you’re not fit though!

Bannerdale Crags East Ridge – Stow Your Poles Please!

Mon 8 Jun 2020
I was out on Bowscale Fell and Bannerdale Crags yesterday when I saw an interesting rake I wanted to try above Bowscale Tarn and also had a yen to come back and do the exciting East Ridge of Bannerdale Crags. Today I went back and did just that…