Weather conditions were very poor - I arrived on the Friday for a wild camp at Grisedale Tarn however the weather conditions were atrocious and I decided to book 2 nights at the Bunkhouse at Gillside Campsite, Glenridding and reassess my plans. My plans changed a few times and in the end I decided I would wait till the morning and walk down to Patterdale and assess the weather conditions once I had coffee at the Village Store.
So my plan was to stick with my original route which was recommended by Chris Enscoll and to was head into the valley of Deepdale and assess the conditions throughout the day.
The weather conditions changed throughout the day from being very windy (enough to blow you over at times) and raining to clear blue skies. I even had a sunset and then half an hour later it was raining again. I even got to see a full rainbow as I ascended Oxford Crag see in the attached photo.
Ascended Arnison Crag and onto Trough Head - I enjoyed this section I was off path and using the contours on the map to workout my location to great effect and linear features - the stone drywall running along to my right. From here I continued my journey to Lord's Seat and Gavel Pike - again I used my map to understand my location, I also walked on a bearing. I needed to cross Coldcove Gill and then ascend Cold Cove. There was some steep ground around this area so some edging was needed at times. The section between Trough Head and Coldcove Gill was very heathery- some I was able to navigate around other sections I took the sheep paths to make life easier.
From the Cairn of Gavel Pike I had a clear view of the front face of Fairfield, although the skies were changing continually from cloud and rain to clear skies. I contoured around Grey Crag, Sleet Cove, Cawk Cove, and around Greenhow End and into the valley of Link Cove. This was a hard section with plenty of steep ground ascent and descent and boot edging. I loved the views around this section and all of the different types of floral and fauna that I found on my route.
Moving into Link Cove there were some great waterfalls in this section of the route and I followed the linear feature of Deepdale Beck high into Link Cove. I decided to ascend the scramble section along the right side of Scrubby Crag, rather than take the scree sections leading to Link Hause. Again some steep section were ascended and this was quite tiring.
Once this section was ascended I was on the top and heading to the summit of Fairfield. Next was a short scramble down Cofa Pike down to Deepdale Hause and a straightforward ascent to onto St.Sunday Crag. I was soon to be descending the steps of Thornbow End and back to my car.
There were lots of lessons learnt through the day and plenty of ML Techniques put to test. I also took plenty of photographs to try and work out some of the flora and fauna that I came across. Plenty of map reading undertaken throughout the day.
Next was to drive back to the bunkhouse for another evening.
Great Times
Great Memories.
Area :
Eastern Fells
The Eastern Fells occupy the region between the A591 Keswick to Ambleside road and the lake of Ullswater to the west. The Helvellyn range forms the main spine of the group. To the south across the depression of Grisedale Hause, is the Fairfield group of fells.
