Gosh it's been a long day and it's only 6.30!!
Having committed to going to the Friends of the Lake District Rally today, and not being prepared to travel to Keswick and not get a walk in, I got up at 2 a.m., said hello to my son as he got home and I went out, and drove to the car park at Latrigg, arriving around 4.30.
My intention was to walk to Skiddaw House, up over Sale How onto Skiddaw and then down to Keswick to meet the rally. However, the promised blanket cloud seemed, in the limited light at that ungodly hour, to be missing Skiddaw so I reversed the route and am so happy I did.
So - parked the car as quietly as possible in the Latrigg Campervan Park, and was walking at 4.35. It was still pretty dark but plenty light enough to walk. I find the main path up Skiddaw a bit of a conundrum - on the one hand its a trudge, but on the other, if one chooses to turn round the views are sensational, though my camera skills aren't so you'll have to take my word for it. You'll also have to pretend you haven't noticed I seem to have turned the knob on top of the camera so the aspect of the pictures is all to c0ck.
View back to Derwent Water shortly after dawn.
As I gained height it became obvious that there was still plenty of cloud about, it just wasn't being attracted to me.
Skiddaw Little Man approach
And then the magic happened - all the couds raced together and decided to hang out just below the tops of the fells - just for me
Derwent Water and the Newlands Fell tops
View Southish from the summit;
Great Calva with a lace covering;
And one into the sun (what could go wrong)
I sat on the top of Skiddaw having second breakfast for around half an hour - mesmerised - I saw nobody, heard nothing - I even started to think deep thoughts, which is very rare. I find it hard to believe that,at 55, the beauty of the mountains can still stir the soul to such an extent.
I'd never descended the Sale How path - what a joy, walking into such great scenery;
Skiddaw House - hiding behind the trees;
From there an easy walk down the Cumbria Way path to Latrigg and then down to Keswick, coffee in the Filling Station and then the start of the rally, which was a walk up Latrigg!