We got the bus to the foot of Catbells on Saturday. We saw the numbers of people going up Catbells from the bus and we decided to miss Catbells out and walk around it up the Newlands side of the valley to have peace and quiet. It was sunny and there was no wind in the valley and we had lovely views to look at.
Hindscarth and Robinson from the path by Skelgill
We were hoping to pitch on High Snockrigg later
Ard Crags and Rowling End
We got to Yewthwaite Gill and started ascending to Hause Gate. We stopped to have some lunch where the path crosses the gill, a bit early but we needed a break. Once we got up to Hause Gate there were more people about and the peace and quiet disappeared. We were intermittently plagued with loud, shouty people for the rest of our walk.
Catbells, Skiddaw and Blencathra with Derwent Water in view too from the path up Maiden Moor
Why we had avoided Catbells
Spot the paraglider
Maiden Moor summit
We managed to get this all to ourselves despite the number of people about
Over Catbells to Skiddaw
Beefy on the way to High Spy
Other people started to get on our nerves. What we call limpets. When you wait five minutes to let other people get ahead but they keep stopping and you end up catching them up. Or they have already stopped and just as you get level they start walking again, right beside you
Beefy on High Spy carefully taken without the summit slugs that were plonked on the other side
It was a bit more windy up here at height
Dale Head our next summit
The view toward Grasmoor and Eel Crag on the descent of High Spy
We stopped to have a banana break at Dale Head Tarn before we started the climb up to Dale Head. More limpets on the way up
The view from Dale Head
Beefy on Dale Head
It was busy on Dale Head too and a group of people kindly waited for us to take a couple of shots. We left the busy summit toward Littledale Edge and our next top Hindscarth.
High Stile Ridge and Buttermere
Blencathra over Maiden Moor
Beefy on Hindscarth
Grasmoor, Wandope, Eel Crag, Scar Crags and Grisedale Pike from Hindscarth
We had a ten minute rest below the summit, we were beginning to tire a bit and we weren't looking forward to the ascent of Robinson. We began the climb and it seemed that nobody else was about now and we thought at last we might get the fell to ourselves. Not a chance, a couple overtook us on the way up but they were very fast walkers and were nowhere to be seen when we reached the summit. We did get the fell top to ourselves after all.
Rannerdale Knotts Crummock Water and Loweswater from Robinson
On Robinson summit looking to the Scafells
Cloud had built up during the day. In fact the forecast had been for cloudy weather anyway so we had felt fortunate to get lots of sunshine earlier.
Our tired legs struggled on the descent of Robinson. We got some water for our camp then climbed up to High Snockrigg. There was a choice of water sources. Beefy went to get some from the source of Moss Beck, I got some from one of the tarns.
High Snockrigg summit with Rannerdale Knotts in view
It was really windy here and bitterly cold now the sun had gone in. We managed to find a pitch below the summit out of the worst of it. It was 17.45 by now and we didn't think there would be many more people about. We set our water to filter and got the tent up, it was too cold to wait any longer
The MSR on High Snockrigg
Not a bad view, I hadn't expected it to be so good. It was a shame it was too cold to enjoy it, the wind chill was very near to freezing level and we were sitting inside the tent and had to zip the tent up after a while as we were getting too cold. We had our tea and had some wine. Some people came onto the summit about 7 o'clock. Sorry if we spoiled your summit view but we had to get the tent up it was so cold. We didn't get a sunset because of the cloud but we enjoyed the tent time as always. It had been had hard day, the longest we'd done so far this year with our camping gear
Fleetwith Pike and Haystacks with Great Gable and Scafell Pike in view
We got into our bags and finished our wine, what a grand day out.
Day 1 was Catbells bus stop - Skelgill - Yewthwaite Beck - Hause Gate - Maiden Moor - High Spy - Dale Head - Hindscarth - Robinson - High Snockrigg. 16km with 1080m ascent.
Day 2 to follow