17/01/15 - Hay Stacks - (me and Andy)

Traveled up to the lakes with Andy who'd decided that he wanted to do more walking (this is good, I seem to be gathering more people to share my activities with!) We had an early set off which was somewhat thwarted by Andy realising that he'd forgotten his boots just as we were coming up to Sandbach!

The road was a bit icy as we went up the M6 and as we turned off for the Lakes the fields were full of snow. We turned onto the final road to Buttermere and it became obvious that we were only the second people to go down the road since recent snow fall. To make matters worse, it also became clear that the road was ascending quite steeply. We had little choice but to continue. The traction control on the car really earnt it's money! We eventually came to to a YHA and drove into the car park, I intended to turn round and go back, but a man came out smiling woefully and commenting "I didn't expect to see a car like that up here today".... He advised against descending until he'd gritted the road, which he'd be doing later in the day. So we set off for our walk from the YHA car park instead.

I really wasn't confident as to how far we'd get, because the snow was pretty deep and we didn't have crampons etc. However, the snow was light and fluffy (like polystyrene), and so just added cushioning to the ground rather than making it slippy.

We set off with GPS in hand, but from a completely different starting point. I was happy I knew where we were, but didn't spend a long time checking..... The intention was to walk up Hay Stacks and cover off as much of the rest of the route as we could - essentially going backwards.
Andy had his new DSLR attached to him and we stopped on a few occasions for him to take shots. There was a bothy which was particularly interesting. After which we walked up past a quarry (which looked like it was still in use up Fleetwood Pike. It was at this point that we realised we were heading in the wrong direction.... We course corrected by deciding to head to Buttermere and up to Hay Stacks from there. the descent to Buttermere was picturesque but arduous, especially bearing in mind that we then needed to make a full ascent to hay Stacks. I pointed out to Andy that this only seems to happen when I'm with him.

I felt a bit stupid to be honest, especially bearing in mind that I had both GPS and map with me. No excuse really. Irrespective, the views were stunning, the location secluded, the weather chilly but clear.

We ascended Hay Stacks pretty quickly and proceeded along the ridge. Andy was enjoying his DSLR - the attachment to his ruck sac was pretty nifty, so it hardly got in the way.
The only concern as we returned was that it might get dark and the road might freeze meaning that we couldn't descend even if it had been gritted. I was reasonably worried about having to go back to work and telling them that I'd had to leave the car in the Lakes. What if I couldn't retrieve it till spring!

Fortunately we made it back to the car before it was dark and the road was well gritted. I paid for parking despite the woman in the YHA hut not wanting anything - felt like the least I could do.
We got down in one piece and without too many nerves frayed. The obligatory beer on the way back was always welcome.

Definitely a walk to be done again - by the proper route. My guess it that it would be particularly nice in the autumn.

03/01/15 - Cat Bells, High Spy, Robinson Crags - (me)

Set off in drizzly weather, felt very pleased to have my GPS as visibility was very low. There was still no snow, but I needed my waterproof trousers for the first time (well actually I should have used them up Helvellyn, but I didn't....). The going was pretty steep at first. The views almost appeared, but never quite.

I realised after a while that it was going to be the longest walk I'd done in a while and with a lot of ascent and descent along the way.

About midday the sun started to appear and the weather suddenly became like that of a warm October day. The GPS gave me confidence in route finding and I did quite a bit of optional scrambling along the way.

The halfway point took some time to reach and the sun was gently getting low, I was pleased I'd packed a couple of torches. I was surprised to see a group of mountain bikers at the top of High Spy - I watched their descent, it looked like a lot of fun, they clearly knew what they were doing.
The sun was starting to set, the light and temperature continued to be pleasantly autumnal. Only the distant hills had snow (I worked out later that these were Scafell, Skiddaw and Helvellyn).
The main descent was steep and long, I considered sliding down the valled on a steep path, but decided against it. I did slide at one point (deliberately), and another point (accidentally).
When I finally got to the valley floor, I realised I needed to ascend a bit again in order to reach the car.

My knees ached for days after, but it was a great walk.

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