After a couple of walks where we had needed some serious ‘clothes drying by the fire’ at the end of the walk, you’d have thought we would avoid a weather forecast that said strong winds up to 60mph and heavy and persistent rain with cloud cover down on the high and medium fells. But when in the Lakes, at times, you make the most of it. We decided on a short walk and the hope that we could stay out of the wind as much as possible. We managed to stay out of the worst of the wind for parts of the walk, but the rain came worst as we hit the bottom of Jenkin Hill and kept up until we were leaving Lonscale Fell, basically all the high sections. In between we got some clear views to the south across Derwent Water but it was up on Skiddaw Lesser and Little Man that we felt the worst of things, the wind was brutal and stripped my rucksack cover off with the rain coming in sideways. We could see the rain coming at us as we ascended the steep popular track to Skiddaw and with the strong winds it raced towards us. Luckily the walk was a short one and we’d finished not long after lunch allowing for plenty of drying time back at the house. The views on this walk back to Derwent Water are lovely, however I’ve seen them before many times from Latrigg or Carl Side, so Skiddaw Little Man was a box tick for me, missing out on the views from Lonscale Fell was a little disappointing, especially north to the Back O’Skiddaw area and down Lonscale Crags. Still this was another 2 done from my list, with 21 to do of the 214. Still a fair few to do around Wasdale and Eskdale, plus a batch from Patterdale. For now lets get that fire going and dry out our kit!!

Start – Gale Road car park

Route – Hawell Monument – Jenkin Hill – Skiddaw Lesser Man – Skiddaw Little Man – Skiddaw Lesser Man – Jenkin Hill – Lonscale Fell – Whit Beck – Hawell Monument – Gale Road

Distance – 5.5 miles    Start time – 9.45am   Time taken – 3hrs 15mins Highest Point – Skiddaw Little Man 865 metres

Weather – Strong winds, rain but some clearing spells