After our drizzly walk over Ling Fell the previous day, we’d looked closely at the weather. Unbelievably it was forecast to clear, not just for one day but the rest of the week, bingo! Being in the northwest corner of the Lakes, gave us great access to the fells around Braithwaite and it was there that we headed to on a glorious Sunday. One of the things I wanted after completing all the 214 Wainwrights, was to visit some were the cloud was down or the weather not perfect, this walk would correct that and then some. We parked near to the school (we picked this one being a Sunday and not a school day) and headed first up to Barrow. I prefer Barrow to Catbells, its the same height but far quieter and pretty much the same views and we headed up its nose to start the Coledale Horseshoe. We warmed up quickly as we gained height, before dropping to Barrow Door and contouring around Outerside, not on our agenda today. We sat near to High Moss for a coffee, steeling ourselves for the climb to Causey Pike, we needn’t have worried though as the angled path is a joy, although we were passed by one guy who was stomping quickly up the hill, 50-60 metres ahead of his partner. We both commented that we wouldn’t have bothered following him if it was us. We reached Causey Pike summit and stood there transfixed at the views, I didn’t remember them being so good from my last visit, but I can now confirm they are superb and after doing my write up of my favourite underrated fells (Barrow being one which it still is), I would say Causey Pike deserves a mention as well.

Next we started along the ridge, Scar Crags is a brief stop off point on the way to the others if I’m honest and Sail is only talked about because of the horrid zigzag path, and no it wasn’t better this time around either. We had a break at the col between Sail and Crag Fell, looking down at Ard Crags and the wriggling Sail Beck as it heads to Buttermere. We ascended Crag Fell fairly quickly and stood by the trig point admiring the views down the Coledale valley, the cloud was down on my last visit so I enjoyed seeing what I had missed. Next we turned and headed down to Coledale Hause, cutting the corner a little, crossing the mossy spongy ground on the back of Crag Fell. We had a decision to make, head down passing Force Crag Mine to Braithwaite or head to Grisedale Pike. The latter won as the sun still shone and we have plenty of light. We did well on the climb to Hobcarton Crags and on to Grisedale, stopping briefly for a drink before the final pull to the summit. The views from the summit of Grisedale Pike were superb, but it was around 4.30pm so we took some photos and started to head down. I’d clearly forgot how long the path is back to Braithwaite as it was 6.15pm when we got back to the car, and the path seemed to go on forever, not helped by the looping bit at the end, where the paths have been closed to stop a more direct descent into Braithwaite. Still what a walk, we weren’t properly fell fit and suffered a bit over the next few days but it didn’t stop us getting out in the stunning sunshine across the rest of the week.

Start – Braithwaite

Route – Braithwaite Lodge – Barrow – Barrow Door – High Moss – Causey Pike – Scar Crags – Sail – Crag Fell – Coledale Hause – Hobcarton Crag – Grisedale Pike – Sleet How – Kinn – Braithwaite

Distance – 10.5 miles   Start time – 9.40am  Time taken – 8hr 15mins  Highest Point – Crag Fell 839 metres

Weather – Just glorious