I promised a bit more detail on some of my lake district adventures recently, so here is part 1, a slightly poor attempt to walk up a hill.

Latrigg fell – wednesday 13th jan

Beaten by the weather on this one. Even a small hill can have a turn around vibe to it, so I did, not even hitting the 300m meter contour line. The app I was playing with on my phone making it pretend it was a gps tracking system and devouring the batteries said I got to 324m, but I’m figuring otherwise.

It was a cloudy day with the higher fells alongside hiding their tops from view. Snow was threatening and under the snow on the lower parts were hidden sheets of ice. Starting off from Keswick and there were a few people wandering along the track (mostly in the other direction), which under other circumstances would provide a leisurely, undemanding stroll. Higher up was fine, and once I left the well-trodden path between the cheats car park half way up the hill and Keswick the covering turned to an inch or so of snow, with only two sets of footprints in it. This started me thinking I’ll get to the top of the zigzag path on the map and see what it’s like.

By the top of the zigzag, the ground started to open out and the wind began to blow calmly across the hill, taking with it some of the snow and slowly starting to erase my boot prints. The path itself was also starting to disappear, the snow trying to hide it and blend it in with the slope of the hill. Maybe I could have gone on, according to the map there was only another 70 meters of ascent and not too much further to walk, but it didn’t seem the wise thing to do. So I stood and took in what there was of the view, most of it being hidden by distant mist, and snows and cloud. I took a picture of the only thing around that leant some colour to the monotone scene, a gorse bush, snow drifted around it, and headed off back down the track.

Further down the track to Keswick there is another viewpoint, where the trees have been cut down so they do not obscure the vista. I guess the stumps also provide a convenient seat to admire the view. Bassenthwaite lake was visible in the distance, and beyond the houses of Keswick, Derwent Water could be seen, completely frozen over. I think that officially makes it cold.