So we continued the climb on Stoney Cove Pike and after coming up through the cloud we found little wilderness of bog and rocks, with clouds above us, clouds below us and the Sun breaking through from time to time. Pretty yet nothing strong enough for the blog. Slowly, and at times painfully, we plodded our way through this wilderness, called Mardale Moor until we started to climb towards the peak. And like many Lakeland peaks this one is tricksy inasmuch as you climb, think you are almost there, and then the last few metres shows that you have just climbed a fold, and the top is a bit further on, and you climb that, and find that it too just shows the next stage. But eventually we got there, and not for the first time I wondered why I was doing this to myself. It is not for the exercise, a trip to the gym can do that. It is not for the fresh air, a walk along a canal can do that. It is not even for the view from the top for though pretty, you are on top and looking down on the rest of the world; the views are better on the way up, or on the way down. But there is the sense of achievement, and to be ‘on the way down’ you have to have been ‘up’ in the first place, and you will see views that no amount of sticking an expensive camera out of the car window can get you. If. for the area, it’s a small mountain then you can still see the grandeur of its companions, and if it’s a big mountain, then you’re on top of the world.

And on the way down we fantasise as to how good that well earned beer will be; and all because we made the effort.

So we started to descend, and a combination of my back slowing us, and that it was October with the days getting shorter meant that the light started to go. And I took these images. I have not photoshopped the colour, it was just a feature of the weather and the fading light.

A couple of months ago I did my usual trip to the Lake District with my son. And leaving home, on the way to pick him up I hurt my back. Now, it might have been wise to spend the first few days resting, but we were only there for a week, and on the first full day the weather forecast was tolerable, whilst for the rest of the week it was forecast to rain. So I thought we might as well, back or no back, do a proper walk on that first day as that might be the only good one of the week.. And so it was that every day the forecast was for it to rain tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. The only time we actually got rained on was one evening coming back a half mile from the pub to our hotel. Painful, yet we were well rewarded.

So this entry and the next few will be the story of that first day walk, a triumph of perseverance and ibuprofen over common sense; starting with 2 images.

We started by driving from Portinscale to Ullswater, then along Ullswater and started heading up towards Kirkstone Pass. Our target for the day was a peak called Stoney Cove Pike, the highest point on Caudale Moor. And as we drove the clouds were tumbling across the sky, with occasional glimpses of the Sun, and at least it was not a uniform dull grey so it was very picturesque. And the second of these pictures were taken as we headed past Patterdale; I put it second simply because I prefer the other; but it all tells the story. The clouds were spilling down the valley from the pass and the impact was a most unusual cloud formation; we could see the mountains, yet also see the clouds down almost at valley level.

We got to the pass, kitted up, and started off for the lower slopes leading up from the road. And we were in quite thick cloud and we thought seriously about calling off the walk; after all it’s not smart to walk in that visibility; too easy to take the quick and fatal way down the mountain, and if you arrive safely you cannot see anything. But we set off and said we would see how it went. And as we moved from the slopes we had to climb up a cloudy rocky gully. Yet at the top of the gully we could see a golden glow in the cloud, so we climbed and as we got to the top of the gully we emerged through and above the clouds. The views were gorgeous, truly Gaia dancing in great form.