A Whole New List

Monday 20th January 2014

Lake District

We were up and about fairly early this morning, and after packing our things up and having breakfast we headed into town to get some sandwiches. I also popped into a pharmacy to pick up a new lip balm I'd spotted the other day. It's a Kleenex lip and nose balm and I thought it would be perfect for a pocket in my new rucksack for those sniffly hill walks.

The weather seemed quite bright, but we could see quite a lot of low cloud, particularly towards the southern and eastern fells, so we decided to do a fairly local walk, up Causey Pike and back down through the valley. We had thought about going up Great Gable, but didn't see the point if we were going to be in a cloud all day. We'd seen Causey Pike from Skiddaw, and thought it looked like a really nice walk up and then along the ridge. Our only reservation was that it wasn't on the Trail 100 list that we are hoping to get ticked off before we die. But we thought, we're only in our thirties, we should still have plenty of time to tick everything off and fit in a few other hills in between.

It was a very steep climb up to the summit of Causey Pike, but once we were up there it was pretty easy going walking along the ridge, which was cloud free. It was even warm enough to sit down (quickly) and eat our sandwiches at the summit. As we ate, the cloud started clearing a bit from the eastern fells, and we had some good views of the snow capped Helvellyn range.

We walked as far as the summit of Sail, which was the turn around point for the walk. Just as we got there, the cloud descended and it started snowing so we decided to do what the walk card said rather than extend the walk further along the ridge. The route down was pretty easy, and we were down by 3.30. We went into Keswick, and had a cup of tea then a wander round the Cotswold store. While we were in there I spotted a "summit tick and date list" for all 214 of the Wainwright fells in the Lakes. Of course, it had to be purchased, as not only was Causey Pike on the list, but so was Sail and another point on the ridge, so that's three ticks in one day! When I have finished writing, I am going to have a ticking off session to include all our previous visits.

We have checked out of the B&B now and are spending our last night here in George. We picked up some supplies from Booths supermarket before leaving Keswick. Think of an independent version of Waitrose, and that will give you an idea of the store (and the prices).

We've parked George in a layby right next to Castlerigg stone circle. There's no one else here and although it's a bit closer to the road than we're used to, it's quite a small road so what passing traffic there is should be fairly slow. We are planning on getting up early enough for Claire to be poised with her camera when the sun comes up at 8.19am. Then we'll have a quick breakfast before heading over to the Langdale Pikes, which should offer a whole host of dual list ticking opportunities!

Then a quick trip to Grasmere to include the Cotswold Rock Bottom store, and the famous Sarah Nelson's gingerbread shop, and then home.

 

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