ibrakeforcake: Wetherlam and Swirl How

(bigger version of this on Flickr!)

Steffi and I did a nice loop in the Lakes on the 30th December, celebrating two years since I proposed and trying out various new bits of shiny gear that had been purchased/given over the festive period! We traveled up to Jenny's place in Sheffield, the night before, which was very nice and helped keep costs down... Got up early the next day and drove over the Peaks to Glossup in really bad fog, and then on to Manchester and up to the Lakes. The view as we drove through the dawn past Low Wood hotel on the shores of Windermere were spectacular and you could see the hills we were headed for looking beautiful.

We got up to the spot on the Wynrose Pass and parked before heading up to start our loop, climbing to the top of the ridge and along it, dropping down to a bridge at the bottom of the valley. After crossing the bridge, we walked up towards the disused mine and on Steffi's request, headed straight up the face above it! This was a bit of a climb and we were both feeling the Christmas indulgences slowing progress. However, with minimal complaint, Steffi got up to a really cool mine shaft set into the hill and after a quick breather, we carried on up and with a bit of low grade scrambling and some false summits, we were on the top of Weatherlam and enjoying the last of the turkey sandwiches, the great view over to The Old Man of Conniston and some of our wedding cake that Steffi's parents had brought over for us!

After this it was down to the pass which sees a track run of to Levers Water and Conniston, but straight up the Prison Band for us, and more light scrambling in places on which Steffi acquitted herself very well, but complained, hehe (turned out we ended up doing over 1000m of climbing for my 'easy walk' - I knew she'd be up to it!). As we reached the top, the cloud decended and visibility was down to about 20m, but with the compass set after a false start, we were off and climbing down around the horseshoe back towards the car.

After a small hicup and tense moment as we ran over a massive rock, pulling back onto the road - it crushed the jacking point behind the passenger side whee!l - we were off and made excellent time back to MK - 3 1/2 hours!