Fairfield Horseshoe...

As can be seen from the photo it was an absolutely stunning day today in the Lakes...so much so that we ran out of water; despite having 2 litres and stopped at the pub in Patterdale for two pints of Orange Squash and a bowl of chips (on medical advice to replace lost salt!!).

So, where to start; we got up reasonably early (despite Claire not sleeping well) and had bacon butties from Bell's in Penrith. Arriving at Patterdale hotel at 8.25 it was annoying to see that the parking charges had increased by 50% in less than a year...in

fact it seems to have increased since I was there in Jan.

Anyway; we slogged up towards St. Sunday Crag stopping to gasp for air (it was VERY still and already VERY hot) and for me to take photo's. We traversed St. Sunday Crag and thence onto Fairfield. The scramble up Cofa Pike was no problem; however it needed lots of water and a sarnie to get Claire up onto Fairfield. Having seen few people all day (the classic round starts from Rydal) it was nice and gratifying to see that the summit of Fairfield was pretty quiet. A nice lunch stop was taken on the summit and yet more water drained. One of the few problems of this route is that it crosses no watercourses (or go anywhere near them) so it would be a thirsty descent to the car again.

We carried on and climbed onto Hart Crag; the descent of which onto the Gill Crag ridge was a bit of a faff...before a long and lovely descent (with superb views of Dovedale and Deepdale) took us back to the road....just in time for chips!!!

https://picasaweb.google.com/102361192587557786751/FairfieldHorseshoe#  - all the pictures are here..