Hazy shade of winter..

which is now going as I sit here and type this two days later...but it was certainly there on Sunday..As can be seen in this shot of a wintry looking Skiddaw (taken from the slopes of Foule Crag).

The forecast did look good for the Sunday and it was also obvious that everywhere was going to be busy, with it being the last day of the half-term holidays. So, to avoid some of the madding crowds we elected to park at Mungrisedale and sneak onto Blencathra.

The path upto the plateau between Bowscale Fell and Bannerdale Crags had a few people on it - and the plateau itself was snow covered. This was actually quite helpful as we had steps to follow rather than having to break trail.

Crossing the col at the head of Glendemeckin, the number of people increased as we climbed slowly but very steadily upwards. If (a big if I grant you) one had carried skis up you could probably have got a half decent run on them. Lots of 4 legged friends were out - yet the hills seemed totally devoid of children, maybe they had all gone sledging!

Arriving near the top of Sharp Edge (as one breasts the summit plateau) it was immediately apparent that lunch on top would not be a quiet, peaceful experience - I think I have been to some football games with less people actually. So, we stopped where we were and had lunch - and enjoyed the rather lovely view (as can be seen).

To give Claire some more practice on steep(ish) snow, we elected to descend the same way - Claire romped down. We did have an axe, however it stayed in the sacks as the snow was soft enough to render it redundant. Then, as Claire is the daughter of a man so hard he has tabasco sauce rather than soy sauce on his Chinese takeaway - we climbed back past our previous tracks and onto Bowscale Fell. A couple of older walkers were partaking of their lunch whilst we had our second lunch - and I took some more photo's!! before a leisurely descent took us back to Mungrisedale - a superb day and great tonic for the mind, body and soul.

Pictures: http://www.photoboxgallery.com/3436739