Awesome!

And today's walk........................... is a belter. Prepare to sit through a lot of photos! To see them at their best, double click on the first one and scroll through the lot.

We parked at Braithwaite on what was turning out to be a better than forecast morning and headed off to meet the miners track. Causey Pike can be seen in the distance with it's distinctive knobles.

As we look back, Skiddaw Little Man has a fresh dusting of snow

and as we reach the miners track we can see more white stuff on the summits ahead

Force Crag Mine comes into view at the end of the track. We are aiming to the left of the mine to head over behind the top of Force Crag

As we climb up, we can look down into the mine. A Defra funded project is constructing a passive water treatment system to remove heavy metals from water before it enters Coledale Beck. You can see the plant machinery working !

Add capFrom above Force Crag, looking back to Skiddaw and Blencathra. The miners track we have come up is to the left of the beck.

Then it's uphill, over Sandhill and onto Hopegill Head. Our next summit will be Grisedale Pike, the pointy bit left of centre

But first we have to walk along the edge of Hobcarton Crag (Time to go on the lead Breezy!). We will walk along the edge of the face you can see here

Until finally reaching the main objective of today Grisedale pike. A nicely positioned cairn with a nice flat stone to stand the camera on gives the opportunity for a rare family photo

 And then it's time to soak in the views. Looking south the Langdale Pikes, Scafell Pike (just under that wisp of clould) and everything else in between

Add caZooming in on the Langdale Pikes - the camera was getting a bit cold and suffering from a bit of condensation, hence the hazy picture!

 Looking East across Derwent water and the Eastern fells

Then it was time to start the tricky descent. Frozen solid it was a bit tricky in places, but nice and steady, we made it over the worst section while Breeze just charged up and down without a care in the world

 Looking back from further down, our path was on the snow side of the ridge seen here

Then back onto easier going and Bassenthwaite comes into view in the afternoon sunshine. Nearly back at the car

What a fabulous walk. Just short of 9 miles. Awesome views and we had been in sunshine for pretty much all bar the descent from Grisedale Pike. The only negative from the day is that the ice snd snow have had the same effect on Breeze's pads as dry hot ground. She now has a hole in one foot. Trust us to get a dog that runs so far and fast it wears it's feet out!