Skiddaw and Sale How

What a glorious morning for a walk. Jay hasn't been up Skiddaw before so I have had it in the back of my mind to rectify that for a while, but we were leaving it till silly season was over. There is never a really quiet time on fells as popular as Skiddaw - that's why we rarely go up them. But sometimes you've just got to bite the bullet and accept that you are going to see other people out there!

We parked at the Latrigg carpark and made our way up the motorway. We were lucky, there were a couple ahead of us and a group of about three behind, but the couple ahead kept up a decent pace and the ones behind stayed well behind. Everyone we met coming the other way was pleasant, so actually we didn't mind seeing them!

It was promising to be a glorious day with some very atmospheric clouds

Keswick, Derwent Water with the distinctive Catbells beyond. The higher fells still have an eerie layer of cloud clinging to the tops

Zooming in on Catbells

As we gain height you can see our planned descent route. We will cross Sale How - the grassy lump in the middle - from left to right dropping down the far side of it to Skiddaw House

The summit of Skiddaw - still in cloud, which it was for most of the day. We didn't have to drop far before we walked back into sunshine

Heading for Sale How - spot the dog!

Lunchtime power nap

The Lunchtime view

You can write your own caption for this.................

Mummy's Little Princess

Molly is keen. This must be her longest walk yet. I wonder if she is the first blind dog to walk up Skiddaw?

That's Lonscale Crags behind Breeze (the pointy bit). Our return route is round half of the Balcony Route which passes under there

Skiddaw House in the trees ahead

I just can't help myself!

On the Balcony

On the last bit of the Cumbria way as we head to the car

By our standards we saw a lot of people today, but actually for such a popular fell we didn't do too badly and without fail everyone was very friendly. It's certainly a better kind of tourist at this time of year!
Just short of 10 miles and it was absolutely perfect weather again - apart from the summit of Skiddaw, but that really didn't matter, it just added to the atmosphere with clouds blowing around.