Breakfast on a Hill

Windermere – Rydal – Grasmere – Thirlmere.

Soft white mist rising from the images of inverted hills.

Early morning quiet undisturbed,

Hillsides and valleys still dark.

Pasture green tipped with remnants of last nights frost

There are some good reasons for an early start to the day.

  At last high pressure has hit the hills and there have been a few clear, cloudless days with  the slightest whisper of a breeze.

With a plan to go up to one of the highest hills I arrived at Wythburn car park before the rest of the world.

Blue sky, sunshine on hills, deep, dark shadows. 

A stunning contrast as I made my way to Birkside Gill.  But a cold one.  Hats gloves and layers were piled on.  The frost had left its mark.

There are now easy routes up to the Helvellyn Ridge.  Fell paths fixed to almost pushchair pushabilitly and equal monotany.

Instead waterfalls in Birkside Gill tumble down the side in a spectacular white trail.  Get up close and investigate deep plungepools, rocks with dramatic drops and cool slate slopes, as yet resisting the ever plundering force.

My early morning rush had meant packing, not eating breakfast, so I left the cold lower slopes and headed skywards to the sun.

There was no one.  Just the Herdies.  I have eaten breakfast in some pretty swanky places but this really was the best.

I had the top of Dollywaggon totally to myself.

Fell runners the only others crazy enough to make that early morning start.

Shadows accentuated crags and snow pockets gleamed white in the deepest gullies.

Parched moorland grass drifted down to green valleys, lakes and the merest hint of horizon haze.

I sat and enjoyed the solitude for a while before hiking over the distinctly poor relative, Nethermost Pike towards Helvellyn, where the congregations were en-mass.  Ant trails of people dotting over the ridge of Striding Edge to the top of the prominent cousin.

So, did I go up to the higher peak?  Knowing the crowds that would be there.  That would break the magic.

Time was against me anyway.  I left the mountains to rest of the world to enjoy and wound my way back to the valley.