Most Northerly Wainwright

Early morning activity on ‘social media’ this morning was confirmation that people had seen the same weather forecast as myself.

An early frost followed by a wonderful sunny day.  Everyone was packing their packs, heading for the hills and hoping for a much needed taste of vitamin D.

Not to be.  I stepped out of back door into a downpour!

Who knows what happened.  Mountains have their own weather system but not usually low lying South Lakes.  Travelling over Shap the rain turned to snow.  That maybe would not be too bad, and I had put my four-season boots in the car ‘just in case’.

But I was heading from the far south of the county to the far north.  The most northerly Wainwrights on the Uldale Fells.  All I had read of them indicated this somewhat diminutive cluster was wet at the best of times, so more precipitation was not welcome.

Meal Fell

Things had cheered up a bit by the time I arrived at Overwater, meeting point of the day.  The rain and snow had stopped but the cloud sat firmly on the tops.  There it was to remain until we were heading down the penultimate hill to Great Cockup.

Burntod Gill

Uldale means Wolves valley, if there had been any remaining there was great cover today.  A meal we could easily have been made.

Binsey

Clear vision was all too fleeting and there was little temptation to linger.  Great Sca Fell was just above the snow line and the clearing wind was raw and unwelcoming.   From Great Cockup there was, for a few moments, a view of Binsey.

Solway from Binsey

The final and most northerly AW.  Quickly sprinting up and down it really was just like putting a tick in a box.

Basenthwaite from Binsey

But at least by then the cloud had lifted a little and the soft afternoon light played around with the rich greens and browns of the valleys.

Over Water

Typically, heading back through the slow way the the sky cleared to show even the heights of Helvellyn.

The Calvas and Whitewater Dash

Had it been like that all day?  Had all those on social media been lucky in their choices and topped up their  vitamin D?

Route