The Crummock Horseshoe - 9th January

The start of the journey across was very wet, but it stopped raining by the time we got to Bowes moor. On Bowes Moor the roads had a sprinkling of snow, by the time we started to go down the other side the roads were dry. We decided to listen to a local radio station as Century radio’s signal was breaking up. All we heard was about road and school closures because of the weather this included Penrith, at this point we were at Penrith roundabout, with absolutely no snow. Do we live in a different world?

Grasmoor

It was a gorgeous morning when we set off and the going was easy and soon climbed up to the first top, Whiteside. The views were lovely. As we set off the cloud started to descend and we soon couldn’t see a thing going up to the 2^nd top, Whiteside East Top, which is only ¼ mile away from Whiteside. The wind was also very bad and I really struggled to the 3^rd top of the day, Hopegill Head, having to cope not only with a narrowish ridge but also the wind and poor visibility. I was beginning to wonder why I go walking. We had to bail out of going to the 4^th top, Ladyside Peak due to the weather. If visibility had been better there should have been no problem but it looked as though you were going to walk into the abyss down a steep cliff. It was an easy walk to Sand Hill even though Stuart managed to fall flat on his back slipping on some ice. We then headed down to Coledale Hause and lunch next to the waterfall. It was a steep climb up to Grasmoor although after a while the slope eased off. It was one of those tops that seemed to go on forever before you finally reached the summit. The descent from Grasmoor was very easy probably easier because the ground was frozen, so you didn’t skid on the shale.

Whiteside

Then my spirits lifted as the wind dropped and the sun came out along with the views and the summit of Wandope was soon reached. As was the last top of the day, Whiteless Pike. Then it was for the long haul down shale paths back to the car. The paths were very icy the further down we got. I’m glad they weren’t like that at the top. 

Whiteless Pike

On the whole it was an enjoyable walk although I did suffer a bit from different mood swings during it. The second half of the walk was a lot more enjoyable than the first. Stuart really enjoyed the entire walk.