A good 4 days in the south eastern Lake District assessing an air cadets Duke of Edinburgh Gold Expedition group, camping near Staverley on the Sunday night before following the Longsleddale Valley to Gatesgarth Pass before descending to Mardale and camping at Small Water, below the High Street ridge.

The following day we climbed onto the High Street ridge, crossing to Thornthwaite Crag before descending the Roman Road to Troutbeck and camping for the night at High Skellgill Farm.

The final day was spent walking south from High Skellgill to Great Tower, a good gentle day walking over easy ground to finish off a good 4 day expedition.

A great day above Kentmere today in wonderful weather.

From the village we climbed the Garburn Pass onto the ridge and followed the path north climbing to Yoke. From the summit of Yoke we continued north making good time over the summits of Ill Bell and Froswick before climbing to Thornthwaite Crag and then the gentle slope up to High Street where we stopped in the sun for our sandwiches.

After our lunch stop we followed the path down over Mardale Ill Bell to Nan Bield Pass and climbed the steep path onto Harter Fell, following the ridge south over Kentmere Pike and Shipman Knotts before descending back to Kentmere.

A misty day climbing High Street from Hartsop today, we set off from Hartsop Village at 10am and followed the track to Hayeswater and climbed the path to The Knott.

As we climbed above Hayeswater we saw a group of Red Deer grazing on the slope, they seemed uninterested in us as we climbed the steep slope.

As we approached The Knott we entered the cloud, there was now very little to see so we didn't stop for long on the summit. The easy climb to the summit of High Street along the wall didn't take us too long so we continued to the summit of Thornthwaite Crag, stopping for our lunch out of the wind behind the pillar.

After lunch we descended the Gray Crag ridge, watching several groups of red deer in the valley below us. As we neared the summit of Gray Crag we emerged from the cloud and were rewarded with good views all around, particularly the view behind us, of Windermere across Threshthwaite Mouth.

We descended from the ridge to the Hayeswater path and followed it back to Hartsop Village.

A near perfect day today climbing High Street from Patterdale. We set off from the Patterdale Hotel just after 10am and climbed to Boredale Hause following the path below Stony Rigg to climb to the summit of the Angletarn Pikes.

The weather was near perfect, very little wind and clear skies giving us wonderful views across the valley towards Helvellyn and Fairfield. We continued past Angle Tarn and climbed past Satura Crag to the summit of The Knott, stopping for lunch at the Straights Of Riggindale, watching the deer in the valley below while we ate our sandwiches.

The short climb to the summit of High Street was climbed quickly after lunch and we stopped on the summit for a while to take in the views before pressing on, descending to the summit of Thornthwaite Crag with it's wonderful views south over Windermere.

The ridge north from Thornthwaite Crag gave us a good route back to the valley, over the summit of Gray Crag before the steep descent to Hartsop and the path back along the valley to Patterdale.

A god day climbing High Street from Patterdale today despite some wet and windy weather.

We set off from the Patterdale Hotel a 10am and climbed by Boredale Hause to The Angletarn Pikes, so far so good the rain was holding off well.

We descended by Angle Tarn and continued to climb, climbing by The Knott onto the main High Street ridge, crossing the Straits Of Riggindale and climbed alongside the wall to the summit of High Street. As we climbed the final slopes of High Street the rain set in, blowing across us on quite a strong wind.

After a brief lunch stop behind the wall at the summit of High Street we pressed on, climbing to the summit of Thornthwaite Crag, it was decided to drop out of the wind as soon as possible so we dropped down north east to meet Hayeswater Gill finding a good route down along the gill to Hayeswater to meet the track down to Hartsop and the path back to Patterdale.

A great day on the Kentmere Horseshoe today.

We set off from Kentmere just before 9.30 and climbed by the Garburn Pass to Yoke, the low cloud cleared as we neared the summit giving us good views of the surrounding fells.

We followed the ridge north over Ill Bell and Froswick before climbing to the summit of Thornthwaite Crag, stopping behind the wall to eat our lunches.

After lunch we crossed to Mardale Ill Bell, now in thick in cloud and starting to rain a little, this soon cleared as we descended to Nan Bield Pass and we reached the summit of Harter Fell in sunshine.

From Harter Fell we descended the southern ridge over Kentmere Pike and Shipman Knotts before descending back to Kentmere.

A great day!

A damp day climbing High Street from Mardale Head today.

Although a dry start to the walk the rain soon set in and the strong winds. As we reached the summit of Kidsty Pike the clouds cleared for a short while giving us views down into Riggindale to a group of red deer.

From Kidsty Pike we crossed to Rampsgill Head where once again the cloud briefly cleared giving s a great view down Ramps Gill to Martindale.

We followed the roman road to the Straits of Riggindale and climbed to the summit of High Street, sheltering behind the wall for a short break to eat our sandwiches before continuing, crossing to the summit of Mardale Ill Bell and descending by Nan Bield Pass to Small Water and back down to Mardale Head.

A wonderful day above Troutbeck today, we set off at 10am and climbed by the Garburn Track to the Garburn Pass.

From the top of the pass we climbed in bright sunshine to the summit of Yoke, the views were great, south over Morecambe Bay and to the Yorkshire Dales and to the north and west across the Lake District, only the highest tops were in cloud.

We followed the ridge north climbing to the wonderful summit of Ill Bell and it's multiple cairns. There was a great view south over Windermere from the summit.

We continued north crossing the summit of Froswick and climbing to the summit of Thornthwaite Crag.

There was quite a cool breeze on the tops so we ducked behind a wall to eat our packed lunches with a good view over High Street and north towards Ullswater.

After lunch we descended west dropping down to Threshthwaite Mouth and followed the Trout Beck south descending to the valley and following the track back to Troutbeck.

The forecast said the weather for today would be the best to the east of Helvellyn, and that was exactly where we were heading onto High Street and the surrounding fells.

We started from the small village of Hartsop, and although there was some mist covering the tops we knew it would improve, and it was creating some quite dramatic views. We ascended on the good track up to the large Hayeswater Reservoir. We now climbed far more steeply up towards The Knott, from one side a large domed fell, and from the other side just a small pimple of a fell! We descended off The Knott and climbed the slopes up to Rampsgill Head. Just as we summited Rampsgill Head the mist cleared a little and provided us with some views of our next objective, High Raise. We descended and climbed the gentle slopes to the summit, and after a few pictures we turned and started to head back towards Kidsty Pike. We contoured around the head of Randale Beck and summited the fell. After our first little extention we were now heading for our main objective of the day, High Street. We walked around the Head of Riggindale Beck and across the top of Two Penny Crag before crossing the Straits of Riggindale. Now on our ascent up High Street and having already got 4 summits with no views we were really happy when the mist started to clear again. Firsly it cleared to provide views down in to Riggindale and to Haweswater in the distance, and then to our delight the summit of High Street emerged, and with it came some glorious sunshine. We reached the flat summit and thought it would be a great time to have some lunch. A mini inversion was happening as we found ourselves above most of the cloud, and the most impressive thing was that Helvellyn and its edges emerged out of the cloud, followed by Fairfield and St Sunday's Crag, a great lunchtime view! We descended to the south and then climbed again to the summit of Thornthwaite Crag, which hosts an impressive Roman Beacon. Doing well for time we thought we would extend the route once more and not descend over Gray Crag. We descended off the fell to Threshwaite Mouth and then climbed the rocky path to the summit of Stony Cove Pike. With another wall for assistance we followed it to the North towards Hartsop Dodd. On the way the cloud was breaking again to provide some more nice views. We summited our eigth and final fell and now just had a steep descent back down into Hartsop. On the way down we were treated with some lovely views of Brotehrs Water and Ullswater to the north.  Just before we reached the valley bottom we saw some old mine shafts which we went to see. We got back to the car having had a fantastic day out on a lovely group of fells.

After meeting outside the Patterdale Hotel in the glorious sunshine we made our way across the fields and onto the track that traverses the hillside. After even just a short while of climbing we got some amazing views back down to Ullswater. We continued up the track to Boredale Hause from which we continued along to the summit of Angletarn Pikes. On this summit it was quite windy, and we could also see a larger band of cloud sweeping in. Within just a few minutes many of the highest summits in the area were covered with cloud, so we thought our views for the day were gone. We made our way past the lovely Angle Tarn and towards The Knott, a rounded summit that stands high above Hayeswater Reservoir. Fortunately by the time we had got here the cloud had once again blown through and we could see the summit of our next objective, High Street.

We enjoyed views down to Haweswater as we climbed the long and sustained slope up to the summit. On the summit we stopped for lunch and enjoyed extensive views right across the entire national park.

After our stop we descended and then climbed up to the summit of Thornthwaite Crag, which holds the large impressive beacon. From this summit we made our way back northwards over Gray Crags and back down to Hartsop. From here we followed the long track back along past the fields and into Patterdale.

A cracking day on the Troutbeck Skyline today.

Starting from Troutbeck Church we climbed the fellside on the good Garburn Road. The path traversed and climbed the western slopes of Sour Howes, and just before it rounded the hill to drop into Kentmere we split of the track and headed towards Yoke. The quality of the path continued as the track gradually climbed up to Yoke's flat summit. We continued over this summit and climbed up onto the fine conical summit of Ill Bell. The views from this summit were fantastic, especially down towards Kentmere Reservoir. We descended steeply from this summit before again climbing up to the smaller, but equally conical summit of Froswick.

We decided to stop on this summit for lunch, and we enjoyed extensive views right across the entire Lake District. After out stop we again descended before climbing a short way to the highest summit of the day, Thornthwaite Crag. We now had great views down into the Kentmere Valley, as well as down along the route we had just walked. Ill Bell and Froswick looked fantastic as they stood like huge pyramids side by side. We retraced our steps a short way before descending towards the valley bottom.

On the climb for a final time we walked up the easy ground to the little summit of Troutbeck Tongue. From this summit we descended to the good footpath that led past the fields (with cute lambs in!) and back to Troutbeck.

A great day above Troutbeck today on the Troutbeck Skyline.

We set off from Trutbeck Church at 10am and climbed the gentle Garburn Track up to the Garburn Pass, turning north at the summit of the pass and following the path north alng the ridge, eventually climbing to the summit of Yoke.

From Yoke we continued north, following the ridge to the summit of Ill Bell. We stopped for lunch at the summit of Ill Bell before continuing north, as we descended Ill Bell a little cloud blew in so that as we crossed Froswick and climbed to the summit of Thornthwaite Crag we were in and out of the cloud.

We descended from Thornthwaite Crag south dropping down onto the Roman Road and dropped down to Hag Gill, following the track back to Troutbeck.