The Lake District Walker Blog

The wind on the fells can have a major impact on air temperature, and should not be underestimated, below is a chart showing just how much of a difference the wind speeds can make. Wind speeds also increase with altitude, the speed on the top of the fell can easily be double that at sea level.

Wind (Mph)	Temperature (Celsius)
	10	5	0	-5	-10	-15	-20	-25
10	5	-1	-7	-13	-19	-25	-31	-37
20	0	-6	-13	-20	-27	-34	-41	-48
30	-1	-9	-16	-24	-31	-39	-46	-54
40	-2	-10	-18	-26	-34	-41	-49	-57
50	-3	-11	-19	-27	-35	-43	-50	-58
60	-3	-11	-19	-27	-35	-43	-50	-58
70	-3	-10	-18	-26	-34	-42	-50	-57
80	-2	-10	-17	-25	-33	-40	-48	-56
90	-1	-9	-16	-24	-31	-39	-46	-54

A very windy day today climbing Great Gable from Seathwaite.

We set off from Seathwaite at 10am and climbed to Sty Head Pass, turning off up the breast towards Great Gable, as we climbed higher the winds got stronger, although it was dry, as we passed the 2000ft mark we entered the cloud, and as we reached the summit it was pretty chilly in the wind. We stopped behind the summit rocks to eat our lunches before descending to Windy Gap, (there was less wind here today than anywhere else!) before climbing to the summit of Green Gable. The wind on the summit of Green Gable was stronger than Great Gable and we didn't stop long before descending down onto the Base Brown path, dropping down into Gillercombe and out of the wind then down by the side of Sour Milk Gill and back to Seathwaite.

A good day on Scafell Pike today.

Setting off from Seathwaite at 10am we climbed by Sty Head onto the Corridor Route and up to Lingmell Col.

From the Col we headed up to the summit in strong winds, but as we reached the trig point on Scafell Pike the winds stopped, we sat on the summit to eat our lunches in the calm before heading off again, this time dropping down over Broadcrag Col and crossing Broad Crag and Ill Crag before descending through Calf Cover to Esk Hause and then down below Great End to meet the Grains Gill path back to Seathwaite.

A windy day above Wythop as we tried to burn off a little of the Christmas dinner today.
We set off from the Wythop Valley at 10am and climbed along the track to Kelswick and up onto Sale Fell. The light rain eased as we climbed to the summit of Sale Fell, but there was a very strong wind on the summit.
From Sale Fell we followed the ridge east crossing Rivings to Lothwaite before dropping down to meet the track below, following this along the valley to the old church.
From the old church we crossed the valley to Old Scales Farm and picked up the track west past Eskin and took the Corpse Road, climbing to the summit of Ling Fell. From the summit we dropped down east out of the wind, stopping to eat our sandwiches in the heather before dropping back down to the roadside and back to the cars at Brumstone Bridge.

A great day today climbing The Fairfield Horseshoe.

We set off from The Lake District Walker Shop in Ambleside at 9am and followed the road to the start of the Coffin Route, taking us to Rydal Hall and the start of the climb up Nab Scar. The forecast weather of low cloud didn't materialise this morning and we were in sunshine all the way up the steep climb to Nab Scar and then along the ridge to Heron Pike. From Heron Pike we followed the ridge north to the summit of Great Rigg and then up the long drag to the summit of Fairfield.

There was quite a chilly breeze on the summit of Fairfield today, we stopped in the wind shelter to admire the views over Helvellyn and eat our sandwiches before pressing on, crossing to the summits of Hart Crag and Dove Crag before descending the long ridge over High Pike and Low Pike dropping down to High Sweden Bridge and following the track back to Ambleside, getting back just after 3pm.

A grey day today on the Armboth Fells, although we did stay drier than expected.

When we were up on this ridge just over a week ago the ground was well frozen, but there has been quite a thaw over the last week, today the ground was a little more boggy up here, although not nearly as bad as it can be!

From the Armboth car park we climbed by Fisher Gill towards High Tove, as we reached the grassy ground above the treeline we headed off to the south climbing to the summit of Armboth Fell, probably one of the least frequented summits in the Lake District. As we descended from the summit of Armboth Fell we saw a large heard of deer to the south of us before they ran off down into the valley.

We climbed west from the summit of Armboth Fell towards Middle Crag before following the fenceline north to the summit of High Tove.

After a short stop on the summit of High Tove we followed the ridge north to the summit of High Seat, as we stopped for lunch on the summit of High Seat the cloud blew in a little leaving us with little to see.

After lunch we descended east dropping down to the treeline below Castle Crag to meet the forest track and climbing to the summit of Raven Crag.

There were some good views from the summit of Raven Crag over Thirlmere but the Helvellyn range on the opposite side of the valley was still in thick cloud.

From Raven Crag we descended down to the roadside and followed this south back to Armboth.

Another great day today on the Loweswater Fells in near perfect conditions.

We set off from Maggies Bridge in bright sunshine and followed the path along the Loweswater lakeshore to the National Trust bothy before climbing through the woods to Holme Force and out above the trees onto the terrace path. We followed the terrace path north to climb the northern slopes of Burnbank Fell.

The views today over the Solway Coast were wonderful and there was a great panoramic view of the high Lake District fells.

From Burnbank Fell we traversed south climbing to the summit of Blake Fell our highest point of the day.

From Blake Fell we descended south a little to find a nice scenic spot for lunch in the sunshine before climbing to the summit of Gavel Fell before retracing our steps a little to Fothergill Head and descending north down the good zig-zagged path by High Nook Tarn  and back down to Maggies Bridge.

A good day above Dockray today climbing the Two Mell Fells and Gowbarrow Fell.

From Dockray we drove up the road to Troutbeck to start the walk, climbing from the old shooting range up the steep slopes of Great Mell Fell. This really s a tough climb for such a small fell, but we were soon on the summit, although by now in the cloud.

After a short stop at the top we were off again, this time dropping down through the trees to meet the road by Brownrigg Farm, crossing the fields to Greenrow Farm before climbing again into the cloud and the summit of Little Mell Fell. At the summit we stopped fr a short lunch stop, it was pretty chilly once we stopped so we were soon off again, this time dropping down to The Hause and following the lane east to meet the track taking us through the woods to the old shooting lodge.

As we walked through the woods it started to snow, settling at even low levels, by the time we were up on Gowbarrow Fell there was a thin covering on the ground!

From the summit of Gowbarrow Fell we descended west, dropping down to cross the bridge and follow the track back into Dockray.

A perfect day today climbing Helvellyn from Wythburn.

We set off from Wythburn at 10am and climbed the steep path through the trees to emerge in the sun above the trees, there were a few icy patches on the path this morning, but nothing that couldn't be avoided as we climbed up onto Birk Side following the zig-zags and up onto the main summit ridge.

The views were spectacular and we were soon on the summit of Helvellyn.

After a short stop on the summit we headed off again, it was too early for a lunch stop so we crossed the ridge south to the summit of Nethermost Pike and then over High Crag to Dollywaggon Pike.

We stopped for lunch on the summit of Dollywaggon Pike before descending west down onto Willie Wife Moor and over Reggle Knott, with it's wonderful views over Thirlmere, before descending to Dunmail Raise and taking the forest track back to Wythburn.

A glorious day on the Fairfield Horseshoe today.

We set off from Ambleside at 9am and headed out of town on the Rydal Road, shortly turning off onto the track to Rydal Hall.

From Rydal Hall we climbed the steep path up Nab Scar, the views this morning were wonderful, there was a mist over Windermere and blue sky and snow capped mountains.

From Nab Scar We followed the ridge over Heron Pike and up onto Great Rig before reaching the summit of Fairfield.

After a short lunch top on the summit of Fairfield we were off again, crossing to the summit of Hart Crag and then Dove Crag, following the wonderful ridge down over High Pike and Low Pike and then down by High Sweden BRidge back to Ambleside, getting back to the village just before dark.