Last Sunday Roger and Ann and Jo and I and our five dogs met at Patterdale for a walk over St Sunday Crag.  As the forecast was for improving weather during the afternoon, we set off up Grisedale rather than heading directly for St Sunday Crag.  The odd spot of drizzle soon cleared up as we climbed the long trail from green fields to the more rocky head of the valley.  Grisedale is one of the longer Lakeland valleys and it seemed a long time until we reached the climbing hut of Ruthwaite Lodge.  Several other parties had stopped there for lunch but we pressed on to Grisedale Tarn - after a brief diversion to the "Brother's Parting" stone just below the tarn.

The tarn was quite a bleak place on Sunday with rather dull light and mist on the surrounding tops.  Our route then doubled back and climbed to Grisedale Hause, the pass between St Sunday Crag and Fairfield. It was on this ascent that we reached our first patch of snow.  The Helvellyn range had good snow cover but Fairfield also proved to have more snow than I had expected from below.  Most of the snow would have fallen a week earlier.  From Grisedale Hause, St Sunday Crag proves to have a few false summits before the true one is reached.  For the first time we became aware of a chilly wind and we headed down towards Birks a little way until we found a spot which had some shelter to have lunch.  Hot chocolate and soup warmed the inner man and woman - very welcome.  It wasn't the place to linger as a late start had meant it was now three o'clock with only an hour and a half of daylight left.  Our walking poles proved their worth on the descent as the snow and ice made life a little "interesting".

We skirted the north side of Birks and reached the foot of Thornhow End just as darkness fell.  A quick drink in the White Lion in Patterdale rounded off a pleasant day.  The week between Christmas and New year was a poor one for weather but Sunday had the best forecast and we made the best of it.

A full album is available on Webshots http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/561979921kCSNS.

Happy New Year to you all - especially to Lorraine.  Thanks to Ann and Roger for being such good hosts on New Year's Eve and my respect to Roger for his ability as a fireworks master!

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