Even after our rest day and ‘shorter’ walk to Whorneyside Force the day prior, Mum’s knee following a recent injury that she picked up at a barn dance was sadly not up for another day exploring the mountains.

The morning mountain forecast was also not looking the most appealing, with FOG and MIST headlining and reports of low cloud looming.

To wait out some of the poor weather, Mum and I took the dog on a short 4km hike to Orrest Head, a view point in Windermere.

From here, we could see the cloud sitting in the valleys, and also the snow that had appeared on some of the higher fells.

I concluded, that while I left Mum with her knee up for a rest, I was going to be brave and have a solo adventure. I waited till 11.30 in the hope the worst of the weather was done and began my journey from Kirkstone Pass.

I headed into the Fells via St Raven‘s Edge to Stoney Cove Pike (763m). This leg was all in the cloud, minus a brief 2 minute window where the cloud cleared enough to give me a glimpse to the incredible views that would be waiting for me once I got out of the cloud.

After a descent of over 150 meters, I then had a steep 170 meter climb up a scree slope which was a little disconcerting at times as to whether or not I was on the designated path when my visibility was so slim. Once I finally made it past Thornthwaite Crag (784m) and beacon, I left the cloud behind.

It was a very surreal experience walking out of the cloud and being able to turn around and see it right there behind me!

It was such a relief to see the views, which made the journey (and height gain) very very worth it !

I was able to see across the High Street range which we were hoping to go to the next day, and I could see Kentmere reservoir, the peaks I was about to climb, and even as far as Windermere!

My route took me over Froswick (720m), IIl Bell (757m), and Yoke (706m), before descending down to Troutbeck where Mum kindly picked me up.

This was a 15km hike, with many different weather extremes and a challenging 770 meters of elevation climbed.

Although I would always prefer to have a mountain buddy, it was a good confidence boost for me that I can do these things solo. It was a great reminder that I know what I’m doing and how to make the right decisions in the hill, which puts me in a reassuring position ahead of my Mountain Leader training in June!

The next day, we headed to Haweswater for the final big Lake District adventure!