Around Martindale Common

Distance: 15.7 miles
Ascent: 1200m
Weather: wet and windy, clag
Brief glimpse of a red squirrel,  toad, rooks and crows.
Mittens: wet
Glasses: wet
Everything: wet
New Tops: Brownthwaite Crag, Gowk Hill, Wether Hill (b & l gr whatever that means), Red Crag, Low Raise

We were set off not long after 9am,  filled with breakfast, and loaded down with lunch and my new expensive camera that didn't leave the cosiness of its waterproof bag due to the bad weather.

It was drizzling as we headed up to Bordale Hause, timing it perfectly so we ended up between two hordes. The thing about hordes is that they stop a lot, and one lot having just overtaken us, proceeded to stop. That was the last we saw of them. We turned left at Boredale Hause, leaving the coast to coast route,  and headed down into Boredale, along the valley dropping down to a farm, where we crossed into Martindale over Winter Crag. The paths were muddy, grassy and quite slipsome. They then got muddier and considerably steeper on the other side of the valley, heading up Nettlehowe Crag to the High Street path along the ridge - in the wind and clag.

Visibility was limited,  not helped by steamed up and wet glasses. At times along the way I even took my glasses off, which was different  but not necessarily any better. We wandered around looking for tops,  in the clag, and I got knackered clambering up vertical (ok maybe not vertical) grassy fellsides.

Lunch was had on wobbly rocks behind a wall by somewhere near Red Crag or thereabouts,  it was cold and wet and oniony.

The path down from Knott was clear and quite easy going,  which was a relief given  the strength of the wind. Before reaching Hayeswater, there was a lost dog and a sign telling us about a new bridge over the Gill so we aimed for that, although we'd dropped down below the cloudline here so could actually see something. From the bridge there is now a rough road for the building of a new hydroelectric system,  and we followed this steep track down into the valley by the side of Hayeswater Gill and its waterfalls.

From Hartsop back to Patterdale there are footpaths along the side of the valley edge, quite muddy in places but sheltered.