The Newlands round, Lakeland

We decided to have a weekend to tackle the Newlands Round, and an edge that I'd always wanted to do, but never had - Striding Edge! On arrival in the lakes, we were greeted with THIS sky - not a good omen! However, as any walker knows, you just can't ever be sure of what you'll get in the Lakes, and what we ended up with was the PERFECT weather and day for our first walk, the Newlands round. The second day was a different story though....

When we got there, we HAD to do the walk round Derwentwater, and take the pics.

A nice shot of a gull and the fells.

Those ducks should be on a wall somewhere.

The ubiquitous shot along the jetty.

A bit of a squall on the fells.

The morning of the first walk. What would today bring, looking at this sky, you'd be pessimistic!

Derwentwater, with Blencathra behind.

A shaft of sunlight hits Derwentwater.

A fell runner tackles Cat Bells.

Looking into the valley as we climb above the snow line.

This stormy sky suggests a bad day, but it turned out to be PERFECT!

Me on the path up to High Spy.

Just a smattering of blue sky, but all day, we had NO rain.

The sun hits the fells.

Blencathra, from High Spy.

On top of High Spy.

Frozen waterfalls!

Looking across to crags from the summit.

One very happy chap!

Dale end summit & a fantastic sky.

Looking back down the Newlands valley on a perfect day.

Cat bells.

Some stunning views from Dale Head, on a perfect day.

Someone with a sense of humour!

Always a snowman on the tops!

Looking back to the summit of Dale end.

The Scafell massif.

Looking to Buttermere & Crummock water.

The path to the top.

A frozen cairn.

The ridge path down, below the snow line.

Looking to Blencathra.

Just LOOK at that view!

A lovely view of Skiddaw from our hotel balcony.

After that fantastic walk around Newlands, we were elated and ready for day two.

Our aim today was a famous walk that I'd never done (and still haven't)

Striding Edge. We set off from the valley on a crisp, cold day. There was a bit of snow on the tops, but we hoped it would stay dry and bright.

It didn't!

The higher we climbed, the more it snowed.

This was our last view of our goal before a white out - Striding Edge.

Looking across Ullwater valley from hole in the wall.

OK - let's play a game - where's the path????

A bleak sight!!! This snow was getting worse, and driving at us at 45 degrees, not good.

This was where I made the decision that today, we would turn back. Our tracks on the path behind us were covered in a matter of minutes with fresh snow.

At last we come out of the snow, and reach 'the hole in the wall'.