The Leaney Tour of Gable - Photo Gallery

At last, walking with the Online Fellwalking Club, I must remember to be gentle with them.

Started from the National Trust car park at Honister Hause in bitterly cold but brilliantly sunny weather we headed straight up the fellside alongside the fence all of the way to the twin summits of Grey Knotts. The steep climb and quick gain in height gave tremendously clear views of Fleetwith Pike and Dale Head, the fells highly illuminated in the bright sunshine showing up every detail, every path, every boulder.

It became very warm walking uphill in the sun and it was necessary to remove my jacket as we got close to the summit of Grey Knotts. From the summit the a new fence means that the way over to Brandreth is unmistakable, just as well because there's no time to navigate whilst taking in the views along Buttermere and Ennerdale.

On the indistinct summit of Brandreth it's difficult to decide which of the cairns actually marks the summit, oh well - visit them all just to make sure. The breeze coming down from the higher fells is a reminder that this is February and time to put the jacket back on. On the climb up to Green Gable the Langdale Pikes come into the view to the south east and closer are the crags of Great Gable, Kirk Fell and Pillar, a welcome sight after weeks of green fells.

Then at the summit of Green Gable, is a regal view of Great Gable, the queen of mountains in the Lake District, there is just the steep path down to Windy Gap and I'm reunited with an old friend. On the first part of the ascent, hard snow occupying the fellside makes the path even narrower and more exhilarating than usual. The excellent scramble up the rocky side of the fell to the stony summit plateau is great fun but hard work.

The view from Great Gable summit is awesome, this is where I want to be today.

The descent to Beck Head is probably my favourite footpath, although steep and a bit of a scramble over boulders, it isn't the most difficult or exhilarating route, it just feels that I am really close to the mountain – does that make sense?

The view of Kirk Fell from this descent is an appetizer for what is still to come, a fine rocky mountain flecked with snow deposits, displayed to its best effect in the bright sunshine. The normally wet plateau of Beck Head is nicely firm today on the walk across to Kirk Fell for the start of the climb up Rib End, not as difficult as it looks from Great Gable. To return the favour, the view of Great Gable from Kirk Fell is the most inspiring view of an inspiring mountain.

It got quite warm climbing up to the north east summit of Kirk Fell where hard-as-nails Jill kept the sleeveless tee shirt look all the way to the main summit, much to the astonishment of other fully winter clothed walkers. Following the fence in the direction of Pillar leads to another one of my favourite routes, the scramble down to Black Sail Pass. It looks impossible and the first rock step downwards is very intimidating but it isn't too difficult especially on a dry day.

From Black Sail pass begins the long walk back to Honister using Moses Trod, a footpath in wonderful mountain surroundings that never gets busy. The path is sometimes indistinct and the frozen fellside has to be bypassed in some places but it provides a generally safe traverse below the crags of Kirk Fell. At one point we came to a frozen gill, using my long legs I got across the icy rocks and helped Ann get across.

As I was helping Jill she decided to step on an icy rock and would have gone sliding a long way down the gill if I hadn't got such a tight hold on her arm. In gratitude for saving her life Jill said it was my fault for pushing her, Andrew asked for an action replay so that he could take a photo this time.

At this stage of the walk, as the path climbed back up to Beck Head and up over scree to the top of the path some of the legs were beginning to complain. Soon the day's climbing was eventually over and all that was left was a pleasant walk back to the Drum House on Fleetwith Pike's lower slopes. I have walked this path several times but I never suspected that the views of Buttermere and especially Ennerdale Water were possible but today is a special treat and there they are.

Seven and a half hours of sun and excellent company on a fantastic day, where were you?

Andy Wallace 15th February 2003