Hard going

Slept like a baby in the bothy and was surprised to wake up after dawn. We'd managed to keep the fire through the night - so put on the last of one bag of fuel (it's always nice to leave some for others) and had a hearty breakfast before putting on the thankfully lighter (now only 15kg!) packs and heading out. 
In such glorious conditions we decided we'd endeavour to cover some ground - but with knee & in places thigh deep snow, which wouldn't quite support our weight, it was heavy going up onto Branstree - but the views over onto Kentmere Pike were fabulous - as were the wind waves in the snow. We ambled over to the old survey pillar from the building of Haweswater - then across to the Coffin Road. All of Swindale seems to being replanted with a fantastic mix of original woodland - I'm hoping it will come to fruition whilst I'm still able to get up onto the fells - it would be fantastic to see some of the Lakeland valley's returning to how they would have looked centuries ago. 
Up from the valley onto the (now) moorland around Great Ladstones (interestingly next to the wide open expanse names Ralfland Wood) the climb was easy - but making our way through the drifts on the open ground was tiring - we were glad of a reason to stop & watch the red deer grazing - but then ahead of the sunset it was time to make our way down past Sleddale Hall (interesting for fans of cult movie Withnail & I) and back to the van.
A great two days out in the Eastern Fells - we saw nobody on Saturday & three distant folk on Sunday (we did meet a friend of https://www.blipfoto.com/SueMiddleton in the carpark!).

I've backblipped yesterday if you're interested here