A day out

It's been a long day today, I drove to Buttermere first thing to spend a day on the Buttermere Fells. I was helping out with monitoring of the vegetation on this large massif which is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. This isn't really my role any more (alas), but I could justify a day on maintaining field skills.

I thought I had organised myself well for a departure before 0700, I had everything ready and I made my sandwiches last night. But clearly I have been a desk jockey for too long, for I broke the cardinal rule of ecological surveyors, I left my sandwiches in the fridge where I put them last night. So it wasn't just a long day, but a hungry one too, when I found that I am nothing like as fit as I was two years ago when I was last monitoring on the fells.

The weather was odd too. It started out clear and bright, but then as the sun was beginning to peek over the peaks, a curtain of cloud was drawn across the sky. Then at the end of the afternoon, the curtain was promptly pulled back. From the cloud came the first snow of the winter, more particles than flakes, but too light-weight to be hail.

But I'm not complaining, it was good to be out in the mountains again...even if my knees ached a bit too much, and I am completely wasted now. Wifie produced a tasty big beany stew, enough to fill the cavernous emptiness of my stomach. Now it's time for a long hot bath, I think.

The view is towards Alfred Wainwright's favourite fell, Haystacks, the low lumpy one in the middle ground. The route I took was up from Buttermere, onto Whitelees Breast, on to Whitelees Pike, Wandope, Crag Hill, and Seat. Then the hard bit was the traverse below the peaks on the steep, heathery ground stopping to record the plants. Unlike so much of the Lake District High Fells, it is in very good condition, just the right number of the woolly fellows.