Raise and Sheffield Pike

It's been a while, our last Lake District walk was in June and with a short walk in Melrose in August it's certainly been a while. So it was good to get back out and tackle a couple of walks on what turned out to be a chilly and very wet day.

It was my turn to drive so Peter arrived for me a little later than planned due to ice on his windscreen - a sign of things to come! We called for Steve and were on our way shortly after 6.00 am. The forecast was not clear with rain forecast in some places and fine in others so we were not sure where to go. We were all taking into account the fact that we had not been out for a while and so wanted to "take it a bit easier". So we decided to drive to Glenridding and drive up to the Youth Hostel to get a bit of height and walk Raise and Sheffield Pike.

Arriving in Glenridding just after 8.00am we tucked into the Angus the Butcher Steak and Kidney pie, now part of our ritual (although we are still not getting them for free despite all the mentions!). Always a good start to the day, we set off towards Raise. The weather was fairly fine at this stage although a little cold, we could see mist on the tops. It was a steady walk nearly all the way to the top, nothing too strenuous. Just as we were approaching the top we put another layer on as the temperature was dropping as we walked into the mist. We reached the summit just after 10.30 and stuck around long enough for a couple of photos as it was quite cold and windy.

We decided to drop from the summit into some rocks to have lunch and get out of the wind. We settled down to eat lunch on some rocks and it started to snow, early November and the first snow! It was quite wet snow but it came down quickly.

So we got on our way towards Sheffield Pike in blizzard conditions! As we dropped the snow turned to rain but it did continue to rain. Over on the right we could see the ski lift (which could almost be used today). We had to descend almost to the valley to begin to climb Sheffield Pike so it was almost like climbing 2 separate mountains today. We passed a large party of cyclists who were on their way up to the Dodds range with their bikes on their backs. Looked like hard work to me! As we started to climb Sheffield Pike it was very boggy and quite slippy as Steve found out - 3 times. Peter nicknamed him Tumbles Carragher!

We arrived at the summit of Sheffield Pike around 12.30 but no time to stop for photo's unfortunately as it was very wet by now. So we headed straight back down to the car to dry off. Just time for a pint in the Ramblers bar in Glenridding. A good walk and another 2 tops chalked off towards the target. We also started to plan the Christmas walk which will happen later this month or just before Christmas. Watch this space.

PS. I am writing this 2 weeks after our walk and in the aftermath of the dreadful floods that have hit the Lake District in the past few days. Our thoughts are very much with all those who have suffered this week.