A Proper Soaking

Last weekend Ann & John ventured south to the Lake District. The forecast was, optimistically, poor for Saturday with severe gales and heavy, at times torrential rain moving in from the west in the middle of the day. Heeding this we were on the hill by 8, the mighty Marilyn of Blake Fell above Loweswater. Apart from the odd gust it wasn’t very windy, and we even had a brief bit of sun but it wasn’t to last. The cloud thickened very rapidly, the drizzle came on and the wind-chill kicked in earlier than expected.

Towards the Grasmoor group from Blake Fell

After traversing Gavel Fell we dropped down towards Hen Comb, just as things started to get seriously wet. Hen Comb was bypassed in favour of Marilyn number two, Mellbreak. We nearly didn’t bother as by now sheets of rain were marching across the fells and the gusts were nearly knocking us over at only 250m.

Red Pike hiding in the rain

Grasmoor from Mellbreak

It was a choice of going back over the hill or wading through unusually (for the Lakes) tussocky and swampy bog. The hill won and it wasn’t too bad, the wind now being behind us. The rain even eased a bit and we got some views of Grasmoor. The steep, at times scrambly descent, demanded care but soon we were back at the car in the now intermittent sunshine, cursing our timing. 

Decending Mellbreak

Half an hour later though we got a reminder of what torrential rain rally is, making us feel like the early start was worth it after all. This was reinforced by being down in time for Keswick market to stock up on genuine Cumberland sausage. Yum!