Date & start time: Wednesday 28th October 2009. 12.30 pm start.

Location of Start : Roadside just beyond Thackthwaite village, Cumbria, Uk ( NY 149 238 )

Places visited : Thackthwaite, Fellbarrow, Sourfoot Fell, Watching Crag, Low Fell back to home.

Walk details : 4.66 mls, 1500 ft, 3 hrs 35 mins including lunch.

Highest point : Low Fell 1,387ft ( 423m)

Walked with : Keith, Simon and Beth, Ann and the dogs, Harry and Bethan.

Weather : Low cloud and breezy but mild and dry.

A forecast for low cloud on the fells encourages us to think of a lower alternative.

Three friends join us on a walk up Fellbarrow and Low Fell and despite the poor weather we have a great walk across these delightful local hills.

Rush hour delays at Loweswater.

Keith, Simon, Beth and Ann at the Thackthwaite start.

The lane up from Thackthwaite Farm looks different now the fence has been replaced

and the area landscaped following the storm damage a few years back.

Looking over the gate towards Whinlatter gives us a measure of today's weather.

Looking along the length of Low Fell, the slightly higher and closer top is Watching Crag which we will visit later.

The old gate through the fell wall has rotted and been discarded so the new-ish stile is now redundant.

In the distance is Crummock Water and on a good day, the High Stile Ridge.

The weather is not all bad as there are a few breaks in the cloud over Lorton, allowing the blue sky to show through.

Larch alongside Meregill Beck	Colourful moss close to the stream

I photographed these larch trees as they, like the Mosedale Holly, are actually noted specifically on the O.S. map which is unusual.

An old railway line up alongside the wall ?

Actually it was an old wrought iron fence which has collapsed and been replaced by the barb wire fence.

Reaching the ridge below the summit we enter the cloud, which makes the old tree up here look even more desolate.

A short climb later and we we really at the top . . . This is the Fellbarrow trig point on a windy, misty day.

Harry and Bethan take turns on being top dog.

Beth congratulates Bethan on her balancing act.	Hats on as a brief shower blows across in the strong wind.

Recent fence repairs means the old posts that are lying about are now redundant and makes a great dog chew for Harry.

A slight upward diversion over one of the undulations takes us up onto Sourfoot Fell

from where we get a view of the next section of the walk to Low Fell.

To the right, the steep drop down and back up onto Darling Fell.

Moving across to the eastern side of Low Fell we get a view down to Crummock Water

which includes three crows flying high above the valley in the blustery wind.

More old crows on top of Watching Crag, I wonder who they are ?

( photo by Ann, so that counts her out ! )

Lunch was taken sitting on the flat ground the other side of the fence, as it was one of the few places out of the wind.

From here it was only a short but steep climb to the summit.

The cairn had totally collapsed so a few minutes work restores it's pride as being the highest point on the fell.

That's better.

Watching Crag where Keith and I were standing is the slight rise in the distance.

From the southern end of Low Fell we get our first view of Loweswater.

Our last cairn of the day just down from this summit.

From the lower viewpoint the classic view of Crummock is a little cloudy today !

" We can see our house from here "

We are high above the valley . . .	. . . which gives the photos an aerial quality.

The route home starts with the steep descent down the Loweswater side of the fell.

They've stopped for something . . .	. . . to watch the sunlight bursting through the clouds.

Onward and downward . . .	. . . to the stile on the lower path.

Bethan leaps across . . .	. . . followed by a more graceful jump by Harry.

The path leads us round to the old Scots Pine.

Bethan is there first . . .	. . . followed by the rest of us.

Walking back along the woodland track we pass a fenced area where someone is rearing young pheasants.

Unfortunately their motive isn't altogether altruistic as they then shoot them later in the season in the name of sport. Still some of them get away and there's probably more pheasant about in the valley as a result.

The recent moist weather and warm Autumn temperatures have prolonged the grass growing season

and the field is looking particularly green despite being cut short and cleared for silage a short while back.

Melbreak ahead as we near the cottage and the end of our walk for today.

- - - o o o - - -

Technical note: Pictures taken with either Ann's Canon 75 or my Canon G10 digital camera.

Resized in Photoshop, and built up on a Dreamweaver web builder.

This site best viewed with . . . a lift back to Thackthwaite later to fetch the car.

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Previous walk - Sunday 25th Oct 2009 Gavel Fell with Gary and Sheena

A previous time up here - 4th July 2004 Fellbarrow - a " Not the Wainwright " walk

Next walk - Mon 2nd Nov 2009 Plas y Brenin M/E Course - Day 1