Back in the hills

It's no good, the workaholic in me has been winning for too long.  I am tired!

We need to deliver a beer to the Old, so sod it, I am off to the lakes for a couple of days.  The weather forecast was iffy, but as usual, I don't care.  By the time I get to the campsite, it is dark, and i cursed the useless outwell tent as I pitched it for only the fourth time, and some of the seams are separating.  I will get soaked if it rains.
I dropped the beer off at the Old, and stopped for a few pints.  It was a quiet Tuesday evening, but to sit quietly and have a couple of beers and a chat to some people was all I needed.
Wednesday morning and the sun was out, with lots of white fluffy clouds that had not yet turned black and ugly.  I lit the stove for coffee, then realised I had no cutlery with me.  I had two cups of coffee hand poured and stirred with a mostly clean tent peg while I waited for the shop to open so I could get a spoon, and book the campsite for the up coming folk festival, and it was great to bump into Jilly, who is now working in the shop.

The weather was a bit uncertain, and it has been a few months since I have been climbing, so I decided to stick to the well known Stickles.

Part way up Mill Gyll, where the bridge used to be, there is a construction site where they are building a hydro plant.  There is a huge scar across the landscape from the road they have built to get the diggers up here, and the place is a mess.

  It will take a long time for the landscape to recover (if it does) and I can't see that the scheme will be worth it in the long run.  Like so many of their recent barmy schemes, I think the National trust have well and truly lost the plot.

As I continued up the ghyll, the empty threats of occasionally dark clouds made the view even more stunning.

I reached Stickle Tarn without collapsing in a heap, so decided, as I hadn't done it for a few years, that I might as well do Jakes Rake.

The views got better and better as I completed the climb to the top of Harrison Stickle.

The problem with having a camera with a battery that seems to last ages between charges, is that you never leave it on charge.  Either that or my camera was overwhelmed by the views, as it shut down completely just after my first photo from Pike o stickle.

You can see Scotland from here - I wonder if that will be another country soon...