It's only been two weeks since I last walked the fells and boy how those weeks have dragged. It's January and low confidence forecasts are common which is what kept me off the fells last weekend as one grey day merged into another while the romance of Lakeland in Winter stirred my bedtime reading, it's fair to say that if you hang on long enough while battling your way through your week Lakeland will always reward you.

A few weeks ago David and I had set a date to do a walk yet with the unpredictabilty of the forecast it wasn't clear where we would be walking which normally falls down to the eleventh hour, or more precisely during a phone call around seven thirty the evening before.

If the cloud was low it was agreed that we would hit one of my Outliers walks or if high, we would hit the steep slopes of Birks and St Sunday Crag via Blind Cove, accessed from the Grisedale valley. The forecast for Saturday began to show potential and by Friday evening we had secured our high level walk, and, if the forecasters had got it right it would be under bright sunny skies starting off with a hard frost underfoot, they did get it right along with the prediction that fog would roll in mid afternoon creating one of the most dramatic days in Lakeland for those lucky enough to be above the cloud.

Both David and I had arranged to meet outside Patterdale Primary School at 08:30am and after a rather uneventful drive north I arrived first after driving over the Kirkstone Pass while trying to negotiate various ice patches where any run off water from the fell side had frozen over night, this continued all the way through to Patterdale finding the last mile from Hartsop the most precarious. At the bottom of the pass I slowed down as I noticed the afterglow of morning light breaching the summit of Red Screes set against a cloudless sky while a half moon was fixed directly overhead.

Dawn had broke by the time I arrived in Patterdale a short time later, the morning light revealed a hard frost coupled with a thin layer of mist that drifted over Ullswater south towards Brothers Water although I suspected it would have broken up once the warmth from the sun breached the valley. With my car parked I started to kit up instantly feeling the nip of the sub zero temperatures which caused the tips my fingers to feel painful. Gloves therefore and my beanie are added once my boots were tied whilst I waited for David to arrive. I was tempted to get back into the car and switch the engine on but I resisted knowing that I'd only be breaking the morning silence.

David arrives soon after and as always we greet with a handshake before David starts to kit up with much less layers than myself opting to start the walk without a hat or gloves, come to think of it, in all the time I've know David I've only ever known him to wear a warm hat once and that was on the summit of Binsey a few years back.

With both cars locked we head out in the direction of the Patterdale Hotel from where we will pick up the path through Glenamara Park and the Grisedale valley thereafter. We could have walked down the middle of the road given that no traffic had passed before we reached the Hotel car park passing a host of parked cars, all frozen solid.

We continued along the path passing the flanks of Thornhow End where we had the choice to drop down into Grisedale or opt to continue along the narrow track towards two large sheepfolds which sat on the fell side above an old barn, we went with the latter as David told me it was his first time along here, for me it's a familiar route I tend to choose when accessing the Grisedale valley.

Hear I share a memory of how two sheep met their gory end in said Sheepfold, trapped by a fox some ten years ago when I first passed through here, it was a sight to see for the novice fell walker back in the early days.

Continuing into Grisedale we pass through Elmhow Farm stepping aside to let a Landrover Pass before arriving at the end of the Plantation where the steep ascent onto Birks begins via a narrow grassy footpath alongside a nameless beck which still bore the damage from last December's storms. The path is excessively steep as shown by the gradient of the fell side in the picture, it sure was a time to knuckle down and dig deep type of ascent.

We stop to admire our views all the while peering for movement on the opposite side of the valley where a good path ascends towards Hole-in-the-Wall but only spot one walker sometime after this photo was taken.

"It's like Lingmell End all again" laughs David! There have been many an ascent where walking pole grips have meet shoulder such the steepness of the fell side as we are reminded of a past ascent of Lingmell End found at the head of the Kentmere valley.

We persevere ascending over a false summit above our heads from where Blind Cove comes into view.

We leave a series of zigzags found on the banks of the beck seen centre right before going off to do a little exploring "fancy having a walk to where that patch of snow is" David asked, aye why not.

It was hard work over sometimes swollen ground and with no path to follow was tiring on the lungs but it was safe to say we did a loop of Blind Cove before agreeing on our exit point which took form in a steep grassy rake where hopefully a hint of brightness awaited us.

We emerged into glorious sunlight around the point where you see the group of walkers before agreeing to summit Birks before taking on the final ascent of St Sunday Crag.

It's been a while since I last enjoyed an 'out and back'

This view shows our route of descent from St Sunday Crag via Gavel Pike although we won't make it as far as Lord's Seat instead opting to descend further around its base into Cold Cove, but that's a little later.

Not far from the summit of Birks now.

Time spent on St Sunday Crag summit was limited due to a brisk wind chill which caused exposed skin to feel numb, despite the staggeringly clear views we needed to keep moving if we wanted to keep warm.

It was soon time to leave the summit and start our descent towards Gavel Pike.

For sometime we had been keeping an eye on the cloud which appeared to be approaching from the south east of the district and by now was advancing towards the High Street and Kirkstone Fells, presumably this is likely to be the same cloud that the forecasters had predicted.

Something worth keeping our eye on as we make our way over to Gavel Pike.

Gavel Pike is often known as St Sunday Crag subsidiary summit and can be found less than half a mile due east over looking the Deepdale Valley. This route towards Gavel Pike also acts as an alternative ascent/descent route back towards the summit of Birks or the Grisedale valley by means of a grassy trod found by steering left once the col is reached below.

Here we rewarded with a grand view of Cold Cove and the route we will take in order to gain Arnison Crag by which can be seen beyond Trough Head in the centre of the photo.

As you can see a path continues over Lord's Seat towards the right yet our plan is to leave the path at the 'flat bit' seen below, flank left under shadow and traverse Cold Cove via a pathless route all the while trying not lose too much height, to do this we fix a bearing on objects such as boulders or patches of dead bracken, it's a simple way to navigate when met with such great conditions.

Despite a strong sun we didn't have to wait long until the chill started to bite at finger tips and with this packs are re-shouldered before taking one last view of the advancing cloud.

With the rocky outcrop that makes up the summit left we start our descent via the familar stone wall stopping every now and again to take in the view.