While most of us have been in work during the week Lakeland has experienced some bright and sunny days only to come to an end come the weekend, well it seems that way anyway, but this is Autumn, although saying that doesn't make it any less frustrating. With David enjoying a break away Tim, Rod and I, from around midweek onwards set about planning on where to walk, the forecast changed daily and once one particular route was agreed on we had to shelve it owing to a weak forecast. With two walks already on the back burner I came up with this third Birkett walk 'Martindale's Bannerdale Horseshoe' which we all felt demanded better conditions than we were presented with but at this time of year it's difficult to be choosey.

Despite Tim and Rod having to travel from the north east both arrived before me despite me still being twenty five minutes ahead of schedule I still managed to receive a bit of flack from the guys. The forecasters had predicted drizzle, fog and low cloud for the duration so you could imagine our surprise when we found Beda Fell almost free from cloud as were our surrounding summits but for how long for we didn't know. The car park was relatively empty and I managed to park next to Rod who was almost ready as was Tim who was stood waiting patiently with Pearl his six year old Cocker Spaniel who didn't quite know what to make of myself and Rod although come the end of the walk Pearl had become the fourth member of the team.

It feels pretty mild despite the winds which were carrying the clouds across the skies at some rate although we knew this would change once height was gained. I soon discovered that I'd left my gaiters drying on the edge of the radiator at home leaving the bottom half of my legs to bear the brunt of the many mosses and indeed peat bogs we would encounter today, what's done is done there's nowt I can do about it now. At 08:05am we locked the cars having opted to park at the new Church as opposed to the official starting point at the Martindale old Church which only added an extra ten minutes walking time, I guess we were in the mood for a walk and maybe even take advantage of the drier conditions that we hadn't expected to start the walk under. From Martindale new Church we head left out the car park then left again and descended slightly towards the old Church while Rod and I continue to get acquainted with Pearl who was more interested in sniffing the grass.

With Bedafell Knott gained and behind us we continued to follow the path ignoring the path which branches off right, then descends towards Boredale Hause which at least gave us a fix on our location as the cloud continued to close in leaving us at times in zero visibility.

Tim and Pearl were just twenty yards ahead of Rod when I took this photo and even though you can't see them they are there.

Against Birketts oringinal route we wrongly arrived at Angletarn South top first this, after negotiating near zero visibility where we found ourselves heading to far south in the direction of Angle Tarn, after checking our position we realised our error and started to back track arriving at the south summit first which was confirmed by the substantial summit cairn which the north, the higest by just six feet sadly lacks.

With the south summit confirmed we descended sharply into the grassy col where we picked up the path for the north top.

We descended Angletarn Pike north top back into the grassy col and through a break in the cloud we spotted the main path and made the short, pathless traverse to gain it by. Moments later we found ourselves over looking Angle Tarn as the cloud raced over our heads. It had remained relatively dry and we were counting on this to continue, the wind however, we could do nothing about.

We hadn't quite made it to the stone wall when we were presented with a sudden break in the cloud followed by an equally sudden dash of light, it was a real highlight for us all.

Through the break in the cloud we could see the stone wall ahead and slowly but surely the two iconic gate post at the top of Satura Crag rose into view. We strode out passing three cheery women who in passing said something but sadly I couldn't hear what over the nose of the wind, polite smiles followed.

Having passed through a bog I was about to place my left foot on firm ground when without warning my left calf went into a excruciating cramp, I say without warning as I lifted my leg I felt the muscle tighten causing me to fall forward on all fours, as funny as it looked I was in a lot of pain while trying to reassure the guys It wasn't anything more serious so after screaming like a six year old girl Rod ran over asking which one "left left" I screamed, Rod subsequently began to massage my calf which caused more pain initially which did ease soon after. I can confirm twenty four hours later my left calf is still extremely tender.

"at least you didn't scream like a big girl eh Paul" thanks for that Tim !!