With a long weekend booked today I find myself back in Lakeland to follow Birketts footsteps while collecting five summits on the magical mountain that is Blencathra. I had a good forecast which suddenly changed at the last minute from a promise of sunshine to a rather dull but high cloud day, what the hey, the main thing is it stayed dry.

Todays walks starts from where else but Scales situated at the foot of Blencathra from where Scales Fell is summated via Mousthwaite Comb, continuing along the ridge line Doddick Fell Top is reached followed by Hallsfell Top, the true summit of Blencathra where today I did battle with the winds yet again and came away with a bloodied nose and a thick lip, It's getting to the point now where I'm struggling to think of the last walk I did which wasn't plagued by strong winds, today was no different.

After spending time observing the new summit circular trig point I struggled on towards Gategill Fell Fell Top then Blease Fell came next by which time I'd had enough of the winds which were trying to toss me onto Mungrisdale Common. I left Blease Fell by following the ridge and started my descent before heading easterly in the direction of Blease Farm below, a route that was brand new to me before it brightend up for the last mile and half back to Scales, just typical eh.

The large group I had spotted were still on the path by the time I drew up to the intake wall so I let the gate go with a bit of a thud just to let the group know I was behind them. One by one as I approached members of the group kindly stepped aside to let me pass and I was able to walk at my normal speed until I reached the second group who all stepped aside with hi's and hello's. The fell side is pretty busy with more couples up ahead on the newly constructed path which by-passes the Mousthwaite Comb approach, this was good news for me.

The higher I climbed the windier it got and any mildness in the air was soon replaced by a cold windchill which again caused my eyes and nose to stream, it's by far a sunny day but I added my sunglasses on anyway if only to stop my eyes from streaming. I watched a solo walker leave the top of Mousthwaite col who then slowly made their way onto the shoulder of Souther Fell until they got smaller and smaller once the summit was reached. I to was climbing steadily along the east shoulder of Scales Fell with no one else in sight, for now anyway.

With the shoulder of Scales Fell reached I somehow had managed to gain ground on the couples I had seen earlier who by now were playfully leaning into the wind with their arms aloft.

I would predict that the winds leading up to Scales Fell summit were somewhere between 30-40mph, the noise was deafening and walking in a straight line was made arduous so best I keep well away from the edges.

I left the summit of Doddick Fell Top and gained the summit of Blencathra via a second set of zigzags found just below the summit which I traversed in what felt like no time at all with quite a bit of help from the wind, which was now propelling me onwards and upwards.

On reaching the summit plateau the wind took on a whole new strength where I witnessed a young girl crawling on her hands and knees while her friend was bent double but still walking forward of a fashion, whilst passing I checked if they were ok with a simple thumbs up and got one back. I reached the summit trig and knew my time here would be extremely limited and to be honest if I hadn't taken this one image I'd happily have walked on without taking any at all.

The force from the wind by now was brutal causing exposed skin to sting. I'd made the school boy error in not adding gloves prior to reaching the summit and I was now paying the price. It wasn't an option to stop and down pack knowing that within ten minutes or so I should be out of the worse of it so I persevered sometimes forward and sometimes sideways towards my next summit of Gategill Fell Top.