After a few days off celebrating Christmas & a bit too much festive food, I decided to have a day up in the high fells to walk off the mince pies. I'd heard there was snow on the tops, so put my new ice spikes in my rucksack to give them their inaugural outing. I arrived at the New Dungeon Ghyll National Trust car park, in the shadow of the Langdale Pikes, just before 8:30am, and was the third car on the car park. I booted up & set off walking. For a short distance I followed the Stickle Ghyll path, before veering off to the left to follow the Dungeon Ghyll path which contoured the southern face of Langdale fell before 'topping out' at the Langdale Pikes. Although one of the quieter routes, the path was straight forward enough to follow. About 2/3rd of the way up I started to reach the snow line. Sheltered parts of the path were icy, so I took care to side-step the worst parts. As I gained altitude, I started to come across patches of snow on the ground, and the

  After my Father's birthday the day before - Saturday we decided to do separate things - my Parents planned to head into Keswick & pay a visit to the market that was being held. I, however, not being one for markets, had my eye set on my first major walk in the Northern Fells... Saturday My plan was to set off from The Old Sawmill Car Park at Dodd Wood, on the opposite side of Bassenthwaite Lake. On checking Google Maps, I found that the main road which skirts the eastern shore of Bassenthwaite Lake was closed 'near Dodd Wood' for water mains works...so, not knowing which side of the wood the closure was on, flipped a coin and after another hearty cumbrian breakfast decided to head north, around the northern tip of the lake & back down the eastern shoreline. The road on the eastern shore had signs up at regular intervals as I was driving. 'Road Closed Ahead'. 'No through route', etc. I was keeping my fingers crossed as I drove that I would reach t