A let up in the April showers was forecast this weekend, so I shot off up the M6 to explore the northern edge of Ullswater. Parking up in the the lay-by below Stybarrow Crag, just outside Glenridding - where there's room for about 8 to 10 well parked cars - is right on the shoreline. Crossing the road I joined the footpath that weaved its way from the waters edge over the rocky crags, but all the way it was following the general route of the main road. The path then passed along the end of the valley of Glencoyne, with imposing fells surrounding a small farmstead & grassy pastures like an amphitheatre, and eventually passing through the National Trust car park for Glencoyne Bay. It was around this area where the wild daffodils grew by the lakes edge - the very same daffodils that inspired Wordsworth to write his 'I wandered lonely as a cloud' poem - so I was on the lookout for a golden blanket somewhere along the route. However, the path - part of the Ullswater Way

  March had been quite a harsh month - two large Siberian weather fronts nick-named 'The Beast from the East' (Part 1 & 2) had swept over the UK and had brought with them minus temperatures strong winds and heavy snow. A couple of weeks after the 'Beasts' had blown over, and the snow had receded to all but the highest tops, a sunny long weekend was forecast, and I decided it was time to do my first wild camp of 2018. I was heading into part of the Lake District I hadn't driven to before - the remote Far Eastern valley of Martindale on the eastern side of Ullswater. Surprisingly the roads weren't too bad - heading to Pooley Bridge on the northern shore of Ullswater, then following the Howtown road parallel to the shoreline before it steeply rises through a number of hairpin bends to the new church of St Peter's of Martindale. This would be the starting point of my hike. There's quite a big lay-by opposite the church, which was completely full, so I