Glenridding Dodd and Sheffield Pike  | - Click on the image above to view gallery
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 Ullswater Parking at Patterdale we couldn’t wait to set off as the weather was the best it had been during our stay and we really wanted to get up high and make the most of it. We set off from behind the hotel in Patterdale and were soon walking through Glemara Park. It wasn’t too long before our views were getting better with every footstep. Looking across at the Helvellyn path up to the hole in the wall there seemed to be plenty of people heading that way although as the forecast was for strong winds today I wasn’t sure Striding Edge was the place to be. We would be leaving that delight for later in our holiday given the chance.  Birks Panorama
We soon reached the start of the real climb up Thornhow End, which seemed to have quite a nice graded path up the steep slope. No excuse was really needed to take in the view opening up behind us but frequent stops were made to enjoy looking at Place Fell and Ullswater, and of course to get our breath back. With height gained we eventually reached the grassy top and the summit of Birks. From here there is a great view towards our next objective St Sunday Crag, just over a mile away but another 800 feet of ascent.
We took a look at the north-east ridge route but decided on using the footpath leading to the col between Gavel Pike and St Sunday’s main summit before heading up to the summit cairn. We had seen nobody on our climb up from Patterdale but there were plenty of people to be seen enjoying the conditions on the summit area and taking in the views of the Helvellyn fells. Our eyes, though, were being drawn to Fairfield. All the previous week while staying in Ambleside we had hoped for a suitable day to walk the Fairfield Horseshoe. The weather just hadn’t been good enough because if we were to get all the way to Fairfield we really wanted to be sure we had a view. Today the clarity of views was superb and we still had plenty of time. This was just too good an opportunity to miss to finally reach the summit of a mountain we had wanted to visit for a long time. So our original plan to go back to Patterdale via Arnison Crag was changed in favour of Fairfield and Arnison Crag would just have to wait until another day.  St Sunday panorama
What a really interesting ridge it turned out to be: after the easy descent from St Sunday Crag came the lovely scrambling route over Cofa Pike before the scree slope upwards, then after all the effort of the scramble we were on the expansive summit of Fairfield. It’s hard to describe just how excited I felt to finally be there and it took sometime to take in all the views and exactly what we could see. Numerous pictures were taken of course but with a bright sunny day it’s not always easy to get pictures that aren’t over exposed if you are looking towards the bright low sunlight.
The most obvious route for getting back to Patterdale now was to descend the steep ridge to Grisedale Tarn and go back to Patterdale along Grisedale, which was some distance. We knew the path down to Grisedale Tarn was going to be steep and we weren’t wrong. It was also horribly eroded in places and without walking poles I know I’d have slipped over far more than just the once that I did, but my feet just had nothing to grip on and I did as graceful a landing as I could. It was certainly an uncomfortable few minutes before the gradient eased and we felt we weren’t going to slip over anymore.
 Fairfield panorama
We have only been to Grisedale Tarn on one other occasion when we had very low mist, so it as lovely to see it in all its glory today. We managed after a bit of searching to find the Brothers Parting Stone. It was here that the poet William Wordsworth parted company forever from his brother John, on 29 Sept 1800. The inscription really can’t be read now but after a bit of Google searching I found that it read:
Here did we stop; and here looked round
While each into himself descends,
For that last thought of parting Friends
That is not to be found. Brother and friend, if verse of mine
Have power to make thy virtues known,
Here let a monumental Stone
Stand-sacred as a Shrine.  Grisedale Tarn A memorable day for sure and it was great we could adapt our route to include Fairfield. My GPS batteries ran out part way during the walk so I can’t be certain exactly how far we walked but my odometer tells me it was almost 11 miles quite the longest walk we had done for quite some time and my feet knew it by the end of the day too I couldn’t wait to have a good soak in the bath and would have done anything for a foot massage.
Achy feet soon go but memories don’t, always helped by sorting through pictures taken on the day so and I hope the pictures that accompany this album show how much we enjoyed this day. Clicking on the panoramic shots on this page will highlight them and allow you to see them better.
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