Hartsop Dodd, Stoney Cove Pike, Thornthwaite Crag and Gray Crag

An empty Cow Bridge car park this morning, probably due to the wintry conditions, that it was a Tuesday morning and also the fact that the A592 is closed over Kirkstone Pass. Anyway, I certainly had no trouble parking up this morning. Does look a bit threatening over there mind.

After walking through the small hamlet of Hartsop, it was out onto the fells and heading across towards the grassy nose of Hartsop Dodd. I initially stuck to the path which runs alongside the wall to the right of this photo and then turned left and onto the nose of this impressive fell.

The excellent path meanders it's way ever upwards and it wasn't too long before I was stopping to put spikes on - as the slippery grass was soon making way for ice as altitude was gradually gained.

A quick look back down towards Hartsop and Ullswater in the distance.

A look to my right towards Dovedale and Brothers Water.

As the wind and snow gradually whipped up, I arrived at the bleak summit of Hartsop Dodd. No views today and this was to be the case for the next couple of hours or so as the blizzards dominated the majority of the rest of the walk.

With a side wind from the west blowing quite severely, it was certainly a requirement for face protection.

With not much more to see along the way, we arrived at the summit of Cauldale Moor 'Stoney Cove Pike'

Before descending down to Threshwaite Mouth, I stopped for a coffee and was joined by another walker called Steve - we had chatted a couple of times earlier in the day and as were following the same route, we ended up completing the rest of walk together. Nice to have some company on what was quite an isolated day.

A brief respite from the snow storm and the col cleared sufficiently for us to spot our next wainwright which was Thornthwaite Crag. It looks quite a daunting ascent over there, but in reality it's just a steep'ish path.

The impressive column cairn (Thornthwaite Beacon) at the summit of Thornthwaite Crag.

Now that's a sensible jacket for a day like today.

Clear as mud ! Bet you can tell this is the path over to Gray Crag.

I'm pretty sure this is the summit of Gray Crag - but it wasn't that easy to tell in these conditions.

At times the wind, snow and resulting spindrift were that bad we experienced some 'whiteout' conditions. All fun stuff, but you don't want to be too close to the edge.

As we descended down the nose of Gray Crag without the sight of any of the usual paths, we veered to the right to find the safest and quickest route to the main Hayeswater path from Wath Bridge. Fortunately, as we lost height, the visibility improved markedly and this was easily managed, with the exception of the occasional slip and slide, resulting in boots and pockets full of snow.

Looking over towards The Knott and High Street.

And now looking more northwards towards Brock Crags.

Having not had anything worthwhile to photograph for the last couple of hours, I was now spoilt for choice when surrounded by such beauty.

As we stroll along the nice flat Hayeswater bridleway, our starting fell (Hartsop Dodd) comes into view.

If your wondering, we didn't do it !

Gradually descending back down towards Hartsop.

A beautiful view of Hartsop Dodd with an old barn or farm house in the foreground.

As I said my goodbye's to Steve at Hartsop, I wandered back to Cow Bridge but still had time to take a last photo of High Hartsop Dodd and Middle Dodd before it was a quick change and then head for home.