Honister wild camp.March 2020

After one of the worse February's i can remember it was good to see a message pop up from Darron Linney,him and Max were up for a trip and did i fancy meeting up with them 

Its a drive right up thought the Lakes for me to get to Honister so i was away early, but as i had made good time i stopped on the roadside as i passed Derwent water,it looked to be the start to a nice day 

I waited for them on the last big lay-by/park area on the way up to Honister mine and after a short wait they arrived.Darren was full of a heavy cold,lent to him by one of his grandkids....Max was bursting to get out on the hills 

It was a still day as we climbed up past the mine works and then across to Dubbs hut,a quick look inside and Darren noticed that this hut had been visited,like all the others,by the guy who visited them all fitting a hook for coats to the back of the door

As we climbed a bit higher the wind picked up a bit and the temp dropped a little..been a while since ive worn Paramo but was very impressed with my new Velez jacket,wearing only a 165 merino Rab baselayer under it all wknd 

Our wanderings took us over Haystacks and then the steep pull up to High crag

The wind started to catch us more now but only in the 20's but had a bit of bite,the skies played with us sometimes showing hints of blue,then a little sun and then back to grey...but it stayed dry 

We had a good signal on the ridge so i checked the forecast,sadly as  was already forecast  the wind was going to get much stronger and the rain was to return again 

With the forecast not looking nice we cut the walk a bit short and looked for a place to pitch avoiding the worse of the big winds that were due in 

We found a spot to camp just where the faint path finishes on the left of this pic,on the West side of Red pike,which we hoped would allow us to at least catch a sunset 

Sadly just after we returned to our shelters with water for camp the clag came in,i left my door open but the cloud just came in,then teased a view then closed it down again 

Id brought my Duo XL along but the biting cold wind had me pitching it quickly and throwing up the inner, rushing to get a brew on

The highlight of the evening was a new flavour meal id bought from Basecamp foods this one a Real Turmat  Pulled pork and rice

Although more expensive than most other FD meals out there i have to say this was delicious,so much so i was soon scraping out the corners 

Darrons cold had wiped him out but he didnt miss much i had a walk around camp at 9 pm as the rain had cleared and we could see out to distnace lights but clouds hid the starrs.During the night the wind really picked up with lashing rain as we packed up and left we were subject to constant 30 with gusts to 50 mph .....fast and careful  packing and we headed for the valley floor 

After checking the forcast again later we decided to just head back to the cars,a shame but the forcast showed no let up,we decided against heading back via Dubbs hut due to the wind 

Even on the long slog back up Honister pass we were stopped a few times by big strong gusts rushing down the hill at us, a brew and cake at the cafe we dropped the last bit down to our cars...till next time Darron 

Thanks for looking all,safe travels Peter

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