Buttermere in January

Clive, Jago, Christine and Nick met at Birkness in Buttermere for a weekends fell walking. Saturday morning brought persistent rain with the promise of more to come. That and my bad knee led to the decision to do a quick ascent of Low Fell and Fellbarrow, two low lying hills north of Loweswater. 
We followed the track to Mosser from the side of Loweswater to a stile and we began the ascent of  Darling Fell, our first objective.Overcoming Christine's wish to follow the map literally and make a direct ascent through loose scree and prickly gorse we followed the more amenable path alongside the fence line to the summit. From there a sharp descent and another steep climb brought us to the summit of Low Fell.

Approaching Low Fell Summit

From there we headed northwards to Fellbarrow, thankfully the rain in these outlying fells turned out lighter than forecast so we enjoyed good views in all directions. We then headed down to the Mosser road and from there to Waterend and the car and back to base for tea beside a real fire.

Fellbarrow Summit

Tea Time

These two fells are the high points of an isolated range between the high lakeland fells and Cockermouth and consequently make for a good short days walking with extensive views back to the high fells and over the Solway Firth.