Two days ago in preparation before the walk this page was edited out as “Great Gable from Honnister” But sadly yet again I couldn’t make Great Gable due to three main factors: Deep snow ,Adverse road conditions & Aching aching limbs due to trenching in & out of sometimes 4ft of snow over a 6 mile period just took its toll on me mainly in my upper thighs ,it got to the point where I was taking painkillers to ease the pain something I’ve never had to do before .

But enough about that, despite the aches this walk will be repeated inc Great Gable sometime in the near future  less the deep snow of course . Today was one of those days when you actually grasp what the Lake District is all about the tranquillity & the beauty ,the fact it took us almost twice as long to get back to the car as it did to get to Green Gable for the pure reason, I felt like I didn’t want to “go home” & the longer that took the better

Id also treated myself to a Garmin Etrex GPS unit after getting myself a little wayward shall we say. I though it would be about time! Even though this is the lowest priced model at around £80 it proved decadent today with the paths not visible in any way shape or form,  as we were making our own way up we only had one set of footprints visible in front of us in the deep snow and who knows which direction they was going ? albeit they did make there  all the way from Grey Knotts to Green Gable & for that I thank that guys size 9s . but in the same breath the GPS was fantastic ,Id set myself roughly about 15 marker points keeping them relatively close together for easy navigation & with a quick check every now & again the unit had absolute no problems keeping to the path .One small problem I came across while walking from Seatoller to Honnister was it did take roughly about 15/20 minutes to track all its satellites which I’m hoping was just an area problem ,other than that it was great .

Wainwright Guidebook

801 Mtrs  2627 Ft

Clear Blue Skies All Day As Forecast –6 With Highs of –3

The Borrowdale road towards Honnister made for some treacherous  driving conditions with black ice everywhere ,even driving at 15/20mph I felt the car kick out a few times, so I knew there was absolutely no way of making it up the Honnister Pass ,so we settled at the car park in Seatoller & walked our way up the Pass adding at least 3/4 Hour of our to our ascent times, another key feature why we couldn’t make Great Gable today ,Now if Mark Wier had gave us a lift up to the Mine in his green machine seen landing here right next to the car park we might of made Great Gable.

The start of the Honnister Pass & me doing my billy goat impersonation every five steps or so ,I couldn’t even begin to say how icy this road was today, something like trying to skate uphill on an ice rink comes to mind!

Wed past a couple of abandoned cars on the way up completely engulfed up to the windows in snow drift ,as you can see in this photo the snow was quite deep this was as far as you’d get up the pass before you get diverted towards the mine weather you liked it or not !

Cheers Mark! thanks for the lift ..not !

My walking pole buried at least 3 feet deep  I think ,as we got nearer to the summit the snow especially the drifts was lets put it this way ,My inside leg measures 32 inch & I was up to my b*****ks in it!

Still on the ascent of Grey Knotts & the steep snow is really slowing us down. The only way I can describe it is like steeping in then out of wellington boots all day long !

Tim on a lighter section of the snow .

And looking towards Haystacks & High Crag flanked by Ennerdale to the left & Buttermere & Crummock Water to the right from our path towards Blendreth

Again Buttermere & Crummock Water with High Crag,High Stile & Mellbreak & the Irish Sea beyond

Sea King Helicopter over the Western Fells ,it almost seemed like a routine check it was doing because within about 15 minites it was back ,.I cant make it out, routine checks sound expensive ?

Just as we was about to head back we spotted these two making there way up through the Gable Crags ,at lot braver than me especially at this time of day, but saying that we also spotted a group of about five making there way up Base Brown with only a good hours sunlight left ,Now that’s what you call dedication or maybe ???

Looking back at Great Gable & Kirk Fell with Illgill Head & Wasdale making an appearance just below the sun .

One last look back  before we head down Grey Knotts

Dusk at Honnister Slate mine, & a long & slippery walk back to the car park at Seatoller .

Another great day spent walking on the fells ,that should keep me going for a couple of weeks or so