Due to holidays, Illnesses and different commitments it's been nearly two months since David and I last walked which is quite a gap considering that we would always try to arrange a walk every fortnight or so but this isn't to say that we haven't been in regular contact mainly moaning about how crap the latter end of the Summer has been.

A date was set for Bank Holiday Monday but as the cloud filled tops continue to menace the Lakeland summits we thought we would box clever and plan a walk below the forecasted morning fog and low cloud and we came up with this walk during a five minute phone call the evening before.

Our route would take in a anti-clockwise direction around Thirlmere Reservoir but not before a visit to Raven Crag from where we could take in spectacular views over Thirlmere and a good proportion of todays route. Walking around Thirlmere may not seem like hard work but our mileage and forced detours suggested otherwise where despite a lack of height my feet ached like I'd just ran down the nose of Kirk Fell! I guess we hadn't planned on being out so late either with countless stops caused by two months of gossip to catch up on.

We had agreed to park in Legburthwaite at the bottom of Sticks Pass during last nights phone call, I found David already there by the time I arrived having driven through Ambleside to Rydal whilst checking how low the cloud was on Loughrigg Fell, then Nab Scar which was just hovering over their summits and was exactly what had been forecasted. Further north once through Grasmere Helm Crag's summit was cloud free and it was starting to lift from the summit of Steel Fell too but this wasn't the case for the Fairfield and Helvellyn ranges whose ridges were well below the cloud line, it was only once I was stationary I could also see just how quickly the wind was pushing the cloud across the summits and we both noted how unpleasant it looked at the time. With so much to catch up on conversation was kept minimum during kit up where we were joined by a fellow walker who had just pulled up who as it turned out had travelled from Shap, after 'mornings' are shared he gave us a brief forecast of what the weather was like as he left the house this morning as "it was pissing it down!"

Just as we are ready to leave the chap points towards Raise and asked? "is that Sticks Pass" we politely confirm before crossing the A591 and headed towards Thirlmere Dam.

After crossing the A591 we turned right towards the Dam having ignored the Road Closed ahead sign then passed the campsite which was busy with folk cooking breakfast as the smell of bacon wafted over. Up ahead and just prior to the Dam wall more Road Closed signs together with large metal barrier which completely blocked access over the Dam not just to traffic but pedestrians too.

OK, we knew we had already walked past the Road Closed sign ahead but there was no mention that it was closed to pedestrians too which now meant we had to back track back to Bridge End Farm and follow a Bridleway through Smaithwaite before rejoining the western side of Thirlmere. We thought about sneaking through but that would have meant jumping over the barrier and seeing that non of us were getting any younger and that the detour wasn't so much out of the way so we started to trek back towards Bridge End.

Happen if we'd have been chased by man eating Lions I'm sure we would have found our way over though!

Having left the Forestry Track behind we ascended steadily through the felled woodland which at one time grew over the path in the form of a tunnel but sadly it's just a memory now. After ascending through the felled trees the ground levelled out close to the upper Forestry Track from before the steep yet short climb towards Raven Crag summit.

It was here just last year that this path got a brand new makeover after a storm had felled a large number of mature trees over the existing path which If I remember correctly resembled a bomb site. After the trees had been cleared work set about creating a better stepped path constructed of a wooden step based structure which was then filled in with gravel and earth and each wooden step was capped with the same felt and one inch nails you would cover your shed roof with. With the felt now peeling away it's now creating more of a hazard than it was intentioned for and by our reckoning and the amount of traffic this path receives it wont be long before repairs are needed or worse, someone trips and injures themselves.

We settled for lunch whilst sat on the stone bridge over Birkside Gill whilst the road starts to get busier and busier leaving cars passing with only inches to spare. The A591 is only metres away but the sound of Birkside Gill flowing below our boots drowns out the traffic leaving our lunch feeling relatively peaceful. With lunch over we pack any extra layers away including my camera case before crossing the A591 and joining the Forestry path on the east side of Thirlmere which starts to rise rapidly over Wythburn.

It's incredible to think that after significant rainfall the water level will reach the tubes constructed below the Forestry Track before flowing out of the other side which has now been heavily banked by large boulders. New bridges, banks and culverts are found all along the Track which had previously been washed away during the floods of December 2015 which contributed to the powerful landslip which washed away part of the A591 below closing the main artery through the Lake District for five months at a cost of £3m.

Although the force of mother natures fury can never be stopped at least it can now be tamed.

Having passed through a busy Swirls car park we had the option to head back to Legburthwaite via Fisher Gill or take the Dalehead Hall route back and as you can see the Dalehead Hall route won. Once the hustle of Swirls was left behind we more or less had the place to ourselves with the shores of Thirlmere appearing though gaps in the trees.

It may not look but the temperature is in the low twenties now and it's incredibly humid.

After crossing the A591 for the last time we tracked back to Legburthwaite where our cars basked in the heat of the afternoon, the first job is always to get those doors open. We kit down feeling like we've walked much higher and indeed further than we actually had as boots are swapped for the comfort of clean socks and a fresh pair of mid's to drive home in. We spot walkers scaling the steep path up Sticks Pass and wondered their route so late into the afternoon as they climbed into the cloud. For us, a hearty handshake as always and an agreement that we'd try not to leave it two months before our next walk.