We've lost count how many times we have had to postpone our Glenycoyne walk but it's probably gone from weeks to months now, all I know is I seem to remember I was still walking in shorts when we planned it! The reason why we are waiting on this one is because it has to be one of those blue sky days which is rare during the Winter months but that day will come.

Rod emailed both David and myself asking what's this weekends plan B walk and added a few suggestions one being this walk but ended the email stating that I might not want to do it because I was only here a couple of weeks ago but this being Mardale and the High Street Fells that didn't matter so I emailed Rod back almost straight away saying so.

With this Rod had planned to scratch his itch, his itch being a Riggindale Round so we set about checking the forecast as usual which all looked fine up until the evening before when Lakeland would receive a significant dumping of snow overnight and along with this freezing valley temperatures which appears as the perfect start to a day on the fells on paper but when todays starting point was as remote as Mardale Head those freezing valleys may pose as a problem in the form of ice.

How much snow had fallen over night only became apparent by the time I reached Tebay where fields either side of the Motorway had received a dusting soon followed by my view of the Howgill Fells which had a healthy coating of the white stuff too, I was climbing into a world of white towards Shap which looked as magical as ever but my concerns of reaching Mardale Head soon took over. With junction 39 (Shap) reached I left the motorway where I was able to get a murky view of the High Street Fells all of which are covered in snow, ok that's great but my fear now is have the roads been gritted not just in the Mardale Valley but the four miles of narrow country lanes prior to reaching it, I would soon get my answer and the answer was no, the snow had obviously took the Council Gritters by surprise, the road hadn't been gritted.

I drove through Shap then turned left onto Keld Lane signposted Haweswater and Bampton, it was soon apparent that I was probably the second car to drive these lanes, the first car had already left its marking in the new snow, dammit. Ok 'keep calm' With no phone signal I was unable to contact Rod who I had an idea was behind me mainly because I know I'm half an hour early. I get out of my car and test the snow, it's soft and powdery and the tarmac is just wet underneath and not icy, well not here anyway. My luck continued as I drove past the sign for Rosgill but after passing the Crown and Mitre Pub at Bampton Grange conditions got progressively worse so I stopped the car again just after crossing the stone bridge over the River Lowther. Here the road surface was semi-frozen which made a cracking noise when driven over, the entrance to a farm just up ahead had a slight incline to it so I got out of the car and started to walk up the hill where I was met by a farmer and his dog; after a quick 'morning' I asked was it as bad further ahead and he asked of my direction "Mardale Head" I said, reckon it's going to be like this much of the way he replied. I continued up the incline to the top and noted much of the ice was caused by flowing water which had frozen overnight while up ahead the ice was much more sporadic. I decided to walk back to the car and maybe wait for Rod. It only took a few minutes to get back to the car but in doing so I'm passed by a Kia estate car that drove past without a care in the world easily taking on the icy incline, my thoughts were to give it a go too.

I slipped the car into first then second gear and gently eased up the incline, there was still ice on the road but thankfully this wasn't black and I could see any dangers well before I drove over them, by the time I arrived at Haweswater Dam I'd driven over a mixture of ice and deep puddles never leaving second gear, the road to Mardale Head was just up ahead and it was here, from out of nowhere did I spot Rod in my rear view mirror, thankfully he had made it through and Rod followed me painfully slow until we reached the bridge over Rowantreethwaite Beck where I stopped to take this photo "nearly never made it" I smilled, Rod could only look on nodding his head "I'll meet you down at the car park"

I soon met up with Rod and Michael at the car park and parked up next to Rod's car then one by one more cars arrived followed by a minibus full of children leaving the car park feeling very busy very quickly. With a freezing forecast set above the summits (predicted between -2° and -14°C windchill) for the first time ever I used my Montane down jacket exactly for what it was made for, to act as a layering system beneath my thin waterproof Rab Latok. It was zero degree's here in the valley and with adding such layers I knew prior to reaching summit level I would just have to sweat it out, it wasn't just me who had come prepared both Rod and Michael had too.

David however,sadly is unable to join us today due to a throat infection and with such low temperatures forecast the best place for him right now is home but there was mention of David getting out for a short walk. With the cars locked we strode out passing through the gated Deer fence then turned right and followed the stone wall towards the footbridge over Mardale Beck which is where I stopped to take this photo.

A group of walkers had gained High Raise after leaving Rampsgill Head just as we had and arrived at the summit just moments before we had. We weren't too sure if they too were about to eat lunch at the summit shelter (seen behind the cairn) and after a moment or so of doing nothing I politely asked would they be needing the shelter when one of the walkers (the guy on the far right) answered "no they were heading for Kidsty next" this was great news so we made our way around the shelter only to find it was full of snow, bugger.

We had only been stopped for a minute or so but the windchill was uncomfortable to be stood still for too long so we found a spot as best we could out of the wind and de-shouldered our packs. Around the shelter the snow had accumulated so we used our boots to clear the snow then placed our foam mats down to sit down on. We were relatively sheltered and five to ten minutes into lunch for me the chill started to set in. Rod and Michael were still eating and not far from finishing their lunches so I stood up and had a wander about if only to keep moving, it was only now did I realise how quickly the cloud cover had moved in.

With a lack of sunlight the temperatures plummeted to perhaps the coldest windchill we'd experienced the whole day, the fingers on my right hand felt like they were on fire and for a few moments all I could think about was the bloody pain, I de-shoulder once more and take out my Montane Winter gloves, a first in almost three years, they're semi frozen (or at least they felt that way) meaning it was best to crush the fingers of the glove before I put my hand into them, my left glove slipped on easily while my little finger on my right glove struggled to get past the inner sleeve, sod it, I'll just do star shapes with my hand and let the blood circulate, this seemed to take forever.

Rod had the same bad luck changing from his regular gloves into his Montane Winter gloves too, it wasn't just the one finger it was all of them, it was clear Rod was getting increasingly frustrated and in the end he turned the inner sleeve inside out and painstakingly seated it back into the glove, it seemed to work.

From High Raise we had seen a lot of activity on Kidsty Pike including the group of walkers we had just seen back at High Raise, all of whom had just left leaving the summit to ourselves. We hung around a few moments while I scoured the summit of High Street and the Rough Crag ridge but I couldn't see anyone.

Two walkers descend Rampsgill Head pathless, this I know by how high they raise their knees to stretch over the long wild grasses before continuing onto High Raise which appeared as a frozen bleak mound, I hoped their experience wouldn't be as cold as ours.

There was the odd patchy sunny spell mainly over the summit of Selside Pike but other than that it remained overcast for much of our descent. We had caught up with one of the groups who were descending Kidsty Howes, they had in turn made it through the rocky section before the snow covered grass into Riggindale slowed them down to an almost halt, most of the group at one stage were on their backsides, those who weren't chose to descent backwards to stop then sliding.

Experience told us to descend just off the path and use the dead bracken for traction which worked a treat, by now the fingers on my right hand had returned to normal, sweaty even but I'll not forget the pain they were in between High Raise and Kidsty Pike, note to self: look into ways to enhance blood circulation because this has never happened to me in the past, not as severe anyway. We tail the group all the way back to Mardale Head and inparticular the young man seen in the photo who looked exhausted and like he'd had enough. As it turns out these are the same kids who pulled up in the mini bus this morning, their leader way up front tired of waiting for the poor kid.

We arrived back at the car park and just out of politeness we could have overtook this kid but we never did, we hung back not wanting to weaken his will any further, his mate was waiting for him back at the mini bus whose first words were "that was hell" the young kid agreed replying "no that was torture" This young mans, perhaps only experience of Lakeland was of holding everyone up, forcing his friends to wait for him who eventually gave up, whatever happened to the term "your team is only as strong as its weakest member" If this was the case all of the group would have finished together and this young mans lasting memory would have been of leadership and a great day out on the snow covered fells.

"If this is torture, then I like tortutre" -Rod Hepplewhite