David took to wild camping the Lakeland fells between the lock downs last year and has enjoyed a host of camps on some of his favourite summits, his only regret being that he'd wished he started sooner. You may not know it but before I got serious about my fell walking I too did my fair share of wild camping.

David's last wild camp was back in September last year where he spent the night on Thornthwaite Crag, then came the lock downs and Winter followed by a wetter than average Spring. David emailed me a couple of weeks ago about camping out on Haycock which I jumped at the chance, that was before my boss asked would I cover this Saturday which I kind'a had no option not too.

Before I emailed David back to inform him I couldn't make it I stopped, because the plan was to meet mid afternoon which meant we could meet up after I finished work at 12:30pm. David replied with this walk, a wild camp on Loadpot Hill from Askham, why not start from Pooley Bridge or Row Head? Given our late arrival parking would be virtually impossible. From Askham we would head west for The Cockpit before picking up the footpath for Arthur's Pike, Bonscale Fell and Loadpot Hill. We'd given ourselves more than enough time to reach Loadpot Hill which meant we could take our time and enjoy the late afternoon sunshine.

With lunch out the way David disappeared for a few minutes before returning with "Paul there's a chap leaving, go and grab his space" so I manoeuvered out between the trees and waited, and waited, and waited for the guy to move his car. David had already asked was he leaving to which he replied yes...what he didn't say was when as he crossed the car park and took up conversation with his mates, belting we thought. Eventually the chap left and I reversed my car neatly up against a wooden fence and started to check my gear for the last time, if I haven't packed it its tough I guess. With our cars locked we shouldered packs and started to head through the village. I knew something wasn't right with the way my pack sat against my back but I don't mention anything for now.

Exposed along the edge of the ridge meant we were back in the winds firing line which was OK to stand in but the longer we stood still the cooler it became which was when a possibility of a plan B was mentioned "if it's this windy here how strong is it going to be up on Loadpot Hill?"

It was decision time and our first decision was to find shelter when we reached Loadpot Hill summit. David spotted the large grass depression aptly named Loadpot Hole (seen in left of photo) on Loadpot Hill northern shoulder "worth a recce" asked David "aye lets have a look" I replied.

Two mountain bikers rode towards Loadpot Hill summit before one stopped right next to the depression "reckon their looking for a rough camp" I asked "can't be, not on bikes, surely not" David replied.

The mountain bikers left in the direction of Arthur's Pike and we continued to follow the line of the ridge then once we had crested the small hill (seen right) we followed a path which linked back with the Roman Road and made the short detour towards the deep depression "ahh bugger" Although it would offer great protection from the wind and would also offer a fantastic view of tonights sunset the depression just wasn't flat enough to pitch two tents.

Leaving the tents for a wander was going to become a regular thing, we didn't just do this once but at least half a dozen times in different directions taking in the different views right up until it was too dark to see anything but the twinkling of lights from far away villages.

The chap seen on the bike was the same chap who passed us as we walked towards The Cockpit stone circle earlier who was on his way back towards Helton, we thought he would be the last person we would see until tomorrow but we were soon to be proved wrong.

It was a approaching 21:10pm when I spotted two fell runners approaching towards the Trig point. As it turned out it was their first time here and were looking for Wether Hill so we pointed them in the right direction remarking afterwards we hoped that they moved fast because there was less than an hours daylight left, we were proved right when just five minutes later they topped out on Wether Hill, their descent back to Howtown where they had started was unknown but was likely to be via the Fusedale valley.

It was a truly wonderful sight watching those lights come on one by one, a view that no camera can do justice. We returned to the tents and sat for a few minutes before heading out again to take in the view south towards Shap and the M6 motorway whose drivers had no idea that we could see their headlights from over ten miles away. We returned to the Trig point for one last time which was when David spotted what must have been the lights of Threlkeld twinkling in the darkness the site of which was powerful beyond words. Tiredness had caught up with me but I reckon David could have stood in the cold of the night for another hour at least. I had seen a side of David I had never seen before who stood in silence while watching those lights flicker on one by one.

"Paul you up?" "yeah" I replied in my sleepy state. "You need to come out here it's brilliant" I was zipped up to the chin with one arm in and one arm out my sleeping bag while sleeping on my stomach. I struggled to make my way out my sleeping bag then added my boots leaving the laces untied because I was just too sleepy to do anything about it. David was sat on one of the large rocks at the side of the cairn looking like he was about to set off on a fell walk while I looked like something the cat had dragged in "morning" as I poked my head through the tent. The cold hit me first so I added my beanie which I'd left at the side of the tents entrance. We agreed to leave our head torches turned on inside our tents then had another wander about the summit only this time it was much windier with spots of rain in the air. It was too dark to see what was happening above our heads but we both figured the cloud had lowered during the night and we only hoped those spots of rain we could feel stayed that way, the last thing we wanted was for it to start lashing it down. After about twenty minutes we decided to retire again and agreed whoever woke first would wake the other for our sunrise exit.

The cloud was sporadic to say the least and when it broke more followed minutes later. We quickly broke camp by deflating our air mattresses, rolling up our camping mats, folding clothing then finally we folded our tents into squares ready to be packed into their respective packs which we had to do as a team due the building wind.

The summit came and we could look back on ground covered which by now lay partly in shade except for Loadpot Hill which was lit up beautifully in bright morning sunshine. We chatted as we walked back to Askham before getting onto the highlights of the walk. For David it had to be that hour after the sunset when all around us the lights started to appear one by one, I agreed it was one of my highlights too but so too was spending a fantastic night on the fell feeling completely at one with my surroundings.