This was our long walk before returning home. Last summer, when I was too ill to walk far, Mike and I made a pact that as soon as I was able, he would get me up Skiddaw, because it is a fell he has been admiring on each of his trips with us to Castlerigg Farm. And what better time to do it, than when Denise was with us, as it could be her first 3,000 ft mountain!

David and I had already climbed Skiddaw several years ago, but that was from the Carl Side path, and today we were starting from the Latrigg Car Park main path, as it is a shorter, and not so severe walk, although to make sure it wasn't too easy, we decided to include Little Man in our walk!!

The weather was overcast, but it was not raining when we set out, and the cloud kept rising and dropping, so we were hopeful of at least some views during the day, which was more than we had on our last trip to Skiddaw, when the visibility had been appalling and the rain had been lashing most of the day.

We set off along the well defined path, and made good progress, stopping regularly to make the most of the views in case the cloud decided to come down later. It was not particularly cold until we reached approximately 2,000 feet, when the wind started howling and we were getting blown about quite a bit.

Little Man was very exposed and the cloud was down most of the time, but Denise did get some views from there on her first Lakeland Summit.

Then we set off for the big one! By now the climate had changed, and there was no doubt we were approaching one of the 3,000 foot summits, as the wind kept pushing us around and nearly taking our legs away. We were thankful for our trekking poles! The others were doing well, but the walk was beginning to take its toll on me, so I was duly despatched into the shelter near Skiddaw's South Top, had lots of coffee poured down my throat, and the others offered to forego the real summit, which I was of course not going to let happen to them after we got this far, so I gritted my teeth, and the summit was eventually reached.

The wind was so strong we were unable to stand still, so taking summit photos was difficult to say the least, but I did manage to get pictures of everyone near the Trig Point one way or another, before we beat a hasty retreat back down to a lower, and less windy, part of the mountain.

Mike, Denise and I walked back over Jenkin Hill, but David had enough energy left to tackle Little Man again on the way down, so we split and met up again at the stile in the fence below, from where we walked back to the Car Park together. It had been a tough walk, but a very fine and enjoyable one to round off the holiday nicely!

Back at the hotel, I had a good rest before dinner. Our friends Roger and Ann Hiley from Loweswater came across to the hotel to join us for dinner and a chat, which gave us a chance to meet up, even if we didn't get to go for a walk with them on this trip.