Start of the walk

Fairfield summit

Fairfield summit with Helvellyn behind

My knee had been fine on the ascent but now we were on the flat, as soon as I set off towards Dove Crag I could feel a twinge.  I kept walking though towards Hart Crag but stopped at a short descent followed by a rise to Dove Crag and I thought it would be tough to add this part of the walk on AND still have that heavy descent of Fairfield.  We stopped for 5 minutes, had a cuppa whilst I decided what I wanted to do.

Dove Crag with Fairfield behind

Dove Crag summit

I set off on this short descent and it seemed OK so we decided to plough on, it would be such a shame not to get 2 tops in today when we were so close.  We arrived at Dove Crag around noon, again a quick photo and turned around to retrace our steps back to Fairfield. The views today were fantastic, in particular a great view of Helvellyn and Striding Edge with Catstycam behind..

Helvellyn and Striding Edge with Catstycam on the right

We arrived back at the summit of Fairfield about 12.40.  It was a very confusing summit with a number of cairns and a shelter and it was difficult to tell which one was the actual summit.  We went to a couple of cairns just to be on the safe side before deciding that the first one we visited was definitely the top!

Beginning the descent from Fairfield

Grisedale Tarn and Dollywaggon Pike

The descent

That long, steep descent was still ahead of us but I knew that once we got past those zig zags it started to flatten out back down to the tarn and then it was a steady descent back to the car.  Our last walk to Seat Sandal was on our left as we came down Fairfield and seemed tiny in comparison to where we were today.

Seat Sandal from the Fairfield descent

When we were back at the tarn and walking round it, I stretched to step over a large rock and my left thigh tightened and now I couldn’t move.  We were still a good hour from the car.  I sat motionless for a few minutes whilst we had a cuppa and fortunately it was just cramp.  We got up and set off again – phew! Whilst we were sat though we got a great view back up Fairfield, a view that was shrouded in mist earlier this morning.

Looking back up Fairfield from Grisedale Tarn

On closer inspection you can clearly make out the path we took and those zig zags to the summit.

A closer look at todays ascent

The walk down by Grise Beck was slow and very steady.  It was a much tougher descent than it felt last time. However we had the extra height of Fairfield and the walk to Dove Crag in our legs.

On the final stretch back to the car

We arrived back at the car around 3.30 and stopped off for an ice cold Pear Cider at the Sportmans.

Nice cold Pear Cider

Delighted to have got 2 tops chalked off today leaving only 22 to do and the milestone of top number 50 coming up on the next walk.