A last minute dash at the end of an Autumn day onto utterly empty summits.
Route: from the Lorton cottage, taking the bridleway to Swinside and thence steeply up the front of the Dodd and then briskly on a clearer path onto the Whiteside ridge turning left to reach the summit of Hopegill Head. Descending at a jog to Coledale Hause. At this point deciding that there was not enough time to make the 6:24pm bus from Buttermere and hence, instead, descending into the Gasgale Gill valley to follow a path washed away in places by the 2015 floods. On reaching the road, deciding, rather than waiting for the bus, to walk home via a path to Low and High Hollins and the minor road via Hopebeck to Lorton, in the deepening gloaming.Conditions: a surprisingly warm late afternoon/early evening.
Pub: the Wheatsheaf, Lorton for Brakspear Varsity.
