Route: leaving the car just south of the Mungrisdale village hall and crossing the footbridge to walk past the pub and along a muddy track north of River Glenderamackin. The path obviously having been washed away (and mechanical diggers clearly doing repair work), picking a very damp route just above the gorge of the river to reach the continuation of the, now gravel, track. Spurning the good advice from the group to take a lower path by the river and instead diverging from it on the Bowscale path, later forcing a damp route back across bracken then to cross Bannerdale Beck and then ascend a clear path on a grassy ridge, gradually steepening to the main ridge with evidence of slate workings and onto the top of Bannerdale Crags. Thence on grassy paths past Foule Crag to the summit of Blencathra and down Scales Fell on a re-engineered zig-zagging path, up onto Souther Fell to the summit and bushwhacking steeply down hill to the east to find the graded descent path.Conditions: improving all day to become sunny and warm.
Pub: the Horse and Farrier, Threlkeld for Jennings Sneck Lifter and Cumberland Ale.
