Route: Leaving the cottage (in road shoes!) running down to Boonbeck and up the road to the junction of C roads above the Blaze Beck gorge, there turning right towards High Swinside to take in the views towards Melbreak (in blinding sun). Past the bench on the right getting distracted by a clear grassy imprint leading across the fellside in a SSWesterly direction, going through a gate and contouring round the fell on an intermittent trod as far as the clear path down to High Swinside (right) or up to Ladyside Pike (left). Turning left, lured uphill, to contour back round to the well-defended fence boundary and then loop back down the fell to the original gate, enjoying great views towards Broom Fell and Graystones across the Pass. Rejoining the road back to the fork and then heading on down into the gorge and up the other side to meet Whinlatter and run along it for a few yards to a gate on the left. There crossing into the field to follow a strengthening contouring path (clearly well used but not shown on the OS map) NW above Blaze Beck until the Pass curves back round to bend steeply above the gorge, there rejoining the Pass and running down about a kilometre to a gate on the right just before a ruined building (set into the bottom of a well-built wall climbing the fellside). Squeezing through the gate and following along the wall left to clamber through the ruin and so into the next field and join a clear rising track to the wall/fence corner just northeast of High How, climb over and run down the high rigg and zig zag down on the track to the west to reach the main road. There turning right to follow the Pass again as far as a field gate on the left to run directly down across two fields to the cottage garden, entering by climbing the barbed wire fence.
Conditions: Bright, warm sunshine with wisps of low cloud clearing
