Long and slow or short and sharp?

We took a long hike up Wetherlam in the snow today - I've been up Wetherlam twice now - once in the dark and once in a snow storm - absolutely no idea what it looks like under normal conditions, but I'm sure it's lovely.

As we were hiking up from Levers Water to Swirl Hawse along Sam Bottom (snigger), the snow was up to my backside (think I know where name came from now), and we began chatting about whether the route in the snow resembled the actual route.  The conversation quickly turned to our preferred approaches to fell climbing when no path is apparent.  Under such conditions Steve favours the steady "look at the lie of the land and choose a sensible route" approach which usually involves lots of zig zagging.  I, on the other hand, am more of a straight line kind of a gal and will make a beeline directly upwards or downwards in order to reach my goal.  (If I'm honest it's pretty much how I live my life too).
 

Steve zigging (or possibly zagging)

Me, looking for the direct route.

He tried roping random passers by into our debate, which I thought was cheating, but most of them wisely avoided getting drawn in.  Talking of passers by, just as we were reaching the top of Wetherlam a bunch of "men" came barrelling down the slope towards us - now I have some rules about fell etiquette and one of them is that when I'm descending I *always* give priority to those coming up.  I don't barge my way down past them and I certainly don't make rude remarks to them.  Steve was ahead of me and as I was standing to one side to allow the "men" past, I turned to admire the views (well, what there were of them) and one of them said to me "I bet you'll never speak to him again after dragging you up this."  

Well!  The idea that the only reason I was up there was because Steve had dragged me up very nearly made me throw all etiquette rules out of the window and spear the culprit with my walking pole.  I managed to shout a "I don't need to be dragged up here" as they whistled past, but they were out of earshot when I called them misogynistic idiots (actually it was a far naughtier word than that but my in-laws read the blog.)

Clearly dragged up against my will.

Anyway, back to our original debate, and I think it's time to open it up and see what anyone else has to say on the matter.  Are you, like me, a "short and sharp, straight to the summit" kind of a person or are you more like Steve, taking a considered and, if I'm honest, ultimately more sensible approach?  While you make up your mind, here are the rest of the pics from today's hike - do feel free to hum the tune from Take Hart as you scroll through them.

Looking good!

Levers Water.  Within 2 minutes the wind was up & the reflection gone.

What snow?

"I think I've found a short cut!"

Lunch with an Old Friend

I got this tweet a couple of weeks ago and it really made me smile.

Since the beginning of  May my feet have barely touched the ground - first there was work which took me all over Lancashire and London, then we took off for 5 weeks in Scotland and before we'd even got all the washing dry I was off again, this time for a week working near Portsmouth.  I knew I still lived in Cumbria, I just hadn't seen a lot of the place.

Well, things have begun to calm down a little so today we took a sneak day off and headed for the fells.  I know it's weird but there's something about going for a hike during the week which makes me feel like I'm playing hooky from school.  Not that I ever did play hooky, like to go off with Jackie Jasiewicz to see Duran Duran at the NEC when they were filming a video because I won free tickets from the newspaper which I never told my mum about, no, nothing like that at all...I'm just saying that it feels how I imagine playing hooky might feel...

Anyway, having been away for a while I thought it was time to go and see an Old Friend for lunch, so we headed up to Walna Scar car park for one of our favourite hikes - Buck Pike, Dow Crag, Swirl Howe and down via Levers Water.

The view from the car park had me chomping at the bit and the bright sunshine had me realising that I'd probably not bought enough fluids, but I figured we just about be OK.  (we were)  As we sat on the top of Dow Crag admiring the views of the Old Man we noticed how busy it was, even mid week, so many people playing hooky...

As we munched away Steve got the distinct feeling we were being watched - he was right!

I can never decide if it's better being on top of Dow Crag looking down, or below it looking up at the fantastic ridge line.

And back down via Levers water with the early autumn sunshine beginning to fade just a little bit.  What can I say?  It's great to be home.