Carlin Gill from Uldale Head

Having stepped up the mileage earlier in the week today I went in search of the other part of the physio's plan - steep ground work.
Yes its a Bank Holiday weekend but I have secret weapon on my doorstep - the Howgills. Those of you familiar with this wonderful area will be unsurprised to hear I didn't see a soul.

I parked at Low Carlin Gill, notice of an access restriction for nesting ravens necessitated a change of route if not objective (Black Force out of bounds 15/2 to 31/5), so I crossed the Gill and made my way up the flanks of Blease Fell and onto Archers Moss. Back on target I made my way across to Uldale Head - its easy to not notice the amount of ascent and descent the Howgills can cram into a walk, but the crossing to Hand Lake (not a lake at all) was hard work. The ankle never exhibited the sharp pains I experienced in Cairngorm - but it certainly isn't right yet. Knowing when not to push has been a hard learnt lesson this last few months, so much as I wanted to make my way to Fell Head I descended to the Gill and took the path across the far banks.

It takes some effort to get into the Howgills, they're not a honey trap and they dont get visited by many - they're somewhere that deserves both respect and protection. So I was more than a little saddened to come across a wild camp spots along Uldale Beck that was littered with abandoned & broken kit. I found a cracked nalgene bottle, 4 bent tent pegs and various wrappers, stuffed into rocks in an otherwise pristine spot. All the mess fitted (with some mild persuasion) into the plastic bottle, and weighed less than a can of coke, no effort to carry out. A "why oh why oh why " moment indeed.