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" Inversion or no Inversion ? "

Date & start time: Multiple days  . . . 8 - 11th February 2015.

Location of Start : The main walk from Honister Hause car park, Cumbria, Uk ( NY 225 135 )

Places visited : Up and back to Dale Head.

Walk details :   2.6 mls, 1300 ft of ascent, 2 hrs 5 mins.

Highest point : Dale Head 2,473ft - 753m.

Walked with : Ann and the dogs, Harry and Dylan.

Weather : Generally grey, climbing into the mist, hoping for an inversion.

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There's been some great weather recently,  unfortunately it coincided with other commitments, so we haven't been able to take full advantage of it. 

Consequently here's a few low level picture from the last few days combined with our attempt to 'chase the rainbow'

this time by climbing Dale Head hoping for that patch of clear sky above the clouds.

We start with some local pictures on this cold but delightful week in February.

Saturday 7th . . . we'd been out for a dog walk up the Mosser Road

and the day we didn't take a camera, the views were so different that we really wanted one to record the scene.

After dropping Ann back at the house I quickly returned to Loweswater lakeside to try and capture the light.

Mellbreak reflected in the partially frozen lake.

Burnbank at sunset.

The wide view across Loweswater before the sun went down.

- - - o o o - - -

Sunday the 8th Feb was a working day . . .

We woke to a heavy frost and clear skies.

The views across to the Church and the Kirkstile were stunning.

Time for a quick walk up the field to record the moment.

Looking back at Mellbreak and Hen Comb.

Rose Cottage . . . ready for a new season of holiday visitors.

As I walked up the field so a bank of cloud drifted quickly up the valley and obscured the lower slopes of Whiteside and Grasmoor.

- - - o o o - - -

Time is pressing . . . and work won't wait !

Whinlatter and Cottage in the Wood as I drive to Keswick.

There's still quite a lot of snow about on the roadsides up here.

Almost an Alpine view of Skiddaw now the trees have been felled.

The same bank of cloud that flooded up the Lorton Valley was now flooding across Bassenthwaite Lake and on towards Keswick.

The road at Scawgill Bridge had been icy, but had I driven round via Embleton I would have missed this view completely because of the fog.

Looking down on Keswick from Knoble Knott.

There's an inversion in Borrowdale already . . . soon the two will join and give me a grey day under the cloud.

- - - o o o - - -

Others were more fortunate . . .

Here a picture gleaned from Alan Kilduff's walk on the Fairfield Horseshoe this same Sunday.

Click here or on the photo, or return afterwards, to see his lovely set of pictures.

- - - o o o - - -

Tues 11th . . . Ann and I decided that we too ought to chase the inversions while the winter high pressure held.

The forecast said you could still get above the clouds if you managed to get high enough.

We aimed for a reasonably high local summit, one that we had seen inversions from before  . . . Dale Head.

Life was made a little easier by starting from the car park at Honister Hause.

Looking north west down Gatesgarthdale Valley . . . Honister Pass to you and I.

It seems we would be into the cloud soon . . . the question was', would we rise above it at the summit ?

There seemed a general covering of cloud but that would be quite normal.

We crossed the snow line on the way up and the dogs enjoyed chasing the occasional snowball.

As we climbed the temperature was getting colder.

Here's some lovely hoar frost on the grasses by the side of the path.

Navigation was easy . . . follow the fence . . . even though it had been painted white.

As with the tall grasses, the temperature of the wire on the fence had dropped below freezing

and the mist had frozen upon it to form a delightful exaggerated, white frosty covering.

" King of the Castle " . . . Dylan jumps the gap onto a large peat hag alongside the path.

Harry takes a more mature attitude and stays on the high ground to the right.

As we climb the frost becomes more pronounced . . .
. . . on the cairns and the old fence posts.

Looking ahead the mist seems as thick as ever . . . no sign of that blue tinge or hint of sunshine in the clouds.

No . . . no inversion for us today as the top of the cloud was considerably higher than Dale Head's 2473ft summit.

Thought you might like a look around anyway !

Fortunately there was some foreground to add scale to the picture.

Click here or on the photo above for a Loweswatercam 360 degree annotated panorama.

Just to prove we were there . . . and did reach the summit today !

It was cold and windy up here . . . so no place to hang around when we didn't need to.

- - - o o o - - -

The way down was much like the way up  . . . so I'll leave that to your imagination today.

[ If you need help just reverse, back up this set of photos till you get back down to Honister Mine ]

Hold your cursor over the picture to see whether the weather had changed over the last hour or so.

The saving grace was that several friends and colleagues also tried on various high fells to beat the cloud today,

and like us, all failed to get the views they had hoped for. The winter high pressure had moved away.

Oh well . . . better luck next time !

- - - o o o - - -

 

Technical note: Pictures taken with either Ann's Canon Sureshot SX220, or my Nikon P520 digital camera.

Resized in Photoshop, and built up on a Dreamweaver web builder.

This site best viewed with . . . the knowledge that it will happen again at some point in the future.

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Previous walk - 7th February 2015 - Middle Fell and that Sunset

A previous time up here - 26th December 2006 Dale Head in search of more Inversions

Next walk - 14th February 2015 - Causey Pike on Valentine's Day