It rained a lot during the night with the occasional blast of wind. Thankfully it had stopped by morning but I was still concerned about the waterlogged ground. I was heading up to the top of Seathwaite Fell and the whole of the summit area was small tarns, bogs and occasional drier areas.

Early view from Seathwaite Fell

Misty cairn on Seathwaite Fell.

Some of the tarns on Seathwaite Fell.

Another tarn on Seathwaite Fell.

At one point the mist blew away for a while revealing the many tarns and cloud shrouded distant fells. It all looked like a lost world. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that the going wasn't as wet as I'd thought. It was flat and fairly easy going and it didn't seem too long before Sprinkling Tarn appeared out of the mist. At first I couldn't see the far shore but as I traversed the south west bank the main path came in to view. I was still in cloud and could see little. I turned left and headed up towards Esk Hause. Small snow patches were evident on the climb, though I didn't see any on the way down the other side. It was here that I saw the first walker of the day, a man and his dog coming up the path from Angle Tarn. Before I reached the Tarn a group of four walkers came up. At the tarn outlet I stopped for a short rest. There is a nice flat rock that is just the right height to sit me and my pack in one go. I always use it each time I pass. My next objective is Stake Pass so I took the left fork just above my 'rock of ease'. The path is mostly level but takes some negotiating to avoid some fairly boggy areas. I managed to avoid getting my feet too wet. A light drizzle had started so I put on full waterproofs.

The cloud continued to hang around so I just plodded on as the views were obscured. I crossed the main route over Stake Pass and headed up towards Pike ‘o’ Stickle. The path was indistinct in places and very wet so I headed for the higher reaches of Stake Beck and steeply up the fell towards Thurnacar Knott, which was my objective for the day. As I approached the summit I saw some deer and managed a couple of snatched photos before two men approached with a dog and scared them away. I continued in the mist until I arrived at the small tarn by the summit. The drizzle was now rain as I put my tent up by the tarn. This was a pitch I'd used a couple of times before.

Some deer near Thurnacar knott