During the morning there was a brief lull in the rain but the wind and thick cloud continued. I was preparing to have to stay another night but by late afternoon the wind became quite serious so I thought another night at this altitude would not be a good idea. I decided to move lower down and the only route available was that I’d used to get up. I took it very steady on the descent as the ground was very wet and also incredibly soft and slippery due to the frost vanishing and leaving loose sludge behind. It was going dark when I reached Cockley How and decided to camp here. There is no stream nearby but the torrential rain was causing many rivulets to cascade off the fell so I use one to scoop up enough water for the night. It was a good job I’d moved as even though I’d descended from 632m to 340m the wind soon increased again.

still camped in the gloom