The forecast for today was for a 90% chance of cloud free summits and upland gales - in one hand it was perfect but in the other the fun would be taken away. The first thing that hit me when I started scraping the ice off the windscreen wasn't the expected gale, in fact it was still? And as I headed up the road everything was shrouded in cloud - I've always been told if there is no wind then the clouds will build up (this may well be inaccurate?). I'd set off with a loose plan of either Grasmoor or Red Pike (Buttermere) but as the signs for Lorton approached it was obvious I wouldn't get a view - even Low Fell & Fellbarrow where in cloud. As the lowest hills these would be the first to clear and the Synge top of Whin Fell was still on my to-do list, the car was quickly parked in the ample space next to the telephone box & bottle banks.
Whin Rigg is awkwardly situated at the end of the Low Fell - Fellbarrow ridge, the easiest approach seemed to be over the fell road (this was a regular bike route from home when I was about 17!)...
