Quote Originally Posted by Will.Race View Post
Excellent day out with Daz yesterday. 8:45 start from Dunmail and off up Dollywaggon Pike to recce the last 3 peaks of leg 2. Lot of snow and ice on Fairfield and Seat Sandal + little visibility slowed us down as did a wrong line choice off Fairfield. Still we were only a couple of minutes outside Daz' target times so a pretty good effort.

Back to Dunamil for a quick break and then up the lovely Steel Fell climb. We got a bit lost in the snow on Sergeant Man and High Raise. Daz mentioned possibly High Raise first and then Sergeant and Thuncarr. Am planning to go back in a few weeks and have another look. Anyone any thoughts on that option ?

We did Thunacar and then turned back. Visibility wasn't getting better and i was shivering in 2 shirts,a fleece,windproof jacket and waterproof.

Got back to Dunmail and we had an hour or so to kill to avoid hitting Manchester in rush hour. I did suggest a few Steel fell hill reps but in the end we decided on a pint of Jennings and a burger and chunky chips at the first pub on the left back towards Grasmere.

Good to meet you Daz, and the Bolt Thrower on the way back was spot on !
That will be The Traveller's Rest then?

We were discussing the Sgt Man/High Raise thing the other day and of course it's very subjective .... it's also a very easy place in which to lose time, particularly if the conditions are bad, it's dark and you're a bit tired (or all three). I recce'd this area to death in 2011 and also ran it all anti-clockwise to make sure I knew the line. My own opinion is that it's pretty hard going and very tussocky if you opt to visit High Raise first, far better to focus on finding the right route to Sgt Man and enjoy the psychological advantage of a short run up to High Raise and then a nice, easy run over to Thunacar, it just seems a lot less of a struggle that way.