Another early start meant that we were parked near Newlands Church and ready to walk up the mighty Robinson by 10.15. A gentle stroll along Scope Beck took us up to the reservoir which was calm and peaceful - naturally it couldn't last. As we followed the path we felt as though we should be heading more 'up' and so decided to take a cowboy-Roy route up the side of Robinson. A tough climb allowed us to join the High Snab Bank path from where it was a thrilling climb onto the summit of Robinson (2417 ft).
We then followed the direct route up onto Hindscarth (2385 ft) where, the weather being very kind, the clouds lifted to about 3000 ft meaning that we had tremendous views of the fells in Butteremere and even over to Wasdale.
As well as being a lovely walk, this was also a chance for the fell-running member to make a reconnaisance of the final leg of the Bob Graham round, although it was being followed backwards.
A walk over to Dale Head (2473 ft) was interrupted by lunch in a dell which protected us nicely from a bitingly cold wind. It was at this point that we noticed that the fells had begun to become increasingly busy; whereas before we had been just about the only people around, we were now surrounded by groups of enthusiastic walkers.
This became even more noticeable as we headed down to Dale Head tarn and onto High Spy (2143 ft). The 550 ft climb up the back of High Spy was fairly painful but completed with a focused and enthusiastic approach.
It was then just a case of covering the 3 miles over Maiden Moor (1887 ft) and Catbells (1481 ft) in order to complete the planned walk. This was done with one of the party feeling it in their legs whilst the other member seemed to be having no trouble whatsoever. However, the views made up for any discomfort, both down over Catbells and back up to the fells where we could see just about everything that we had climbed.
All we had to do then was to retrace our steps slightly and then head down Yewthwaite Gill in order to reach the car. This was delayed slightly by a hot squash and biscuit stop.
Total distance: 12 miles and 3810 ft of ascent.
New fells: Robinson, Hindscarth and Dale Head.
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