Having dropped out of the gale from Hampsfell

‘Calm’ before the storm – HAMPSFELL.

I was rattled and in no mood to go high again. Scanning my map I thought the lowly outlier Humphrey Head would be ideal for a quick ascent. Having driven towards it I realised the flooded access road was no place to be in my low clearance car.  A quick turnaround and I was navigating the complicated narrow lanes up to Cartmell Fell Church. This is an isolated church built in about 1504 as a chapel of ease to Carmel Priory. It has a squat functional construction, at one with the surrounding fells. The interior is welcoming with notable ornate wooden pews.    On the walls of the chancel are boards painted with the Lords prayer, the Creed and the Ten Commandments.

From here it was an easy dash up the rough fellside to the prominent stone cairn [The Old Man] on Raven’s Barrow. The highest point of the fell was a few metres SW. There were views to the Coniston Fells and over the still waterlogged Winster valley. The sun was beginning to set and the wind becoming colder so I didn’t linger. Better get home for Christmas and before little Eva arrives.