A Troutbeck circuit

Again, one of Stuart Marshall's suggestions, covering four fells around Troutbeck.  Sophie and I were accompanied , for the second time, by Martin Roberts, who proved invaluable for having the gadgets and know-how needed to navigate in the murk we encountered during the morning.  We had postponed the walk from the previous day, when the forecast was appalling (and accurate, for a change); however the clouds were still very low when we started at 10 am from Troutbeck, and we encountered driving rain for about two hours as we climbed the inconsiderable heights of Sour Howes and Sallows. Where we needed, according to Stuart Marshall, to strike off north-west down a fell-side with lots of bracken.  Not a good idea, we agreed, after our previous encounters with bracken this summer, so we used Martin's GPS to aim for the Garburn Road, where we retreated down towards Troutbeck until he spied a gap in the wall to let us reach the valley across a grass field.  By this time the rain had stopped, and the rest of the day proved pleasant enough for us to enjoy an ascent of Troutbeck Tongue and Wansfell, where we had some great views of Windermere and all ponts east, north and west.

However, the rain stopped at exactly the same time as my camera.  It just failed to react when I turned it on, completely dead.  I couldn't even retrieve the pictures already acquired of the grey, wind-swept tops around Sallows.  So I'm sorry, no pictures this time.